January 21, 2007

• Handy!
• Is it me, or was this written by Frodo Baggins? (That's the One True Ring, right?)
• There sure are a lot of "great debates" in the knife world....
• How I keep my knives sharp is to keep my wife's hands off of them. (She drops knives into sinks, slices into glass pie pans, etc. It took me over ten years of marriage to convince her no longer to put them into the dishwasher....) So I have a sacrificial set of cheap Henckels that she can abuse freely, and two very good Kershaw Shuns that stay safely out of harm's way. I own two knives with convex bevels (Spyderco Bill Moran Featherweights, one of the few fixed blades in the Spyderco line), and thought that I needed a slack-belt grinder to restore its edge. I'll have to try the fine-grit on a mousepad hack. And scartol, I own the very oldest model of that Sharpmaker pictured there. Despite the brass safety rods, I do worry about making myself into Goetter of the Nine Fingers with it. /knife knerd
• Funny, I don't mind my wife "sharpening my knife" one bit, if you know what I mean.
• You said "one bit." Does that imply size, or is she a biter?
• I have been told that the best way to judge the sharpness of a knife is to look directly at the edge in bright light (vertically, with the edge facing you) and see if said edge is glinty-if it's glinty then it's dull, if it is flat looking it is sharp. I have my knives sharpened professionally if I see dull. Certainly there are simpler ways to find out (won't slice a tomato). But I never put a finger to the blade. (also knife knerd).
• *picks bits of apple from teeth with pocket knife* A fine post, goofyfoot. This one shall be bookmarked. Sharpest knife I ever had in my kitchen was thanks to my former roommate's father (a fine man who opened one of Japan's first Korean BBQ restaurants), who turned my dull collection into a lethal arsenal... I tried in vain to recreate his method.
• Is it me, or is that Goetter a bit...obsessed? *looks around nervously And what's wrong with using knives to cut cake outta the cake pan? In a pinch, the go outside to saw baling twine if I can't find my hay cutter. *looks around again, shrugs Hey, I bought most of mine at the thrift store. *gleefully anticipates wincing
• *sobs*
• This a-here knife is ruint.
• I use mine until the handles fall off, then go back to the dollar store with Gramma.
• Yeah, Lara! You go, girrrl. I've noticed that no matter how much I hack, wack, chop, pound and slaughter, everyone manages to eat what I cook anyway. *would rather eat a ripe tomato while sitting in the garden than cut it up in the kitchen to share
• *eyes off ripening tomatoes through window*
• I always pronounce "knife" kuh-NIFF-ee. Life's to short to play by The Man's rules, dude.
• Hah! I use nothing but "skizzers" to cut paper or cloth.
• Sheet, mang. I only use a Leatherman. On everything. I am that hard-core.
• I use a chisel-edged carbon-steel Japanese-made knife, and sharpen it on a "King combination stone" (which has "K-80" on the front of the package I keep it in. The rest of the package is in Japanese).
• Good one, goofyfoot, a real keeper. I maintain a set of knives with surgical edges... amazing how much easier it is to do just about everything once you've got 'em like that. Plus it's good to know that should a homicidal maniac or a sweet, juicy, vine-ripe, salad-ready tomato appear without warning in your kitchen, either way, you're prepared.
• Or both.
• I'm always a little nervous in the kitchens of those that have surgical edged knives. Like, if I complain about a tummy ache, am I going to end up on the counter with an appendectomy? Don't overestimate your capability, folks!
• Au contraire, Blue Horse: a sharp knife makes one humble.
• "Plus it's good to know that should a homicidal maniac or a sweet, juicy, vine-ripe, salad-ready tomato appear without warning in your kitchen, either way, you're prepared." Yeah, but won't you totally dull the blade stabbing people?
• Not necessarily. If you use a downward slicing motion, rather than a forward stabbing motion, you can maintain the integrity of the blade. It's also much easier on your shoulder and back muscles, particularly if you can get a good, rhythmic, fluid moion going. --I mean, nothing! I don't know!
• Well, sure, if ya go usin' yer stabbin' knife on 'maters an' yer 'mater knife on stabbin'. The right tool fer the right task, my ol' Pappy always said.
• *edges uneasily toward thread door
• See, when all you have is a serrated "tomato" knife, everybody looks like a tomato. I mean everything. Everything looks like a tomato. Yeah, that's what I meant to say.