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Comment by jpdb | Hacker News Reader

> A sharp knife is SAFER than a dull one.

I do a lot of cooking and own quite a few kitchen knives, most of which have bitten me at some point. I understand the idea around sharp knives being safer...but I don't agree.

If a razor sharp 210mm Japanese carbon steel knife touches your finger, it's split open and might need stitches or glue. A less-sharp knife would need more weight behind it to cut effectively which can lead to you completely severing a finger, but simple slices are a much more likely scenario than your finger being completely under the knife to the point where it's effectively a digit-guillotine.

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Knife sharpness safety is a bell curve.

If your knife is sharp enough you will eventually cut the shit out of yourself because it slices so easily. You’re essentially waving around an 8 inch razor blade.

If your knife is dull enough you will eventually cut the shit out of yourself because it takes so much effort to cut that a slip becomes a stab. The amount of effort you have to put in to do basic stuff like cut carrots can be high enough that give up some control of the blade.

A knife at a good level of sharpness will cut with reasonable effort but not be a giant razor blade. I think for most people this is likely the safest level of sharpness.

> If your knife is dull enough you will eventually cut the shit out of yourself because it takes so much effort to cut that a slip becomes a stab.

Also, a dull knife will, 100%, slip more in use than a sharper knife.

Absolutely.

Oh man! This brings memories. I had a new set in a new place and dealing with sub 20 degree Celsius for the first time. The cold would numb my hand the blade would cut and I would know only after a few minutes. I spent those first couple of months constantly putting band aid on. I blamed it fully on the winter.

It’s been almost 1.5 years since the last cut and I now realize what was going on

Edit: Now that I realize this thread is going sort of sharp-vs-dull. I still use the slide sharpener and regularly sharpen the knives. The factory sharpness was just too much for me. I think a knife sharpened to appropriate level is the way to go. And a dull one is probably as dangerous as a overly sharp one

There's no reason your fingers should be under the blade while it's in motion. That's just poor technique.

Not everyone is a chef. I guess 80% of people in the world have poor technique for cutting stuff but they mostly get away not cutting themselves because they have dull knives.

I recently had to glue my thumb back on after I lopped it off with a Japanese knife while I was dicing vegetables. At my age, I have probably moved that knife millions of times and only cut myself once. Nobody can have a perfect record.

Had a friend do that recently. Knife freshly sharpened, took a dime sized hunk of his thumb right off. They stitched it back on, mostly to protect what was left underneath while it healed.

If your blade is dull enough you’ll be using excess force to cut. People cut themselves regularly because they are using too much force and the thing they are trying to cut shifts and suddenly they have a finger under the blade. Or they are working with a dull paring knife and having to use too much force and it suddenly cuts and keeps going into their thumb.

I agree.

There was a long thread here where people were arguing about this topic.

My take is that people saying sharp knives are safer don’t understand how average people are using knives.

Totally different than in restaurant setting or ‘self proclaimed chef’ setting where you are going to chop loads of stuff fast or you get angry customers or you take pride in your chopping and slicing skills.

Worst offenders were sharpening knives for other people and then they were surprised that those people would cut themselves with sharp knives… none of the story included a person who was perfectly happy with their dull knife cutting themselves with that dull knife.

I get where you are coming from but at the same time if you use a potentially dangerous tool you should learn how to properly use it.

Just using a claw grip will significantly reduce your chance of injury.

I have seen more injuries from dull knives slipping on vegtable skin than too sharp knives.

That said, the mirror shine finish some enthusiasts go for is indeed over the top.

> My take is that people saying sharp knives are safer don’t understand how average people are using knives.

Sharp knives are safer.

Bad knife technique is unsafe, regardless of sharpness, but with a dull knife you lack control even with good technique.

> none of the story included a person who was perfectly happy with their dull knife cutting themselves with that dull knife.

People that are perfectly happy with dull knives cut themselves with those dull knives all the time. Sometimes, that's the spur for people learning how to use a knife and becoming unhappy with dull knives.

I'm skeptical of the claim too. All the arguments are logical but there doesn't seem to be any evidence. Have there been any studies?

I googled around and the best I could find was https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23661/are-sharp... (11 years ago) which could only speculate that sharp knives reduce RSI.

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