Using bad knives when the good one is right next to them

[Hassouni]

Do any of you live with non-cooking types who keep and continue to use several old, crummy, never been sharpened and essentially worthless supermarket knives despite you having a proper sharp knife living right next to the crappy ones? I'm recovering from an injury and can't cook much right now, and tonight, at dinner, I saw the most messily cut spring onions, clearly the work of one of these dull knives - the proper knife cuts them with no trouble. I don't understand this at all. Why use something so clearly inferior? Does anyone else know someone who prefers to use a dull knife when the vastly better option is 2 inches to the right? I just don't get it.

[ambra]

Habit

and

Fear.

My MIL will use a steak knive over a chef's knife or even a paring knife out of fear. She's so used to cutting with a bad knife now, that she could never change. She uses a 10 dollar mandolin for things like onions and/or grates mirapoix veg for sauces etc.

Edited October 22, 2011 by ambra (log)

[ScoopKW]

Pah. There is not one dull knife at our place.

My wife wants me to replace the communal Wusthof with a Japanese chef's knife. Just 'cuz. She's seen what I do with my knives, and she wants "in." Guess who gets to sharpen? But who cares. She's gone from the Wusthofs to "How about you buy me a knife like yours" in a matter of a couple years.

Edge geometry is EVERYTHING.

[liuzhou]

I don't let anyone even look at my knives never mind use them! Even "cooking types".

[Edward J]

I'll second the habit and fear.

Many people are scared sh**less of a sharp knife and insist that a dull one will do just as good a job.

Knife skills are not common in kitchen where there is no "dedicated" cook. THis is why ther is so much prepared vegetables and meats available in stores.

In my kitchens I always supply knives for my staff, and I have a good selection and keep them sharp. When a new staff comes in with no cooking background, they will automatically reach for the smallest knife, ie a paring knife to core a cabbage, a boning knife to cut potatoes.

It's fun to watch......

[Genkinaonna]

Yeah, I actually keep crappy knives next to my good ones so my husband and father WON'T use my good ones...it's like a diversion so my knives stay protected from inappropriate use. But I agree, it's fear. I got over that fear really quick when I was 12 and I almost cut the tip of my finger off trying to use a super dull knife to cut a carrot.

[qrn]

we have a whole big rack of really good/sharp knives,wife is scared of them and she has 5 or 6 cheap,paringknives that she uses, that I have explicit orders to never sharpen ,,,(mine are good and sharp, so I follow the "rules")

Bud

[Dakki]

Firmly in the "dull knives are dangerous" faction. I do have one supermarket "chef's" in the block for opening packages, cutting string, etc. but even it stays pretty sharp.

(As sharp as those get, anyway.)

[Country]

My own little story. When Beedy and I got together (she's a woman - I'm a man) she'd drive me nuts. I don't think she'd ever had a sharp knife in her whole life. At that time approaching 70.

I'm not saying that my Wusthof's are extra sharp, but they do okay. To see Beedy cutting something in a pot or pan - or on a plate - with any of the Wusthof's was enough to make me holler BEEDY!!!

Thankfully, that no longer happens.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Country (log)

[Porthos]

To see Beedy cutting something in a pot or pan - or on a plate - with any of the Wusthof's was enough to make me holler BEEDY!!!

As an aside, at a major department store I saw glass counter protectors labelled as cutting boards. Generally I just kill time there and snicker at their "sale" prices - this one made me wince.

[Ashen]

My wife won't touch my shun knives.. Mostly it is because she is afraid of how sharp they are but also she is afraid that she would do something to the edges . She uses smaller knives for the most part, paring and utility. This isn't altogether a bad thing since she has such tiny hands, that larger knives are harder for her to control properly.

She doesn't want her knives dull though, every once in awhile I get a reminder to sharpen up her knives too. She will use a old inexpensive wilthshire chefs knife we have had forever. For a 10$ knife(when we bought it) it is actually fairly decent. It takes a good edge and holds it longer than the henckle set knives I have relegated to the basement kitchen/bar.

[Toliver]

My mom has a set of recently sharpened Cutco knives but she still uses a dull knife she got at the dollar store. I asked her why and she said because it fits her hand better than the other knives she owns. She has mild arthritis and I guess this crappy knife is the most comfortable-in-her-grip knife for her to use. I'm going to ask my brother to sharpen the hell out of it. A dull knife is a dangerous thing to use.

[Country]

My mom has a set of recently sharpened Cutco knives but she still uses a dull knife she got at the dollar store. I asked her why and she said because it fits her hand better than the other knives she owns. She has mild arthritis and I guess this crappy knife is the most comfortable-in-her-grip knife for her to use....

Thanks for that, as it goes back to my contention - on other knife threads - that people should handle knives before buying them. And something to think about before giving people knives.

And something I should have thought of before giving $300-400 block sets of Wusthof's to both my children. And, giving a couple of Wusthof's to my ex and her husband.

I know my son likes the Wusthof's, and keeps them sharp, but that's it. Maybe my daughter, her husband, and my ex and her husband just politely decline to mention them.

[judiu]

My wife won't touch my shun knives.. Mostly it is because she is afraid of how sharp they are but also she is afraid that she would do something to the edges.

So, she shuns your Shuns? (Ducks, laughs and runs)

[scubadoo97]

On the rare occasion my wife is cutting vegetables for a salad she will choose a crappy Rada knife and cuts on a paper plate. She refuses to use my knives because they are too sharp or too big. She even by passes the old Henckel knives. Makes no sense to me

[Norm Matthews]

I have noticed a lot of people will grab one knife and do all the cutting with it. It is usually a small one. I asked some and the usual answer was it is the sharpest one in the kitchen. My son often used a cheap serrated steak knife to cut even carrots. He said it was because he was afraid to mess up my good knives. I let it go because I'd found my favorite paring knife in the dish washer a couple times but he is better now and I see he usually uses the better ones now.

[therippa]

Every roommate I've had has used whatever knives they brought in (usually supermarket or ikea brands) over the Wusthofs I have. Ever see someone try to cut a cantoloupe in half with a very small and flexible victorinox steak knife?

And when they do decide to use a real knife, they always forget the one rule I have in regards to using my kitchen stuff - when you are done using the knife, wash it by hand, dry it off, and put it back in the block. It always ends up on the drying rack.

...and come to think of it, I have two rules - the other on is just don't use my antique cast iron.

[Rob Babcock]

I'm occasionally guilty of this. Now mind you there aren't any dull knives in my house, but I have a small block of pretty cheap knives that I keep on my kitchen counter top and often I use them even though I have thousands of bucks worth of Japanese knives 20 feet away in the other room. Mostly it's laziness. About 2/3 of my good blades are in the case I take to work, and I usually don't feel like breaking out the case to cut up a chicken. The other 1/3 is backups and pieces I have plans for and they're stored in their boxes- way too much work. One last reason is that my kitchen at home is pretty cramped and I don't have a decent cutting board. I don't want to subject my Ichimonjis, Kagayakis or Hattoris to my cheap plastic board.

That said if I'm doing some elaborate prep I'll dig out my good stuff. And I have thousands of dollars wrapped up in natural and synthetic Japanese waterstones as well as powered sharpening gear so most of my beaters are sharper than the best knives my coworkers use (except of course for the few days after I sharpen for them...).