Knife use: Do you have this also? How do you avoid this?

[skyhskyh]

For example, chopping a bunch of chives (it's not chives in the photo)

Then those food near the top of the chopping board end is longer....

like this:

DO you also have this when you chopping bunch of food? HOw do you avoid this?

Note: My knife is sharp already

[Merkinz]

Is this not caused by not lifting the knife high enough after the cutting stroke? i.e. the uncut vegetable is sticking to the knife and the knife isn't rising far enough for it to pull off, fall back down and get cut on the next stroke. The longer they become the less likely they are to pull off on the following stroke making it self perpetuating once it starts.. I am making this assumption because it happens to me and like you it happens at the top of the cutting board - the heel of the knife always rises further than the point.

Maybe try cutting closer to the heel of your knife but still performaning the same height stroke ... if you catch my drift.

... maybe I'm wrong

Edited August 14, 2012 by Merkinz (log)

[Mjx]

Even if I'm using a knife that's been recently sharpened, the only thing I've found to get rid of that is to resharpen/steel the blade; as far as I can make, out that happens when the less-sharp portion of the knife pushes, rather than immediately cuts the food (one portion of the blade may be receiving more impact, and dulling more quickly than rest).

[Bjs229]

It is easier to get a uniform cut or dice by squaring of that side to begin with. You will have less problems with that flap developing.

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[HowardLi]

Try cutting closer to the heel of the knife so you get more slice-cutting rather than chopping?

[Junkbot]

A couple things.

1. Does this happen when you use a santoku/chinese clever?

2. Does the lip form on the opposite side when you pull-cut?

What I'm wondering is if the belly of the knife is not making good contact with the cutting board with your strokes. It looks like you're essentially pushing the top portion of the food with the belly of the knife rather than cutting it by wedging the knife against the board. If this still happens with a belly-less knife (a flatter santoku/clever), or with pull-cuts (removes the belly factor), then I'm out of ideas.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Junkbot (log)

[skyhskyh]

I have taken close up videos of my cutting and tried to find problems and answers.

At this moment, I believe the problems and solutions (which worked much better) are:

Initial thrust / speed / force: Too slow or too "weak" that my initial thrust didn't start cutting the food but push the food out, then start cutting. I tried increased speed a little, and somehow aimed "consciously" to insert more force to cut immediately, it helps the most.

Second thing is (although I don't think it mattered much) was that if I land the knife above the food on the chopping board first before touching the food (compared to knife in mid air, start cutting the food, and land at chopping board later), this helps a little since it is a curved edge knife, by doing this, the knife was actually doing a more pushing food down than pushing food forward.

I think the speed and initial thrust definitely helped a lot

[Mjx]

Unless you're cutting something very hard and bulky, like a winter quash, I'm fairly certain an adequately sharp blade shouldn't require much force or speed to move through what you're cutting.

One other possibility: if you're very tall, the cutting surface might be too low for you to bring the knife all the way down, without your paying constant close attention (owing to the angle between your hand and the cutting surface at the bottom of your stroke).

I noticed tall friends had this problem in the kitchen in our flat, when they used the pullout cutting table which was exactly the right height for my rather short self.

[Bjs229]

It looks like from your picture that you are cutting on an angle. It is blurry so I assume that you are using the knife quickly. When not cutting straight you are almost sure to have uneven finished product unless you are cutting on a bias.

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[Renn]

Looking at that picture, I'd suggest slowing down and cutting smaller bundles. Takes more time at first, but with more practice, your consistency will improve.