Smashing garlic - effect on knife

[aster]

I apologize if this seems like a dumb question, but I haven't seen an answer for it anywhere. I have been smashing my garlic with the side of my chef's knife blade for as long as I can remember. Recently I bought a more expensive chef's knife and I found myself wondering if I was causing any harm to it by using it this way. I mean, it causes quite a lot of force against the blade in one direction-- wouldn't that contribute to bending or warping?

[patrickamory]

I don't think so.

[Shel_B]

Doubtful. I've been doing the same thing for decades using forged Wusthof knives and stamped Victorinox knives. Those knives are just fine after all these years.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[weinoo]

wouldn't that contribute to bending or warping?

No.

[Paul Bacino]

I prefer..my cleaver..

[aster]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I use a garlic press, but I doubt you will harm your knife. Whether you cut yourself this way is another question.

[dcarch]

First, I assume you are not talking about ceramic knives.

In rare situations, damage can happen to high carbon steel or high carbon stainless steel knives.

Good quality knives tend to be hardened to the maximum which creates a great deal of internal metal stress, some even can crack and warp at this stage. A knife maker can tell you that this is not unusual. After hardening the knives are tempered to relief some the the stresses, but some of the stress will remain, especially specific tempering temperature and time are not followed based on the particular metal.

In another food forum I have seen members' posts of their knives cracking after strong impact.

dcarch

.

[mm84321]

I think it's best to crush garlic using the palm of your hands.

[Martin Fisher]

I can easily bust up a head of garlic with my hand, but that doesn't work so well when attempting to effectively crush a clove.

In this video, Jacques certainly doesn't baby the knife.......

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2011/10/18/dining/100000001119564/jacques-pepin-how-to-chop-garlic.html

[fvandrog]

I prefer..my cleaver..

Yep, so do I. I figured that if the cleaver can't take a head of garlic, it certainly won't do a lot of good with beef bones.

[Ashen]

I don't think jacques is too concerned with the knives he uses these days. When you get new ones for just about every show from your sponsors you can do things like this without really caring.

http://youtu.be/ORBdSog-ecM?t=13m8s

I shuddered when I first saw him cutting that tarte tatin on the plate with that shun .

[Tri2Cook]

Knives are tools. You take care of them but you use them (with common sense) for the jobs you need them for. I've never had a knife damaged by using it to crush garlic (It's not like you have to whack on a clove of garlic like you're using a hammer to crush it) but, if it did happen, I would just buy a new knife and still do whatever I needed it to do.

[weinoo]

In another food forum I have seen members' posts of their knives cracking after strong impact.

dcarch

Come on - how hard do you have to smack a clove of garlic to crush it?

[FeChef]

I would be more concerned about the effect on your hands/wrist , then a steel blade..lol

[Prawncrackers]

It's not so much the crushing that can damage a knife, it's making the garlic paste. You know when you use the tip and some salt to grind the garlic clove against the chopping board. The blade will flex and eventually warp. Especially if you use thin Japanese style blades. It's easy enough to fix though just rest the warped blade on the chopping board, put your hand flat on the blade, hang the handle off the end and gently push the handle up or down to straighten the blade.

Though nowadays I never use my Japanese blades in this application. Chinese cleaver all the way, the big blunt front edge can make lots of garlic paste in one go..

[Panaderia Canadiense]

My first impression is simply this: why are you not using your dedicated wooden mortar and pestle for this?

And my second was: it's not going to hurt the knife to crush garlic - garlic is much much weaker than steel, and you're not using the knife like a hammer (well, I hope you aren't), you're using it on the flat to smoosh a fairly soft item into an even softer state.

[Keith_W]

I use a garlic press, but I doubt you will harm your knife. Whether you cut yourself this way is another question.

I use a garlic press as well. My friend recommended that I buy one, but I resisted the idea for years. Eventually he just bought one and gave it to me - now i'm a convert! After that I went out and bought all the presses that I didn't own before (potato masher, citrus press).

[nickrey]

I always snap garlic presses. A knife side is perfect but like Prawncrackers I don't use my Damascus patterned Japanese knives for this task. Chinese cleavers or European knives are perfect and are not damaged at all.

[heidih]

I keep this flea market cutie on the counter and use for garlic, peppercorns and other spices, herbs and citrus zests - the list goes on. It is good for a small quantity, just needs a rinse, and as noted - it is cute. I am way too much of a klutz to use the knife smash method.

[dcarch]

In another food forum I have seen members' posts of their knives cracking after strong impact.

dcarch

Come on - how hard do you have to smack a clove of garlic to crush it?

I had a 12” Sujihiki I made from 1095 high carbon steel. I guess I must had been too aggressive in heat treating and hardening and did not anneal/temper properly, one day as I was filleting salmon, I heard a “pop”. A ½” crack happened a few inches from the tip. So I bent the damaged tip off and made the knife into kind of like a santoku.

I still need a long knife for sushi, so I am making a 13” blade Yanagi. I am using D-2 steel. This time I am not going to take a chance. I sent the blade to a place to have it professionally hardened and cryo tempered.

As I said, any knife maker can tell you how metal can crack, even spontaneously.

dcarch

[Plantes Vertes]

I don't see a need to smash the garlic with the knife. I just lean on it and it dies

[Keith_W]

I had a 12” Sujihiki I made from 1095 high carbon steel.

You made?? I'm fascinated ... would you be able to start another thread on making knives?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Here is the press that I use:

Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press

I've had the Kuhn Rikon for five years. I like garlic. I don't wash the Kuhn Rikon, I don't put it away. Not likely to snap any time soon.

If I want garlic really mushed, say for pesto, that's when I use a mortar.

[dcarch]

I had a 12” Sujihiki I made from 1095 high carbon steel.

You made?? I'm fascinated ... would you be able to start another thread on making knives?

That would be a very boring thread. You see, I am not an aesthetic knife maker, I am a functional knife maker. Get it done quick, get it done cheap and get it done very sharp.

I am not making show-off knives at this point. I make them because I hate to have to spend a few thousand dollars for a set of real sharp knives.

Sushi making is all about sharpest knives, otherwise you are just making raw fish.

Cold smoked salmon gets messed up without a long sharp blade.

And cutting prosciutto !!!

dcarch