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Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

seattleultrasonics.com

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Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#411

Post by RHSeeger »

dlcarrier wrote: post #352
Taek wrote: post #243

I'm a bit surprised to see how much snark there is in the comment sections of this video. The requests for "let's see an independent chef use this knife to do real kitchen work" make total sense, but the moralizing around e-waste and losing fingers etc feels off balance. People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives, of course there's a viable market for sharper kitchen knives. And for e-w…

>People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives... What amazes me is how many people spend absolutely zero time sharpening knives, using decades-old knives that have never been sharpened and can't even cut through cucumbers.

I know I'm setting myself up for being picked up, but... I use an older knife that I've never sharpened outside of "occasionally" running it back and forth against a tough fabric. It cuts literally everything just fine; cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. Nothing about my use of it _seems_ unsafe; but I expect that's partially because I don't cut very fast. Cooking, when I'm involved, tends to be "social time", where we prep and chat at the same time; so there's no rush.

I'm not saying it's not a good idea to sharpen knives, but a lot of people make it sound like you're a dangerous monster if you don't. And that just doesn't seem to be the case.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#412

Post by cush »

gehsty wrote: post #232
NortySpock wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The wet cloth between the counter and the cutting block keeps the cutting block from sliding / moving on you when force is applied, which is more comfortable and safer.

I cook every day, and I’m also a mechanical engineer, I’ve never understood where the sideways force comes from. I’ve also never had a board slide away from me. Tbh I thought this came from chefs chopping on stainless steel worktop. I’d like to understand.

Even if you're chopping perfectly vertically, a board will slide around or rock slightly. Like say you want to julienne some basil or something with a chef's knife, you'd probably be doing a rock chop, which involves lateral forces, causing the board to slide. Then also if you want to scoop up the food with the side of your knife, like scrape up minced garlic, those are lateral forces too. A wet cloth under a cutting board also softens/dampens the force of the knife hitting the board when chopping, which is nicer on your wrists.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#413

Post by system2 »

gurgeous wrote: post #278

I personally watched Scott spend years working on the project and obsessively iterating on the steel, the vibration pattern, the circuitry, the handle, and the form factor. Scott is a hacker, one of us for sure. I mean, the guy built a custom robot just to measure cutting efficiency... The knife is amazing and exactly as shown in the video. Rand Fishkin has a nice short on LinkedIn trying out the knife too. I think h…

Rank Fishkin from MOZ? Why is he testing knives on LinkedIn?

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#414

Post by obscurette »

scarby2 wrote: post #406
chneu wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't really need "tools" to sharpen knives. You just need a harder surface and some experience. It's one of those things that once you learn you can accomplish with a variety of "tools" because you're just trying to achieve an end goal. There's zero reason you can't sharpen a knife in a rental, lol. You don't need a belt grinder or anything. People get way too caught up in buying into systems and being told how…

> There's no substitute for experience here. It's also a very transferable skill so it's one that used to be taught in schools but no longer is. This 100% should be taught in school, it would have been one of the most useful things I could have learned.

When I was in school (in seventies), all boys at least tried to learn how to use and take care of all sharp tools and machines with one up to wood and metal lathe. When I was in school now as a teacher, scissors were the only somewhat sharp things kids were allowed to use. Risk tolerance is so low in our society nowadays, sense of responsibility of children is nonexistent etc.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#415

Post by bigiain »

citizenpaul wrote: post #408
john_minsk wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admire you. You are a minority, you know that, right? I don't have time in my schedule at the moment, which says "sharpen the knifes". So for me - it would be amazing if someone solved this problem in a radical way. Sporadically I would sharpen the knives and since I don't have it in my "skills" section of the brain, I always have to "figure out" sharpening process.

You know you can buy a Dont have time in your schedule...jeeze. Sounds like learned helplessness to me. That or spoiled rotten. The comments in this thread help me understand the general animosity towards the tech industry from much of the population.

I have one of those "roller" sharpeners, in theory a "good" one, it's from Global (the Japanese knife brand) not just an AliExpress knockoff.

It works reasonably well and is definitely quick. But its not even close to "95% as sharp) as when I spend 10 mins with my Lansky sharpening kit (which is really just a small set of graduated whetstones with a jig to keep the angle right while using it).

Would I recommend everybody spend $70 or so for a bottom end Lansky kit or similar? No. Not even close. But if cook a lot, and you're going to buy "nice" knives that you intend to keep for decades, and you notice and care about the difference between sharp and dull knives - then I'd suggest you at least consider it.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#416

Post by poink »

Taek wrote: post #243

I'm a bit surprised to see how much snark there is in the comment sections of this video. The requests for "let's see an independent chef use this knife to do real kitchen work" make total sense, but the moralizing around e-waste and losing fingers etc feels off balance. People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives, of course there's a viable market for sharper kitchen knives. And for e-w…

> People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives

With a mass market electric sharpener and a reasonable knife I spend maybe 15 minutes/yr on sharpening and the knife + sharpener costs less than half this product

The marketing video seems to try to head people like me off, but it also seems to wildly overstate the level of commitment required to have sharp knives

(I do think the tech is cool tho. I just wouldn’t pay $400 for an 8 inch chef’s knife no matter how good it is)

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#417

Post by cush »

com2kid wrote: post #368
coastalpuma wrote: post #234

If you're an amateur and really want to spend this much money, get a good enough knife (e.g. the classic victorinox) and a chef's choice electric sharpener, and you won't have any more issues.

I've read multiple reviews saying the chefs choice sharpeners are basically useless. Having owned 2 of them I can confirm they seem to do almost nothing after the first few times using them. A few YT knife channels have done deep dives showing why they stop working soon after purchase, the details escape me but I have to agree with the end result....

Can confirm, they're useless. Just pay someone $10 to sharpen the knife once in a while.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#418

Post by MathMonkeyMan »

"J. Robot Choppenheimer" is what earned my upvote.

If this knife works as well as the pitchman says, that's amazing. Just don't touch the edge.

I've gotten into the habit of using one of those slatted knife sharpeners before every use of my knife. It works well enough.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#419

Post by linsomniac »

DannyBee wrote: post #370
oakwhiz wrote: post #83

Honest question, does it aerosolize pathogens that cause food-borne illness?

Interesting question, short answer - almost certainly not any more or less than you are already, and to the degree it does, it almost certainly is making things better and not worse. First - ~all food illness causing bacteria is denser than air. about 1000x denser. On its own, it won't float. Second - almost all cutting motions are still going to throw it around. So you are already doing this when you cut or chop foo…

I think the parent is specifically referencing the point towards the end of the video where he shows smoke-like vapor coming off the food. It's not clear from your response if you are aware of that, so just wanted to clarify.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#420

Post by foundart »

JohnMakin wrote: post #404
chneu wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't really need "tools" to sharpen knives. You just need a harder surface and some experience. It's one of those things that once you learn you can accomplish with a variety of "tools" because you're just trying to achieve an end goal. There's zero reason you can't sharpen a knife in a rental, lol. You don't need a belt grinder or anything. People get way too caught up in buying into systems and being told how…

when I was poor I used to make pricy shaving blades last for months longer than they should have by rubbing them on some old jeans. I don’t remember where I learned it but my roommates thought I was crazy til they tried it.

That’s stropping

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_strop

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