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Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

seattleultrasonics.com

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Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#481

Post by sebastiennight »

sublinear wrote: post #343
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…

Free idea: put this tech in a mandoline slicer. Even the best tend to struggle with consistency and can only go so thin due to all the friction. An ultrasonic mandoline that can overcome all that would probably fly off the shelves and better match the original industrial intent.

> An ultrasonic mandoline that can overcome all that would probably make fingers fly off the shelves and better match the original industrial intent.

FTFY

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#482

Post by lazide »

thom wrote: post #470
RHSeeger wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 moved house recently and I bought some new knives for the kitchen. My wife is now constantly cutting herself because she has no intuition for how sharp a knife should be. I can’t really imagine what the safety argument is against dull knives.

A knife which cannot cut anything isn’t a knife?

It sounds like she literally has no idea how to use a knife.

Is she doesn’t want a knife which can cut things, Butter ‘knives’ are probably more her speed?

What was she even using the ‘knife’ for before if it couldn’t even cut her? Spreading jelly? Slicing cakes?

Not to be snarky, but it’s possible a couples class which covers things like how to use a knife safely might be a fun and enjoyable way out of this.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#483

Post by literalAardvark »

john_minsk wrote: post #366
dlcarrier wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 don't use knives in my kitchen. My romantic partner does. Yesterday I decided to cut some tomatoes only to find out that all knives are dull. She never said anything, I didn't know it. Why? Because she is just "used" to it and to her these knives were just fine. So she never thought about sharpening knives in the first place. I will take those knives to a pro and he will sharpen them for me, as in a rental I stay i…

If she's not used to sharp knives you're not doing her a favour by getting them crazy sharp.

Just get a cheap knife sharpener (not a whetstone) with good reviews and sharpen them a bit once every few weeks, it takes a minute, gets good results, and you can work with her on how sharp they should be.

Most of the time knives that are too sharp are much more dangerous than knives that are too blunt. The people worrying about your knife slipping into your finger have never actually used a knife imo. If it's dull enough to be slipping you'll get a welt before you get cut.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#484

Post by emacsen »

literalAardvark wrote: post #483
john_minsk wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use knives in my kitchen. My romantic partner does. Yesterday I decided to cut some tomatoes only to find out that all knives are dull. She never said anything, I didn't know it. Why? Because she is just "used" to it and to her these knives were just fine. So she never thought about sharpening knives in the first place. I will take those knives to a pro and he will sharpen them for me, as in a rental I stay i…

If she's not used to sharp knives you're not doing her a favour by getting them crazy sharp. Just get a cheap knife sharpener (not a whetstone) with good reviews and sharpen them a bit once every few weeks, it takes a minute, gets good results, and you can work with her on how sharp they should be. Most of the time knives that are too sharp are much more dangerous than knives that are too blunt. The people worrying a…

> Most of the time knives that are too sharp are much more dangerous than knives that are too blunt.

With a sharp knife, you cut through food very easily so you use very little force. You also use techniques that prevent you from getting hurt, such as the claw ( https://www.thekitchn.com/knife-skills-the-claw-75998 ).

But if someone has used a dull knife for most of their life, they may not have cultivated these skills and may hold their knife in an unsafe way and or use a lot of force when cutting.

For someone like that, a sharp knife could be a lot more dangerous, but if they're trained/using it properly, a sharp knife is a lot more safe as it reduces effort and chance of the knife slipping.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#485

Post by novosel »

thom wrote: post #470
RHSeeger wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 moved house recently and I bought some new knives for the kitchen. My wife is now constantly cutting herself because she has no intuition for how sharp a knife should be. I can’t really imagine what the safety argument is against dull knives.

A dull knife you cannot control, is slides across the surface, it can slip. Try cutting onions with a dull knife. You will cry yourself out of the room.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#486

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #429
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…

Buy a whetstone for $10 and you’re set for life. It’s not complicated! People have been sharpening knives for millennia

$10 whetstones are typically far worse value than $40-$60 whetstones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5shv-7m5Ic&t=55s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHzwlGovi0

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#487

Post by oezi »

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.

And why should they care if it works for them?

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#488

Post by StopDisinfo910 »

RHSeeger wrote: post #411
dlcarrier wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

> It cuts literally everything just fine

My parents are the same and honestly the sharpness is fine for how they use their knives. I don’t know for yours but theirs don’t cut just fine at all. They barely cut. It’s ok if you actually have to think and push through each cuts but a complete no go for any serious cutting.

It’s a huge waste of time because it prevents any kind of fast work but they don’t know how to safely work with a knife anyway so they don’t notice. My father immediately cut himself the only time I actually sharpened so I stopped trying.

Anyway an ultrasonic knife seems like a cool idea. The technology is common in industrial setting for cutting. I think it’s cool to bring it to a kitchen knife even if it always remains a gimmick.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#489

Post by iamacyborg »

oezi wrote: post #487
dlcarrier wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

And why should they care if it works for them?

Because they generally don’t work and people don’t know any better.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#490

Post by spyckie2 »

cowjan wrote: post #466
thiht wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need to be ashamed, if it works it works. Whetstones look cooler but they do the same job. I actually bought the same device at a local knife store for my parents and the clerk said it was perfect if you just want to get sharp knives and be done with it. Whetstones or professional sharpening is more useful for pros or knife hobbyists/enthusiasts.

> they do the same job The quality of the job is vastly different, though. This video shows great examples: https://youtu.be/0uy5NrLEZ4g?si=mxAUrFxAFX_xHrFv

In the comments it reveals this guy is using the sharpener wrong by doing way too many pulls with too much pressure.

The cheap ikea one is fine, it will not wear out your blade. 2-3 pulls at very light pressure, no need to learn how to use a whetstone properly, perfect UX for those who don’t typically sharpen knives.

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