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Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

seattleultrasonics.com

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Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#571

Post by makr »

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.

Dull knives seem to have destroyed her intuition of how dangerous knives can be and how to use them safely, that's a safety argument right there.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#572

Post by adonovan »

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.

Why there isn’t a bigger business selling diamond stones for the kitchen is a mystery to me. Everyone has a honing steel but that won’t grind a new edge like a proper stone.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#573

Post by kleiba »

fernandotakai wrote: post #564
kleiba wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> almost everyone is very bad at it [citation needed] It's more that sharpening a knife - like many other skills - takes practice.

most people don't even know how to properly hone a knife since there are specific movements. i would recommend anyone sending their knives to a professional for sharpening -- you will feel much more confident cutting, and everything will be safer.

It's not really that hard to learn how to hone a knife. There's different techniques that work and I'd think anyone who loves to cook regularly hones their knives anyway.

Now, sharpening is a bit of a different story but also totally achievable with a little investment (money for some stone(s) and time for practice). But you're right, if you cannot be bothered to do that yourself, it's definitely better to have your knives sharpened professionally than to use dull knives in the kitchen.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#574

Post by jcims »

victorhooi wrote: post #394
jcims wrote: post #273

I've invested close to a thousand dollars in sharpening tools over the years. I keep my knives super sharp as a hobby more than anything. I'd still love to have one of these in the drawer for certain tasks. It's ugly and clunky but I'd probably still use it on a semi-regular basis for warm breads, cheeses, etc. I bet the action would help with sharpening as well. I do wonder if a tuning fork or 'mass on a stick' hidd…

Oh wow - would love to know what you got for sharpening, or what you'd suggest for the home cook? When you say ugly/clunky - I'm guessing you mean it's a bit heavier, or the weight will be off compared to a good high-end chef's knife? (I don't have anything like that, haha). I did note on their FAQ they say to never activate the blade whilst sharpening: https://seattleultrasonics-ceizljlxnpt.gorgias.help/en-US/ho...…

Oh nice catch on the sharpening bit! I don't know that I'd be able to resist on the finer grits.

The only thing you really need to keep kitchen knives sharp is the habit of sharpening them. That said I've been using this recently for utility sharpening - https://worksharptools.com/products/precision-adjust-knife-s...

It's a bit clunky but I tend to obsess over the angle of the grind, and something that physically constrains that is going to allow me to enjoy the process. For general purpose sharpening you don't need much more than a coarse stone (320 grit) and a honing steel. The coarse stone will bring the edge back (learn how to feel for the burr) and regular use of the steel will keep it in good cutting shape until it wears down. You might not get hair-popping razor sharpness, but that's a fairly short-lived state with kitchen knives unless you do a lot of maintenance.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#575

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

lkbm wrote: post #536
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can somebody count Jacques' garlic chopping speed then? Perhaps someone younger than 80 could do it faster? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ENOZgEqXg#t=1m20s

Looks like around 12Hz, counting the forward rock and back rock as distinct chops. I'm not sure a rocking motion is what people mean here, though. This only works for mincing something you've already cut up, not slicing an onion.

Maybe the solution is an ultrasonic slap chop? (https://www.amazon.com/Slap-Chop-Stainless-Vegetable-Accesso...) Many slices at once, preserve whatever the ingredient is without crushing it, doesn't stick to the blade. It may sound ridiculous, but if it makes kitchen prep easier and faster, I might cook more.

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#576

Post by 9dev »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #530
9dev wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recycling is a sham. There is mostly no efficient recycling of sufficiently advanced components, the industry just spent decades on making you think you can buy lots of cheap things and all that trash isn’t your problem. Well it is.

With enough energy we can separate anything into its elemental constituents. “Recycling” as mentioned by the US press is a scam because we had humans walking over our trash in India manually recycling in such a dangerous way they banned our recycling. Anything can be ground into dust and sent through a series of physiochemical processes to reconstitute.

Well. The "recycling" we’re talking about in this thread is a greenwashing lie to make consumers feel better about their irresponsible consumption.

The recycling you’re talking about is a science fiction trope, and utterly irrelevant here, because we don’t have a way of expending that much energy, let alone generate economically (or ecologically).

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#577

Post by goopypoop »

Hikikomori wrote: post #514
goopypoop wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just a guy abusing his knife to prove he can't fix it using the wrong tool badly

No? The point was to understand what the tool does and when it can help. And he found out that if you have a Burr it can help. But if you have a properly sharpened knife without a Burr it won't do anything to help and will just destroy your edge.

microwaves are useless because they can't toast bread no matter how hard I mash the keypad

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#578

Post by lazide »

aae42 wrote: post #532
lazide wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen people use knives on glass cutting boards and granite countertops (directly). They quickly became… not knives? Pieces of pointed sheet metal? I don’t know, what do you call a previously perfectly fine knife which now is unable to perform any knife like action?

A dull knife

A dull knife can still cut. I’ve run across ones so dull they couldn’t cut clear tape on packages. Literally just grabs the tape and it rips off . Like I used my finger.

At that point, isn’t it more of a prop?

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#579

Post by omnicognate »

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…

Concerns about safety aren't moralising, and this isn't just a "sharper kitchen knife".

First, on sharpness, it takes me about 15 minutes once a week to sharpen my cleaver, two chef's knives, paring knife and breadknife. I could spend another half an hour or so and get them to razor sharpness, but I don't because I don't need or want that level of sharpness for kitchen work. Therefore, while something that eliminates that 15 minute task could be of value to me (though personally I rather enjoy the process), something that provides a sharper edge is not.

Secondly, even if I were to use razor-sharp knives, there's a limit to the damage they will do to my hands in a typical accident. In particular, even a razor sharp knife will usually stop at the bone. I don't know if this knife will because this advert didn't address safety at all, but given ultrasonic knives are used for cleanly cutting through bones in surgery [1] it's reasonable to suspect it might not. Adding to my chef's knives the ability to smoothly pass all the way through my finger would not be an upgrade in my view [2].

Lastly, to raise questions about a product's safety is not "moralising". If I were to say that you shouldn't use this knife because of safety concerns, that could be viewed as a moral position, but I don't care about that at all. You can use chainsaws and flamethrowers in your kitchen for all I care. When I say I would be unlikely to buy this thing without some information on what it will do to my hand in the event of a kitchen accident, that's just a choice I am free to make as a consumer.

[1] https://www.cheersonic.com/portfolio-items/ultrasonic-bone-c...

[2] As it is, I have what seems to be permanent scarring and some loss of sensation on my left thumb from cutting it to the bone with my breadknife a year ago, and my mind replays the trauma every time I pick that knife up. (No, the knife was not blunt. It was brand new at the time, and I've since maintained it to the same level of sharpness it had then, using a ceramic sharpening rod and a whetstone for the tip. The accident was due to me being distracted and positioning my hand incorrectly. And yes, better technique would have prevented it, but I'm not and never will be a trained chef. Had I used this ultrasonic knife I expect I would have taken the end of my thumb off.)

Re: Ultrasonic Chef's Knife

#580

Post by lazide »

IanCal wrote: post #521
lazide wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 migh…

Have you never used a knife like this? I’ve got one that’s been used by people on plates enough that it’s dull - I can press it into my fingers and pull back and forth and it won’t cut me with pretty reasonable pressure. With more pressure if it’s a glancing thing it’ll not take off a knuckle. I’ve just used it so that I could say this but chopping up a cucumber is totally fine and easy. I can’t cut like I can with m…

The ones that bad I ran across couldn’t even cut tape. Like clear, typical tape you’d use on an envelope.

Zero chance of cutting meat, or 90% of vegetables.

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