knife sharpener.com
Independent, accurate and unbiased information about kitchen knives used for the preparation of food
and how to sharpen them and keep them sharp
How do you tell when a knife is sharp ?
There are many ways to tell if a knife is sharp. Some ways are dangerous, some are weird, some give uncertain answers. Here are the best four ways to tell if a kitchen knife is sharp.
oBy sight
oBy testing the ‘bite ‘ on a sheet of paper
oBy testing the ‘bite ‘ on a tomato
oBy testing the ‘bite ‘ with a tissue
Testing the sharpness by sight
Stand under a light or in front of a window. Hold the knife horizontal with the cutting edge facing up and the tip of the blade pointing away from you. Gently and slowly rock the knife like a see-saw and look at the cutting edge straight on. If you see a thin line of reflected light along the edge, then you know that the knife is not sharp
Testing the ‘ bite’ with a sheet of paper
A sharp knife cuts into to a surface easily and almost ‘eagerly’. It is something like the way a magnet jumps onto a sheet of steel. Although this magnetic-like attraction has nothing to do with the magnetism of the steel in the blade, a sharp cutting edge feels like it is drawn into the surface it is cutting.
Hold a sheet of photocopier paper vertically by gripping the top edge with the tip of your thumb and index finger. About half an inch away from where you are holding the paper, use the knife to make a slicing vertical cut. A sharp knife will make a clean cut; a blunt knife will tear the page.
A more demanding test is to use a sheet of paper from a newspaper, because that paper is more flexible.
Testing the ‘ bite’ with a tissue
Roll a tissue tightly into a cylinder the thickness of a pencil. Make a slicing cut across the cylinder with the knife. A sharp knife will cut through many layers of the tissue with virtually no pressure. A moderately sharp knife will only cut through a few layers of the tissue.
Knife blade shapes
Knife blades and their shapes or profiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade
Knife discussion
Knife and blade forum and huge archive
About kitchen knives
Useful information about kitchen knives
http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1075/types-of-kitchen-knives.asp
Types of knives
Info about Western and Japanese kitchen knives