another example of "people are too stupid to do things"?

[Alpo]

When I was a wee little boy, when we would have a turkey or a ham, Daddy would get out the carving set. A big slicing knife. A meat fork with a folding guard on the back of it. And a sharpening steel.

 

Before he would start carving the meat, he would take the knife and work it on the steel for a while. He would hold the steel by the handle and draw the blade down the steel toward his hand. Never saw him cut himself.

 

I have used a sharpening steel off and on since I was about 20. And I have always drawn the knife down the steel toward my hand. Never cut myself.

 

I have watched other people use a steel - in movies and in real life. They always drew the blade down the steel toward their hand. Never saw anyone get cut.

 

I was just over at Amazon pricing a new steel. And they have pictures showing how to do it.

 

 

Apparently you are now supposed to push the blade away from your hand. So you don't cut yourself.

 

Has there been a rash of people cutting themselves while sharpening their knives that I was unaware of?

[Subdeacon Joe]

It's called covering their butts.

"The commercials showed sharpening towards yourself,  so that's what I did! I nicked myself and saw two drops of blood!  You need to pay me $10,000,000 for my trauma!"

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Different ways to do the same thing. Those who do it once a year are best doing as in the picture. It’s easiest to maintain a consistent angle.

 

Those who have done it professionally can do as they wish. Others take heed.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Proof that stupid people are still trying to legislate stupidity out of existence.  I hope they succeed so they, too will vanish.

[Pat Riot]

Drawing a sharp knife towards yourself is stupid. 
 

Just like the 4 rules of gun safety there should be rules for knife safety.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

When I worked in a packing plant many many years ago, the men who worked the killing floor, worked their steels away from their bodies. There was plenty of room.

 

The men who worked the boning room were nearly shoulder to shoulder with others, not so much room. They worked their steels toward their bodies, less likely to catch a neighbor’s hand.

 

16 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

Drawing a sharp knife towards yourself is stupid. 
 

Just like the 4 rules of gun safety there should be rules for knife safety.

[Alpo]

How do y'all sharpen a knife?

 

You are supposed to push it towards the stone, as if you are cutting into the stone. That gives you a better edge than drawing it backwards across the stone. So I hold the stone in my left hand, and I have the knife in my right hand, and I cut into the stone pushing it away from myself. That sharpens the left side of the blade. Now I wish to sharpen on the right side of the blade. Do I change hands and hold the knife in my left hand now so I still push it away from me?

 

No. I do like I've been doing since I learned to sharpen the knife when I was 9 or 10. I pull it towards me.

 

If you should never pull a sharp knife towards you, how do you sharpen? Because you're supposed to sharpen on both sides of the blade.

[Pat Riot]

25 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

When I worked in a packing plant many many years ago, the men who worked the killing floor, worked their steels away from their bodies. There was plenty of room.

 

The men who worked the boning room were nearly shoulder to shoulder with others, not so much room. They worked their steels toward their bodies, less likely to catch a neighbor’s hand.

 

They were professionals. I knew some guys that worked in those plants. One in particular had hands that were scarred from many cuts. Though he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Pun intended. 
 

My comment was more toward the occasional user. Anyone that frequently uses a knife will cut themselves. I can’t tell you how many dozens of times that I have cut myself, but why risk it by sharpening a knife you use a couple times a year and a sharpening method more designed for show at the table where you are about to serve meat? It seems absolutely ridiculous to me. 
One slip and you’re cut and your blood may have just ruined dinner. 
I have seen it twice in my life. 

 

 

[Pat Riot]

7 minutes ago, Alpo said:

How do y'all sharpen a knife?

 

You are supposed to push it towards the stone, as if you are cutting into the stone. That gives you a better edge than drawing it backwards across the stone. So I hold the stone in my left hand, and I have the knife in my right hand, and I cut into the stone pushing it away from myself. That sharpens the left side of the blade. Now I wish to sharpen on the right side of the blade. Do I change hands and hold the knife in my left hand now so I still push it away from me?

 

No. I do like I've been doing since I learned to sharpen the knife when I was 9 or 10. I pull it towards me.

 

If you should never pull a sharp knife towards you, how do you sharpen? Because you're supposed to sharpen on both sides of the blade.

When I used stones I learned to lay the stone flat on a bench or table sitting perpendicular to me. To sharpen the right side the knife is pointed away from me and drawn to the left across the stone. To sharpen the left side do the opposite. 
You may need to set the stone at a slight angle for sharpening each side. 
 

Now I use the Lansky sharpening system. 

[Rip Snorter]

I can sharpen with steel or stone. I believe, and taught my kids, that the price of using a knife often and well, "speaking knife", was the occasional cut.  Maybe once a year.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

I'm with Pat Riot!

Lansky!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

i ues a low speed turning wheel, jigged to produce the desired angle. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

The method shown in the original post is taught in culinary schools.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

A steel does not sharpen a knife.

[Texas Joker]

26 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

A steel does not sharpen a knife.

It dresses the edge and returns it to peak sharpness. 

 

Potato potato

[Alpo]

Never said it did.

 

The statement was made about how foolish it was to draw a knife towards you. When sharpening on a stone you have to draw a knife towards you. So I asked how y'all people sharpen, since you're not supposed to draw and I have towards you.

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

12 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

It dresses the edge and returns it to peak sharpness. 

 

Potato potato

Less than peak. Eventually the knife must be sharpened.

[WD Farren]

I suppose this isn't any different than the noob who learns the hard way, to not place his support hand around the barrel-cylinder gap of a revolver.
Especially a large caliber revolver.

 

Darwin Award were created for a reason.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

52 minutes ago, WD Farren said:

I suppose this isn't any different than the noob who learns the hard way, to not place his support hand around the barrel-cylinder gap of a revolver.
Especially a large caliber revolver.

 

Darwin Award were created for a reason.

Or behind the slide….

[Subdeacon Joe]

For maybe 40 years I've "cut" away from myself when using a steel, that's if I do it unsupported. For about 30 years I've rested the point of the steel on the block as shown in the OP.

 

But, at home I most often use

 

 

that one of my brothers gave me in 1980.  No hand guard,  only one set of holes.  Now most have 2 or 3 pairs of sticks, several different sets of holes,  and some sort of handguard.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

8 hours ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

I'm with Pat Riot!

Lansky!

 

4 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

For maybe 40 years I've "cut" away from myself when using a steel, that's if I do it unsupported. For about 30 years I've rested the point of the steel on the block as shown in the OP.

 

But, at home I most often use

 

 

that one of my brothers gave me in 1980.  No hand guard,  only one set of holes.  Now most have 2 or 3 pairs of sticks, several different sets of holes,  and some sort of handguard.

Mine is a Lansky with two angles and two sets of rods.

[Blackwater 53393]

9 hours ago, Alpo said:

How do y'all sharpen a knife?

 

You are supposed to push it towards the stone, as if you are cutting into the stone. That gives you a better edge than drawing it backwards across the stone. So I hold the stone in my left hand, and I have the knife in my right hand, and I cut into the stone pushing it away from myself. That sharpens the left side of the blade. Now I wish to sharpen on the right side of the blade. Do I change hands and hold the knife in my left hand now so I still push it away from me?

 

No. I do like I've been doing since I learned to sharpen the knife when I was 9 or 10. I pull it towards me.

 

If you should never pull a sharp knife towards you, how do you sharpen? Because you're supposed to sharpen on both sides of the blade.

 

I dunno… put the knife in the other hand???  🙄

[Alpo]

26 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

 

I dunno… put the knife in the other hand???  🙄

 

10 hours ago, Alpo said:

Do I change hands and hold the knife in my left hand now so I still push it away from me?

I suggested that.

[Blackwater 53393]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

 

I suggested that.

Is kinda simple as a solution.  Boy Scouts and machine shop classes both taught me to point the sharp edge away!!

 

I spent most of my adult life in environments where EVERYTHING can injure you.  The more I learned about it, the fewer chances I took where safety is concerned.

 

And if I’m carrying a knife, it’s probably sharp enough to shave with.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

20 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

And if I’m carrying a knife, it’s probably sharp enough to shave with.

IF?!?!? If I'm wearing pants, (and I mean if I'm dressed for the day, and NOT for bed. Get your mind out of my gutter.), I have at least 3 knives on me. If I'm out of the house I also have a gun, and a fourth knife because I have a small knife fastened to the outside of my boot. 

[Mossy Horn Gent]

Remember when you opened the hood to your truck there were instructions about spark plug firing order and gap, timing the distributor and points gap. Now there are stickers that warn people not to stick their hand in the fan or moving parts.

[Blackwater 53393]

I don’t generally carry a knife!!  I have given a couple away to people who definitely didn’t want them…

[Sedalia Dave]

19 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

I don’t generally carry a knife!!  I have given a couple away to people who definitely didn’t want them…

 

Pointy end first? 🤣

[Blackwater 53393]

31 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Pointy end first? 🤣