[Sca-cooks] Another knife question

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach UlfR:
>Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius.magister at verizon.net> 
>[2004.10.19] wrote:
>>  an 8", high-carbon, non-stainless Sabatier chef's knife, which takes
>>  and holds a lovely edge easily, but which has me thumping my knuckles
>>  on the cutting board occasionally -- the heel of the blade is fairly
>>  narrow, maybe 1 3/8 inches, tops. In general, an 8-inch chef's knife
>>  is a good choice for women, who tend to have smaller forearms and
>>  hands then men, all other things being more or less equal.
>
>I actually found a 8" Sabatier that had a sufficiently wide blade that
>is was useable with my hands; I agree that most of them does not share
>this feature. But I've been using the "top" grip quite a bit the last
>few years, making the blade width less of an issue. The grip is made by
>grabbing the blade just front of the handle between the thumb and first
>knucke of the (curled) first finger, and then wrapping the rest of the
>fingers around the handle.  I've seen several pivtures of pros using
>this grip, and like the combination of control and power.

That's true: it gives the user a better feel for where the blade is 
going (kind of like manual steering in an automobile), and it also 
means both greater control and greater safety, since the knife isn't 
rolling around in your grip. But what it means is that when using the 
Sabatiers, I tend to only bruise three knuckles instead of four.

Since this part of the discussion to some extent stems from 
imprecision on my part, I guess we should discuss grip for a bit. I'm 
willing to risk going over material we're all familiar with in our 
sleep if it helps one person. As UlfR mentions, this is the preferred 
grip (at least for a chef's knife) among more experienced cooks. One 
of the things I always get a secret giggle out of in movies and 
television is watching an actor who is clearly unfamiliar with using 
a chef's knife clutching it in his fist and using it in a manner that 
must be cheerfully endorsed by the World Association of Carpal Tunnel 
Surgeons. This involves a stroke of the knife wherein the heel of the 
blade does most of the work, which is as it should be, but the force 
is decreased by either following with the point at some later date 
(essentially absorbing shock by flexing the wrist), or even by using 
the Dread Sawing Motion.

Ideally, though, for chopping and much slicing (depending on what the 
item is), the preferred ideal motion involves keeping the point more 
or less anchored on or near the surface of the cutting board, and 
sliding it about two inches or so from side to side in a sort of 
invisible track, while moving the center and heel of the blade in a 
circular motion that looks a bit like watching the wheels on a 
steam-driven locomotive.

I actually have a book that is a 1913 collection (I used to own two 
editions of the original, but they were lost in a fire, to be 
replaced just  year or two ago by a facsimile of the earlier edition) 
of monthly pages in Popular Mechanics Magazine devoted to children's 
projects (all under the title "The Boy Mechanic"). Somewhere in it, 
there are instructions for driving a narrow staple, like a tiny 
croquet hoop, into your cutting board to hold the point of the knife 
in place, allowing a more mechanically advantageous use of the knife. 
I mention this only to underscore the fact that this kind of blade 
motion has been preferred by serious cooks for quite some time.

Using this type of motion, though, does affect the length of blade 
the user will tend to find most comfortable. As I believe I briefly 
mentioned earlier, many women seem to prefer an 8" blade over a 10" 
blade, and while the weight of the blade is often an issue, another 
is a big change in the arc motion of the hand, by changing the radius 
of that arc.

But as for the Mysterious Barking of the Knuckles, it may simply be 
that Sabatiers, all other things being equal, are made for people 
with smaller hands, and this fact (if it is a fact) might be muddied 
a bit by the grip of a chef's knife, which generally doesn't involve 
all four fingers and the thumb wrapped around the grip.

Adamantius
-- 
"As long as but a hundred of us remain  alive, never will we on any 
conditions be brought under English rule.  It is in truth not for 
glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are  fighting, but for freedom 
-- for that alone, which no honest man gives  up but with life 
itself."
	-- The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
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Holt, 07/29/04