Kitchen knives too thin?

weo

weo

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Sep 21, 2014
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Hello all. I've got some of my damascus kitchen slicers for sale at the blacksmith booth at the Washington State Fair. The main reason that people haven't wanted to buy one of them is that they say they're too thin. Huh???
My spine thicknesses run between .092" -> .084" at the heel, tapering down to about .050 at the tip. I thought kitchen slicers were supposed to be thin.
Any suggestions on how I should respond to these folks?
 
Is it possible for you to give on site demos of cutting vegies, tomatos, potatos, onions, carrots, and meat? Or even let folks try one of your knives there?
 
Let's see, What about if you try something like:

"...because they cut more smoothly with less pressure, and they give you a cleaner cut,
so you can work faster and better with a lighter knife.
Actually, By far the most striking trend in the world of knife enthusiast is the surge of interest in those specific knives,
whose thinner, harder blades have become the professional standard in the best restaurant kitchens. Warning! Knives are Extremely sharp."

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/dining/when-a-knife-is-the-gleam-in-a-cooks-eye.html

 
Last edited:
Make thicker knives?

Mountain bikes replaced road bikes for general riding because "people" think knobbie tires are more secure, when, in fact, they're worse on pavement.

"People" buy SUVs because they think higher equals safer, when, in fact, the opposite is true.

I'm not sure it's possible to educate the public.

I sold bikes with road tests. Perhaps set up a cutting board with your thin knife and a thicker knife and a pile of potatoes?
 
I always have some celery, carrots, and several tomatoes on my table with a cutting board. I invite customers to pick up an 8" chefs knife which is .09" thick at the spine. I invite them to notice how light it is and explain the lightness is because if you spend all morning cutting with the typical French or German chefs knife your wrist will be so sore and tired you won't be able to move it. It is still thick enough not to bend easily and the edge, at .003" with a 10* per side bevel, falls through veggies. Once they try the knife and understand why it is so thin, they usually become believer.
 
pinnah said:
Make thicker knives?

Mountain bikes replaced road bikes for general riding because "people" think knobbie tires are more secure, when, in fact, they're worse on pavement.

"People" buy SUVs because they think higher equals safer, when, in fact, the opposite is true.

I'm not sure it's possible to educate the public.

I sold bikes with road tests. Perhaps set up a cutting board with your thin knife and a thicker knife and a pile of potatoes?
Click to expand...
While the laws of physics dictate that in a crash between mismatched vehicles, the lighter one takes the brunt of the impact, this study shows just how unequal the contest is.
In car vs. SUV head-on crashes, the study found that the odds of death were 7.6 times higher for the car driver than the SUV driver. In crashes where the car had a better front crash-test rating than the SUV did, the car's driver fared a bit better but was still four and a half times more likely to die than the SUV driver
 
A slicing knife should be thin and lack height, to have low friction and slide through meat. Boneless meat - carving knives are for meat with one large bone, like a roast. With something that soft thickness is to no advantage.
A thick knife just makes for more work and therefore torn slices. Wedging through something that doesn't need to be forced.
And if people don't understand when you explain, you have a long day on your hands.
 
Makael said:
While the laws of physics dictate that in a crash between mismatched vehicles, the lighter one takes the brunt of the impact, this study shows just how unequal the contest is.
In car vs. SUV head-on crashes, the study found that the odds of death were 7.6 times higher for the car driver than the SUV driver. In crashes where the car had a better front crash-test rating than the SUV did, the car's driver fared a bit better but was still four and a half times more likely to die than the SUV driver
Click to expand...

Large to mid sized cars cause fewer deaths than SUVs it would seem.

https://www.accessmagazine.org/fall-2002/suvs-really-safer-cars/
 
As a former butcher, and present cook, hunter, and fisherman I detest thick knives in most applications for the obvious advantages posted by a few on this thread...the marketing and demo video of usage is your ticket!
 
Larrin said:
Either you need a better sales pitch or you need to sell knives somewhere other than the State Fair.
Click to expand...
^^^^^ This. You need to identify your target consumer and then fish where the fish are. Your knives sound more upscale for a sophisticated consumer. When I think of State Fairs I don’t think of upscale sophisticated consumer.
 
donutburger.jpg
rascalsduo-450x337.jpg
 
I think others have hit it on the head. Your customer base at these venues aren't looking for performance. They are looking for toughness.

My guess is that they have a drawer full of semi-sharp war clubs. They might have a pull through carbide sharpener to hog off some steel for a rudimentary edge. Anything thin is seen as weak. You can't abuse a thinner knife like you can a thicker one, obviously.

I really like a thinner blade for most cutting purposes. I don't own any super high end kitchen knives, but I keep my Shuns honed and stropped and polished. For all our anxiety about how tough our edc folders are, most of us who cook regularly use our kitchen knives far more often.
 
(inspired by the above pic) I would be horrible, and say something along the lines of "If you actually were someone who uses a knife in the kitchen to prep food, you would not be complaining 'it's too thin'. Your diet likely consists of 50% takeout and 50% microwave TV dinners. Move along, unless you really intend to change your ways & actually cook"
 
weo said:
?..The main reason that people haven't wanted to buy one of them is that they say they're too thin....
I thought kitchen slicers were supposed to be thin.
Any suggestions on how I should respond to these folks?
Click to expand...
Tell them a narrower spine means less resistance hence a lesser downward force to make the cut.
Then Just ask them which would slice cheese better
A thick toggle rope?
SAM_5420.jpg

Or a piano wire cheese slicer?
76433-2.jpg

Proceed to cut cheese with your product as proof ;-)
Good luck with the sales pitch.
 
As said, the bulk of general consumers have no clue about what makes a good knife.

The combination of the Damascus and the thin grind probably screams, "FANCY SCHMANCY" to them and they think they're just too high-end and delicate and they'll just ruin them. Pretty to look at but I would just destroy it kind of thing.

If you want to have a shot with them, then education is the key. Signs that read, "THIN CUTS!" and that kind of thing to lure them in and then as said, some demo's to show them how they work.

Do your blades allow for much lateral flex? If so, showing that the can bend a little and not break or stay that way might help too.
 
Makael said:
While the laws of physics dictate that in a crash between mismatched vehicles, the lighter one takes the brunt of the impact, this study shows just how unequal the contest is.
In car vs. SUV head-on crashes, the study found that the odds of death were 7.6 times higher for the car driver than the SUV driver. In crashes where the car had a better front crash-test rating than the SUV did, the car's driver fared a bit better but was still four and a half times more likely to die than the SUV driver
Click to expand...

Who is more likely to avoid the accident in the first place? My money is on the guy with the shorter braking distance, ability to accelerate away from a potential collision, and the guy with the more nimble vehicle that can do a controlled swerve to avoid it. Generally, though there are exceptions, those points go to cars rather than SUVs and trucks.

As for the OP, a fair is just the wrong venue to sell high end slicing kitchen knives. You’d make a killing selling OXO knives though.
 
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