"Tim" > wrote in message
...
>I have been sharpening my knives recently but am wondering just how
> sharp I have made them. My cook knife still need a small forward/back
> motion before it glides through the a grape. I was hoping it might
> just drop through the grape skin almost under its own weight but this
> doesn't happen. Is my knife edge still dull ?

Not necessarily. The way a knife works requires some sliding movement. After
all it is a knife and not a chisel! I will never forget the demonstration of
this that my high school physics teacher gave us. He (very carefully)
pressed a single edge razor blade against his thumb without any side to side
motion and it did not cut him at all. When a knife appears to just fall thru
something you can be sure there is at least a small perhaps not visible
amount of sliding going on. My favorite test of a knife is whether it will
cut thin slices from a ripe tomato under its own weight.


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm