Max writes in: “While cutting lemon grass – yes, lemon grass, the blade of my knife snapped off in a clean shear from the handle. Keep in mind there is no bone in lemon grass.”
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The guy probably didn’t use the knife correctly.
As in, tried to use it like a butcher’s knife and tried to chop it.
I once bought a brand new can opener. It broke on the first can I tried to open. Of course, I did buy it at the dollar store.
To me there are two faults. It definitely appears that the knife itself may have been badly manufactured and the steel not hardened sufficiently.
But I also put some blame on the OP in that if you’re torquing the knife so much that it breaks like that:
1) You’re not using proper form on the knife
2) The knife is so dull you have to use force to cut
The sharper the knife, the safer it is. Most knife accidents (not intentional stabbings
) are because people are using too much force while cutting because their knives are so dull. Keep your knives sharp and you’ll be a better and safer cook.
Next up: my rubber scraper melted to my gas grill when i tried to turn my steaks!!
YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG! this is the wrong knife for the job, period. Blame the operator, not the tool. You cannot possibly make that cut with that knife without twisting the blade handle in the wrong direction. GET A CHEF’S KNIFE AND APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR INTEMPERATE COMPLAINING. Also, learn how to cook, which includes learning what kitchen tools are suited to which jobs. (go isotopes!)
This is why you want a knife with a tang the part of the knife that extends into the blade) that extends the full length.
Usually, when a knife is made this way, you can actually see this when you look along the top of the knife and see that the blade extends continually past the cutting part and into the handle.
Of course, the KitchenAid knife may have had that and broken anyway, in which case have no idea why wheatgrass proved to be such a formidable adversary, but a tang that extends the entire length of the knife is one sign of quality in a knife.
@clickable:
I can’t tell if this is a really deft troll or not. Just in case it isn’t:
1) From the picture, the blade in question is obviously a full-tang blade, just as you describe. Besides, full-tang or stick-tang wouldn’t have mattered in this case because the blade snapped forward of the bolster. Now, given that I know the cost of a knife like this, I’m willing to bet that this knife had a welded bolster and not a forged bolster, and that COULD introduce a stressor that could cause this failure if the weld was dirty. But as I said nothing in the tang or scales (the wood “grips”) failed, so this isn’t a “tang” issue.
2) Wheatgrass shouldn’t ever be much of an adversary, but LEMONgrass is a completely different animal. Think (slightly) edible bamboo, and you’ll have a better idea of the consistency.
Count me among the “Wrong tool for the job” crowd. A paring knife is not meant to be used on the board, and it certainly isn’t meant to be “leaned into”. Cheap steel, poor heat-treating, whatever, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if any “correctly” made paring knife wouldn’t fail under the same circumstances.
Anyone who is confused about this stuff, please take 10 minutes to watch Alton Brown’s take on the subject:
Maybe time to step up to a ka-bar.
It seems to me that knives should be properly hardened and not break. I know metalurgy is complex and the knife manufacture has to be harden the steal enough, but not too much or it won’t keep an edge. But it’s their job, especially a company like Kitchen Aid that developed a brand name based on quality.
I think the comments about improper knife technique are way off base. I use the hell out of my chefs knife every day, I don’t know how much it costs and I still expect it won’t break while I’m cutting vegetables. And I torque the heck out of the blade every time I smash garlic, which is pretty often.
The only proper knife technique I’ve every heard of is to make sure the food get cuts up and not the cook; make sure the food is held down firmly on the cutting board(so it won’t roll) and cut away from you. If you or your family are hungry it helps to cut more quickly. A sharp knife is safer and faster to work with.
Other then that I don’t know what everyone’s comments about inproper knife technique or using the wrong knife has to do with some poor schmuck breaking a piece of steal on a vegetable (OK it was a hard vegetable).
@HaxRomana: But…Mickey Mouse is for kids…and a knife is not for kids…what kind of product IS that?
@AlteredBeast: A product that wasn’t mine. That’s all I can really say.
That’s what you get for eating lemongrass, hippies!
I have had my Ginsu knives for 15 years and they still cut open tin cans!!!!
Once, the serrated blade on my Leatherman Wave did this very thing.
I was really bearing down on it at the time (don’t remember what I was cutting, it was years ago), and the blade snapped right off and went flying across the room. It didn’t stick into anything or hurt anything, but it sure could have.
There was no lateral pressure in the case of my Leatherman, there was jut straight-down pressure, but a lot of it, and that was enough for the hard, tempered steel of that particular blade.
Leatherman cheerfully replaced it, and I haven’t had one of their blades snap since.
That’s why I always buy Chicago Cutlery. Yup.