KitchenAid Knives Are No Match For Lemon Grass
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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Comments:
A lot of hardened steel knives can snap if you torque them the wrong way. A little sideways force could snap a smaller knife. You'd be prying the tough lemongrass fibers apart lengthwise, after all.
That said, it's probably also due to bad (overzealous) heat treating at the factory. Or maybe Max has been using his knife to stir hot coals or something? :-)
I'd have to ask a mechanical or materials engineer, but to me it looks like the knife was bent and snapped at the handle, due to pulling the handle the wrong way. It does not look like the knife broke from proper usage.
Now the question is: is this a brand new knife, and did he handle it properly? Alternatively, is this an old knife that he has abused over the years?
Kitchen Aid Customer Care: (800) 541-6390 (8-8 est)
From: [www.kitchenaid.com]
If the knife was under 1 year old, you can get a new one free of charge. If not, I suggest playing on their hatred of lemon grass.
@nicemarmot617: This definitely isn't enough to make me think that KitchenAid is a lousy brand. Sure, they might not be perfect, but they're better than average (Maytag, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Kenmore, Amana, etc...). I have had several years of flawless functionality out of my KithcenAid stand mixer.
@Bakkster_Man: Without further info like age and looking closeup at the fracture surface it's hard to say what happened. Could have been a fatigue crack, and inclusion in the metal, anything.
I have a Kitchen-aid knife about the same size but it has the bigger Japanese style blade. It has a hair line crack in the blade. I blamed it on other people in the house who insist on using it to cut blocks of cheese. The knife was probably not meant for that kind of use and torque.
I bought it because it was cheap and because other people in my house do stupid things with knives like trying to cut blocks of cheese with them. I don't want to spend a huge amount of money just to have it ruined.
Too small of a knife for lemongrass, and I would wager that you inadvertently torqued the blade while it was sunken it at the hilt. Usually, your should remove the tough outer husks, split the lemongrass lengthwise, and then use a large chef's knife or cleaver to chop them into the desired lengths.
I'm sorry to see that you broke a knife, but this happenstance is hardly a consumer issue.
Wow, Kitchen Aid's full-tang, triple rivet construction is no match for the Lemon Grass! Probably some freaky metal-stress related to the carbon steel being too brittle.
I'm just glad it didn't fly off at some odd angle and end up embedded in the OP's neck. Although, that might have made an even better photo.
@Rectilinear Propagation: It's pretty inedibly tough in the outer layers when raw. It's kind of like cutting through a less-brittle cinnamon stick with a soft center. Think trimming a slender tree branch rather than cutting a vegetable.
For one thing it looks like it wasn't being held correctly for chopping/slicing. You need to have your thumb and forefinger gripping the blade near the hilt. Don't just palm the whole handle. Too much pressure applied at the wrong point. (Not that the blade SHOULD snap, just saying the right grip helps.)
@Bakkster_Man: It looks pretty new to me. Probably a weaker bit of steel near the handle.
This kind of thing rarely happens, though. Now I'm worried CutCo will start showing these pics to people they're trying to swindle :(
Well, as long as you aren't going to use your fridge to cut lemon grass, you should be okay.
@sir_eccles: It also looks like part of the knife is a little thin to handle the stresses one would expect at that point.
@bohemian: I've actually broken a couple of knives cutting through cheese. it takes a lot of downward pressure, and most people don't put pressure on both sides (or use a knife too small to do so).
Also it could have been over-hardened during manufacturing resulting in weakness in the blade (but boy would it hold an edge forever).
I am periodically surprised by the things that snap: alternator shafts that turn freely after being reinstalled with new bearings, only to snap like a piece of celery hours later; camshafts in thoroughly broken-in engines; fanjet turbine shafts after swallowing a goose - OK, that one's not so surprising. Anyway, a cheap knife is not going to be X-rayed looking for metallurgical flaws before it's packaged up.
@Bakkster_Man: Was the original poster cutting or chopping? Chopping could lead to fatigue. As sir_eccles said, a closeup of the fracture will tell us.
@bohemian: i hope you have learned your lesson about having nice things in a shared household. if there is a way for someone to ruin something, it's almost certain that they will.
cheapo knives and pans! you don't get as mad at housemates...trust me
I've had similar Kitchenaid knives, and there's nothing wrong with their design, assuming they haven't changed in the 5 years I've had mine. In fact, my wife and I have since acquired two other brands of knives (moved in together, got wedding presents) and I refuse to use the other knives.
In general, I've always been really happy with Kitchenaid products. If this is an even possible scenario (breaking a knife cross-plane on lemongrass), I'd be surprised if it was anything beyond an extreeemely isolated incident.
@Rectilinear Propagation: It's sort of like those plastic-y bands that are sometimes wrapped around a shipping box. Very fibrous, very tough and pretty hard to cut through.
@BerniceMelbourne: I've been wondering since I started reading Consumerist a few weeks ago what exactly constitutes a consumer issue.
@pegr:
Submitter wasn't trying to cut lemon grass from across the room, right?
Dammit, is that what I'm doing wrong?
@pegr: Must be the same steel my garlic press was made from. It broke from (what else?) a clove of garlic. Luckily I'd only had it a few weeks & getting a refund was really easy.


















Looks like a batch of bad steel. You'd think this would have been caught in testing.
Submitter wasn't trying to cut lemon grass from across the room, right?