Knife in a toaster. How dangerous?

[Rigamarole]

@gigi

Same as if you pick up a (disease-ridden) feather.

Jack: I’ve picked up feathers off the ground before. Are they really diseased?

[Crafter_Man]

In order to get shocked, the following must happen:

1. The toaster must be on.

2. Using one hand, you must touch the heating element with a metal object.

3. You must be grounded.
   A couple notes:

4. The chassis of a toaster is not grounded. At least this is true for most of them. So as far as #3 goes, touching the chassis of the toaster will not ground you.

5. Q.E.D. stated in his article that the switch is on the “hot” side of the 120 VAC, which means an outlet that is wired backwards will render the heating element electrically “hot” when the toaster is turned off. Excellent point, but this is not universally true. I have seen at least one toaster that uses an SPDT switch to switch the hot and neutral.

[gotpasswords]

@ryobserver

My father made a pair of those too! Two tongue depressors with a small block of wood glued between them at one end, and the tips just far enough apart to fit in the toaster slot. I don’t know what ever happened to them, but I wouldn’t mind having another pair.

If you’ve got a real film-and-darkroom sort of camera store nearby, get some bamboo developing tongs. Pull off the rubber tips and off you go!

Orthese should be OK to use in a toaster that’s been off for a while - they’re heat resistant, but not completely melt-proof!

[panache45]

@MrSquishy

I think the only question that remains is: what about english muffins in England?

Or French toast in France? Or Canadian bacon in Canada? Or India ink in India? Or Mexican jumping beans in Mexico?

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

@MrSquishy

Aha! Thanks, Xema, I meant to ask whether it is only dangerous if the toaster is on (i.e. toasting). So really, I don’t have to unplug as long as I’m careful not to hit the plunger while the knife is in there?

In my toaster, the heating element stays on until it pops up. If something jams inside it, it won’t pop up, so the element would still be live. And it’s only when something is jammed in it that you need to use a knife to try to extract it.

There are lots of cheap wooden or plastic tongs available in stores. Get a set, and hang it near the toaster.

Plunging a knife inside the toaster can also break the element wire, wrecking your toaster.

[spingears]

@MrSquishy

How close am I coming to death every weekend trying to free my stuck english muffin?

The practice is a very close kin of Russian Roulette!

[yabob]

Hmmm. I just use the knife. However, I also watch what I’m doing. I’m not the most coordinated person in the world, but a toaster slot is large enough that is quite easy to manuever a knife around in it and touch only the stuck bread item. It seems to me that I’d have to go stabbing wildly at it to touch the heater elements.

[Waenara]

Wikipedia on english muffins:

The origin is somewhat unclear. Instructions for cooking a similar flat bread have existed since at least 1747, although credit for the phrase “English muffin” is often given to Samuel Bath Thomas, an English baker who emigrated to New York and began producing his “muffins” around 1880. The Merriam-Webster dictionary, however, gives the phrase’s origin as 1902.

Until the recent arrival of U.S. style “raised” muffins, the word muffin was used in England without modification. When Bertie Wooster eats muffins, he is eating English muffins. The situation has become more complex now that raised muffins have entered the scene, and the word muffin might be used in either context, with the U.S. version slowly taking over.

and

Because of their cooking style and the composition of their dough, some, most notably Alton Brown, argue that English muffins are in fact biscuits. They do not propose that anything be changed, however.