# Sharpness question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910 "2015-11-18T19:53:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/41 "2015-11-19T22:11:23Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Just as aside, I’ve noticed the same thing with my bow saws. They’re just your basic garden tool, but they’ve got some kind of wonder steel that will zip through log after log and stays sharp. Meanwhile, I’ve got pocket knives that need sharpening if I use them to open the mail. Saw teeth are hardened, and of course they are serrated edge, so they’ll continue to cut well even if the points aren’t particularly sharp. But they cut raggedly as well. Serrated knives will be the same. Super-stainless steel serrated knives last years without sharpening but don’t slice cleanly and have to work by sliding the edge after the teeth begin to dull. Hey guys, don’t get a mandolin that doesn’t have a food holder to protect your fingers. Do the same with a kitchen slicer also. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/42 "2015-11-19T22:18:42Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Speaking of harps. They are a big-ass mandoline, eh? Makes wicked French fries. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/43 "2015-11-20T00:19:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Why would anyone want to slice up a mandolin? Depends on who plays it. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/44 "2015-11-20T00:32:07Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > My co-worker’s wife cut off a fingertip using a mandoline. Lots and lots of blood and they couldn’t re-attach the bit that was cut off. They did reconstructive surgery using some kind of cellulose material. The wound is tricky enough that she’s not allowed to replace the bandages by herself–she has to go to the hospital to have it done by nurses. Not fun. Mandolines are dangerous as hell in this regard. I’ve almost done the same thing several times. The problem is you go through the vegetables so quickly and effortlessly that you’re down into the danger zone before you realize it. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that because so much of the vegetable remains by the time your fingers get to blade level you don’t realize you’re fingers are approaching the blade. I’m always super careful when using a mandoline and always make sure to employ the vegetable gripper once the item being cut is small enough for the gripper to hold it in place. ETA: I much prefer the mandoline spelling to differentiate the cutting tool from the musical instrument. I see nothing at all wrong with a spelling that serves to make that distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/45 "2015-11-20T01:37:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Good old Don Martin. Thanks, I remember that cartoon from the mists of my past. Yikes! I just realized that cartoon is from _fifty-five years ago!_ **TriPolar** , we’re showing our age here. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/46 "2015-11-20T01:40:19Z")
That black plastic piece in the picture that **UDS** posted ([here it is again](http://howyouglow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JapaneseMandoline.jpg)) – Is that a vegetable gripper? If so, it isn’t really obvious. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Mandolines are dangerous as hell in this regard. I’ve almost done the same thing several times. Way to get some protein in your diet. > [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Speaking of harps. They are a big-ass mandoline, eh? The harp is more a big-ass hard-boiled ostrich egg slicer. Look at that mandoline pic again. It looks more like a miniature guillotine. And according to several of the above posts, it functions so, too. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/47 "2015-11-20T01:47:27Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > That black plastic piece in the picture that **UDS** posted ([here it is again](http://howyouglow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JapaneseMandoline.jpg)) – Is that a vegetable gripper? If so, it isn’t really obvious. It has metal prongs on the underside to spear the food and hold it in place. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/48 "2015-11-20T06:07:22Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Just as aside, I’ve noticed the same thing with my bow saws. They’re just your basic garden tool, but they’ve got some kind of wonder steel that will zip through log after log and stays sharp. Meanwhile, I’ve got pocket knives that need sharpening if I use them to open the mail. 1. sharp enough to saw wood isn’t knife sharp. 2. Nothing will dull a blade like cutting paper. Seriously, that’s some bad juju. Okay, sure, grinding it against concrete is probably worse, but remember how your mom would freak out when you used her fabric shears to cut paper? That’s why. (They were my Dad’s fabric shears in my case, but we had a weird household.) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/49 "2015-11-20T12:50:55Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > My co-worker’s wife cut off a fingertip using a mandoline. Lots and lots of blood and they couldn’t re-attach the bit that was cut off. They did reconstructive surgery using some kind of cellulose material. The wound is tricky enough that she’s not allowed to replace the bandages by herself–she has to go to the hospital to have it done by nurses. Not fun. I almost took the tip of my right thumb off with one. The doc at the emergency room glued it back on with some type of super glue. I did lose the piece of the nail that was sliced off though. [QUOTE=Senegoid] Okay, here’s a picture of the fancy potato slicing I saw done by a County Fair Swedish Chef using a hand-held mandoline-like device, that I suppose probably really was some kind of mandoline. Picture – with recipe – taken from this blogspot, with directions that do in fact say to use a mandoline (note spelling). So, my question still: Does this device actually work well, and easily, for slicing potatoes? (ETA: If yes, I want one!) [/QUOTE] Very easy if you have wave slicer, one came with my mandolin. Set it to the thinner slicing mode and rotate the spud 90 degrees with each pass. Waffle fries are very popular with my grandkids when they eat at my place. I have had mine about 20 years, bought it at the Puyallup fair, and it still works great. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharpness-question/737910/51 "2016-07-08T09:00:16Z")
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