I know it’s not what you’re looking for, but youtuber This Old Tony made an ultrasonic knife. For a DIY project, it worked pretty well. It did, at least his knife did, require the object he was cutting to have some rigidity so it didn’t vibrate with the knife (kinda like a saw for cutting off a cast).
That video is mostly bullshit. Yes, ultrasonic cutting devices are used in commercial food processing for consistency but not in the way that a chef’s knife is used, and usually with frozen foods or slabs of firm meat. It is possible that the ultrasonic motion might help prevent some foods from sticking to the face of the blade (I’m dubious about warm butter) but the finite element animation of the vibrating blade (starting at 2:23) and the description of the system “producing shockwaves with enough energy that the metal of the blade itself stretches and contracts” [emphasis of the narrator] is one of those statements that is technically true insofar as any shock or vibration will cause some response from a physical material but is of such a minuscule effect as to not matter.
The blade itself is made from VG-10 that is used in a lot of plastic-handled commercial kitchen knives but is nothing special and I can tell by looking that the ergonomics of the blockish handle and the activation button are poor. The blade is by necessity just a stub tang (i.e.the metal that forms the tang is only slightly longer than the sharpened edge instead of having a full length tang going the length of the handle) which males it less resilient in regular use and will probably just break at some point. In general, the video is a bunch of marketing hype in that video about how amazing his product is and how bad ‘traditional knives’ are in comparisonthat isn’t really grounded in fact. But at least it isn’t a CornBaller.
I’d save your money and instead just buy a decent diamond honing stone or sharpening kit to tune up your knives every few weeks which will take you a couple of minutes per blade.
I’d be irresistibly compelled to feel the blade edge while it’s vibrating to feel how sharp it is, and would slice open my finger. It should come with a coupon for one free ER visit.
I have to agree with Stranger above. The video is mostly gimmicks - who cuts goat cheese with a chef’s knife? Who cares about the patterns if you cover it in salt? - and bad technique, if you use a sharp knife on a tomato you can just pull it towards you a bit to start the cut easily. And no matter what, that knife is going to dull over time and need sharpening, at best you’ll just be able to put it off a bit because you can get away with a duller knife due to the ultrasonics
For 1/3 of the price, you can buy a good chef’s knife with much better ergonomics. And for 3/4 of the price, you can buy a fantastic chef’s knife that will outperform that one in every way.
Next, a DOD Ludicrous-Power Tactical Laser For The Kitchen! Cut that Thanksgiving turkey in perfect slices. No need to cook beforehand, the laser does that!
Yeah, a good quality chef knife if properly sharpened can cut through meats and vegetables with very little effort. You don’t need the latest technological fad to do it.
Every once in a while someone else comes up with a new super knife that will do it all. I remember when my parents bought an electric knife, where the twin blades scissored back and forth to carve your roast. I’ve been using some version of a chef’s knife for the last 60 years without a problem. As someone pointed out, buy a steel or a stone and hone it from time to time and Bob’s yer uncle.
Please don’t misunderstand - I have some okay knives that I keep reasonably sharp with my Work Sharp tool. But to me, knives that must be sharpened every now and then is a bit like LP records that must be cleaned. After a while I’ll get tired of cleaning records and just go with CDs.
The cheese bit was especially interesting as my wire cheese cutter broke and I recently had to cut a zillion slices of fresh mozz for pizza, and using an actual knife for that is a pain.
The salt thing is just a demo to skeptics to prove that knife is actually doing something.
At the $400 price I won’t be buying this at all, but if it’s got any real value at all the knife might be around for a while and the price will have to come down.
As I said, I would like to try this thing (or see a bunch of honest reviews) and see how much is overblown hype.
Take the balls of fresh mozzarella, dry them with a clean linen towel, and put them on a tray in the freezer for 20-30 minutes (long enough for them to firm up but not to frostburn). Take them out and slice them with a fillet knife to get them as thin as you like.
Oh, there is no question that the knife is “actually doing something”. It is just that what it is doing is not materially improving its food cutting ability; instead it is neatly carving away a chunk of money from the purchaser for something that will likely end up in the bottom of a junk drawer.
Scott here, the guy in the video. I know it’s dangerous for me to wade into the comments section, but I wanted to address a few points.
First, commercial ultrasonic cutters are not just used for frozen foods. They’re commonly used for baked goods, cheeses, and produce as well, as shown in the video.
Second, I understand the concern about the short tang of the knife. We just posted a video showing 50lbs of force applied to the handle, which is much more than I could apply with both hands and all my arm strength. (Note, however, that I do, in fact, skip arm day at the gym, regularly.) A lot of engineering went into the bolster/handle connection to make sure it’s strong enough for any cooking task.
Also, the steel is Japanese AUS-10 in a san mai construction, hardened to 60C. This is similar to, but slightly different from VG-10.
Agree with both of those. I have a couple of Henckels knives that I love – the kind with the two little men in the logo rather than just one – I believe these are now branded Zwilling and are the professional quality ones; the others are now branded Henckels International. But keeping them perfectly sharp is a challenge. I have a Henckels manual sharpener with slots for coarse and fine sharpening and for both standard and Asian blade angles, but I must say its performance is disappointing. For fine sharpening, I actually get the best results from a good old-fashioned Henckels sharpening steel.
Thank you for replying. One question I’d like to ask - will this knife require sharpening over time? There seems to be an impression that it will not:
But it seems to me that no matter what, it’s going to dull with regular use. The ultrasonics may assist with that, but at some point you’ve got a totally blunt edge and at best the ultrasonics mean you’re bashing your way through a tomato instead of cutting it.