Uncle Russ, why do you keep your knives so sharp?

This was a question asked of me by my 6 year old nephew, he’s just started noticing I always have pocketknives on me, and he’s starting to get curious

First, we were talking about the tomato plants I have growing in my Aerogardens, one of them, downstairs in the kitchen is a “Golden Harvest” yellow cherry tomato, and one of them upstairs is a “Micro Tom” dwarf cherry tomato plant, I was telling him how small the Micro is, he asked me how tall it would get compared to the Golden we were looking at

I got out my Swisstool to measure it
“Boy, Uncle Russ, that tool has a lot of stuff, what else does it have?”

I showed him the toolset, he was transfixed, then he asked the pivotal question posted above

I explained to him that a sharp knife is safer than a dull one, and to demonstrate, I picked one of the ripe, yummy cherry tomatoes, found one of the dull steak knives in the knife drawer, we went over to the cutting board and I had him try to cut the tomato with the steak knife…

He squished it, squirting the seeds all over the cutting board, then ate the tomato

So, Logan, how hard did you have to push on that knife to try to cut the tomato?

“I didn’t cut it, I squished it, I was pushing hard”

Now, watch this…
I grabbed another cherry tomato, opened the plain edge blade on the Swisstool, rested it on the tomato, and using no weight or pressure, pulled back on the knife, the Swisstool cut the tomato cleanly in half, no squishing, no juices, nothing, a surgically clean cut

He was amazed!

So, Logan, what knife do you think is safer?
“the sharp one”

We then discussed why it cut so cleanly, and more importantly, why it was so important to use knives safely, I ended the subject letting him know that getting cut accidentally is par for the course with sharp knives, especially if you’re careless, but it’s nothing to be afraid of, it happens to everyone, yes, even me, and the best part about getting a cut from a razor sharp knife (if there can be a “best part” :wink: ) is that the cut doesn’t hurt very much, and it heals quickly and cleanly

I think he’s beginning to understand, he’s been showing a lot more interest in my knives lately, and once he matures a little more, I think there may be a Victorinox SwissChamp in it for him, it’s definitely a great first cutting tool for a curious youngster…

And I KNOW he’ll respect the blade after seeing what a sharp knife can do

Yep, gotta’ start 'em young…

Perhaps you should discuss this with his mother for when she teaches him cooking? Just so you’re both conveying the same message. Also, do you carve wood? Another need for a sharp knife, but one that delivers a longer-lasting reminder.

This is important too. A lot of people push when they should be pulling and vice versa. I know it took me a lot of mangled tomatoes to learn it :stuck_out_tongue:

Not for nothing, but Amazon has what seems to be all of their multitools for half off. I just got me a Skeletool CX for $44 off.

I already have Logan’s SwissChamp set aside, it’s one I’ve had for a while, he’s seen me use it before, I have an older Champion that I like better anyway (a SwissChamp minus the tiny, useless pliers), the Champion was my first SAK, and I carried it everywhere with me, back when I was in high school in the '80s, I brought it to school with me, it was considered normal and expected to have a pocketknife on you, even at school… unlike today where the school would be put in lockdown and the SWAT team would be called in…

I gave both my nephews a multitool when they graduated from high school. They both were deeply appreciative, and have mentioned several times that they are still using the things. They have grown up using sharp and dangerous tools, because their dad was a contractor, but the multitools were their very own tools, and besides, I really don’t know of any males that are NOT fascinated by them. For that matter, I’ve given multitools to women, too, who really enjoy them. It’s wonderful to have the microtools on a key ring, in case one’s glasses need to have the screws tightened, or something like that.

I’ve found that my father will appreciate any gift, even if it’s just some sort of tourist crap, but to make him really happy I should either give him tools or cashews. My mother says that when I gave him a Dremel, he wandered around the house looking for things to fix.