I've always watched those knife adverts on TV with a high level of trepidation. They always show a rather too enthusiastic American housewife slice through a baked bean tin with ease. The over enthusiastic American housewife then looks rather too enthusiastic about the performance of the knife and has a look of someone that would probably quite like to slice off a kittens head if she were left alone with one. It's all a little bit unnerving for my liking.



After all, why do you need to slice through a metal baked bean can anyway? I admit that I am perhaps I am over-analysing this a little. After all we are all aware of how much easier it is to cook with a sharp knife. A blunt knife can make chopping vegetables unnecessarily difficult. Using a new knife reminds you of this. A sharp knife gives you a level of precision that essentially makes it much easier.

I find having an extra sharp knife particularly beneficial when I'm cutting onions. I have a technique which makes chopping onions into fine pieces much easier. It essentially involves peeling the onion and slicing down into the onion. I make long slices into the onion but raise my knife before it slices through the onion and hits the chopping board. This means that the onion remains together which makes it much easier to manage. Once I have sliced what is essentially a grid shape into the onion I turn it onto its side and slice thin strips through the onion. This creates tiny little squares of onion that can be fried really effectively. It is an extremely quick and mess free way of chopping an onion but it is reliant on a good sharp knife.

It is, strangely enough, the case that sharper knifes are safer than blunt ones. The reason for this is simple. Blunt knives do not cut into the outer skin of a vegetable as well as a sharp knife does. As a result sharper knifes are less likely to slip off the vegetable that you are cutting and slide down the vegetable toward your fingers. It is therefore the case that you are more likely to hurt yourself if you use a blunt knife instead of a sharp one. Perhaps that is why the woman in the advert looks so happy with herself!

Designed first in 1985 knives are a product of Japan. They are a prestigious range of knives that are used by top chefs in top restaurants and hotels across the world. Many of the television chefs use these knives on their cookery programmes and as a result the reputation of knives has grown a great deal. Knives have also won a wide range of awards that includes a 1996 award for being the sharpest knife by A la carte magazine in Germany.

The technologies used to create the knives is said to have been developed from the designs used in sword making. These technologies are most notable for the creation of the Samurai sword. These knives are steadied by sand that is held in the handle of the knife. The correct amount is added to create the best balance and comfort for the knife.