# A falling knife has no handle...



## Dardeau (Mar 21, 2014)

Or what dumb thing did Andre do today. 

I knocked my Masamoto yanagiba off of the cutting board with a roll of plastic wrap. Then I tried to catch it.
It now looks like this:






The tip of my left middle finger looks about the same.

Everybody loses.

I've never chipped a single bevel anywhere near this badly, little nicks on my deba, but this is the size of the flat on the ura. Is there anything I should or should not do while fixing this? Or things I should look out for where I could eff up the geometry? I don't plan on trying to get it all in one go, maybe three to four sessions. Any and all advice is welcome!


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## EdipisReks (Mar 21, 2014)

I would send it to Jon.


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## Dardeau (Mar 21, 2014)

That was my first thought, but I use the damn thing every day. Maybe an excuse.....


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## Lexington Jim (Mar 21, 2014)

First, I hope your finger recovers quickly. Fingers are way more important than knives.

Which lead me to...

Second, no excuse. Just a great reason to get a "spare" knife while your damaged one is being repaired. :doublethumbsup:


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## brainsausage (Mar 21, 2014)

More than once the thought has crossed through my head if my love for my knives would supersede the jump back reflex I've developed after 15 years of being in kitchens with falling knives. I hope I never have to find out(knocking on the wooden bar top as I type this...)


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 21, 2014)

Lexington Jim said:


> First, I hope your finger recovers quickly. Fingers are way more important than knives.



No way, fingers grow back dude.


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## 29palms (Mar 21, 2014)

If a knife is going down I get out of the way now. Reflex can be a terrible thing I remember years ago a newbie dropped his tongs into the fryer and another cook caught him reaching for them. That could have been ugly.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 21, 2014)

29palms said:


> Reflex can be a terrible thing. A newbie dropped his tongs into the fryer once and another cook caught him reaching for them. That could have been ugly.



Yikes. 

That's no joke, skin probably would have been falling off like he dipped it in acid.


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## EdipisReks (Mar 21, 2014)

Dave Kinogie said:


> Yikes.
> 
> That's no joke, skin probably would have been falling off like he dipped it in acid.



Leidenfrost makes it not as bad as you might think, as long as it's a brief immersion.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 21, 2014)

EdipisReks said:


> Leidenfrost makes it not as bad as you might think, as long as it's a brief immersion.



IDK, have you seen something like this first hand?

I've seen some really nasty grease burns including one years ago at an old job where the sous chef spilled a saute pan with a decent amount of just used scorching hot oil on the head chef/boss hand and it was pretty gross. He had to go to the hospital after trying to gut it out with a gauze wrap and some gel and what not while using only one hand on the line and it bubbled up nasty like and what not.

I know that's not the same, but he got it off pretty fast and reaching your whole hand into 350 to 375 degree oil almost has to be worse even considering the other where spilling it on from a pan let's it set in open air for a few seconds. 

I've been lucky with oil over the years when I was in pro kitchens, although a number of times, I think 4, I've done the space out where you grab a pan handle fresh out of the hot oven with no protection. 

The worst time was actually at home during the holidays, had a fat cowboy ribeye finishing in the oven as a side main course, doing like 20 things at once with some drinks in me and the music going, grabbed it with no towel or glove and instead of instantly dropping it I locked on even harder and brought it to the stovetop cause I somehow immediately thought of food preservation for the fam lol. Hand is scarred to this day.


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## panda (Mar 21, 2014)

i dropped bread knife last week and tried to catch it, missed by an inch instead the flat part at the heel dug directly into my thumb. i think i would have caught it on target had i not been so exhausted at the time which is how knocking it off the board even happened in the first place.

that's gonna take a lot of metal off to fix that, unless you just reprofile it?


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## ThEoRy (Mar 22, 2014)

Don't worry about the chip so much. It will come out eventually over time. Since it really won't affect performance it's not worth removing that much metal at one time in my opinion. Just get some of it out and move on. I would however worry about that extremely uneven ura. I know mine isn't perfect but wow! Looks like you are applying pressure on the return stroke and lots of it. Only push lightly on the way out and use no pressure at all on the way back. Maybe to even things out try doing uraoshi with your other hand for a while?


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## Erilyn75 (Mar 22, 2014)

Dave Kinogie said:


> I've been lucky with oil over the years when I was in pro kitchens, although a number of times, I think 4, I've done the space out where you grab a pan handle fresh out of the hot oven with no protection.



I'm a home cook and have done this more times than I care to admit, with cast iron no less. 


Andre, I'm very sorry about your finger and your knife. I hope you didn't need stitches


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## Dardeau (Mar 22, 2014)

No stitches needed, thankfully. I wouldn't have tried to catch it if it was totally off the board, but it was still sliding when I grabbed it. I bought this guy used and have been trying to even out that spot in the ura. If you look at it, it chipped right where it is most uneven. If my mental image of this is correct, that low spot would cause a more fragile edge?

And sticking your fingers in a fryer for VERY short periods of time causes surprisingly little damage. Any longer and you get cooked, but water vapor does some weird things sometimes.


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## larrybard (Mar 22, 2014)

This thread, and especially a prior one a few years ago about nasty knife cuts (with far too many graphic illustrative photos of the injuries, which still make me wince thinking about them), made me wonder: I don't recall anyone ever mentioning that they wear protection -- no, not _*that*_ kind -- like Kevlar gloves. Is that because they're pretty ineffective, and one would have to wear something like a cumbersome steel mesh glove for real protection? Or is it a macho kind of thing? Or maybe akin to a sense of invincibility -- "I'm careful, and it will never happen to me"?

In somewhat the same vein (so to speak), I never seem to notice -- maybe I'm not looking sharply enough -- professional chefs using dedicated pot holders, although I do sometimes see mitts. Handy towels seem to be most commonly enlisted for hot handle service. Is that correct? Doesn't seem like much protection -- especially if a towel is at all wet.


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## panda (Mar 22, 2014)

larry, we even use our aprons in a pinch to pick up hot pans.


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## Keith Sinclair (Mar 22, 2014)

You are right wet towel forget it.Many cooks keep a dry towel handy for hot pans & handles.Burns are a fact of life for cooks.In tight quarters it might be your co-worker that burns you.We used to keep Aloe plant in the kitchen.


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## NotSwedishChef (Mar 22, 2014)

Before I starting cooking for a living I worked in a ski shop. One day the wall of skis started to topple over and I tried grabbing a few pairs to stop the tumble. Brand new, factory edges (on skis) left a 7 stitch gash on a finger. Learned the lesson that stuff, no matter how shiny and pretty, is less important than me. I've luckily only dropped a knife a handful of times in my career but I'd rather fix a chip than try to buy a finger.


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## Dardeau (Mar 22, 2014)

This is the first time I've needed super glue in about two years. Once you cut yourself a few times you break yourself of the bad habits, until you do something monumentally stupid like a. Knock your knife on the ground, and b. try to catch it. As for Kevlar, smell an oyster shuckers glove, and then notice how nice and cool it is there and how little you are sweating.


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## knyfeknerd (Mar 22, 2014)

larrybard said:


> This thread, and especially a prior one a few years ago about nasty knife cuts (with far too many graphic illustrative photos of the injuries, which still make me wince thinking about them), made me wonder: I don't recall anyone ever mentioning that they wear protection -- no, not _*that*_ kind -- like Kevlar gloves. Is that because they're pretty ineffective, and one would have to wear something like a cumbersome steel mesh glove for real protection? Or is it a macho kind of thing? Or maybe akin to a sense of invincibility -- "I'm careful, and it will never happen to me"?
> 
> In somewhat the same vein (so to speak), I never seem to notice -- maybe I'm not looking sharply enough -- professional chefs using dedicated pot holders, although I do sometimes see mitts. Handy towels seem to be most commonly enlisted for hot handle service. Is that correct? Doesn't seem like much protection -- especially if a towel is at all wet.


If someone tried to wear one of those protective mesh gloves in our kitchen, we would slap them with it. 
You can't control the item you're cutting very well with a bulky glove.
You're going to cut yourself eventually, it's inevitable. Just don't be so scared. It makes the interns shaky.


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## panda (Mar 22, 2014)

I'm probably just weird but while honing my knife skills the more I cut myself the less scared I got of doing it again which like knerd said is inevitable. I haven't cut myself during actual cutting in years but I know for sure it will happen again at any moment.


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## Flyingpigg (Mar 22, 2014)

I cut myself on a damn mandolin more than a knife. With proper technique, the only cuts I get now are very minor nicks that heal quickly, especially cause I try to keep the knife sharp. 

Towels are the most convenient thing for most cooks to use to grab hot stuff. Just make sure you don't get the crappy towels that are invariably in the mix, and the towel cannot be wet. Wet towels are like ex girlfriends; they feel good at first then burn you.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 22, 2014)

Worst cut I ever got was from a dull peeler, took the tip of my finger more then halfway off. No hospital. A lot of washing and disinfecting, paper towel and electrical tape bandaid, stitched it myself the next day with help from my boss lol.


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## panda (Mar 22, 2014)

I hate peelers and mandolins simply cause I've had nasty cuts from both, lol.


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## brainsausage (Mar 22, 2014)

Put the tip of my thumb and a good chunk of thumbnail through the fine julienne comb on a benriner, back before I had any knife skills to speak of. I haven't used one of those death combs since.


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## Erilyn75 (Mar 23, 2014)

Peelers and graters I find myself being more cautious around. A knife cut I can handle, grated or peeled fingers seems to hurt much worse. I use a guard with the mandolin since I took off a chunk of my index finger with it.


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## Keith Sinclair (Mar 23, 2014)

Sounds like Mandolins take a toll.Never liked those things but had to use them have been cut.Something about moving your hand rapidly toward a sharp blade.


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## JDA_NC (Mar 23, 2014)

keithsaltydog said:


> Sounds like Mandolins take a toll.Never liked those things but had to use them have been cut.Something about moving your hand rapidly toward a sharp blade.



I feel as it's the same with knife skills. When I first started using 'em I absolutely hated it - had some bad cuts to show for it too. But it's all about being steady, not scared, and using the right amount of pressure/grip on whatever you're cutting. I've seen a lot of dull Mandolins being used too, which usually ends up with someone putting too much pressure, the food getting caught, and a finger getting thrown in the blade.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 23, 2014)

F mandolins and the horse they rode in on!


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## CoqaVin (Mar 23, 2014)

I hate mandolins.


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## Dardeau (Mar 23, 2014)

Everyone hates mandolins. A while back I had to set up a stAtion that included a 6th pan of shaved garlic for use in marinating a fish dish every other day. For those of you not in the industry or the US that is about ten cups. I once had to throw it all away because the mando cut me right at the end and I bled in it. Soul crushing. I felt like it put me behind for hours.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 23, 2014)

Dardeau said:


> Everyone hates mandolins. A while back I had to set up a stAtion that included a 6th pan of shaved garlic for use in marinating a fish dish every other day. For those of you not in the industry or the US that is about ten cups. I once had to throw it all away because the mando cut me right at the end and I bled in it. Soul crushing. I felt like it put me behind for hours.



I'd probably just go the Paulie razor blade method. Mandolins are the bane of prep's existence.


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## rdm_magic (Mar 23, 2014)

Dardeau said:


> Everyone hates mandolins. A while back I had to set up a stAtion that included a 6th pan of shaved garlic for use in marinating a fish dish every other day. For those of you not in the industry or the US that is about ten cups. I once had to throw it all away because the mando cut me right at the end and I bled in it. Soul crushing. I felt like it put me behind for hours.




Back when I had to do that, we used a truffle slicer.


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## Dardeau (Mar 23, 2014)

Smaller, sneakier mandoline.


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## Dave Kinogie (Mar 23, 2014)

Dardeau said:


> Smaller, sneakier mandoline.



A true kitchen ninja.


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## ThEoRy (Mar 24, 2014)

I have a kevlar glove which I'm not ashamed to say I make use of while going ape **** on a mandolin. After you give yourself an avulsion of the fingernail for the second time, the third time is NOT the charm.


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## knyfeknerd (Mar 24, 2014)

ThEoRy said:


> I have a kevlar glove which I'm not ashamed to say I make use of while going ape **** on a mandolin. After you give yourself an avulsion of the fingernail for the second time, the third time is NOT the charm.


Definitely the #1 approved use of the Michael Jackson glove.


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## panda (Mar 24, 2014)

you ok annie?


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## knyfeknerd (Mar 24, 2014)

I can't type the sound it makes when I grab my crotch and stand on my tippie toes.


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## panda (Mar 24, 2014)




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## Geo87 (Mar 24, 2014)

knyfeknerd said:


> If someone tried to wear one of those protective mesh gloves in our kitchen, we would slap them with it.
> You can't control the item you're cutting very well with a bulky glove.
> You're going to cut yourself eventually, it's inevitable. Just don't be so scared. It makes the interns shaky.



Lol.... Yes slapped repeatedly. Sometimes wearing a latex glove is annoying enough I couldn't imagine chain mail. It would be like wearing a raincoat in the shower. 
I've never seen any "dedicated pot holders " at work and if I do I will absolutely tease the person  a dry tea towel is all you need you just have to fold it right. You can pick up absolutely anything even heavy screaming hot char grill bars .

Sorry for getting off topic. 

Sorry about your knife...
Luckily I'm spoilt for space at work and I can put any knives above my board far away from any bench edges.... Very paranoid about dropping.


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## Dardeau (Mar 24, 2014)

I need to buy one and hook it to the mandolin with one of those pen chains from banks. Our insurance will probably pay me.


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## daveb (Mar 24, 2014)

knyfeknerd said:


> Definitely the #1 approved use of the Michael Jackson glove.



You know what Michael Jackson and the Atlanta Braves have in common?




They all wear one glove for no apparent reason:cool2:


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## brainsausage (Mar 24, 2014)

What's the difference between Michael Jackson and Buzz Aldrin? Actually- that might not be appropriate for some on this forum. Nevermiiiiiiiind.


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## Steel+Fire (Mar 16, 2020)

One in none, two is one. Get a new one and send the old one to someone to get fixed. Hopefully it isn't a total loss. I had a 10" Henckels 4 star fall off the counter at a place I worked onto restaurant tile. Snapped basically in half. It sucks.


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## Gregmega (Mar 17, 2020)

The great news is that this only happens once.


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## Steel+Fire (Mar 17, 2020)

Gregmega said:


> The great news is that this only happens once.


Should be a self corrector for sure.


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