To me Sharp is Safe, Dull is Deadly

[Woodsydad]

I just read a post where someone intentionally made a dullish blade so it would be safer for a kiddo. To me that is backwards. The worst cuts i have gotten have been from sharp blades but that was from misuse when i was young. Of all the cuts i have gotten over the years, the vast majority would not have even happened if the knife, axe, saw or whatever had been good and sharp.
What say ye?

[jmccustomknives]

Well, we have to think about who is holding that knife.  I wish I had a dollar for every person who walks up to my table, picks up a knife and runs their thumb down the blade to "check" how sharp it is even when I tell them not too.   For those people a butter knife is safer (and yes a 10 year old boy does fall in that group.)  For a person who is responable a sharp edge is always better.  The choice is simple they can have a few stitches or loose a finger. 

[Woodsydad]

My experience had been that generally dull blades skip, stick, etc., requiring an excessive amount of force. That seems to be the cause of the majority of accidents. So my reasoning is that a sharp blade will do its job safer.
I do see a problem having sharp blades on display to the public. I can just imagine some of the idiots out there. But when giving someone a bladed tool, my instinct says to have it sharp. If they are not old enough for a sharp knife then, do they really need that knife? I am not saying that to be an XXX, i really do want serious input.

[J. McKraut]

I can see your point. If you're going to make it a dull edge that will make it difficult to cut anything, you may as we'll make it a false edge.

[Dan C]

considering it was made from a horseshoe, it was more of a letter opener, and a very nice one at that. On the other hand the shop knife I use for cutting leather holds a razor edge and is put well out of any child's reach

[John McPherson]

"If you are careless, you will Bleed!"

 

 

 

On the back of my knifemaker friend's business card, and promenently posted on his display table, along with a pack of band-aids. All his stuff is shaving sharp.

[3DistinctKnocks]

I made the "knife" with a relatively soft edge to be used when parting hide from flesh.  We all know that a knife doesn't really have to be sharp to do that.  It will cut with out a lot of force.  The knife is relatively sharp, but being made of soft steel, it will dull quickly.  All my knifes that I use are "suicide sharp" as my wife calls it.  The daughter that has received the knife was standing right next to me when I made a stupid mistake and sliced my old Case pocketknife right through the meat of my hand.  She knows what a sharp knife can do if you use it in an irresponsible manner.

The horseshoe knife is really nothing more than a letter opener as another poster said.  In my humble opinion, this is an entry-level knife that won't do a lot of harm if she slips or makes a stupid mistake (like her daddy is prone to do!!).  She hunts with her own .22 rifle and she can handle it very well.  Would I trust her to handle my 12 gauge Remington 1100?  No...it would knock her on her XXX.  Similarly, I trust her to use her horseshoe knife where I wouldn't allow her to use my WWII USMC KBar with a wicked edge. 

The horseshoe knife has a serviceable edge but will dull quickly since its made with low carbon mild steel.  In my way of thinking, this will also give her plenty of opportunity to learn how to sharpen a knife with proper angles and pressure on the stone.

 

I understand your concern and I thank you for bringing this issue up.

[Dan C]

To me it's good to hear that not all American kids grow up coddled.  As a kid my dad beat into our heads firearm safety and how to respect tools.  Anytime he shot a deer he made a point of showing us the entry and then the exit wound to make sure we knew the damage a high powered rifle could do.  I was allowed to use pretty much whatever tool the job needed, though I'm sure he was keeping an eye on us.  I wasn't so much concerned with hurting myself back then as I was disappointing him and then not being allowed to use something.  Probably safe to say my kids are the only ones in the neighborhood that know how to stick weld and have worked hot steel in a forge (though not my 7 yo).

[Charles R. Stevens]

I commend knocks for taking responsibility for he education of his daughter. She is in no way less capability of learning to handle a knife (and obviusly a firearm) than is her ancestors. As little as 50 years ago every little boy in this country had a knife in his pocket, as did his father, grand father and every other man. As the father of girls, I see no difference between a boy 50 years ago and a girl of today. In my opinion, he made a knife for his daughter (I'm sure her mother was me than enameled with this idea) knowing full well is was a letter opener, knowing also that she was going to cut her self (he aperiantly has ample experience in that regard) that's mearly a fact a life.
Infact she will most likely abuse the little knife and bend the tip.
In my opinion it is time for dad, and daughter to go back to the shop, and after taking in to account what her hand will look like in a very few short years, build her a proper knife. As her first edged tool will have sever it's intended purpose bu the time it is finished and in her hands (and will serve as encouragement to learn responsibility and respect for this potentially dangerous tool) as did the BB gun that preceded the .22
This I'd the first step in her learning how a properly sharpens tool is safest, be it her knife, grandmothers pinking shears, grandfathers wood chisels, moms kitchen knives or dads old buck.

[Neil Blythin]

I had a shop teacher (wood shop) a long, long time ago that had a sign: "Sharp tools cut wood. Dull tools cut people".

But I can see the reluctance to have a sharp blade on display, as some idiot is bound to hurt themselves on it. If I were an avid blade maker, I'd be inclined to sharpen most things and keep them displayed under glass. I may have a purposely dulled sample for people to handle. If they ask why it's dull, allow them to see / feel one of the sharpened blades, under supervision.

[Rich Hale]

If I did not display sharp knives for the public to see I would still own every one of them. Gasp!

[Maillemaker]

 

Look for post #54