Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Here is what seems to be the practical test for knife sharpness, per the knife geek blogs.
Take a medium ripe tomato, place heel of blade on it, hold end of handle between your thumb and forefinger and, without applying any downward pressure on the knife, draw the blade over the tomato, from heel to tip. Supposedly the knife is supposedly to slice the tomato through, just from its own weight. Repeatedly.
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That should tell you whether or not you have a sharp (enough) knife. If you are looking to get crazy/technical, then there may be too many variables. Weight/thickness/CG of blade, "ripeness" of tomato, differences in pressure/speed of the draw, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Another test, which seems unbearably smug:
"With a knife that's sharp enough, you should be able to simply drop the tomato on the upward-facing blade and have it split neatly in two."
(Serious Eats website.)
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That is actually a better test IMO. However, you should do it with a cherry tomato (seriously). Drop it from +/- 1ft. off the deck and if it cuts clean in half, then it's super sharp. If it bounces off, you need to sharpen it.
Or, if you have a phone book handy, take a page out and gently fold it into a radius. Draw the knife across the spine/apex of the radius. If the knife will make a clean cut with little/no pressure, and not deform the page, then it's very sharp.
If you don't want to bother with finding stuff to cut, you can use your thumbnail. If you can make tiny "curly-cues" or super-thin fillets on the top surface (ridges) of your thumbnail, with no pressure, then it's very sharp. Obviously, you need to be careful with that one.