Can anyone explain wedging?

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tbott

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Hey all, I'm wondering if someone can explain wedging. Im of course familiar with the phenomenon itself, but I'm curious what factors in your knife contribute to it. How does grind, profile, or edge symmetry/characteristics create a propensity of wedging? Any info would be helpful.

T
 
As a knife falls through food, it experiences forces in not only in the vertical direction, but in the horizontal as well. If depending on the structure of the food, the horizontal forces exerted are enough to break the bond of whatever you are cutting, it will start to break instead of cut. Like splitting wood. This can happen for a number of reasons, though some of the main are attributed to being too thick behind the edge, or a bevel that is not gradual enough moving to the next plain.
 
Just an addendum to what you said, sometimes wedging can also be caused by sticktion of the food on both sides of the blade face. This is one reason for asymmetric grinds, as the differential sticktion on both sides can help prevent wedging, to a certain extent, by lessening apparent total sticktion at any one point in the cutting motion.
 
If you "accidentaly" turned a symetric knive in a asymetric one or vica versa, this could create wedging as well

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
 
Just an addendum to what you said, sometimes wedging can also be caused by sticktion of the food on both sides of the blade face. This is one reason for asymmetric grinds, as the differential sticktion on both sides can help prevent wedging, to a certain extent, by lessening apparent total sticktion at any one point in the cutting motion.
This is the reason why even European knives with well-centered symmetric edges have different grinds on both faces: one flatter, one more convexed. A completely symmetric blade would wedge terribly, all points on both faces being equidistant to the center line.
 
Just an addendum to what you said, sometimes wedging can also be caused by sticktion of the food on both sides of the blade face. This is one reason for asymmetric grinds, as the differential sticktion on both sides can help prevent wedging, to a certain extent, by lessening apparent total sticktion at any one point in the cutting motion.

Thanks in my experience prefer assem. grinds.Not sure why work better they just do.
 
people say asymmetry is to get more 'sharpness' well that never made any sense to me, but the differing grind leading to less stickion does. i'm all about food release over ultimate sharpness anyway.

wedging = when you try to cut a carrot and it breaks apart instead of a clean line.
 
That's when someone pulls your under.... oh wait, that's a wedgie. Nevermind.
 
Ha thanks all. I appreciate the feedback and detailed responses. Also reminding myself to avoid wedgies.
 
I'm not sure anyone is saying this, but is the common wisdom that a laser is less prone to wedging than a thicker blade (factoring out convexity and assymetry) incorrect?
 
I'm not sure anyone is saying this, but is the common wisdom that a laser is less prone to wedging than a thicker blade (factoring out convexity and assymetry) incorrect?

It depends on what exactly you call wedging. A laser will be much less prone to breaking food while cutting, but they tend to have more sticktion, simply because there is only so much you can do with a very thin grind to address it.
 
A laser will be much less prone to breaking food while cutting, but they tend to have more sticktion, simply because there is only so much you can do with a very thin grind to address it.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that was my understanding too. You can only add so much convexity to a thin blade. I am frankly confused about the conflation in this thread of wedging and stiction -- I see these as two very different phenomena.
 

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