Cutting onions horizontally - does it serve any purpose?

[Zwiefel]

This is how I was taught to do it, except I do the radial cut before the crosscut (across the grain). Pretty quick and effecient...and if you are doing larger pieces, you can even get them to stay in a hemispherical shape...which is kinda fun if you are doing 5 lbs, having them lined up on the board like that (similar to my profile photo, actually).

I don't bother with the horizontal cuts. I find it to be a waste of time and energy. You always get flyers that don't stay in place and you end up chasing them around if you need everything perfect.

I took these pictures a long time ago (camera info says 2011) during a discussion with TK59 about how I cut onions.

I cut my onions in half and peel them. You can leave a bit of root or cut it off. Stack them side by side.

You generally don't get any pieces that differ that greatly from the others (looking back at these pictures, I did a pretty poor job overall) and its pretty fast when you get used to it. No strands of onion sticking out or flaring out or generally just being annoying. Everything is tight and neat and right where you want it.