How much do you care about blade straightness?

[NotAddictedYet]

After receiving a severely bent knife, by curiosity I started checking the other knives in my collection. Not sure if it's my eyes or what but all of them seemed to have degrees of minor warping/bending along the spine. They all cut just fine as ever but once you see the imperfection, it cannot be unseen. Now all I can think about is they are no longer "pristine" and I need to make plans to get them fixed. But a side of me also thinks, these are hand made objects, can they ever really be perfectly "straight"...

How much do you care about straightness?

 

[stringer]

After receiving a severely bent knife, by curiosity I started checking the other knives in my collection. Not sure if it's my eyes or what but all of them seemed to have degrees of minor warping/bending along the spine. They all cut just fine as ever but once you see the imperfection, it cannot be unseen. Now all I can think about is they are no longer "pristine" and I need to make plans to get them fixed. But a side of me also thinks, these are hand made objects, can they ever really be perfectly "straight"...

How much do you care about straightness?

I have lots of crooked old vintage stuff. I have handles that are mounted cockeyed. It doesn't bother me. I don't like "bendy" knives. Like Takedas and other clad knives that have a lot of flex. But not necessarily because they get crooked. More that I just like the feeling of a stiff blade better.

 

[OkayMode]

Yeah it’s a bit of a Pandora’s box when you realise all your knives are a bit crooked!

As long as your edge is reasonably straight so that you don't mess that up when you progressively sharpen/thin multiple times, then you’re fine.

 

[Delat]

This is exactly why I don’t give my knives a super-close inspection. If they cut well and nothing catches my eye as being weird in normal use then it’s all good. This is also assuming no weirdness when sharpening of course.

 

[Tekkz]

I don't care about bent spines. And most edges aren't perfect but don't affect cutting. I've got a couple that are too bent and I don't use em.

 

[NotAddictedYet]

Yeah it’s a bit of a Pandora’s box when you realise all your knives are a bit crooked!

This is exactly why I don’t give my knives a super-close inspection. If they cut well and nothing catches my eye as being weird in normal use then it’s all good. This is also assuming no weirdness when sharpening of course.

Yes I wish a little bit that I never bothered to check the other blades, but I am of the type knowing it's there start affecting my perception when cutting as well. I am not this anal about most things but looking at the amount of gyutos I own it's obvious this hobby hits differently than other interests.

 

[ethompson]

I spend more time straightening than apex sharpening

 

[M1k3]

Minor bends that I can't see without actually looking for it, I don't mind.

Large obnoxious ones are definitely not ok.

Basically, if it's small enough to not cause issues in use or sharpening, I'll kick the can down the road until the knife needs thinning.

 

[Barmoley]

Yes I wish a little bit that I never bothered to check the other blades, but I am of the type knowing it's there start affecting my perception when cutting as well. I am not this anal about most things but looking at the amount of gyutos I own it's obvious this hobby hits differently than other interests.

I am with @M1k3 here, but like you I made a mistake of checking my knives years ago for straightness after receiving a severely bent knife. I eventually got over it and now only check and sometimes straighten if it is obvious, but I don’t look for it. Most knives, especially clad ones have some bends partially because they are so easy to bend when cladding is soft. On the positive side they are also easy to straighten, but if you want perfect straightness it is not easy at all. Basically if it doesn’t affect cutting don’t mess with it. If you can’t see it without really checking don’t look for it.

 

[mengwong]

Visiting a friend, noticed this. Not an optical illusion

 

[deltaplex]

Visiting a friend, noticed this. Not an optical illusionView attachment 343459

Get the cutting board to hold on top of it and you'll have that worked out in about 2 minutes.

 

[aporigine]

Considering how awesome Zorro: the Gay Blade is, straightness is not my top priority.

 

[bsfsu]

Visiting a friend, noticed this. Not an optical illusionView attachment 343460

Ahhh, the classic "garlic crushing" bend. I get lots of those in for sharpening

 

[deltaplex]

I am usually working on things with a good amount of wonk, so I check and adjust straightness (spine, edge, tip, bevels) on most things very often, because I'm so used to doing it.

 

[ethompson]

Also just because it was straight last time you sharpened it doesn’t mean it stayed that way - particularly san mai

 

[Molokai Livin']

 

[Tekkz]

 

[Nemo]

View attachment 343495

This has gotta be AI generated, no?

 

[Nemo]

I care about straightness to the extent that it affects:
1) The knife in use (I.e.: can it still cut stuff properly?)
2) How the knife is sharpened & thinned.

 

[Tekkz]

This has gotta be AI generated, no?

 

[stringer]

View attachment 343500

Spatula?

 

[aporigine]

I wonder if a little quality time on an anvil would set that poor dear straight.

 

[ehhh]

I've returned 2 knives to retailers for being bent beyond what I would call acceptable. Here's a ZKramer 10" Carbon 2.0 Chef right out of the box that I returned recently. The customer service rep said it could be an illusion of the rounded spine. It definitely wasn't. If the blade had half the deflection, maybe I would've kept it. A perfect or near perfectly straight knife is uncommon in my experience.

 

[Tekkz]

Spatula?

Sujihiki

 

[M1k3]

Sujihiki

Used as a doorstop in the door jam?

 

[aporigine]

Used as a doorstop in the door jam?

Mayo-jar pry bar?

 

[blokey]

Sometimes forged knife can have wavy spine but as long as the edge is straight it is fine, tho don’t expect a hand forged knife to have a perfect straight line tho

 

[mengwong]

Ahhh, the classic "garlic crushing" bend. I get lots of those in for sharpening

Uh oh. I eat a lot of garlic. Is this something I need to worry about? I usually press straight down on top of the garlic. I can stick to my more chonky knives in future.

 

[Qapla']

All my gyuto's so far are "factory" knives, so I don't have much to worry about there.

For yanagiba's, usuba's, etc., yes, straightness does matter to me.

 

[aporigine]

Uh oh. I eat a lot of garlic. Is this something I need to worry about? I usually press straight down on top of the garlic. I can stick to my more chonky knives in future.

I have never fallen into the habit of using a knife as a hammer (a kitchen knife anyway.) These days I bisect the clove (peel on) and then slice off the root callus. Easy peely, and I do not have a crushed clove.

I actually had a bit of a row with an xgf over this dubious practice of injuring garlic. Since I had a supply of wonderfully serpentine manzanita wood at the time, I whipped up a combination popcorn stirrer/garlic violence shillelagh for her. Creativity in the service of domestic peace.

Relationship came apart under internal centrifugal strain months later anyway. I quietly returned to my cut-don’t-crush default. Since the root callus has to be sliced off anyway, I am secure in the smug certainty that I’m not missing anything except [xgf’s startlingly startling attributes].