Every once in a while I think about trying that. The horizontal cuts still scare the crap outta me.
if you're using a truly nice and sharp knife, and you know how big the onion is and where it is by touching in, you cut into it justly. You should only be afraid if you're blindly thrusting the blade into the onion. Always realize where your hands, blade, and food object are and create geometry from there; no matter what you're cutting. If you have to manipulate the geometry because your blade is steering, wedging, or not in shape and causing you to use excess force, than you are cutting inefficiently. I cut best when I am just thinking about shapes, where my hands are and need to be, and at what cadence I can perform the task most efficiently (always striving for improvement, of course)
Oddly I played drums for most of my life (haven't in 3 years

) and I feel like I apply the same principles of hand coordination and rhythm/cadence, but now I'm cutting **** with the motions and discipline
...i hope I got the point across, it's ******' late if you know what I mean