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Ultrasonic Chef's Knife
- jmarchello 1y agoWe made it! We’ve finally invented vibroblades!
- trhway 1y agothe next version will come with plasma micro jets ejection from the cutting edge - convenient for civilian use. I'm also wandering about an array of shaped micro-charges on the edge - should be able to cut through several millimeters of steel in one move, etc. so a soldier can cut though an opponent's ballistic vest or a into an lightly armored IFV.
- procaryote 1y agoA shaped charge is sadly the opposite of sharp so it would be a one time use blade that would be dull before and after That one use would be anything but dull though
- trhway 1y agoYou can have it sharp with shaped charges array sitting a bit deeper and sideways, and new edge breaking out as side effect of shaped charges exploding, rinse and repeat, about 5 times for a regularly sized sword. Even more interesting alternative is to have some quick blade switching machinery to switch on-the-fly between the actual blade edge and the shaped charge array and to add some feeding machinery of shaped charges into the array (and to have some stretch-shaped charges instead of the rounded ones)
- procaryote 1y agoI guess the easy mode would be to make one edge shaped charges and one edge... edge
- tsimionescu 1y agoNow if they could get the vibrations by shooting a bullet along the edge, we'd also have gunblades!
- joeshmoe112 1y agoI was searching for this comment. All the snark in this thread, I’m just excited that we’ve invented working vibroblades lol
- araes 1y agoHeinlein, Star Frontiers, Star Wars, Battletech, 40k, Rifts, GURPs, Gundam, Metal Gear, Guyver, Shadowrun, and Evangelion will all be pleased. Time until vibroswords, vibroaxes, vorpal blades, ect...
- tra3 1y agoWhat happens when you “oops”? All the way through the bone?
- amacbride 1y agoSubsidized by Big Hook, no doubt.
- DennisP 1y agoSame as a really sharp knife. In general though, dull knives are more dangerous. You have to cut with more pressure and they're more likely to slip.
- pkulak 1y agoThere must be a limit though. Surely a light saber is not more safe than a dull knife.
- cjbgkagh 1y agoIf you’re used to sharp knives then it’s probably safer than applying more pressure which could yield in surprising ways. Getting used to it is the dangerous part, especially if not forewarned or the user doesn’t heed the warning. Lightsaber would be different because doesn’t have a blade to guide.
- kulahan 1y agoNot really. The dangerous aspect of a knife is when it moves unexpectedly. The sharper it is, the harder it is to create a scenario where it jumps on something particularly dense, like when a saw hits a knot in a tree. If you’re pushing down with hard force, it basically doesn’t matter if the knife is sharp anymore, it’ll just chop your finger off. However, with an extremely fine cut, it will be much easier to reattach, as the edges will match up well. With a dull knife, you’re not slicing, you’re more tearing your way through something.
- beeflet 1y agoImagine how dangerous a dull lightsaber would be
- fumeux_fume 1y agoWhile I think this is neat, I doubt the added complexity of the device, extra space required for storage of charger and the chore of charging it are worth the benefit of a slightly better, easier slice. Might be nice for people with certain disabilities though.
- pkulak 1y agoA lot of the cool stuff we have now started off for accessibility.
- psyclobe 1y agoI think it would be fine as u would need a lot less knives so one bespoke one with a charger wouldn’t be that big of a deal
- jaredhallen 1y agoDoesn't bespoke mean one of a kind and/or custom made for a specific purpose? I don't think this is bespoke. It's a gimmick.
- saaaaaam 1y agoHow much do you actually cook though? As a former professional chef I still do a lot of cooking and I’d love one of these and any storage trade off looks absolutely worth while.
- makeitdouble 1y agoIf it works at least as well as the current electric knives, it let's you cut things you'd usually not try to cut. Thin slicing frozen meat for instance, carving pumpkins, cutting bones etc.
- cindyllm 1y ago[dead]
- kenjackson 1y agoHow does this compare to the electric carving knives?
- thrill 1y agoWatch the video.
- rkagerer 1y agoIt's not obvious at first in the video, but they pre-cut a flat base into the plum to stabilize it on the table, and are cutting in at a slightdownward angle. I feel like you could make nearly the same shot with a regular knife. Tricks like this (and the deliberate filming angles to obscure those details) make the video seem disingenuous and come across akin to a snakeoil sales pitch, which detracts from my genuine interest in how the ultrasonic tech fares. The shot of the scale showing force as they cut through a tomato was more compelling. I notice after the initial breach, when the knife is about halfway through, the forces are equal again. I assume that's due (at least in part) to friction between the inside of the tomato and the wide, side of the blade. Do they make a skinnier vibro-blade, or something like an ultrasonic cheese cutting wire?
- horacemorace 1y agoUltrasonic cheese wire is an awesome companion idea!
- goopypoop 1y agoor a sonic cheese wire for chirping cheery tunes while chopping chunks of cheese
- esafak 1y agoIt's ultrasonic; the frequency is much higher while the amplitude is much smaller.
- 1y ago
- Cheer2171 1y agoFor $500 I'll just replace the handle of a regular knife with a vibrator.
- emeril 1y agoat least make sure to clean the vibrator first
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- omnicognate 1y agoI lost three fingers watching this video.
- mhb 1y agoYou'll be wanting the KnifeStop™, then.
- omnicognate 1y agoHehe, yeah I was wondering if something like SawStop could work. It would just need to switch off the ultrasonic, not spectacularly destroy the blade. However, I then remembered the frankfurter demo for SawStop and realised there are extra challenges for something that is actually intended for cutting meat.
- bombela 1y agoHard to watch the tiny video. Cannot be made full screen. Rotating phone sideways the website header obscures the video. edit: https://youtu.be/cXjbSVt9XNM https://youtu.be/cXjbSVt9XNM
- happyopossum 1y ago> Cannot be made full screen Wha? I tapped the little diagonal expandy-arrows in the top corner and it went full screen.
- SoKamil 1y agoI hate that default click action is mute and that the cursor is replaced with speaker.
- andrewflnr 1y agoI actually thought that was a neat touch, since that's one of my most frequent interactions with an online video. But it needs to be overridden when the pointer is over the other controls. I couldn't scrub through the video on desktop without repeatedly muting/unmuting.
- YossarianFrPrez 1y agoMaybe I'm just a sci-fi nerd who loves innovation, but this is so cool! Clearly, this product is not intended for the mass market, and may find purchase with people who have tennis elbow and who can afford it, etc. <insert other critiques about practicality and applicability here>. But still, when was the last time someone tried to re-invent something as basic as a knife?
- cjbgkagh 1y agoUltrasonic knives are used commercially, this is an attempt at a mass market by making it cheaper and packaging it in a more familiar form.
- ars 1y agoThey also make one for home use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FK9SB5KR https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FK9SB5KR HOZO NeoBlade Wireless Ultrasonic Cutter It's from a kickstarter.
- onlypassingthru 1y ago> when was the last time someone tried to re-invent something as basic as a knife? A year ago? This one is designed for woodworkers. https://www.bourbonmoth.com/shop/p/the-bourbon-blade-original-pocket-chisel https://www.bourbonmoth.com/shop/p/the-bourbon-blade-origina...
- jstanley 1y agoI thought I recognised the name - Bourbon Moth is the guy who faked a video of oily rags self-igniting to make a video to advertise fireproof bins for woodworking. This one: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gqi2cNCKQY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gqi2cNCKQY Debunking: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtU3bYyCtA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtU3bYyCtA
- majormajor 1y agoNever heard of either of these Youtubers but I've seen tons of cans of stains and such with warnings about potential self-ignition if left on rags in the wrong conditions...
- tianjerry 1y agoThis is the best demo video ever! Congrats on reinventing the knife!
- ginko 1y agoYeah, have to say the video is pretty good. I came in expecting the typical shopping channel pitch, but it did a very good job explaining the things the knife can and can't do. It really helps that it's presented by the inventor himself. Still won't buy one but still.
- jaredhallen 1y agoHave you watched any Cold Steel videos?
- vasusen 1y agoSuper cool! I wonder if it would bother pets
- Insanity 1y agoHuh I didn’t even think about this. I’m assuming you mean the frequency is audible to dogs?
- Havoc 1y agoThat looks really cool. Especially loved the wall of prototypes with raspberry picos etc. Way outside the price range I'd consider personally but I look forward to having one in 5 years at a hopefully lower price point
- SoftTalker 1y agoDon't buy dumb electronic kitchen gadgets. Get a good steel knife, learn how to sharpen it properly, and you're set for life.
- grues-dinner 1y agoIn particular, you don't need expensive stones, guides or lapping systems to do it. An aliexpress-grade 3000/8000 waterstone, a flattening stone and a strop will get most knives shaving the hairs off your arm for under £20 all-in.
- wffurr 1y agoThe odds I will ever learn to use a waterstone or strop are nil. A Chef’s Choice manual sharpener is really easy and makes my knives plenty sharp enough to cut tomatoes.
- grues-dinner 1y agoYeah they work fine too. The point is not that you need stones to sharpen knives at all, but you don't need insanely expensive glass or diamond stones like the YouTubers tend to tell you to get to shaving-sharp if you want to. Just don't use a sharpener with the carbide v-blades that shave off slivers of metal or you'll get a knife with a concave edge that doesn't meet the board along the whole length and that really is a pain to fix (related note on that, a kitchen knife edge up in a vice is quite a disconcerting thing!).
- xandrius 1y agoWhy? Your hands don't work? They are really not that hard, especially if they come with the bit with the right angle.
- wffurr 1y ago>> Why? Your hands don't work? That’s quite rude and unnecessary. To answer the question, there is an infinite number of things I can do with my time. Learning that particular manual skill, especially when there is a very simple alternative, just doesn’t seem worthwhile to me.
- cush 1y agoIf you have a sharp knife and a wet cloth under your cutting board chopping is a joy, otherwise it's a dangerous, tedious, and exhausting task that turns so many people away from cooking entirely
- rcdemski 1y agoWhy a wet cloth?
- kla-s 1y agoStiction
- haneefmubarak 1y agoI think the wet cloth is meant to increase friction between the surfaces
- unwind 1y agoIt stops the board from sliding.
- NortySpock 1y agoThe wet cloth between the counter and the cutting block keeps the cutting block from sliding / moving on you when force is applied, which is more comfortable and safer.
- amelius 1y agoIts capabilities don't look any different from what I've seen in TV ads over the last few decades.
- crooked-v 1y agoThe bit that looks actually interesting to me is buried in the middle of the video - while the ultrasonic switch is on, food visibly falls off the knife instead of sticking to the sides.
- whyenot 1y agoA good quality well sharpened knife already works incredibly well, doesn't cost $500, doesn't need to be recharged, and isn't going to be e-waste in 5 years (when the battery fails). It's a cool idea, and I hope it is commercially successful, but not for me.
- karmanGO 1y agoThe battery is comes out for recharging, so replacing a dead battery should be trivial
- scrlk 1y agoIt's a proprietary form factor, so you're gambling on replacements being available down the line. I don't think it'll be easy to rebuild the battery pack without compromising the casing.
- Zak 1y agoGiven the battery specs and the form factor of the products, they could have used a 14500 cell that retails for $5. That's not as much recurring revenue as charging $80 for something proprietary though.
- ReptileMan 1y ago3d printer and couple of cells and I guess a board will get the job done.
- prmoustache 1y ago
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y agoPretty kewl, but, for some reason, this old site comes to mind... https://www.tumblr.com/weputachipinit https://www.tumblr.com/weputachipinit
- beeflet 1y agowhy does tumblr make me sign in to see posts
- jaredhallen 1y agoThanks for the share, hadn't seen that before.
- amelius 1y agoDoes the vibration pass through the skin, via the handle?
- sethammons 1y agoAnswered in the promo: no, you can't feel it.
- amelius 1y agoWell I also don't feel the vibration of my doctor's ultrasound device. Doesn't mean there is no vibration.
- Tade0 1y agoI would get this for the same reason I'm planning to replace my couch with an optimal-for-moving-through-a-turn couch as soon as I find a carpenter willing to make it. The middle part will be evened-out by a separate, round cushion.
- typon 1y agoThis looks amazing. I love tech in Lindy products that actually works well.
- dsr_ 1y agoIt certainly would be nice to have three or four independent reviews from people with knife skills.
- martini333 1y agoIt's not made for people with knife skills.
- saaaaaam 1y agoIt absolutely is. I’m a former chef and have great knife skills but would love one of these.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoWhat would it do that your current, well-maintained, very sharp knife doesn’t?
- jitl 1y agodrop potato slices with less fuss I’m a decent home cook with decent knife skills and i take my knives to a sharpener from time to time, I have tech job salary, I preordered. Seems neat.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoOk congrats!
- victorhooi 1y agoHmm, that seems a bit snarky =(. I don't think the parent was bragging about the salary thing - a lot of the other comments here are mentioning the price (which to be fair, is definitely in the expensive gadgets/toys bucket...) so he/she (s/g) is saying - he's just a home cook, he's got semi-decent knife skills, and he's in a position that he can afford this. And let's be honest, tech geeks are basically the target demographic for this sort of thing - as are half the gadgets on Kickstarter. Yes - we can talk all we want about carbon credits, and eWaste, and doing things the old fashioned homestead way when men were men, took cholera and dysentry on the chin, and knew how to use a whetstone, or to whistle (I can do one of those things...)... I am sorely tempted, and I'm an amateur cook at best...if even that. And truthfully, this probably won't make my food better than a $15 IKEA knife (assuming I just replace those regularly). But it may make the process more enjoyable. And the tech is cool...
- leeoniya 1y agoall the comparisons in the vid show knives being pushed through the food. that's not a good way to use a knife. if you used a knife to actually slice the tomato instead of chopping it, you'd get a much different force result. not to say there's no benefit here, but def feels intentionally exaggerated. also, i wonder how fast this blade will wear if you ever accidentally pressed the edge into the cutting block. my guess is that it will wear much faster.
- kulahan 1y agoThat’s not necessary with an ultrasonic knife and would generally be a waste of time. The vibrations take the place of needing to slice, rather than chop. This knife is not meant to be used like a normal chef’s knife. I’d still never get one because I love my knives (and zen out hard when sharpening for an hour or two), but the push is literally the goal here.
- leeoniya 1y ago> That’s not necessary with an ultrasonic knife and would generally be a waste of time i was just saying they compare it to normal knives being used incorrectly.
- tptacek 1y agoIt depends completely on the knife. A nakiri or a bunka wants you to push cut, for instance. I definitely did notice that the video didn't show any bulk prep work: a clean cut through a single product is not nearly as interesting to me as how cleanly and quickly I can work through a couple onions.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ok_computer 1y agoThis is a QVC product with the name of a US tech city slapped on it. Signed, a guy living nearby the home of QVC in a decidedly non-tech area of the US. Ps. don’t buy future e-waste kitchen ware unless you have accessibility reasons. You can get a good-enough victoronix 8” chef knife for $65 (I paid $36 a long time ago) and a world class chef knife for less than $250.
- pier25 1y agohow do you sharpen it?
- xandrius 1y agoWhetstones, pretty cheap only and not as hard as it seems.
- dzhiurgis 1y agoWet stones are hard. Rolling ones are easy albeit “real” knife aficionados don’t like it.
- maqp 1y agoThey're really not. All you need is an angle guide you stick to the knife. Something like https://setamono.co.za/products/knife-sharpening-angle-retainer https://setamono.co.za/products/knife-sharpening-angle-retai... With that all you need to do is pretty much go back and forth. Note that the whetstone eventually wears them out too. Something to grab while you're at it, is a truing stone to take care of the whetstone as it _will_ wear out unevenly making the sharpening a pain.
- dzhiurgis 1y agoThats 2-3 extras over rolling sharpeners
- ReptileMan 1y ago
- schainks 1y agoThis is a boon for elderly losing hand/wrist strength
- reilly3000 1y agoIt’s a very impressive video, but the ‘world’s first’ claim is BS: https://www.369sonic.com/ultrasonic-kitchen-knife/ https://www.369sonic.com/ultrasonic-kitchen-knife/
- jitl 1y ago“Chef knife” is the important part, the one you linked is a paring knife.
- oakwhiz 1y agoHonest question, does it aerosolize pathogens that cause food-borne illness?
- lordofgibbons 1y agoThat's good point, aerosolized raw chicken meat water doesn't sound like a good time.
- NedF 1y ago> That's good point Why is it a good point? Do you get disease at a rate we care about from smelling a fart? Or smelling raw chicken? Or cooking chicken and the aerosolize particles off that? The tool seems to melt going off similar tech - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNwHDWlA7gE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNwHDWlA7gE Why does you brain think it's a good point other than you want to be negative? Because nihilism is cooler than thinking? Dentists do ultrasonic scaling, which a ultrasonic water spray and are not dropping like flies. What is the good point here, tell us more, love to hear it.
- fartfeatures 1y agoDentists did avoid aerosolising procedures when COVID protections were in place, along with upgrading to FFP3 masks and full face visors.
- whyenot 1y ago> Dentists do ultrasonic scaling, which a ultrasonic water spray and are not dropping like flies. Dentists wear masks, and the human mouth doesn't tend to contain Salmonella
- DannyBee 1y agoGood news - ~all food borne pathogens are much denser than air. Not like slightly, about 1000x denser. You are going to have about as much aerosolized raw chicken meat water (ARCMW) whether you use an ultrasonic knife or not. The ARCMW touched by the ultrasonic knife will probably have significantly less alive bacteria than the stuff touched by the regular knife.
- tptacek 1y agoElsewhere on the thread I pointed out that I'd noticed the video doesn't show anybody doing actual prep; making an easy but deliberate thin slice of a tomato is one thing, quickly dicing an onion or a bell pepper is a very different thing. To that observation I'd add (h/t my Slack friends) this interesting site Seattle Ultrasonics stood up: https://seattleultrasonics.com/pages/knife-database https://seattleultrasonics.com/pages/knife-database One thing I notice here is that Japanese knives (and my trusty MAC) fare really well on the BESS and CATRA scale, but relatively poorly on the "Food Cutting Rank", which is based on an ad-hoc seeming performance scale of how well their robot fared with a bunch of cutting tests that included stuff like bread and cheese (h/t again Slack friends) --- which nobody uses a chef's knife to cut. That's a weird scale to plot chef's knives across --- unless the purpose of building that scale was to showcase an electronic knife that does well on tasks people don't normally use chef's knives for, but maybe not as well on chef knife daily driver tasks.
- jfim 1y agoI can see why one would use a serrated knife to cut bread, but what knife would one use to cut cheese other than a chef's knife?
- rcpt 1y agoThere are cheese knives that are either very high aspect or have a holes so nothing will stick.
- mgiampapa 1y agoA Santoku or other knife with scalloped sides do well. There are also in fact, cheese knifes, for cutting and serving that are popular for self service cheese boards. Wire is also popular for cutting large block cheeses.
- tptacek 1y agoIronically, the cheeses I would cut with a chef's knife are exactly the ones that aren't going to stick to the knife. The ones that get messy are just as easy to cut with a butter knife. (Amusingly, butter is one of the demos in this video.)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jiveturkey 1y agoI have an ultrasonic knife for reverse engineering. It's wonderful. It's also great for crafting. I'm highly doubtful it's useful in the kitchen. Sharp knives would seem to do the trick.
- ghola2k5 1y agoAll I can think is how this would weaponize onion cutting.
- bob1029 1y agoAnd the chopping of serrano peppers.
- hamonrye 1y agoUse a Hauser. German steel, whereas the Japanese know to forge a blade.
- non_aligned 1y agoUltrasonic knives have been available for non-food uses for a long time. They are useful in certain narrow applications, such as cutting leather or some plastics. That said, they come with two big caveats. First, if you push them into any harder material, the edge is destroyed almost immediately because of the micro-scale "jackhammer" action. So, hit that avocado pit and the knife is probably cooked. Second, the constant motion heats up the blade, to the point of melting thermoplastics or causing the edge to lose temper if you're pushing a bit too hard, cutting the wrong material, etc. It's your money, but I suspect this knife is more of a hassle, and requires more care, than a regular kitchen knife. And let's face it, the coolness factor aside, how often do you struggle to cut chicken, tomatoes, or bread? If you do, it's probably because your knife is dull, and this knife will get dull too.
- justahuman74 1y agoSourdough can actually be a pain to cut without making a giant mess of the crust
- bombela 1y agoPlease tell me it was an intentional pun with the word for bread in French: pain.
- calf 1y agoI'm an amateur cook, my immediate question was how much the vibration and heating will affect vegetable and meat oxidation and cell damage on the cut surface. Could this improve the texture and flavor of certain foods? Like make garlic taste even more garlicky? Or could it cause an apple slice to brown faster? Can it be used to slice cooked fish as if it were sashimi? Etc. If a site like SeriousEats does a product review I hope they focus on qualitative taste, and possibilities for enhancing cooking techniques, not merely saving time/effort to do something.
- dskrvk 1y agoI like this vibro-knife “demo” by Neil Blompkamp’s Oats Studios: https://youtu.be/zaeFgSR_DMU https://youtu.be/zaeFgSR_DMU
- gorgoiler 1y agoA different but far better piece of cutting edge technology is a modern, diamond-encrusted nickel/chrome-plated steel plate. These things are now so sharp they can bring an edge profile back to a knife in five strokes without even needing lubrication (which is nice as water is a PITA when it causes corrosion between the steel bed and the plating.) Every knife in your kitchen can be razor sharp in seconds and kept razor sharp whenever you need them to be. IMHO, far more useful than a single digi-vibro-knife. Example product: Trend 300/1000 diamond sharpening kit.
- shoobiedoo 1y agoAgreed. Even a knife with heavy usage only needs a few swipes to realign the edge. Warning though, sharpening things can be addicting. I have a massive straight razor and finishing stone collection. It's a wonderful hobby, but dipping into natural stones gets very expensive
- sfblah 1y agoI want to see what happens when it cuts your finger. Actually, I don't want to see it. But I'm curious.
- reportingsjr 1y agoThere are surgical scalpels that are ultrasonic, and they are incredibly sharp when activated. They can cut through skin and tissue like butter!
- sleepybrett 1y ago100$ ...for a charger.
- 6c696e7578 1y agoI have a reciprocating saw in the shed already.
- lisper 1y ago"Please sign in to confirm you're not a bot. This helps protect our community." Um, no.
- bmacho 1y agoThe website is just https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/cXjbSVt9XNM https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/cXjbSVt9XNM video embedded + a button to buy. (But it still tracks the referrer in the URL so it tells google that you went HN frontpage -> Ultrasonic Chef's Knife. It seems HN has put back referrer in the links :|)
- MattGrommes 1y agoI work with some bigger ultrasonic cutters/welders and the thing I didn't see in the video was the horrible noise they make. He says the knife makes no noise but they also don't have the noise on for the shots of the bigger ones so I'm suspicious.
- sheimend 1y agoSound is on for the tomato shot in the beginning of the video, FYI. It is extremely quiet.
- metalman 1y agocue the vibro-stab themed "thats not a knife....." and hey for extra murderyness it could be paired with a shock zapper
- esafak 1y agoJust kids having fun.
- kakabelo3 1y agoWhat does this device accomplish in the kitchen, besides being able to make fine slices of vegetables more easily? Electric carver knives beat it for slicing meat. And then for most any other situation of knife usage it isn't necessary at all, as knives are mostly used for chopping. The one (1) thing I can see this being useful for is a shrunken down version for paring, but whether or not that is mechanically feasible, I don't know. The curve and the handle are more important than this vibro-verbing. Nice dialogue, btw. "Help chefs feel great about themselves in the kitchen", "access to sous vide". <Kitchen Woke> ?
- andy99 1y agoAs an aside, this feels very familiar as a sci-fi weapon, does that ring a bell for anyone? I was thinking William Gibson first but I can't place it there.
- ianseyer 1y agoRaven in Snowcrash? Not quite ultrasonic iirc but extremely thin, like the wire developed in three body problem
- fancyswimtime 1y agodune?
- petralithic 1y agoDune's vibrating shield and corresponding weapons.
- YossarianFrPrez 1y agoIt's seemingly quasi-semi-related to The Foundation's 'atomic knives'?
- Hilift 1y agoThis could be the exemplar prototype for Dune knives that can penetrate a Holtzman Shield. Also recall in Dune there is an aversion to technology, so the simplicity and required human operation is a perfect fit.
- arp242 1y ago> in Dune there is an aversion to technology Just computers, no? IIRC they use knives because the shields stop fast-moving objects like bullets, so you need a slow-moving object like a knife.
- empiricus 1y agoevanghelion
- pantulis 1y agoWait until Gillette figures this shit out.
- elwood_b 1y agoYour cat is gonna LOVE it!
- adamredwoods 1y agoI love these inventor stories, as the Chef's Knife does towards the end of the video. Another great one is Springfree trampolines, from NPRs How I Built This: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031732394/springfree-trampoline-keith-alexander-steve-holmes-2019 https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031732394/springfree-trampol...
- coastalpuma 1y agoIf you're an amateur and really want to spend this much money, get a good enough knife (e.g. the classic victorinox) and a chef's choice electric sharpener, and you won't have any more issues.
- com2kid 1y agoI've read multiple reviews saying the chefs choice sharpeners are basically useless. Having owned 2 of them I can confirm they seem to do almost nothing after the first few times using them. A few YT knife channels have done deep dives showing why they stop working soon after purchase, the details escape me but I have to agree with the end result....
- Taek 1y agoI'm a bit surprised to see how much snark there is in the comment sections of this video. The requests for "let's see an independent chef use this knife to do real kitchen work" make total sense, but the moralizing around e-waste and losing fingers etc feels off balance. People spend hundreds of dollars and many hours sharpening kitchen knives, of course there's a viable market for sharper kitchen knives. And for e-waste, you are never going to make meaningful progress by telling consumers to feel bad for buying fun things. The problem is so much bigger than that, the energy is better spent in a different place. This is a cool and novel tool, at least as far as its genuine utility can be verified. It doesn't seem harmful to let people get excited about it.
- mensetmanusman 1y agoE-waste can be solved without reducing the number of items. Just requires basic investments in recycling.
- 9dev 1y agoRecycling is a sham. There is mostly no efficient recycling of sufficiently advanced components, the industry just spent decades on making you think you can buy lots of cheap things and all that trash isn’t your problem. Well it is.
- mensetmanusman 1y agoWith enough energy we can separate anything into its elemental constituents. “Recycling” as mentioned by the US press is a scam because we had humans walking over our trash in India manually recycling in such a dangerous way they banned our recycling. Anything can be ground into dust and sent through a series of physiochemical processes to reconstitute.
- 9dev 1y agoWell. The "recycling" we’re talking about in this thread is a greenwashing lie to make consumers feel better about their irresponsible consumption. The recycling you’re talking about is a science fiction trope, and utterly irrelevant here, because we don’t have a way of expending that much energy, let alone generate economically (or ecologically).
- wisty 1y agoWhy is it people here seem so unusually sceptical? It's expensive (but not really, only compared to knives - a $500 GPU isn't expensive). It's probably mostly good in certain niches and using a $10 knife that's sharpened properly is probably 95% as good in almost every application, and using a $10 knife that is only reasonably well sharpened is probably 90% as good. Slicing stuff for hotpot or yakiniku or Korean BBQ is what I thought of when I saw the ad, while for a lot of things it's probably not worth it. But a lot of stuff is like that - good in a niche, OK elsewhere, and there's always a cheaper option that's more flexible and almost as good even in the niche. I feel like hn is upset by the lack of marketing. This looks like a direct sales ad that you'd get on Facebook, rather than the hype research marketing that mostly targets the b2b types who mostly dwell here? The marketing isn't the kind of marketing they normally get targeted by, so they notice it's marketing? I notice this on other forums. If marketing isn't slick and well targeted, people get upset and suspicious because it's marketing. But functionally, they're not upset because it's marketing (almost everything is), they're upset because it's not enough marketing, and functionally they want more marketing that targets them better.
- thomassmith65 1y agoIt's the lack of pragmatism. "Sure, people claim the kitchen knife has been a solved problem for hundreds of years, but what if there was a kitchen knife that had a battery inside and cost $500?" And if this version of the knife doesn't connect to the cloud, the next one will. It all seems quite gimmicky.
- 2muchcoffeeman 1y agoKudos if they develop a knife that blunts itself when your subscription expires.
- arp242 1y ago> if this version of the knife doesn't connect to the cloud, the next one will. That's just ugly cynicism. And I'm willing to bet a good amount of money the "next one" from this company won't. But it doesn't matter because this one doesn't and we're talking about this one, not some hypothetical that may never arrive.
- clhodapp 1y agoSpeaking of ultrasonic vibration... Is the audio in the video have noticeable warbles and pops for anyone else? I wonder why that is...
- zaps 1y agoOk great, now Steve Jobs it and explain to my mom why she needs it
- veidr 1y agoI think a lot of the commentary here is missing the main point — while you may not (I mean, certainly do not) need an ultrasonic chef's knife, it's a cool origin story, and the guy has the receipts! Years of iterations of circuit board design, blade shapes, and the robotic cut-test arm... I personally would enjoy using this in my kitchen just for the hacker vibes. Although not a pro, or even a good cook, I do like quality knives — but, like most people who develop a casual nice-knife affinity, I then bought a few quality knives, a couple of junk knives to try restoring with a whetstone, a hand-made Japanese knife with my name on it, and... then I had enough kitchen knives to last the rest of my life, and there was no reason to buy any more. This is the first one I have considered in years. Not because I need it, or because it's necessarily better at cutting must things than the workhorse Sekimagoroku nakiri I use[1] but because it's fucking neat and radiates nerdium waves. This knife should be celebrated for what it is: basically an epic nerd project. That can also cut at least a few kinds of fruit more easily (or at least more enjoyably). [1]: KAI model AE5206 (which seems very much like a Shun knife, made by the same company, but cost me only $53)
- llsf 1y agoSame vibes, different frequency... https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1245797052/vintage-60s-philips-straight-handle https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1245797052/vintage-60s-phili...
- arp242 1y agoI watched the video and this seems pretty neat. Don't want to knock it or be negative. He's definitely right that most people's knives are dull – when I use knives in other people's homes I often just want to cry at how dull they are (also: pans – how the hell do so many people have dented damaged pans?) But you really don't need to splurge out €329 to have reasonably sharp knives. All you need is a sharpening steel and use it once or twice after every usage. Even a cheap knife will last for years while remaining reasonable sharp. Mine was €6 or thereabouts at Tesco two years ago and is more than sharp enough. Of course more expensive knifes (ultrasonic or not) are better and can hold an edge longer. You can spend more time, effort, and money on making them sharper than just a quick use of a cheap sharpening steel. If you want to spend the extra money: go for it! But for a normal home cook: you can go a long way with consistent use of a €10 sharpening steel.
- ryoshu 1y agoThe demo videos show very poor knife skills.
- wunderlust 1y agoKnife skills are a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a good chef.
- geuis 1y agoThis product is a huge gimmick. Buy a $20 double sided sharpening stone on amazon and you can keep even the cheapest stainless steel knives sharp and chef ready for years. Just basic knife sharpening skills are needed which you can pick up in 10 minutes on YouTube.
- aortega 1y agoBut I want a ultrasonic knife.
- turtlebits 1y agoTheres a whole class of people who will pay more to not have to maintain things themselves. I bought an EV because they require little maintenance and I also hate filling up. I have decent knives but have probably never sharpened them properly. If there are more reviews, I'd pick this up.
- jpe-210 1y agoThe concept of the knife is interesting. I could see myself buying one if I had that much money lying around. Maybe if the home chef who needs a leg up sees this it would prevent them from spending that much or more on more expensive knives and maintenance products. For those of us who know our way around the kitchen I’m not sure how much benefit I would get out of it. Also did anyone think some of the cutting segments, particularly the radish, seemed sped up? The movement of the blade and hand looked a bit unnatural.
- jcims 1y agoI've invested close to a thousand dollars in sharpening tools over the years. I keep my knives super sharp as a hobby more than anything. I'd still love to have one of these in the drawer for certain tasks. It's ugly and clunky but I'd probably still use it on a semi-regular basis for warm breads, cheeses, etc. I bet the action would help with sharpening as well. I do wonder if a tuning fork or 'mass on a stick' hidden in the tang could provide enough vibration to help with the sticking. You'd probably have to smack it with every cut but it's so rarely a problem that would be fine.
- victorhooi 1y agoOh wow - would love to know what you got for sharpening, or what you'd suggest for the home cook? When you say ugly/clunky - I'm guessing you mean it's a bit heavier, or the weight will be off compared to a good high-end chef's knife? (I don't have anything like that, haha). I did note on their FAQ they say to never activate the blade whilst sharpening: https://seattleultrasonics-ceizljlxnpt.gorgias.help/en-US/how-do-i-sharpen-or-resharpen-the-c-200-2437092?isEmbedded=true https://seattleultrasonics-ceizljlxnpt.gorgias.help/en-US/ho... > Do not activate the ultrasonics during sharpening - this can damage both the blade and your sharpening stones, as the ultrasonic movement is too aggressive and not evenly distributed across the entire cutting edge. Also, reshaping the blade to a different belly curvature or tip shape can cause it to fall out of tune, so avoid removing more material than you would during normal sharpening.
- jcims 1y agoOh nice catch on the sharpening bit! I don't know that I'd be able to resist on the finer grits. The only thing you really need to keep kitchen knives sharp is the habit of sharpening them. That said I've been using this recently for utility sharpening - https://worksharptools.com/products/precision-adjust-knife-sharpener https://worksharptools.com/products/precision-adjust-knife-s... It's a bit clunky but I tend to obsess over the angle of the grind, and something that physically constrains that is going to allow me to enjoy the process. For general purpose sharpening you don't need much more than a coarse stone (320 grit) and a honing steel. The coarse stone will bring the edge back (learn how to feel for the burr) and regular use of the steel will keep it in good cutting shape until it wears down. You might not get hair-popping razor sharpness, but that's a fairly short-lived state with kitchen knives unless you do a lot of maintenance.
- 65 1y agoI find it funny most of these comments are about how unnecessary this thing is. To me it has immediate appeal to make cutting easier. It's also really not that expensive. I suppose this is the same site that is crazy about AI and thought Dropbox would flop. This thing has more utility than AI to me. I suppose being a software person can warp your perception of the real world.
- gurgeous 1y agoI personally watched Scott spend years working on the project and obsessively iterating on the steel, the vibration pattern, the circuitry, the handle, and the form factor. Scott is a hacker, one of us for sure. I mean, the guy built a custom robot just to measure cutting efficiency... The knife is amazing and exactly as shown in the video. Rand Fishkin has a nice short on LinkedIn trying out the knife too. I think he shows one his (sharp) kitchen knives slicing through a lemon, then the Ultrasonic. It's astounding. Disclaimer: I am a (tiny) angel investor in Seattle Ultrasonics.
- tptacek 1y agoDoes that video show him doing actual prep? I 100% believe he made a knife that can make a paper-thin slice of a lemon. But that's not what a chef's knife is for. As someone who thinks the world would be a better place if this product worked and was successful: for god's sake record someone processing an onion. That's what matters.
- gurgeous 1y agoIn Rand's video he does an "old" lime, mozzarella, and a shallot. It's just a quick vid he did in like five minutes but it shows some prep. Rand is a prolific amateur chef... https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7374472103284154368/ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7374472... Disclaimer: I've enjoyed many delicious meals at Rand's table
- tptacek 1y agoSo, I just watched this, and he's not processing a shallot, he's just slowly talking thin slices off it. Also: even when my MAC is rolled over and needs a hone, it still does a lime just as well. I'm not saying this knife doesn't work just that I'm noticing that none of the videos show it working. Seriously, it is only a little bit of an exaggeration to say that the entire job of a chef's knife is to quickly process an onion. What's especially weird is that even an inert knife with its factory edge will show well in an onion dice video!
- 1y ago
- miragecraft 1y agoI think it’s really cool, but not sure about the button design (seams to trap germs) and placement (index finger is not where I naturally exert pressure when cutting with a kitchen knife). Also would be nice if it can be fitted to existing blades as handle retrofit, but I understand that might not be possible to properly tune the vibrations.
- lstodd 1y agowhen I need a ton of whatever cut thin I just use a rotary slicer. a knife is for detail work like stripping meat. on bulk/speed/uniformity you cannot beat a slicer with a knife.
- thr0away 1y agoUmreeka can have geniuses only in tv shows at this point….otherwise we are reinventing knives!!
- your_challenger 1y agoIt looks like a very cool product. Though it's too expensive for a regular guy who treats the cooking as a chore.
- CarVac 1y agoThe only actual benefit I find it has over a well-maintained sharp chef knife is the non-stick aspect, which looks really nice but not $300 nice IMO. Most people don't sharpen their knives enough and therefore they have to expend a lot of effort to sharpen them. If your knife is only slightly dull it takes 10 seconds to resharpen it, unlike if you've gotten the edge all folded over and such.
- raldi 1y agoBut as you say, most people don’t do that. So “the only actual benefit” is something of value to most people.
- metadat 1y agoIs this Hacker News or the TV Shopping Network?
- peteforde 1y agoI recently backed NeoBlade, which is an ultrasonic multi-blade cutting device for crafters. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hozodesign/neoblade https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hozodesign/neoblade TL;DR it's really freaking cool, though the blades do seem to get dull fairly quickly. That said, they are made of a radically different grade of steel. If the tech in the NeoBlade has been adapted successfully to the chef's knife, then all of the haters are going to sound like all of the early "you don't need an air fryer" pundits who totally missed the point and were clearly wrong. Also, all of the "why would I care if I can aerosolize citrus" commenters have clearly never worked in a cocktail bar. Which isn't a knock; this is Hacker News, after all. Just know that there are people who make fancy drinks who would pay a lot to be able to do this easily. If you are the sort of person who spends time thinking about clear ice, you don't need this explained to you.
- com2kid 1y agoI'm still in the camp that air fryers are stupid. A convection oven does literally the same thing. Also, portable air fryers make such small servings that they're useless for people with families. What the hell I going to do with three chicken wings?
- peteforde 1y agoYou're technically right that an air fryer is a type of small convection oven, but dismissing them as "stupid" ignores why they're so popular. The point isn't that they reinvent physics, it's that they package convection in a way that's faster, uses way less electricity, is easier to clean, and perfectly sized for 1-2 people. Most folks aren't cooking for a big family every meal. I often just want to make fries, roast veggies, or crisp up leftovers. My Cosori lets me do that without heating the entire kitchen (and way faster, too). I also simply don't have a convention oven. I rent my place, and it's not like I can just swap out the white goods. Yes, the smallest ones are limited in capacity, but that's not the whole category. Larger models handle whole chickens. The proof is in the market: people buy them in droves because they make food hot/crispy really quickly. A conventional oven can do the same thing, but it's like saying a desktop computer makes laptops "stupid". Technically true, but it ignores convenience, size, and efficiency, which are the reasons air fryers took off. Anecdotally, most air fryers are owned by people who used to believe that they didn't need an air fryer. Have you actually had one in your life?
- goopypoop 1y agowhen your bag vibrates at airport security but, phew, it's not a sex toy it's ok guys it's just my knife everything's fine
- zug_zug 1y agoSo the issue with that tomato cutting test was that it was terrible form. You obviously don't apply flat pressure on a tomato until it breaks, you slice it by sliding the blade forward as you push down. It's unclear to me that this blade offers any improvement over proper technique, and feels disingenuous to even offer that comparison.
- raldi 1y agoThe comments in this thread remind me of the famous HN Dropbox announcement. To 99% of people, “just sharpen your knife regularly” is about as realistic as “just set up a Linux FTP server with rsync and…”
- GuB-42 1y agoHow well does it cut frozen food? Probably not great, otherwise they would have shown it, but being able to cut frozen food properly would be a game changer. The only things I found working are saws, and they are messy.
- sethammons 1y agoI learned long time ago, if you are freezing it, freeze it in a shape that can be used frozen. For instance, I flatten ground meat into 1lb "patties" and don't freeze it as a roll. I can literally snap the patty in half if I want half a pound, and the increase in surface area means rapid thawing if I place it, still in its storage bad (ziplock usually, but vacuum seal sometimes), into room temp water.
- ashu1461 1y agoSomehow after looking at the video, it is hard to believe that it is actually much different than your standard knife.
- tills13 1y agoFor $500+ you can get a really, REALLY nice Damascus steel chef's knife with a beautiful patina and wood handle. Yes: it requires a bit more maintainable but nice things often require some work. When it's properly honed & sharpened, it'll cut just as well as this.
- ehsankia 1y agoSo you're basically saying that you can spend as much money to get a knife that will cut as well but requires regular work put into it, whereas this doesn't? I think that's the whole pitch here...
- m3kw9 1y agoI think eventually you do need to sharpen it, this thing delays it. But it seems like a good gift if it ain't too expensive.
- hardwaresofton 1y agoThis kind of thing is what I come to HN for. This guy did a 6 year multidisciplinary grind to produce a stunning consumer product. Exemplary
- victorhooi 1y agoThis looks really cool! I was just curious about two things - seems there might be some knife aficionados or experts here! 1. Sharpening - As a home cook, who doesn't know a lot about knives/sharpening - how hard would this be to maintain? Would it be plausible to get some basic home sharpening gear, and maintain this myself? Or should I take it to a professional knife sharpener - and if so, how do I even know if they're a good one, and won't damage the blade, or perhaps are good, but somehow get the blade out of "tune" etc? 2. Safety wise - is there anything at all to be concerned about with ultrasonic 40Khz blades? Should I be wearing any hearing protection when using this? (Context - I have hearing loss in both ears, and wear hearing aids - keen to preserve my remaining hearing, and am understandably cautious about this kind of thing for my family and me).
- FpUser 1y agoThat non stickiness. I am curious if we do ultrasonic frying pan. Will it be non-stick as well?
- HeyImAlex 1y agoI think if this can keep a knife effectively sharper than the equivalent nice steel with less maintenance, then it’s going to find a market. I’m a nerd, but Ive found that once I’ve mastered a hobby I eventually gravitate towards convenience, optimizing my time over absolute performance. I’ve built five PCs in my life, and now I only own a macbook. I spent loads of time optimizing my hifi setup, and now most of my apartment is sonos. And I have probably 1k worth of nice japanese knives + whetstones, that I would happily replace with a single knife that needs little to no upkeep.
- benbayard 1y agoI am like you, but my concern with this knife is lifespan. My Japanese knives will last a lifetime. This knife has no warranty that I could find, but how long do we expect it to live? If it’s 10 years or so, I could be happy with it.
- jatins 1y agoOn safety, if the blade is vibrating and I put my finger perpendicularly under it, will it cut the skin? They show the knife being touched from the side but of course that's safe
- MathMonkeyMan 1y ago"J. Robot Choppenheimer" is what earned my upvote. If this knife works as well as the pitchman says, that's amazing. Just don't touch the edge. I've gotten into the habit of using one of those slatted knife sharpeners before every use of my knife. It works well enough.
- bradley13 1y agoSuch funny (and odd) takes on knives. They are tools, nothing more. I sharpen ours weekly, using a sharpener that wears down the blades. When they get too worn, they get replaced.
- lolive 1y agoI would buy the katana version, in Cyberpunk 2077!
- rishabhd 1y agoMetal Gear Solid vibes.
- jeandejean 1y agoHackers news is now sneaking more and more ads. That's disappointin
- bschwindHN 1y agoThis is super cool tech and I truly appreciate the grind this guy went through to bring a hardware product to life. At the same time, I've been using a $5 chef knife for almost a decade and just giving it a few passes against a honing steel every few weeks. It gets plenty sharp after that, to the point where I don't feel I'm missing anything. Then again, I'm just a home cook who's super into kitchen knives so I acknowledge I'm not in the target market.
- enceladus_ice 1y agoWhy can't you just buy a cheap whetstone and sharpen your knives when they're dull? I have a mid chef's knife from wustoff or zwillig, don't remember which, that I just keep sharp periodically when I notice it's dull. I've had it for years of home cooking.
- nevertoolate 1y agoTarget market is a hobby chef nerd’s mom :) Otoh: this is NOT how a person cuts with a knife! Kills credibility of the whole complicated measurement with the robot. Just ask a chef to cut on a scale. You will be surprised. People can cut with semi-dull knife by pulling the knife towards their body not pushing down towards the cutting surface.
- nine_k 1y agoAny new tech arrives as a gimmick, too expensive and underwhelming to be practical in daily life. Think about early TVs with a postcard-size monochrome screen, early 8-bit hobby computers, first Tesla cars, solar panels at the time when only spacecraft carried them, etc. If the thing proves somehow useful, mass adoption and mass production slashes the cost 2-3 orders of magnitude, and the thing becomes mundane. Otherwise it becomes forgotten as a weird gimmick. Let's wait another 15 years.
- albert_e 1y agoImpressive dedication -- and what a refined looking product. Of course the real world use needs to match the advertising. I am not in the target segment (too expensive for me) but love to see such products and innovations across daily life tools -- hopefully this inspires others too.
- weakwire 1y agoLOVED!!! the presentation.
- thomascountz 1y agoI feel like the demo video embodies a lot of startup advice I've seen on HN about product vs team. This video makes me like Scott and Seattle Ultrasonics. I feel I can trust Scott's expertise. His backstory fits what I imagine I would do if I were obsessed with a project like this. This makes me compelled to learn more and to maybe become a customer? Why? Because I want to see Scott succeed and would feel proud to be a part of that. Even if this knife didn't end up performing to my expectations or if I didn't really need a knife like this, I want to see Scott make more things. He has a very well-proven record of delivering and I would bet he could do it again. Funny, that! Whatever type of marketing this is, it works on me.
- brap 1y agoYeah, I don't know anything about knives and this is definitely not for me, but I will say I think the pitch was a perfect 10/10. I thought I would watch for a few seconds and stayed for the whole thing. Great job.
- YeGoblynQueenne 1y agoI'm afraid all it did for me is it made me think to myself (in a sarcastic inner voice): "are you going to do a screwdriver next?".
- nsarrazin 1y agoTo me the main appeal of this is not that it makes cutting easier (you already reduce much of the cutting force needed if you slice across instead of pushing down, which this seems to be doing at a micrometer level) but the fact that food doesn't stick to the blade. All of my knives have sticking issues, potato slices are the worst culprits. When doing a lot of prep work on veggies in a cramped area it's a pain and this seems like it could actually fix things? OTOH, I'm not a huge fan of the design, I don't mind spending good money on a knife but between the blade profile and the chonky handle, it looks like an hybrid between an 8" fibrox and an electric turkey cutter. If there was a premium release with a fancier handle (could wood work?) and a nicer blade profile (something like a gyuto or a french sabatier) I would be interested and I think it would reduce sticker shock (looks premium, expect premium price). I love the design of the charging tile though!
- omega3 1y agoThe tomato test is disingenuous - no one slices a tomato by pressing the knife straight down - you slice it to break the thick skin and follow with a slicing motion. The rest of the graph basically shows no difference between the force used for ultrasonic one and standard knife used inefficiently?
- rkomorn 1y agoAnd yet, when people like to show off how sharp their knife is, dropping a tomato on it (blade-up obviously) and watching the tomato split in two is one of the favorite tests. Probably (and precisely) because you can only achieve this with a knife that cuts very well.
- account42 1y agoThat's nice and all but I don't think you want to be the guy that brings an ultrasonic knife to a knife sharpening competition.
- barrenko 1y agoCrazy stuff, the Quantified Knife project seems even crazier.
- mizzao 1y agoWhat happens when the ultrasonic knife gets dull? At what point is a regular sharp knife better? Most people don't maintain their knives well and they get really ineffective over time. Others who do, probably won't buy this...
- ThrowawayTestr 1y agoYou can sharpen it, it's still a regular knife.
- spragl 1y agoIt is a cool product, but I have the clumsiness of the average home cook. So my old style knifes are plenty sharp for me. I would not be comfortable using this. But if there were a version with the slipperiness he shows, just having standard sharpness, it would be much more interesting to me. BTW I think the focus on knife sharpness is overrated for most kitchen tasks. At least for home cooks. Your knives should just have the necessary sharpness. More than that is a negative in my opinion.
- markasoftware 1y agoI mostly agree that, as someone who cooks something intricate <10 times per year, a sharp knife is in fact more dangerous than a dull one. Scott in the video makes the argument that sharp knives are safer, because you don't have to use as much force. But the only time I've ever cut myself with a knife in the kitchen have been with very sharp knives, eg one time handling it while washing the blade.
- big_paps 1y agoI have not many virtues but i always keep knives sharp wherever i am. With this tool the last bastion has fallen …
- hackboyfly 1y ago[dead]
- estimator7292 1y agoThe wireless charging knife rest got me. I have utterly no use for this thing but it looks so goddamn cool that I want it anyway.
- TechSquidTV 1y agoI'm a sucker for good demos.
- idorosen 1y agoThey claim to be the first, but a simple google search shows several other ultrasonic kitchen knives out there. (369sonic, etc.) dating back years.
- redox99 1y agoIt's the first ultrasonic CHEFS knife (afaik)
- landgenoot 1y agoIsn't this extremely dangerous? This will keep cutting without force through body parts untill it reaches the bone.
- pvtmert 1y agoi guess that is why you need to keep pressing the button (also battery conserving too) the guy mentions cutting self occurs mostly due to excessive force applied by the (amateur/inexperienced) user and i kind of agree. other part is that the inattentiveness and distraction, maybe trying to be fast... although if i were able to cut through (pun intended) things that easily, i would be steadier hand...
- codeduck 1y agoawful handle ergonomics compared to any "real" knife e.g Wustoff or Victorinox. No tang whatsoever, so the knife has no strength. It's probably unbalanced, which makes it awkward to use with finesse and speed. A year of heavy use and the "haft" will degrade to the point that it's dangerous. Buy a proper carbon steel knife. You can keep it sharp forever with 5 minutes on youtube and $20 worth of kit from Amazon. Plus, it will never go flat.
- ropable 1y agoCool tool, however: the people who are going to spend $500 on a cook's knife likely already have the capability and motivation to properly sharpen a kitchen knife. The market for this feels extremely limited. Also: I'd be curious how this feels in the hand due to the button and the extra weight.
- mrheosuper 1y ago"Sorry honey looklike we have to eat out today because i forgot to charge my kitchen knife"
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- pedro_caetano 1y agoHaving worked a fair amount with ultrasound for eye surgery [0] the physics similarities are very striking (the FEA simulation gave me flashbacks) but it's almost funny how the same principles can be translated and applied for an entirely different end purpose (cataract surgery, and slicing tomatoes!) To use Scott's words it is very cool to see such a tech translation from industry to home use. I would still be cautious about the lifetime of these devices (namely how it will deal with water ingress over time) but the fact that they will come out of a factory is already quite a HW startup feat. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacoemulsification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacoemulsification
- BrandoElFollito 1y agoI was offered a CHEF'S CHOICE 15XV a few years ago and this is what I use to sharpen the knives at home (very ordinary knives). I never knew if this was the summum of how sharp my knives could be, or where I bring them on a "sharpness" scale of 1 to 5 for a given knife. I was also wondering if this depends on the knife - with some knives being better for such electrical sharpener and some worse.
- rfwhyte 1y ago$400 USD for a $50 Japanese stainless steel blade, and what amounts to the guts from a $10 electric toothbrush. I mean I get that you spent some R&D money on developing this thing, but selling something direct to consumers at 10X the BoM cost is abhorrent.
- robinwinters 1y agoAfter culinary I was a cook/chef in starred/bib kitchens for 15+ years. I also apprenticed at an old school Japanese whetstone sharpening shop during that time period (my SF neighbors here probably know BC). I have a certain amount of expertise in this area and I can say unequivocally that there is no way this could be used for even moderate prep work. There's nothing wrong with the steel, it's a pretty standard SS, the size is a little too large for my hands, I like a 160, but 200 is a good middling size for most. It’s the vibrating. You know how your hands feel after holding a ~~vibrato~~…lawn mower for a while and then your hands feel like fuzzy pudding? There’s that, but the blade will shift constantly, and heaven help you if the motor goes wacky/dying. I'm trying to think of a place for this in any kitchen, home or professional, and cannot see it being safe or all that useful...especially for $400. It's a cool idea and really makes wanna go watch The Bad Batch again, BX Battle Droids carry vibroblades, but other than pure novelty it aint cuttin it for me. Bonus for the buy-curious: Getchu a hydrodynamic spatula…jk. Get a nice 160mm - 200mm carbon steel gyuto, Tojiro makes pretty good entry level knives; a paring knife, and a Mercer white handle offset bread knife (a classic) and that’s all you need. For sharpening, a medium grit, muddy synthetic whetstone, I’m a huge fan of Aoto 2-4k, and you don’t really need much else for getting started, but in a way that even the serious pros will know you’re doing the right things. Maybe you need a strop, maybe. Chromium Oxide on leather or cork. Oh, and a SOFT wood cutting board. Hinoki wood is the undisputed king of cutting boards, or you could go with a no-trax self healing synth rubber if you have the $$. Put a wet kitchen towel/papertowel under your cutting boards so they don’t move around when you’re using them. Haste makes waste, and a wet towel is a hot towel. Leave the money on the dresser.
- vlmutolo 1y agoIt’s vibrating at a microscopic level. You won’t be able to feel it at all.
- floppiplopp 1y agoSo, some tech business took something that is practical, robust, and low maintenance, and then added a deteriorating battery, delicate electronics, and the need to constantly charge a f-ing kitchen knife. Bullshit innovation is reinventing things, but worse. I wouldn't be surprised if they at some point added AI powered cutting modes and a subscription service, because the target audience clearly is gullible morons that are easily fooled by fancy ideas of vaguely sci-fi concepts.