The Most Irresponsible Knife Sharpening Video On Youtube

[@doctormidnight]

Sam seems to have reached the point where his channel is just a vanity project. I'm expecting him to start doing videos with titles like "I Slow Roasted A Sack of Money and THIS Happened" soon.

[@seizod]

I lost the tip of my thumb cutting hard carrots with a dull knife when I was a sous chef. We sent our knives to be sharpened weekly but they were dull by the end of the week.

[@IneptOrange]

Well that sounds like a lovely experience.

[@wolfingitdown2047]

I watched this video and laughed when he said he "didn't have much success" on the whetstones when his technique is clearly that of someone who never tried haha

[@LowReedExpert1]

Seriously, it's not even that it was done with such poor technique it was even done with the timidity of someone backing out a car for the first time. Dude seemed scared to move, especially compared to how he used the other things

[@Laerthor]

he's right though. dull knives are safe knives... cause you don't use them.

[@IneptOrange]

Bro the recoil from the cringe of the dude pushing a knife into his thumb nail. I remember when I used my knew knife for the first time. I was chopping an onion and way too excited to be using this brand new knife out the box. I wasn't paying attention and sliced cleanly through my thumbnail and the tip of my thumb. Exposed the nail bed. Most uncomfortable moment I've had for a while.

[@KChung-fg3kb]

I don't know how to explain to Sam's fans that your fingers and your safety are more important than your love for a KZbin mini celebrity

[@TempRawr]

Crazy how so many people get into cooking and think they can start telling people advice. That statement was meant partly as comedic irony. But holy crap the dude in the video is demanding people take him seriously yet doing crazy amount dangerous shit. Does this dude just want him and everyone else to cut themselves with knives. God damn thought it would just be a few errors but naw he kept going

[@DrPepperPat611]

"don't run around with sharp knives, kids! ...take these dull ones instead"

[@MrMsal1984]

This is for sure dangerous especially for people like my brother who is getting in to sharpening because I sharpen. He would absolutely find a popular sharpening video and try it before asking my opinion.

[@lastdonuts]

I........what? Did ol dude say he tests the sharpness of his knife by nicking a cut into his fingernail?!? I'm literally speechless

[@Orthus100]

Jesus, I recoiled so hard on every thumbnail bit.

[@PaineK]

Yikes this sharpening tutorial is triggering. I had a friend at work test one of my knives on his nail and he cut through the nail and had to go to the ER. Lastly, you would not have to sharpen your knife so much if you didn't use a STONE cutting board! WHY?

[@showersmoker]

If you don’t want to use a whetstone have a professional sharpen your knives 1-2 times a year. It think it’s like $10-$20 per blade typically.

[@ricebrown1]

ya buddy. let him have it. i cant stand the amount of "recipe" channels out there with people spitting out bad advice and teaching people bad habits.

[@wolfingitdown2047]

It wouldn't be me, dawg

[@mfreeman313]

He doesn't seem to have ever put any effort into using a whetstone, and that angle thing on the honing rod was idiotic. Those flats aren't angle guides, for Christ's sake, they're to keep the rod from rolling. And yeah, if you're inexperienced don't test an edge on your body, that's certainly good advice. On pull-throughs I'm a bit more forgiving. I did an article on sharpening a few months ago and talked to a well-known local chef about all this, and on pull-throughs he said while he had never used one, they're "probably better than nothing." I think most home cooks won't do them every day, because they're not as aware of sharpness as a pro or a knife nerd. They'll probably go to the pull-through to sharpen when the edge is much duller than most folks would live with. If it's the only step that home cook is willing to take, it's indeed better than nothing. And nothing is often the other option. How many people have a drawerful of knives that the owners say were good at first but then "got dull"? Those knives aren't doing anyone any good. Probably no need to worry about longevity if the knife is already out of action. Just my $.02.

[@gympy88]

I felt uncomfortable in my soul when he tested the knife on his thumbnail.

[@yasirkadhim2940]

That's how I've always done it I don't get the overreaction, you gently slide it across your nail AWAY FROM YOU and if it catches on its sharp enough, if you manage to cut yourself doing this then you lack the cognitive ability and motor skills to sharpen a knife in the first place.

[@Dctctx]

Why? That’s a completely normal and safe way to text your edge

[@thecookseye7383]

Pull through's don't necessarily take off too much metal, but what they actually do is blunt the freaking apex of the edge. Pull through sharpeners can take something from butter knife dull to a semi functional cutting implement, but it will never be sharp.

[@Murimz]

Started with the babish review and now im addicted to your content.

[@ethangrewe583]

a belt sander is my preferred sharping method.

[@austintillman8297]

I use my Work sharp electric sharpener when I don’t feel like using my stones. Gets blades hella sharp in 2 minutes. Looking forward to starting a new kitchen job in a few days

[@VikingCosmonaught]

Can you review Joshua Weissman’s knife sharpening video? Love the content!

[@davisking8939]

There's a reason for the saying "Dull knives cut deeper"...

[@thatsmrbombdiggity]

That wet stone looked mad dry

[@OriginalGabriel]

That dude has always come off as a (somewhat) rich guy who just wanted to show off his toys because his (actually) rich friends aren't impressed, because their toys are better.

[@JustIn-op6oy]

I didn't think any chef's honing steels had an abrasive electroplated onto the metal (therefore that second steel he showed is a sharpening rod)? If I am mistaken, please let me know. I'm not really big into kitchen knives, I'm a pocket knife collector and an EDC folder enthusiast. Second question - for most western style kitchen knives what angle do you suggest? I've been sharpening my kitchen knives at 20dps, should I go with a more acute angle and extend the edge bevel a bit further up the blade towards the spine?

[@mfreeman313]

20 per side was a longtime standard for Western knives but a lot of factory edges are 15 now. On Japanese knives with harder steel it was typically 15 with some going quite a bit steeper, like 12 or 10. The hardness and other qualities of the steel are a big factor, and so is the kind of jobs the knife will do. IMHO with any decent steel you're usually OK shooting for 15 but reasonable minds can differ.

[@bobdobalina8680]

I left the tip of my thumb on the cutting board with the onions I was slicing with a dull knife

[@biscuitkitchentreviews]

I can't take any knife video seriously from people on KZbin like Sam. A lot of cooks don't actually know about sharpening or knives in general.

[@kevinlynch6729]

Have you seen Project Farm's video about knife sharpening systems? Curious to see what you think about those. He goes from a pull through to some pretty complicated whetstone and sanding belt contraptions. Honestly curious to see how those methods stand up to using a whetstone and why the different ones doing very similar jobs produce different results.

[@tmiller24650]

That was a solid video. I was between the TSPROF and the Tormek. Eventually I landed on a Tormek T4.

[@pyro1324]

@@tmiller24650 Tormek is a really solid all round sharpening system, you can get some really good aftermarket diamond wheels if you want to step up the game.

[@anthonygm85]

I got wet stone 1st, use a honeing steel, use paper or the arm hair check, also have this really old corkstick knive sharpaner,the has only 2 angels I think there 30 and 45 degrees .I hate those pull though sharpers

[@JamesChurchill3]

I can't help but notice he's not demonstrating these 'techniques' on one of his nakiris.

[@ChrisLeeW00]

I’ve seen a Chinese Chef use the thumbnail bite test, so it’s not something this guy made up. Would I do it, though? Absolutely not.

[@jimstewart4929]

Loving all of the butthurt comments from people who don't understand that fucking this up means you spend more money on knives and lose more fingers instead of doing what you want to be doing, which is cooking.

[@cubandarknez]

Hope this gets more traction. That's a very dangerous popular video

[@OriginalGabriel]

Every time you say "kay, so ... " I hear "queso", and want to make nachos.

[@grilledcheese2170]

i dont use the claw method but i wouldn't have any fingers in the way of my blade. also, a steel is not for keeping an edge. its to retain a bit of sharpness till you can get to a wet stone or some such. it can also fuck up the bevel of your blade over time

[@sawaiith3952]

My years of culinary made me actively go 😟😟 every time he tried to use his THUMB NAIL to test the blade. My god that’s so irresponsible

[@lilypad2026]

thank you so much for showing how bad the information is in this video, im sure that an unexperienced person has definitely gotten hurt as a result of following this terrible advice and it needs to be called out

[@tmiller24650]

Sam The Cooking Guy sucks. His sharpening video made me scream.

[@samuelradford5653]

I've cooked a lot of his recipes and have enjoyed all of em

[@tmiller24650]

@@samuelradford5653 I’m sure his recipes are good. I won’t disagree with that. He just gives a lot of bad advice. For instance, my absolute favorite, adding oil to butter to raise the smoke point. I’ll give him props for creating a successful channel and business, because that’s a feat alone.

[@samuelradford5653]

@@tmiller24650 did he say that in a video that it raises the smoke point? Every time I've seen him mention it, he's said it prevents the butter from burning. Thats from my memory I can't 100% confirm

[@tmiller24650]

@@samuelradford5653 I’ve heard him say both I believe. Either way, oil will not raise the smoke point or prevent butter from burning. The milk solids are going to burn at the same temp regardless of other oils.

[@samuelradford5653]

@@tmiller24650 interesting! It doesn't raise the smoke point even a little bit? I feel like I've noticed my butter not really brown and smoke whenever its added to avocado oil(which is what I mainly use so maybe that is why?)

[@rml3059]

How do you know it’s time to replace a good quality knife provided you maintain it and sharpen it regularly?

[@LaunchpadCooks]

If it's quality and properly maintained it will quite literally last you the rest of your life

[@hisokamorow6709]

To add to that, when the height of the blade is no longer enough for whatever task you are using the said knife. I have been sharpening for a few years and I gotta say it will take some serious abuse to the blade, and a few tens of repairs and/or reprofiling before you need to replace your blade. If you sharpen and hone your blade when you need, you will actually need to sharpen it less often -> Less sharpening -> less remove steel -> longer lasting knives You remove most of the steel when the blade is damaged (or reprofiling) blades get damaged when they are used for stuff they ain't supposed to be used, like trying to cut through bone with a file knife or when used dull, as you need to apply more force -> harder hitting the knife against the board -> more damage to the edge. The amount of metal you remove from a dull, undamaged knife, is minuscule.

[@ruuuveeeeennnnnn]

If you go to the comments of the vid, basically every comment says "I love your videos, blablabla", it feels kind of weird that nobody mentions the wrong things he says, it's not like the stuff is some kind of science

[@KrayKray_KB]

I can feel your frustration throughout this entire video. That guy is yikes

[@jefftitterington7600]

Very restrained comments in the face of strong temptation! Much appreciated, sir!

[@blueldrrich84]

Every time that guy touches the knife to his thumbnail I can't help cringing. Jee...eee..eee..eeez!

[@TylrVncnt]

Also the the diamond steel does in fact use REAL man made diamonds as the abrasive, very common lol

[@Foodstronomy]

A dull knife doesn't mean the whole blade is dull, there can still be portions that are sharp, and that's just one reason why a dull knife is dangerous, that guys video is bad.

[@wvdavidr]

I saw that guy's video also. I thought it was the worst knife sharpening video ever. His conclusion that the pull-through sharpener was good and should be used every time was such a sad conclusion!

[@demos113]

That lad needs to sharpen his mind before he even goes near a knife. 🙃

[@olaff4223]

I don't do the thumbnail thing or the shave my arm thing. I just run my thumb across the blade. That's how you can feel the burr.

[@hisokamorow6709]

I hope you don't actually "run it" across the blade, it's quite an easy way to the wire edge stuck in your thumb, don't ask me how I know.

[@BlackNo1918]

Not gonna lie, I am subbed to Sam. But yes. His video on knife sharpening is not good. And this video is very honest, very brave to stand up against a well established cooking channel. All your point are spot on, you're doing a very polite criticism with very valuable advice. Authority here means nothing, we are talking about the safety of our fingers. Great job man. Really great job.

[@gaminikokawalage7124]

Personally I hack my arm with the knife a couple times to check for sharpness

[@joshuacourt7256]

I cringe everytime he hits his knife against stuff.....

[@keithbaker7097]

Maybe I should see if Sam will pay me to sharpen his knives. I promise I'll get em sharper than that pull through 😂

[@dookiepatrol4058]

I did not think the video was gonna be this bad, but holy hell :0 lolololololol

[@atheisthumanist1964]

OMG...use the handle as a guide for your angle on a honing steel. I mean, I got this far so nothing this guy does is going to be remotely shocking, but all the no. He was literally honing that at a 45 degree angle. XD

[@chilldude30]

Holy shit testing the knife on your thumb nail. Fml

[@thiago.assumpcao]

Just by the way he uses the stone I would have downvoted and skipped the video. Dude has no idea what he's doing.

[@daClaytonBigsby]

i thought the same thing. i actually commented on his video. it was a while ago. i like the simple stuff he makes. also entertainment wise I like the guy.

[@markcocione3490]

There is not correct way to cook, Sam cooks a way I cook a different way, this guy cooks a different way, to say that everyone HAS to do everything the same I dont understand it This is what Adam Ragusa was saying, chefs bullying home cooks into doing things the "correct way" I love Sam, I love Adam They my boys, Man said he tests the sharpness of knives on himself and gets mad when Sam does it. Sam was not saying, this is how to test a knife sharpness, he said this is how I, test a knife sharpness. But I understand unless you cook for a living, you dont have the right to cook.

[@hisokamorow6709]

Sharpening knives =/= Cooking That's a reach and u know it. The dude's video is called "THE BEST WAY TO SHARPEN YOUR KITCHEN KNIFE" It's a tutorial for people that have no EXP sharpening, they will follow this dude's advice if he tests it on himself, and so will these people, which is dangerous.

[@markcocione3490]

@@hisokamorow6709 I agree, any way that is not the right way is wrong and dangerous, I do not remember the last time I cut myself, and I dont use the "correct way"

[@hisokamorow6709]

​@@markcocione3490 At a personal level, I could imagine people knowing what is dangerous and what is not. But when you are a "celebrity" making a tutorial video for literal millions of people, you gotta take into consideration those people that will follow your advice LITERALLY. If a single one of those were to get hurt, it is one too many. I have been testing my knives on my face to see if they can shave my beard Never cut myself, but I could be incredibly irresponsible to teach my little brother to do the same just cuz I haven't cut myself. TL:DR when teaching beginners, you teach fundamentals and the safest approach. THAT is the only “best” way. Anything else is subjective.

[@markcocione3490]

@@hisokamorow6709 All im saying, I am a beginner, I by no means am good at cooking, and I have done stuff like this that people call dangerous, you should not allowed to say that what he is teaching is dangerous and should not be taught, because the idea of " If a single one of those were to get hurt, it is one too many." is true, that is a good point, but that applies to everything, from Gordon Ramsey, to Sam, that can not be a reason why something is dangerous, cooking is dangerous, people except that when they enter the kitchen.

[@hisokamorow6709]

​@@markcocione3490 Again, cooking is not the same as sharpening knives, one is based on taste which is subjective. A sharp knife will be sharp, there is nothing subjective about it. It either cuts or it doesn't, hell you can even measure how sharp a knife is. You can’t measure how good a meal tastes. "you should not be allowed to say that what he is teaching is dangerous and should not be taught" What do you mean one shouldn't be allowed? Neither this dude's video nor I, are arguing for him disallowing to talk about X topic. We are pointing out that the quality of a tutorial video is bad due to dangerous practices and low knowledge of the tools. If anyone makes a mistake, we *SHOULD* point it out, so people can learn from their mistakes and know better next time, it doesn't matter if it's Sam, Ramsey, or the Pope, Especially when said people are taking a teaching role.

[@Frank-the-Tank-13]

I’m going to be curious on how long it takes Sam or someone from Sam to comment and or contact you lol. Great video

[@ZanHecht]

Yeah, I'd never take sharpening advice from a guy who uses a completely dry whetstone.

[@stevewebber707]

When an instructional video includes multiple cases of admitting not knowing how to do things, or literally hurting someone else due to incompetence, either demonstrate that you learned from the mistakes, or STFU. Take aways from his instructions. Don't trust anything he says about knives at all. And never let him near my good knives. I will refrain from bad mouthing the man, but so many things he did with his knives made me cringe, it wasn't funny. I respect knives, and I look up to others that also respect them. Not everyone needs to know how to sharpen knives. But pretending to teach others when you don't, is unconscionable. For bonus points he had two rods, a traditional rod, and a diamond abrasive rod. He described the first as a sharpening rod, and the second as a honing rod. Which is reversed. No details on what they are for, or what they do exactly, or when and where to use them properly.

[@redsin3000]

make more videos like these if you can

[@Frank-the-Tank-13]

And If you have cheap knives you don’t care about go ahead and use this lol

[@livijean1]

I’ve only ever used pull-through sharpeners and will repent of my ways 😅

[@Risetosovengarde]

They aren't awful. But you don't use one on good knives and for super casual cooks, it does what it needs to.

[@IneptOrange]

They're decent for generic knives, but if you're gonna use one buy a good one.

[@tipfro2]

I feel you have something against stg. Just giving ya crap. I like his shows a lot , however you could not be more correct on everything you said. Nice work, like your blunt honesty.

[@DJ-Coma]

Good video. A lot of this stuff you would think would be common sense, like don’t test the sharpness on your thumb. Jesus Christ Sam.

[@TylrVncnt]

That is the worst whetstone technique I e ever seen 😳 you’ll ruin the tip in a hurry that way too

[@elzabig1]

He will forgive lol

[@chilldude30]

I hate that dudes ALL CAPZZ video titles. And he never seemed remotely knowledgeable either, hardly a cook i want to emulate. The fact he doesn't even know how to sharpen is just...lol

[@samuelradford5653]

When did he ever say a sharp knife is safe?????????

[@samuelradford5653]

He even often admits he's not a pro chef. So yeah, he should not have even made this vid

[@thatsmrbombdiggity]

This guy seems to be talking to wanna be hobby cooks not real everyday cooks

[@jimstewart4929]

"Real everyday cooks" need fingers too bro

[@Orthus100]

That makes it even more important to call out.

[@S_T_3_V_E]

Plenty of people don't think whetstones are the best for sharpening. Whetstones aren't for everyone.

[@n1ckyg123]

I don't think he ever went to a proper culinary school either so give him a little break

[@jefftitterington7600]

One doesn't need culinary school for this. Poking around on YT to get some pointers about knife skills taught me most of these, The one time I saw the fingernail test was by a very experienced chef, who missed telling people it's dangerous for most of us. . I'm never doing it again. To give an idea of my skills - I just upgraded to a Victorinox Fibrox Pro chef knife. My other knives are box-store specials from a few decades ago. (I'm not dissing culinary schools or apprenticeship programs, btw. Those can teach some truly great stuff that's needed at certain levels.)

[@DJ-Coma]

The problem isn’t that he is wrong, it’s that he has a following of like 3 million people and he’s giving out advice that is literally unsafe and could get people hurt. It’s irresponsible of him to do.

[@tdubbed_]

I’ve never cut myself with a dull knife. I have cut myself with a sharp one though.

[@lukekline9513]

I haven't either but that doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous either way. A dull knife is unreliable, and still sharp enough to hurt you. It's not like dull in this instance means completely rounded, it's just not as effective as sharp. And I can think of plenty of times when I've been in the kitchen cutting something with a round edge (like a tomato or an onion), and dull knife slides off the surface. That can seriously injure someone

[@IneptOrange]

The issue with a dull knife is that you're applying more pressure and less control to it in order to use it. One slip off an onion and it's a trip to the emergency room.

[@DrWaddles]

Eh, man, as much I like your videos I feel like this is a bit of a reach. The breakdown on one video of a guy who doesn't know exactly what he's doing for 12-13 minutes seems a bit much. Would much rather you post an awesome "How to Sharpen your Knife" video. I guess I'd rather see positive content than negative.

[@JamesChurchill3]

What a coincidence, he posted a knife sharpening video a couple of weeks ago.

[@samuelradford5653]

I was trying to say the same thing about just being more positive and not trying to shit on people who don't know better, and then other commenters shitted on me lol.

[@BaconBeast11]

It’s easy content to look at the mediocre cooking channels on YT for the “streamers reactions.” This is honestly a good reaction with how incompetent sam the cooking guy is. I find it rather entertaining.

[@ed6271]

To be honest man hes just kind of an easy going cooking channel guy and while you're right that he's missing a lot of the proper technique, this isn't really worth making a big deal over. I mean realistically you're talking about this stuff being "dangerous" but its just not that big of a deal. Live and learn man, this guy's not claiming to be some culinary expert. in my opinion this is just low hanging fruit and a waste of time to focus on. No one is actually suffering or getting hurt because of this guys video. You should spend your time focusing on yourself and your own content:

[@TempRawr]

Did you not notice the amount of times the guy made comments about dull knifes not being able ot hurt you, or the ridcioulous amount of the times the knife kept being waves or pressed against his hands. This is such a minefield for foolish cooks to pick up bad and dangerous ideas/habits

[@DJ-Coma]

People will hurt themselves with Sam’s bad advice. That’s the problem!

[@junjun9382]

Hey man fan of your channel but feel like most of this is a big reach. People watching a sam the cooking guy video on sharpening knives 9/10 are going to be people that don't know much about knives and aren't too invested in them. For those kinds of people his video wasn't irresponsible at all, whether it was actually educational or not (sam not knowing sharpening/honing) doesn't make a difference

[@kevinlynch6729]

IDK man. Trying to figure out if your knife is dull by cutting off your thumb seems pretty irresponsible.

[@aspermypreviousemail5907]

I think that video was dangerous precisely because the target audience doesn't know much about knives. It would be less irresponsible if it was just "not educational". It might seem nitpicky to say it's irresponsible to recommend beginners to test their knives against their bodies because the chances of hurting yourself are slim. If the chances are one in a thousand, you're getting a cut finger for every thousand views.

[@gaku3217]

yo if your advice on how to test the sharpness is to cut your own fingernail, that's pretty irresponsible and dangerous.

[@dennischacko499]

Some of what he said might have been nitpicking a bit, but what kind or argument is it to say it's not irresponsible because his audience is people who don't know any better

[@KChung-fg3kb]

Literally the first thing in the entire video is Sam directly calling it false to say that dull knives are dangerous. This is direct misinformation that will lead to injury, and one that's framed specifically in terms of recognizing and rejecting what literally everyone else on earth ever says about knives. This fact alone makes it impossible for the video to be inconsequential.

[@samuelradford5653]

I have a pull through cuz I thought it would help me a lot. This vid is just you making people feel stupid. Be more supportive

[@KChung-fg3kb]

How are people making it past the dangerous, injury-inducing misinformation in the literal first thing Sam says in the entire video, to claim nitpicking on the knife care part

[@samuelradford5653]

@Robert Wilson you're another example. I commented twice. 3 times if you want to count me responding to myself. "You SHOULD feel stupid." How the hell does that help somebody improve???

[@samuelradford5653]

@Robert Wilson its not about feeling coddled????? Wtf??? Why are you so aggressive lol. I expressed my opinion on his video. And you tell me I should feel stupid for using a pull-through sharpener and that I'm saying we should be coddled.

[@Glarth-WC]

He actually did point out that using one is "fine" if you're using cheap knives which most people are. He was more just pointing out that it is by far not the "best" way to sharpen and you will 100% ruin your knives over time using one. He takes more issue with the mis-information and poor safety practices vs the method of sharpening.

[@samuelradford5653]

@@Glarth-WC okayyyy and if somebody invested money into a fine knife while using a pull through, this video makes them feel they're a fucking idiot for using one on a decent knife. Instead of just being positive and correcting the mistake and giving advice and tips. There's a massive difference between pointing something out and making the person feel like an idiot when their intentions were in the right place.