Sharp knives are safer...not.

Many authors tell you a razor-sharp knife is safer. It's less likely to slip, they say.

Here is the fact: a razor-sharp knife hurts less when you cut yourself.

So about 30 years ago, I am making Peking Duck, one of my favorite dishes back in the days of carnivorous behavior. It's a tedious affair if you follow recipes in a classic Joyce Chen cookbook. One duck, crucified on chopsticks and hanging from the ceiling, rotating slowly in front of a fan all day after its sherry bath and between loving massages.

While the duck was swinging around, I got to the vegetables, starting with roll-cut carrots. I am using my razor-sharp Chinese cleaver. I gave that cleaver a lot of love, sharpening it regularly on a fine whetstone and then on a steel. It would easily split a piece of paper held vertically, one nice test of sharpness.

As I am thinking about what I will do next, I see red among the orange carrot slices. My left index finger is gashed and oddly, I can't straighten it out. Off the the emergency room....

I had painlessly severed my skin, my extensor tendon and who knows what else. 3 hours later, I am back home (things were a lot faster back then) with a layered closure and enough rubber gloves to get back into cooking. The duck turned out fine but I never again used that cleaver.

My wife has a Pampered Chef utility knife that rests in a sharpening scabbard. That instrument is truly sharp. Every time I try to use it, I get a little queasy. Most of the time, I just use a serrated steak knife for most cutting or a not so sharp inexpensive chef's knife. My sharpening equipment is rarely used.

In all my years of cooking, I have never had a dullish knife slip.

Moral: a sharp knife is truly safe only when you don't use it.