Bossnass

I've always believed that a sharper knife is safer than a dull one- no need to force it, etc. My dad has long promoted this belief. And I'm pretty handy with my honer/sharpening steel, keeping my 'good quality' cooking knives sharp enough. I also use what I thought was proper techniques to hold the food being cut, a claw-like "finger tips in" method, allowing the blade to slide off of the fingernail is the slicing gets too close.

My wife bought me a rather beautiful knife for my birthday a few days ago. A Henckels 7" Santoku, professional quality. Crazy sharp, nicely balanced. Slices an 8x11 sheet of loosely held lightweight paper in slow motion.

I was careful the first time I used it. The second time too. Then last night's dinner called for thinly sliced pearl onions. I managed to slice right through the edge of my finger nail and the edge of my finger, about 3mm at the widest slice. Not much blood, it was a very clean cut. I was even able to find the missing parts and keep them out of the meal.

The moral of this story is that very sharp knives are dangerous in the hands of an amateur.