My mom taught me and my brother how to cook from a young age, and one of the first things she taught us was to NEVER try to catch a sharp knife. You don't have the coordination to grab it safely out of mid air, so the best thing is to jump out of the way and get your feet and legs out of the knife's path IMMEDIATELY. I have dropped knives in the kitchen before (we all have), but jumping out of the way has always saved me from injury.
A quick story...
One time when I was chopping vegetables, I turned to put something in the pot and I managed to brush the chef's knife I was using off the cutting board and I jumped out of the way immediately. When the knife fell, the weight of it stabbed itself into the linoleum floor and it was literally standing straight up in the air. The crazy thing is, all I was wearing on my feet were socks and I had been standing in the same position for awhile, and when the knife fell it stabbed itself right in the middle of a "steamy" outline where my foot had been standing. If I hadn't acted quickly, that knife would have stabbed right through the top of my foot. And if I had tried to grab it, I could have missed and cut my hand, or I could have knocked it mid air into my leg.
So yeah, ALWAYS jump out of the way. Avoid this advice to your peril...
Being a chef at one time, it is a item on my training program. Freeze and let it fall. The chance of it doing damage from a fall is minimal if existent. Once I saw the guy next to me go for a falling knife and came back up with it through his hand. He found out he was allergic to the -caine family of anesthetics that day.
I don't think I have ever dropped one. But if I did I'm pretty sure I would jump out of the way. My husband did not. He went for the catch method. Big mistake. Several hours in the hospital. Not worth it!
I'd back as far away as possible. I've dropped a butter knife on my toe once and that shit hurt bad enough. I can only imagine the damage that a much sharper knife could've done.
I actually find that funny, since every time I have ever dropped a knife, darts or any sharp object that has some kind of handle... I always have instantly grabbed to catch it. I have rarely been successful with darts, but I have had better luck with knives. It is just that every time someone sees me do so... they freak out and scream "He tried to catch it!" Making me miss and all... No, I have never been cut or pierced by anything I have gone for.
I try to catch it, and if unsuccessful, jump out of the way. Then, pick it up off the floor, rinse it off, and put it in dishwasher. Unless it has a wooden handle, in which case I wash it by hand. I don't use a knife that's hit the floor until it's washed.
I've always been successful... no cuts dropping a knife.
It won’t cut your hand just from a free fall. Let’s see this through physics. It simply won’t achieve a high enough velocity to have the momentum to cut your hand because if a kitchen knife falls, the maximum height it would fall from is 100 - 150cm and gravitational according isn’t enough to allow it to achieve a high enough velocity in convering that low of a height.
Although if it does fall from a large height, let’s say, 10 metres then it could cause some damage. And I believe it’s terminal velocity should be high enough to cut your hand but the way a knife falls in daily life, it wouldn’t reach terminal velocity, not even close to it.
So to conclude, you’re safe if you grab it while it’s falling.
@loves2learn The only reason that happened is because he accelerated his hand towards the knife, so that would increase the knife’s relative velocity with respect to his hand, and hence, he cut his hand.
Just don’t kick your foot or punch your hand into the knife, and you’ll be just fine
@loves2learn But hey, an important point, there are some exceptions to this, if the knife is identical to a 10kg machette then that is an exceptional. That would surely cut through you.
So it depends on how heavy the knife is, but normal knives shouldn’t cause any real damage
@loves2learn See? @Nightroads too says he rammed his hand into the knife. So it knife collides into your hand but you don’t collide your hand into the knife, you’ll be fine
Considering my kitchen floor consists of peel and stick slumlord special vinyl flooring over 70s linoleum (the kitchen is one of the last rooms we have to fix up in our 125 year old house), and my knives are all of the "as seen on tv" variety, jump out of the way. Could care less about the floor, and not going to be upset if a knife breaks/bends.
I can remember 3 times when I have dropped a knife. Once I caught it by the handle, once by the blade and once I dropped it.. The time I caught it by the blade I remember it was like a Quentin Tarantino movie with all the blood spurting out.
I ended up in A&E (the UK equivalent of ER) because I'd lost so much blood. I can't remember exactly how long it bled for but I was told if the wound hadn't of congealed when it did, any longer I would have needed a blood transfusion.
Most of me doesn't move an inch, just my feet. Nope I don't make any attempt to catch it. A ceramic steak knife isn't that hard to replace. But it's a pain in the ass to have to work for the next several days with a hand taped up to hold the fluids in.
Playing with knives is dangerous, if i was married my wife will be a housewife, if i find her someday blerding cause she cut herself by fault, i'll rush to help her and if she needs hospital than i'll take her so she receives the needed aids and after that i'll buy her a big bottle of fresh juice so she replaces the blood that she have lost 😊
Be careful with knives miss loves2learn cause your husband and kids needs you 😌
I've taught myself to overcome the "catch reflex" when something falls. I also have a cut-resistant glove to wear when handling sharps in precarious situations.
Being the idiot that I am, I instinctively try to catz it, but at the same time start moving my feet away. I've caught the knife successfully a few times, and cut myself only once.
Never try to catch it. Just step out of the way and be careful with any bouncing. My dad did work putting in windows at high stories at some point, someone dropped the window and he tried to catch it; His entire wrist was slashed open and most of the muscles and veins were torn. They had to manually reattach them one by one in the hospital and while he can use it in daily life, he still has issues from it once in a while. Not worth it, just let it fall.
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