Shoutout to the old timer who told me to chill with the trimming knife

I had this 60 year old retired butcher come into the shop last spring, Mike was his name, and he watched me hacking at a pork shoulder for like 5 minutes. He pulled me aside and said 'son, you're fighting the meat, let the blade do the work'. I thought he was just being a cranky old guy, but I tried slowing down and using longer, smoother strokes instead of jabbing. Turns out I was bruising the meat and leaving ragged edges, plus I was going through three knives a shift because I kept chipping tips. After a week of his way, my cuts were cleaner, my hands hurt less, and I actually felt like I had more control. Anyone else have a mentor who made you rethink something basic you thought you already knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonl862mo ago

Ain't that always the way though, the lighter you go the better it works?

the_gavin2mo ago

Three knives a shift is insane, you were absolutely destroying that steel. I had a similar wake up call when I was learning to sharpen tools. I used to push down hard like I was trying to grind metal off, and I'd end up with chips and a crooked edge every time. An old machinist I knew grabbed my hand and said "let the stone do the work, you're just guiding it." He had me do ten passes with basically no pressure, just the weight of the blade. Night and day difference. Your hands stop aching, the edge stays sharp way longer, and the cuts come out clean instead of looking like a dog chewed on them. It's wild how much we think we need to muscle through something when the real trick is just getting out of your own way.

paul11724d ago

Simon is right, it's almost like a universal law of fine manual work. The more you relax and trust the process, the better the result. For me it translated to woodworking too when I stopped fighting the grain with my plane and just let the blade kiss the wood (took me way too long to figure that out). That old machinist's advice is gold because it applies to so many things beyond just sharpening, it's about learning to feel what you're doing instead of forcing it. Your hands and the tool have to become a team, not adversaries.