cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18420202
Why is an image of someone sharpening a kitchen knife called “obscure and outdated”? Is everyone out there just using shitty dull knives now? Lol
I knew someone who would replace their knives every year or two after they were dangerously dull. He called me a sucker for buying a nicer set, and it never occurred to him that they could be sharpened and reused.
It’s getting bad out here.
Every year or two??? That’s just when a new knife is finally getting broken in lol I’ve got knives my parents bought before I was born that I still use!
We’re talking real low grade, picked up at walmart knives. Unlikely they would last like that anyway, but absolutely refused to spend more than like $10 on a chef knife because they were treated as disposable.
It’s getting bad out here.
You haven’t seen anything yet. If you have teacher friends, ask them how the new generation is doing 💀 they haven’t learned almost anything since COVID started and have virtually no social skills on top of it… I’m legit scared for the future.
So just like every generation before us then…? Socrates 400 BC:
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
As the older “uncle” of the family, I get called to handle a lot of things, like unjamming a garbage disposal (you stick a broom handle in and push until it moves again) to changing a car tire (the instructions are LITERALLY printed on the body of the car) to very basic things like removing insects and spiders from the houses of adult families, to fixing electrical problems (breakers tripping.) And of course, fixing computers… miles and miles of fixing computers. Usually just installed programs that need to be removed or setup that needs to be completed, the age of viruses seem to be slowing but they still call at odd hours asking for help to remove a “virus” when it’s just an app on borderless window mode.
I never thought of any of this as “man skills” I always thought this was just shit you had to do as an adult. I was prepared for helping kids just getting started, not grown-ass men and women with arms and legs and presumably careers with responsibilities.
I would say I’m surprised people can even wipe their own ass anymore but I have read some posts about people having to deal with boyfriends who think touching their own butt is “gay” so really I am not surprised by anything anymore. Is it any wonder why politics is so incredibly stupid? It’s a reflection of larger society.
For me, if it doesn’t come with a sharpener build into the sheath, it’s not good enough quality anyway (I do not generally buy expensive knives). I’ve moved a dozen times over a decade and lost pieces of so many silverware sets they’re disposable to me. Never had a knife long enough to NEED to resharpen it. Got a few nicer ones now though so maybe that will change.
I know people who just throw them out and buy new knives when they dull, so there’s also that 😔
Seriously? Just throwing out practically brand new knives is a thing now? Decent knives will last for decades if you sharpen them a few times a year lol
Apparently. I complemented them on their knives and they said they just got them cause their old ones were getting dull.
Told them to let me know next time, and I’d take them. I may be a bad friend as I did not disclose that knives could be sharpened lol.
Not everyone knows about Vimes’ Boots Theory:
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
Well, if you don’t have time or don’t want to learn about knife sharpening my advice is to get a cheap pull through sharpener for your kitchen knives. They’re super easy to use and will add years to the usefulness of your knives. It doesn’t work as well as doing a full sharpening, but it will get them cutting well again at least!
Are these the ones with the angled V shaped thingy? I have one where you put the knife through three different coarseness levels and it works good enough for me. I’m sure I’d fuck the blade up with real ones.
I know, right? Sharpening things like knives and scissors is what I consider to be a basic maintenance skill. You don’t even need to go all out on it. Just owning a basic Spyderco Sharpmaker or WorkSharp Precision Adjust will let you sharpen a lot of things.
It’s also a given that many knives that you buy simply aren’t as sharp from the factory as they can and SHOULD be. A little effort can get you a lot better cutting performance.
I suppose the reason behind it is also that your average person thinks that ‘sharp knives are dangerous’ when in reality it’s dull knives that cause the most issues. When a supermarket chain here sold knives, people complained that the knives were too sharp! Can you imagine?
I would just use dull knives if not for the people in my life who sharpen them. The sound of knife-sharpening burrows into my brain and shuts off all rational thought. It’s like tinfoil on teeth for me and I cannot deal with it.
Luckily, my husband enjoys it, so he just does it when I’m not home.
Sharpening and caring for your knives is hardly an outdated skill you’ll never use. If you’re not regularly sharpening your knives, you’re doing yourself a major disservice.
My best friend buys a new chefs knife every month at the dollar store
Ihe was throwing them away, but now he gives them to me. I’ve shown him how sharp I can get them and how long they last with the edge I put on them, but he does not want to learn or just give them to me to sharpen every few months.
I now sell his sharpened throw aways to friends and family for 5 bucks a pop.
If y’all still out there shaving with cartridge razors you’re wasting so much money on getting a shittier shave.
But, yeah, “Art of Manliness” and their ilk do try to capitalize on a call to return to old fashion things by selling jazzed up overpriced safety razors and brushes.
You don’t need fancy shit to get a better cheaper shave.
i still use the same no frills safety razor handle i got from target ~2015. and the 100 pack of astra blades i got for $10 lasted until just recently
can’t believe how much money i blew on bullshit gillette crap for so long
Until the TSA lifts restrictions on blades, cartridge razors will continue to be a necessary evil in my kit. However, there are so many better options for your home, as you say. The shown safety razor style is perfectly fine, and so much less expensive, even if you don’t go all in with a solid soap and brush, and just use a normal shave cream like Creamo.
Its inclusion here is absurd. Cartridge shavers are shitty for the environment, and shitty for your wallet; they’re not less manly, they’re just a less smart choice.
Wait, TSA throws a fit over razor blades in checked baggage? I can understand they deny it in carry-on but down in the hold?
No. Checked is OK, but most of my trips are entirely carry-on. I almost never check bags, unless I’m going on vacation. I did, however, once lose a nice pocket knife because I forgot to put it in my checked bag before getting on an early AM return flight, and had to give it to the bin, so I still avoid taking things that could get confiscated if I mispack them during the trip.
I don’t know about you, but my outbound packing is pristine; by the time I’m coming home after a couple of weeks, it’s a toss-up where anything is.
If they work for you, great! I’ve never owned one that shaved anywhere nearly as close as a blade, or that I didn’t have to use twice a day if I wanted to be clean-shaven in the evening. Plus, I don’t particularly find them comfortable, or precise; they’re all a little bit like using fine-grain sandpaper.
But everyone is different, and if you like the shave, you’re fortunate.
For years I carried a AA battery powered one in my glove compartment for emergencies, like when I was in a rush and had to shave on the road. It was an absolutely horrible shaver, but better than the alternative. I only used it a couple of times within ten years, so I stopped doing that.
Now that’s interesting, I’ve gotten guff for flying with a safety razor but I’ve never had it confiscated or been denied entry to the flight.
They’re not allowed in carry-on. I’ve gotten through a check point with a blade on once, but I’ve also been pulled out and asked to verify there’s no blade. It’s low risk because all you lose is some time and you might have to toss a blade. But then I’m left with a useless razor until I can find a pharmacy to buy whatever crappy generic blades they have, which I then have to dial in for aggressiveness, and it’s just way more trouble than it’s worth.
When I was heavy business traveling, it was absolutely not worth it, because I didn’t pad my airport arrival and boarding time by many minutes, and getting pulled out for a check meant I’d have to run for the gate. Plus, I’d have to make time during the trip to find a pharmacy, pay for an Uber to go get blades. Not worth it.
On the much more rare occasion that I an checking a bag, like for a longer trip, sure; I’ll pack a safety razor or shavette, but then I worry about light-fingered TSA inspectors. Anything stolen from your luggage, you’re never getting back. I have a couple of cheap-o safety’s I wouldn’t mind losing, but they’re not my favorite shaves either.
All in all, for traveling, I just take cartridge razors. It’s easier.
I’ve flown with a safety razor many times with a blade installed in it and nobody’s ever seemed to notice or care. I don’t tend to travel with extra blades, though – one will do me for a week or whatever, no problem.
You can get really good vintage razors off eBay for next to nothing. If you don’t wanna gamble on that, you can get a stainless steal 3 piece razor for a little over $15. Even the Wilkinson sword will save you money vs a cartridge razor while also being a shitty, not very durable, de razor
Hi! I’m wondering what’s wrong with AoM? I always liked that they had really nice vintage (fucking love vintage stuff lol) looking skill booklets that I could use or learn from. I haven’t been there in a loooonnnng time though, so I’m curious if I’ve missed something?
A lot of the shaving gear has a HUUUUGE markup for that vintage look. You can get it way cheaper direct from the manufacturer.
Can we start making websites/forums devoted to just regular individual wholesome dudes and characterize them as peak masculinity?
When I was a kid my dad would take his morning shit while the door was open and it stank up the hallway not to mention the visual image of it all prior to breakfast. So one day I closed the door from outside and he yelled at me full volume that he wanted the door open so I had to go back and reluctantly open it.
That’s peak masculinity
I need to sharpen my knives
