Caution: You are approaching a No Bull Zone……

This section of the website is written entirely by me, Mark Henry, the mechanical engineer who founded Füritechnics, and the guy who patented lots of new innovations in knives and knife sharpeners after many years of research and development (intensively since the early ‘90s).

I’m a product of my environment: an Aussie engineer. So, you won’t find any marketing spin or ‘tooling around’ in the No Bull Zone. Just good, solid, plain-talking, useable facts.

If you think you know a bit about knives, I can assure you that most of what you know will have been based on ‘old wives tales’ that have been in common circulation for hundreds of years. If you’re willing to learn something new from the experts, read on. I don’t believe there are many experts out there who’ve done 16+ years of real primary engineering research solely in knives and cutting edges (with scanning electron microscopes and wear testing machines). If there are, I don’t see their knowledge appearing in any of my competitors’ products!

Most of what you believe about knives is, quite simply, not true:

• If you are a chef or a butcher and you’re still using a Steel and stone, you’ve got a bit of updating to do in your knowledge of sharpening and honing: how to achieve the optimum cutting edge shape and surface finish (for more productivity and safety), in the least possible time (so you can focus on cooking), and with the least possible blade wear. Using our Tech Edge system or Ozitech, every cook will always have a sharp edge on every knife, and every edge will be identical and always cut the same.
• If you are a culinary college lecturer or private cooking school instructor, you really need to pass on this new knowledge to your students. Many top US, Australian, and UK colleges are switching to our sharpening tools and knives, because students need to know about alternatives that may be better than traditional methods. Contact us and we’ll endeavour to visit your college, give free samples, and demonstrate why our sharpening tools are superior to traditional Steel and stone methods, and how they achieve a real honed edge, not a ‘gadget’ edge. Using our Tech Edge system or Ozitech, every student in your classroom will always have a sharp edge on every knife, and every edge will be identical.
• If you are a ‘knife sharpening professional’, and you’re still using various grinding wheels and/or belts, and telling people about ‘honing to align the burr’ or ‘straighten the edge’, etc, you could really benefit from some basic new engineering knowledge. For better customer service and less knife damage, incorporate at least some of our tools and advice.
• If you are a knife retailer, most of what you know has come from Sales Reps who work for importers, not from researching mechanical engineers. If you are helping customers select a knife based on country of manufacture, ‘old’ brand, weight, forging/stamping construction, static ‘comfort’ in the hand, balance, fashion, maintaining with a Steel and stone, offering sharpening services with electric machines, etc, then, frankly, you are not delivering current expert advice. One of our missions is to help update knife knowledge in general, not just ‘flog our own wares’, and these pages are a good start. Staff training directly from one of our engineers is even better!
• If you’re a competitor, you’ll learn a lot more here about how this small Aussie engineering company rapidly became a big brand among expert chefs around the world, by completely ignoring all the old traditions, and particularly all the new fashions, starting again ‘from scratch’ with a lot of long hard fundamental research, and applying this to innovations that simply make knives and sharpeners perform better. Don’t worry about confidentiality: this is only a fraction of what our R&D has taught us, and the really interesting new developments are yet to be revealed……
• If you’re a journalist, here’s your chance to set the record straight and base your knife and sharpening articles on advice from real engineers, not the same old sources with the same old misconceptions. Much of the info here is not brand-specific: it is good general advice. Please contact us if you would like more editorial content and high-res images.

Note:

Myths about knives that are busted inside the No Bull Zone:

Myth 1:  “Butchers, chefs, knife sharpening (grinding) services, etc, are knife sharpening experts”

Myth 2: “Honing on a Steel only ‘straightens’ or ‘aligns’ the edge or burr”

Myth 3: “Chefs and butchers are good at sharpening knives, but most other people are just bad at it”

Myth 4: “When buying a knife, if it feels comfortable in your hand and well balanced, it should be a good knife for you”

Myth 5: “Some knives stay sharp forever and never need resharpening”

Myth 6: “Stainless steel professional knives should never rust, because it’s the same material as my pots, forks and spoons, and they never rust, even in dishwashers”

Myth 7: “Thin Japanese knives have 15 or 17 degree bevels each side, and should be maintained like this”

TERMS:

By clicking the No Bull button, you agree:

• That the contents of this section are solely the professional opinion of Mark Henry…….albeit learned opinions based on his 16+ years of research, a real mechanical engineering degree, years of keen observation of ‘tradition v science’, and a finely tuned antenna for industry bull!
• Nothing in the ‘No Bull’ zone will be copied or reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of Füritechnics management. Copyright to all material is owned by Füritechnics Pty Ltd (Australia).

Enter the No Bull Zone