A sharp knife takes less effort to use, and less effort is easier to control. It’s a similar difference of how it’s easier to cut a paper snowflake with a pair of scissors than it is to use an axe: the scissors only need a single hand to work, while an axe requires a full body motion. The scissors will give an intricate snowflake, while the axe will tear the paper up and might cut the entire thing to bits instead of small patterns.
Also, dull blades can still cut. An axe is about 1/3 as sharp as a knife, but both can cut a finger off.
Two big reasons:
1. As others have mentioned, you need to push harder with a dull knife which makes it harder to control and more likely that you will slip.
2. If what you’re cutting is soft at all (like meat) it may squish a bit which means your blade might not be going straight where you are pointing it anymore.
A dull blade isn’t nesssarily more dangerous, heck, I’ve slipped with dull blades and done 0 damage to my callus hands.
I’ve slipped with sharp ones, and done significant damage.
I think TV chefs like to say it a lot because, with perfect form, a sharp blade is less prone to accidents as you’ll need to apply less pressure/force to achieve your desired outcome.
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