食物极客的朋友，Waldo，通过Twitter询问：

嗨，沃尔多，

巡回刀磨刀器下降的原因有很多。他们还没有完全消失，因为奥尔顿·布朗（Alton Brown）向他的磨刀器展示了从他的面包车后面锻炼的磨刀器，我怀疑他不是最后一把刀具磨刀器。当您问您的问题时，我当然会在旧西部的脑海中看到一个图像，这个地方是现实的神话，还有一辆带有装备的马车。也许会有一些修补，从旧锅炉和锅中敲打缺陷，或者您只需要刀子锐化即可。

当我长大时，我可以说，我对牛奶人的了解要比任何刀具磨刀器更多，即使我从未见过任何扮演任何一个角色的人。至少这个牛奶人得到了很多压力，而刀具锐化是我甚至没有发生的。毕竟，我们有电罐头开门，并且在其后面有一个磨刀器，所以我们还需要什么。如果我要等几年，将会宣传人参刀，他们会绝不dull. And this, of course, illustrates some of the problem: education.

A lot of people think that sharp knives are dangerous knives. Think of elementary school safety scissors: no points, very dull, and safe to give to hyperactive children with no regard for their personal safety or the cost of a ream of paper. With this image in mind, it’s clear that a dull bit of metal must be safer than a sharp bit of metal, so the thought of sharpening a knife rarely comes up. It’s a wrong impression, as a sharp knife goes where you want it to, and a dull knife slides off a tomato or an onion to bite into your skin. No, it’s not the only reason you cut yourself in the kitchen, but a sharp mind and a sharp knife are going to save you more blood than a dull one of either.

另一个问题是我们现在有一种可支配的文化。希望这种趋势正在倒转，但是要获得10美元的刀子确实很容易，该刀将持续几年，然后您才认为您在削减方面努力工作。去大型厨房用品商店，看一辆花哨的新$ 20刀，然后在世界上移动。如果您购买的第一把刀是与您在大学中的第一间真正的公寓相匹配的第一把刀，并且您没有人可以教您真正的刀可以为您做什么。

Still, there are people who know good knives, and they know how important it is to sharpen them. Most of these people are chefs and line cooks, and from what I understand, they tend to fall into two camps: 1) the restaurant will send their knives away for sharpening; or 2) they will sharpen them on their own. Though I am neither a line cook nor a chef, I did finally get around to锐化自己的刀子， 和I can say that it’s not a difficult process. And the experience I had slicing the first tomato of the season with my freshly sharpened knife was a thing of beauty, so I can see the appeal. However, if you work someplace that sends everyone’s knives for sharpening, I can see the appeal of that as well.

One of the advantages of modern times which factors into the lack of itinerant knife sharpeners is that shipping is so much faster than it used to be. If you can get by without your knives for a couple of days, then you could pack them in a box, overnight them to someone for sharpening, and get them back within a day or two. The convenience of the shipping lessens the need for an itinerant knife sharpener.

Automatic, motorized knife sharpeners are apparently better than they were in the day of the electric can opener. The old style sharpeners would generally just wear down your knife rather quickly, peeling away layer after layer of metal in an attempt to sharpen. Nowadays, I’m told that you can not only get a quality sharpener, but you can get ones specific for the kind of steel in your knife. Typically, Japanese knives can handle a steeper angle than European knives, so you need a different sharpener to get that angle.

Though the motorize devices and the sharpening services are terribly convenient, I really like being able to sharpen my knives by hand. It gives me a better connection to the knife, and it makes me appreciate the care and use of the knife better. After all, if you are going to have to sharpen the knife by hand, you’ll be far less likely to do anything with the knife that would dull it quickly, such as washing in the dishwasher, cutting on glass or stone, or slicing paper with it. To be sure, you can damage your knife if you don’t sharpen it properly, but once you learn how, it’s not a difficult skill to maintain.

我认为与刀及其维护的联系是巡回刀削刀降低的最终因素：那些真正关心刀子的人更有可能手工锐化它们；那些需要锐化的刀子的人可以将它们送走以快速锐化。那些不适合前两个类别中的人都可以通过机器锐化，或者根本不会使它们更加锐利。不过，如果您知道您所在地区的刀具磨刀器，并且您喜欢那辆货车后面的工作，那肯定值得一提。专业工具，多年的经验和对锐化的一般知识可以提供比您在家中可能拥有的更好，更耐用的优势，因此有充分的理由希望我们没有看到那个特定品牌的工匠。

Need to know more about knives? Check outFinecooking.com关于刀技能的部分，您将在其中学习如何选择，维护和锐化厨师的刀到制作完美切割的技术，包括如何切碎新鲜草药,如何定制牛里脊肉， 和如何将新鲜玉米从棒子上切下来.