[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANNOUNCER: Get ready for
some AMI Blind Life Hacks
with Alex Smyth.
ALEX SMYTH: I'm in
Knifewear in Edmonton,
and I'm joined by manager
Kris Armitage, who's
going to teach me the
basics of using a knife.
So Kris, we have our knives
and our cutting boards in front
of us.
What's the first step?
KRIS ARMITAGE: First
step is how we hold it.
It's really important not
to get a white-knuckle grip
on your knife.
You want to be relaxed
in the kitchen.
Actually pinching the
knife by the steel,
almost like a guitar
pick, is going
to give you a lot more
control over the knife.
It's going to shorten
up a really long blade,
and it's going to give you
a better balance point.
The other hand is the
tricky part, right?
That's where you're going
to get into trouble.
Using-- a lot of people
call it the claw.
What it really is is
curling your fingers
underneath your hand so
they're out of the way.
Your index finger and
your middle finger
become your knives' best friend.
They're actually going--
on the first knuckle--
going to sit right up against
the edge of your knife.
All of your fingers
are then tucked
behind those two fingers.
And you can feel where the edge
of your knife is going to be,
and nothing should
slip out underneath.
So why don't we cut a potato?
When you cut, don't push
through whatever you're cutting.
Kind of slide across it.
Let the edge of the
knife do the work.
My knuckles are pressed right up
against the side of the knife.
And that way, I know where
all of my other fingers are.
The knife's never coming
up above my knuckles.
It's just resting
against my hand.
And my other hand is
pressed against the board.
And I can use those knuckles to
determine how big my cuts are
going to be.
The thing to
remember, though, is,
keep those knuckles right up
against the side of the knife
and curl those other fingers in.
If you curl them under and
actually press them down
into the board, then
you can train them
a little bit so that
they don't wander
on you, because a wandering
finger is a missing finger.
ANNOUNCER: For more
AMI Blind Life Hacks,
go to
youtube.com/AccessibleMedia.
