"pltrgyst" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 1 Sep 2009 13:28:47 -0700, "Theron" > wrote:
>
>>
> wrote in message
. ..
>
>>>>....The V shaped blade lets you thin slice tomato.
>>>>No straight blade mandoline will slice tomato....
>>>
>>> That all depends on the ripeness of the tomato and the angle and
>>> sharpness
>>> of the blade, doesn't it? There's nothing magic about the v-shape.
>>
>>There is something "magic" about the v-shape. A greater length of the
>>blade
>>is used for a given diameter of what you're slicing. As well you're
>>cutting
>>sightly in an angled backward forward fashion, which always makes slicing
>>more effective than with a blade at 90 degrees to the cut food.....
>
> That is what I referred to as "the angle of the blade." You've said
> nothing to
> support any value of the V-shape. Quite the opposite, actually: if you're
> sliding down one side of the V, youre likely to collide with the other
> side at
> much closer to a 90-degree angle.
>
> Once you're into the meat on both sides, then the V-shap increases the
> cutting
> length. But up until that point, when you're trying to make the initial
> incision
> through the tomato skin, the V -- meaning *both sides of the V* -- is of
> no more
> value than a single angled blade.
>
> -- Larry
>
>
As you point out, if the blade is horizontally juxtaposed to the tomato, 2
inches of blade cuts 2 inches of tomato. On my V blade, 1.625" of blade cuts
one inch of the tomato, and 1.625" of blade cuts the other inch of tomato.
The cutting is angular, a fraction of it is vertical, and a fraction of it
is horizontal. There is some "sawing action" by the V blade, not much, but
some. There is some sawing at the advent of the cut, as when you cut the
tomato with a knife at an angle. If you saw horizontally at all at the
beginning you're doing just what the "V" does.

Ed