94 
The 
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& Garden 
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The Moto-Mower is light, 
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It is simple and sturdy in 
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are only eight moving 
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The Moto-Mower C ompany 
2033 Woodward Avenue 
Detroit, Mich. 
Knife-Life of the Kitchen 
( Continued, from page 92) 
combining with the elements in the 
steel is absent. There are some people 
whose hands stain from certain juices 
whereas the hands of others do not, but 
generally speaking, there will be less 
hand staining with this newer steel. 
The few years of its service may not 
have revealed all of its good points or 
some of its bad points. Only time will 
tell, of course. But as a fruit knife 
at present the stainless type seems to be 
a fine thing, though the ordinary steel 
knife, if sharp and well made, is no less 
of a joy than ever it was. Manufac¬ 
turers are adopting the stainless—even 
those who think that it isn’t as good 
as it is claimed to be. 
Vegetable and fruit sheers and parers 
come in many sizes and styles. They 
are usually small and light with narrow 
blades and sharp. They are to be had 
in stainless and carbon steel in sets and 
in singles, and when bought wisely make 
the kitchen maids’ job an artistic one. 
Grape-fruits and oranges have knives 
for their very own. Manufacturers have 
given much time and thought to the 
easiest method of preparing these fruits 
easily, without loss of juices and flavor, 
and without waste of time on the part 
of the operator. And so there have 
been born a few of these knives which 
are excellent and live up to their glow¬ 
ing advertisements. • 
Their characteristics are: Two-edged, 
like the great swords of old. They cut 
from either the right or left with ease; 
the blade is curved to fit the fruit and 
has rounded points so as not to lacerate 
the outer skin and waste the juices and 
spoil the shape of the fruit. The blade 
is exceedingly sharp and honed care¬ 
fully like a razor—the sharper it is the 
swifter it will do its work. The blade 
must be securely fastened in the handle. 
The handle must be light, of comfort¬ 
able shape and well balanced. In a few 
words, the knife must be able to get 
down and under the center, cutting the 
side segments as well and making the 
tough walls “fade away” easily. 
The knives are made in stainless 
steel, in nickel-plated steel and in the 
ordinary and fine vanadium steel. Your 
fruit when prepared with such a knife 
may look as if hands never touched it. 
II andles 
The question of handles is interesting 
because the knife without the handle, 
however sharp it may be, is of little use. 
The main question is of ease in grip¬ 
ping, in the balance, and in the dura¬ 
tion of time that the blade will stay 
firm in the handle. 
There are many ways of accomplish¬ 
ing these things: in some cases the tang 
of the blade is cemented in the handle. 
This is done where the knife is used 
with little pressure and strength, such 
as the feather-curling knife of the mil¬ 
liner ; there are some knives which are 
riveted such as butchers’ knives because 
much force is used with them; house¬ 
hold knives are pinned and pinned and 
cemented sometimes, and in the case of 
home butcher knives as many as three 
pins are used to keep the handle steady. 
With knives like the corrugated types, 
there are often metal wire handles 
drawn out on them. The corrugations 
on these blades are to obviate tearing 
and reduce, some think, the pressure 
necessary in cutting. 
Handles themselves are made of vari¬ 
ous things,—woods, rubberoid, celluloid, 
metals, stag and in the case of table 
knives, mother-of-pearl, shell, silver 
over nickel, etc. 
The kitchen knife handle must be able 
to stand all heats, be impervious to hot 
water, be smooth and comfortable in 
shape, and must be nicely finished so 
as to give the worker a feeling of 
worth-whileness in his job. Sloppy 
tools make for sloppy work. 
The housewife errs in no place quite 
so much as in the care of her cutlery. 
In nine and one-half houses out of ten 
the good blades are huddled and hus¬ 
tled into a drawer where they loosen 
from their handles, nick, scratch and 
hammer each other to their own de¬ 
struction. What good, ask we, is there in 
having good materials if they are to 
be stored in this manner? 
Consider the carpenter how he stores! 
He hangs each tool in a certain groove, 
and as he desires a certain thing he ex¬ 
tracts it. He can’t afford to have auto¬ 
destruction—it is too extravagant a dis¬ 
ease. Yet it is the hardest thing in the 
world to make the housewife hang up 
her few knives and keep them forever 
in good shape. 
Clean them after every using. It’s 
easier then. A little scouring powder 
now and then will keep them in condi¬ 
tion. Do not use scouring powders with 
stainless steel, as it reduces the polish 
—the very thing which maintains its 
imperviousness to stain. 
All new knives should be so finished 
when you buy them that they need no 
further edging. The best manufacturers 
see to this and have a department just 
to hone and make knives ready for use. 
Sharpening 
The housewife’s best method of 
sharpening or rather keeping the edges 
straight and keenly cutting is the steel. 
When the knife really gets dull it 
should be ground. The use of the stone 
or carborundum by the ordinary oper¬ 
ator often wears the steel. However, 
if the use of the grinder or the stone 
or the carborundum is really known, 
time and money will be saved in the 
sharpening process. Sharp knives save 
temper, save food to a great degree, and 
therefore if you can’t sharpen knives 
yourself send them out to be taken care 
of once or twice a year. 
There is a special stone on the market 
for stainless steel sharpening; it is well 
to get this for your stainless utensils. 
Follow the directions with it carefully. 
All sharpening steels should have a 
guard for the hand in case the knife 
slides ba.k toward the fingers. 
Never hold the knife on edge on the 
steel, for it should be quite flat; remem¬ 
ber you are trying to flatten the two 
sides toward the edge, and thereby make 
it a better cutter. 
There are good rotary grinders and 
polishers on the market, and knowledge 
of them and their use is very valuable. 
There are also stones flat and stones in 
handles, all for keeping knives sharp. 
They are yours if you want them and 
realize that you must know how to use 
them to save rather than destroy your 
cutlery. 
The story of forks is almost the same 
as that of its confreres, knives. 
The tines must be rigid and sharp 
enough to pierce immediately and not 
drop their prey by dull points. 
Forks were not meant to open cans 
or lift lids. Many a perfect fork has 
had its life history snapped by this 
usage. 
As with the sharpening steel, so with 
the fork which accompanies the carving 
knife—it too should have a guard to 
prevent the knife slipping and injuring 
the left hand. 
If you buy the best cutlery from the 
most representative firms you will have 
the best results and be well repaid. 
Good cutlery, like everything good, is 
more expensive than cheap varieties. 
Good cutlery may stand up longer un¬ 
der bad usage than poor cutlery; but 
don’t tempt it and waste your money! 
A little care with cutlery will curtail 
your bills, give your food a better ap¬ 
pearance and your maids swifter ac¬ 
complishment, for, after all, the kitchen 
work is mostly cutting up. 
