Husband and kitchen knives

[Rollonspring23]

Despite me asking him numerous times to carry kitchen knifes pointing down in the kitchen, my husband repeatedly walks around with them pointing outwards.

We had a disagreement about this at lunchtime when I moved in the kitchen and he was carrying one outwards pointing at me at waist height.

Just had a row after I turned in the kitchen and found him carrying a knife to the other side about 10 inches from my ribs. I’ve lost the plot about this, he thinks I’m being unreasonable.

AIBU to expect him to carry knives pointing downwards, I thought this was an absolute basic!

I am a safety conscious person, but you sound a bit hysterical. If your husband were running or flailing wildly around, you might have a valid point. Unless he's some world class klutz that you failed to mention, dial it down a notch.

Isn’t this the way that they are carried in a professional kitchen to avoid injury though. If I’m simply being OTT why aren’t chefs carrying their knives just anyhow.

Do you work in a professional kitchen? Is your kitchen at home a professional kitchen full of people rushing around? Do you control everything else too?

A workplace is completely different to a personal kitchen though. Best practice is often not what people actually do. For example, if you went to a piercing studio to change a piercing stud, they’d wash their hands, wear gloves, nd usd sterile equipment, whereas at home you’d grab them from your dusty jewellery box and fire them in.

@Coffeellama no I don’t control everything but when two of us are in the kitchen close together I’d prefer knives to be carried downwards to avoid any accidents. Clearly knives only need to be carried safely in a professional kitchen and all risks disappear at home when working closely together!

Going against the grain I don’t think you’re being U. No, you’re not going to get stabbed but cut is a possibility – but also having knives pointed at you makes you uncomfortable whereas DH pointing the knife down should cause him no detriment, so why can’t he make this simple change?

blow this dh left knife in sink pointed blade upward....now that I did have serious words about ...
seriously walking around with knives especially when there is an opening door with possibly someone (op) coming through you do have to be careful or rather he does. Its more about the pointy end being protected because of accidents not so much up or down but across their body

Absolutely with the OP. Knives, like a pair of scissors should be held by the handle, pointing down. Just basic safety. Imagine if little children were running around. Most accidents happen in the house remember!

When you lift things at home, do you bend over to pick them up or do you squat down, straight backed?

Do you use blue plasters exclusively at home?

Do you PAT test all electrical items in your home every year?

workplace rules don’t apply in homes.

Carrying a knife pointing outwards sounds bizarre, even if you were actually planning to attack somebody - blade back along your wrist would be more usual so you can then slash upwards. If it's for transport I think I would tend to carry it not downwards but rather in parallel with my body, hip to hip. Sounds like your DH hasn't been taught knife safety.

Are these long, ultra sharp and pricy knives we're talking? If so, YABU for keeping them in a drawer, they should go in a knife block or on a magnetic stripe. They also should never, ever go in the dishwasher - all of that will blunt them.

@bussteward thank you, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I know the risk is small but reasonably or unreasonably it freaks me out and I wish he’s just adapt and carry them downwards as it really makes no difference to him. Interested to see that to most people it’s a total non issue though. The reason I got cross was because he scared me.

I thought you weren’t scared of him?

@GrumpyPanda the knife he was using today was a really long one. I’d be happy with anyway of carrying them that didn’t involve the tip pointing outwards.

So he was nearly a foot away from you holding a knife? Why is that a near miss?
FIL took the end of his little toe off when he dropped a knife he was carrying point down. Maybe you should insist on steel toecaps too, like professional kitchens do.
Also having worked in kitchens people don't really around with knives. You set up your station and you don't want away from it carrying a knife. Washing up generally goes into a tub to take to pot wash.

I carry knives pointing down in the kitchen at work (this is how we where trained)
I don't do it at home...though my kitchen it tiny!

I do think it’s a bit odd that he’s getting that close, actually. DH and I carry knives any old how, but I’m pretty sure we’d skirt around a person in the kitchen a bit if we had a knife in our hand. Or just angle ourselves away from the other person.

You really think that if you walked in and he was carrying a knife outwards it would harm you? Even if you bumped into each other and made contact he’d have to bump into you face on, with the knife directly pointing at you. And he’d have to be moving very fast, I’d say running, for him to hurt you with a limply held knife that he didn’t intend to make contact with you.
Are you this anxious about any other “dangers” in the home?

What if he was carrying it pointing downwards and dropped it on your foot as you stood next to him?

Your toes could end up impaled 🗡👀

We weren’t massively close initially I turned around and moved when he wasn’t expecting me to and I didn’t know he was carrying a knife across the kitchen. He also looked slightly alarmed and apologised.

Having visions of Crocodile Dundee, 'thats not a knife, this is a knife '

But what would you be asking him to do if you had a pet or kids i.e others who would be at huge risk if knives were carried pointing downwards ? (as kids and animals DO suddenly run/jump unexpectedly)

As long as he's not 'thrusting' forwards, or you're not walking either backwards or blindfolded, I don't think you have a problem (except maybe for 'catastrophising' ?)

You could still stab yourself in the foot if you carry it pointing down. I think you’re more likely to injure yourself than someone else generally.

We have kids and pets. I was walking backwards when I turned around.

I think you walking backwards around your kitchen is more dangerous than him moving around holding a knife he is using to prepare food. Maybe he should have told you to look where you’re going.

The best way would be to keep the knives where you use them so you're not walking around with them. I think walking around with the knife pointing straight out especially one with a long blade when there are other people in the kitchen is inconsiderate and yes, potentially dangerous. However, I also don't like the idea of walking around with the blade pointing down. You could stab someone's foot if you accidentally dropped the knife like that, although that may not matter if you're wearing shoes. We don't wear shoes in our home. I keep the knives where I use them so I don't really walk around with them, but if I had to, I would hold the knife close to my body blade up with the flat part parallel to my chest.