Department of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Fisheries, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan
The theory of the cutting resistance of a knife that shows cutting performance is examined, and a new measuring system for the cutting resistance is developed. The cutting resistance was in inverse proportion to the rate of horizontal to vertical cutting speed, and that of the double-edge knife became much bigger than that of the single-edge knife following an increase of the vertical cutting speed. In the single-edge knife, the horizontal cutting speed contributed much more to the cutting resistance than vertical speed, but in the double-edge knife, it was almost the same. The single-edge knife is more suitable than the double-edge knife for cutting sashimi because crushing of muscle fibers of the fish meat is minimal. This measuring system simulated hand cutting by knife and could measure cutting performance to a high level of precision.