It depends on the context, of course. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and standards of what they consider right and wrong.
I that that the essential factor of "gatekeeping" is demoting others unless they don't fit your standards, e.g. "you are not a real cook if you use blunt knifes". Simply telling someone that using sharp knifes is safer than using blunt knifes wouldn't count as "gatekeeping" in my book, unless someone tried to keep you out of the gate because of it.
On many forums some people think that ceramic pull sharpeners will ruin your blades and you should use stones and oil.
I've been using ceramic pull sharpener for 30 years on the same $100 chef knife.
It's still in better shape than 95% of the knifes I've used in other people's homes.
The pull sharpener works wonders if the knife has to be sharpened quickly. If you do it long enough, the edge is ruined (I talk actually years of daily use of the knife here, and even then a decent knife will be rather sharp). Stones are good to get nice edges, I prefer to run newly made, or abused, blades over a belt grinder first (I'm a lazy and impatient person sometimes).
And the full blown 160 - 3000 grid followed by stone-water paste polishing is something I'll only ever do for special occassions. Everything after 1000 grid, stone or paper, is for optics only. And even bread crust will cause scratches at that level.
Is all of that necessary? Course not, I do it because it is fun (sometimes), and well cutting knifes are a pleasure to work with.
Do those knifes improve the quality of the meals we cook? No, they just make the preparation easier to an extent. And in tje end the meal counts, not the tools you used to cook it.
You have to put a lot more force into a blunt blade. When it finally gets through (or jumps from) what you're hacking at, it's going somewhere, fast.
The blade will do much more damage to your skin, tearing it instead of slicing, takes longer to heal from a blunt blade, infection more likely.
It's much safer to have a sharp knife that you can handle with finesse. Not a dull one you have to hack with.
I wouldn't really call this gatekeeping either, it's pretty much knife safety 101. Right up there with curling your fingers and pushing not pulling the blade.
And even the 600 dollar knife gets blunt ultimately.
Sharp knife = good advice
Expensive luxury tool = gate keeping
Once I had more money to spend, I bought a knife with more desirable steel properties which came at a much higher price. The upside is that I have to spend far less time keeping the knife sharp and safe.
I believe that it's important to do things safely and "properly" to get the most flavour/value. Turns out many activities are like that unless you're going to discover everything yourself from first principles. Gatekeeping is seen as something bad because the internet has made communities really discoverable and people entering new communities are finding that there are some mistakes that don't need to be made, they need to learn first, and the people of those communities tell them that. Some of those people are arseholes, and give advise in a very rude way. Since negativity has such a big effect, "Gatekeeping" comes up as a big negative term.
If you have handled blunt knives for years, you are accustomed to handling them and have muscle memory. You know how to use them, and the blades of most blunt knives develop a saw-like edge that helps in cutting.
Might not be as cool or impressive as a $200 damascene hand-forged pseudo-japanese knife, but they just work. What's dangerous is going from blunt to sharp or the other way round.
Sad to read that the same gatekeeping attitude from the article seeps in here as well.
-edit-
You specifically said a blade would get so dull it would become a saw.
You weren't talking about serrated knives as you said "and the blades of most blunt knives develop a saw-like edge"
Using serration on a knife to saw is not misuse, using a dull blade to saw is misuse and dangerous.
Basic knife safety is not gatekeeping. Sharpen your blade, or at least use the knife alone so you only hurt yourself if you're that insistent on using knives improperly.
Why don't you tell this to the producers of serrated knives? I guess they would want to know that they are doing this completely wrong.
Anyway, per the rest of this discussion, definition of 'gatekeeping' is clearly contextual. Paraphrasing the exchange above: "What about safety?", "Sure, but that's not what we usually mean by gatekeeping."
Telling somebody they shouldn't weld without goggles isn't gatekeeping, it's safety advice. Telling somebody they aren't a real welder because they're using a cheap but functional brand of welder is gatekeeping, because there's no good reason to malign a welder for having an unfashionable brand of equipment.
Gatekeeping is only 'true' gatekeeping if there isn't a good reason for keeping that gate; safety advice in particular is generally exempted. Since gatekeeping is only true gatekeeping in contexts where there isn't a good reason for it, claiming that something is gatekeeping without explaining why is basically worthless. Such accusations are assertions without supporting arguments. It often boils down to circular reasoning: You're gatekeeping which is bad, and it's bad because it's gatekeeping.
Inexpensive knives can be sharp. America’s Test Kitchen recommends a $35 knife as their best chef’s knife.
Exactly right. I've wound up in the emergency room twice because of exactly this effect.
Blunt knives are for spreading, or maybe sawing. Using blunt knives for slicing is just plain stupid. And let me tell you, learning this the hard way hurts a lot more than somebody 'gatekeeping' you with a warning, no matter how rudely phrased.