High Frequency Food: Better Cutting with Ultrasonics | Hacker News Reader

High Frequency Food: Better Cutting with Ultrasonics

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47 pointszdw23 comments

Very cool but I've already settle for this other way of cutting... Limited usefulness on foods although it doesn't stick either https://youtube.com/shorts/K6mi8MFPoog?si=R5K4X7q6gMp00zxN

It still smashed the bread quite a bit in the demo video, the difference wasn't super obvious until they held the loaf up. I wonder how representative that demonstration is, because the text mentions a combination of moving blade and food platform.

Depending on how much it would cost to hack together a version of this at home, this might actually solve a home food cutting problem I have, haha. I'll have to look into it.

Electric carving knives were all the rage in the 90s and they genuinely cut through squishy things (meat, soft breads, tomatoes) far more cleanly than manual knives but the improvement wasn't worth a seperate tool so they've mostly disappeared from the market, despite the proliferation of a billion other special purpose tools.

yeah, unfortunately I think in my particular case an electric knife wouldn't work. I make homemade American process cheese, and it's very soft, so I'm pretty sure that it would still stick to an electric knife, as well as tear really badly. From the videos, these ultrasonic knives seem like they would work perfectly but the commercial options are all impractically expensive and from doing a little research, all the DIY versions are tiny blades meant for cutting stuff like plastic on 3d prints etc.

Apparently getting the blade design right on a bigger one so that it properly resonates with the transducers is tricky.

A non-ultrasonic but high frequency knife made at home: https://youtu.be/dN2jhnWNyxs?t=324

Haha, that's funny, but that's basically what electric knives already are, right?

This is so cool. Alas, probably no way to get at home

Amazon has handheld versions for the low, low price of.....$3,752.

Also, waterjet.

For cutting food?

Yes; I know it's counterintuitive, but it's well-established for decades, with multiple competing waterjet cutter brands for different food-processing applications: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57JPwGwFR8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtmpaVKexdE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_dutN26VU

This marketing video from a waterjet food cutting company contrasts their product with ultrasonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJt9iyB5Kq4

Huh, I'd have expected that to completely waterlog the cake. I suppose cake is soft enough to where most of the water from the jet goes all the way through.

It's mostly that the amount of water used is minuscule. If most of the water from the jet goes all the way through, you can further reduce the volume of water used at the same pressure without interruptions in the cut.

For anyone who wants to do this at home, electric knives have been a thing in home kitchens for a long time. This is the most popular one in the US, will set you back $28:

https://hamiltonbeach.com/electric-knife-set-with-fork-and-c...

That's a reciprocating blade, which is not the same thing.

Ah good point. Yes, the electric knife is not ultrasonic, it moves back and forth. Still, if you're looking to cut cleanly and with less tearing and smooshing and sticking, it's basically the home equivalent.

No, the home equivalent of an ultrasonic knife is an ultrasonic knife.

No, because ultrasonic knives for home kitchen use don't exist, at least according to what I can find on Amazon.

That's why I said "equivalent". In other words, what you can actually buy instead.

Things do exist outside Amazon.

OK, so if you want to be helpful and actually contribute to the conversation rather than just be snarky, please post a link to one for sale for home kitchen use outside of Amazon. That isn't currently just a dream on Kickstarter (you can't actually buy the 369Sonic).