“For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.”
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
This is one of my favourite quotes. I’m always on the lookout for examples of it.
Recently I found a great one.
It came courtesy of this beautiful and thoroughly engaging piece on knives by T.W. Lim in Spencer Wright’s Scope of Work.
Did you know that among knife nerds (did you know there were knife nerds?) there is a mythical angle (17°) that some people stress about achieving?
I didn’t.
Apparently, 17° is “a common benchmark for the edge angle on Japanese-made chef’s knives.”
As I read on, I wasn’t surprised to learn that the true masters don’t care about or aspire to this angle. In fact, says Lim, “there’s a conspicuous absence of guides, angle checkers, or really any precision instrumentation at all.”
On the other end of the spectrum, in amateur land, finding the angle on one’s factory-made kitchen knives is almost impossible.
Simplicity (amateur ignorance) -> Complexity (knife nerdery) -> Simplicity (mastery)
Knives out,
James
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The amateur kind of simplicity works for me (in this case). |
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