A technique for field measurement of knife sharpness.

Knife sharpness can affect the productivity of meatpacking operations as well as the forces to which meat cutters are exposed. This report describes the development and evaluation of a "sharpness tester" designed to meet the criteria that the system be portable for field use at meatpacking plants, requires no special skills to operate, provides a non-destructive test of the entire blade edge, and incorporates a test motion that is representative of meat cutting. The system was bench tested for sensitivity to incremental changes in blade sharpness; suitability of the test material as a surrogate for red meat; and ability to detect variations in sharpness along the length of the blade.

The effect of blade finish and blade edge angle on forces used in meat cutting operations.

Meat cutting causes a much greater incidence of upper extremity disorders than industry averages. Grip forces and cutting moments in meat cutting operations can be very high. Recently published studies indicate that the blade sharpness can significantly affect force exposure during meat cutting.

Cutting moments and grip forces in meat cutting operations and the effect of knife sharpness.

The force exposure associated with meat cutting operations and the effect of knife sharpness on performance and productivity have not been well documented. Specialized hardware was used to measure grip force and reactive moments with 15 professional meat cutters performing lamb shoulder boning, beef rib trimming and beef loin trim operations in a field study conducted in two meat packing plants. A system for measuring relative blade sharpness was developed for this study.