I've been giving this a lot more thought than it may deserve -- actually, I don't think so, it's a fairly deep subject. In any case, the knife I use is not sharp at all. You can't even cut a scallion with it, though we have other table knives that will do that if the scallion is crisp enough. I wonder if that particular dull table knife is really a spreader or something. It has some notional serration, which is not really functional, and I don't know if it's intent or actual function that matters more.

P.