Right after I completed the Knife Skills section my wife (who supports me 100%) took me down to a local cooking supply store and told me to pick out any chef knife I wanted. After feeling out about 10 different ones I finally decided on the 8" Zwilling Pro. Wow what a difference a truly sharp knife makes. I thought I had a sharp knife before but until I got a quality knife in my hands I had no idea what sharp really was.
Well of course as soon as I got home with it I had to start working on my homework so out came the bag of potatoes a few onions and a few bell peppers. It only took me a few potatoes to learn that you are suppose to use the FIRST knuckle NOT the second knuckle as the guide. To use the second knuckle requires that you put your hand in such a position that even Quasimodo would cringe, also you will knick the top of your second knuckle at least once before you figure you need to review the video again to see what you are doing wrong. Once I got my guide hand in the proper position things really took off then. it wasn't long before I had a rather substantial pile of Juliened, Batonneted, and Diced potatoes done. Then it was after the onions. After the fourth one I felt comfortable with dicing an onion so now it was time for the bell pepper. Man when you do it like shown in the video you will get the results as shown in the video. The first one I cut a bit deep when taking out the insides but after that I learned not to angle the knife so deep and the other three went perfect. I did not try separating the meat and the skin yet. I figured I would save that for another time.
It was a wonderful feeling to learn these skills. Your approach of teaching them are spot on. I now have the knowledge base that removed the fear of handling a knife and instead installed a confidence that actually makes me safer when using a knife in the kitchen.
It is amazing how great it feels to not only have the proper tools to do a job well, but the proper techniques to use those tools with confidence. A difference of night and day.
Oh by the way. Hash brown potatoes with onions and bell peppers in them for breakfast is okay for a day or two but after day 5 it does get a bit old 
