At the molecular level, how do knives "cut" or move molecules to one side of the blade or the other?

Question

Are adjacent molecules damaged when separated?
Is the cut material actually jaggedly "torn" along molecule boundaries or are molecules levered aside? What are the sources of heat generated by cutting?

Answer 1

A knife cuts by concentrating the force applied to the blade into a small area. All solid materials have a maximum force per unit area whereupon they fail either by shear (slice) or pressure (stab). Unless they are very long (as in polymers), individual molecules are usually not severed, only the weak electrostatic bonds between them that define the solid state.

Answer 2

Levered aside and you can still smell some molecules.