the old meat cutter that trained me allways said that a good meat cutter is only as good as the knife in his hand. how true is this to you? and what kind do you use?
I use Victorinox ,a very easy knife to hone on an indian oil stone. In the past had swibo but I didn't like the metal it's very hard and took alot of rubbing down.
I use Forschner wood handled knives. I have tried a few others, but I like Forschner. I guess there's some truth to what you say. Two equal cutters using different knives, one will have an advantage. However, assuming a knife is sharp and usable, I think a good cutter can do a good job with anything. Sure, he/she'll be their best with their favorite tools. I mean I don't play violin. I can't pick up a million dollar Stradivarius and play it better than my niece if she's using a ten dollar thrift store violin. I can't beat Serena Williams at tennis if we trade racquets.
But yes, I agree. Use the right tool for the right job.
It depends on how extreme one wants to take this. Forschner vs F. Dick vs Dexter? Or all the above vs some funky kitchen or produce knife?
If my knives got stolen, I could borrow (if you let me) the knives form anyone here and I'd be comfortable.
-- Edited by Burgermeister on Wednesday 26th of October 2011 09:48:39 AM
I use Forshner fibrox handles. i don't like wood handles for some reason they make my hand hurt and cramp. fibrox is a combination of fiberglass and plastic it doesn't get as slippery as plastic and is soft in my hand. so thats a question for you all . those of you who use wood handles ..why? what do you like about them? it seems like most cutters i know buiy wood handle knives and i feel compelled to tell them they should try the fibrox handles.
I have never understood how some meat cutters can come in and pick up a company knife and work with it, these knifes are never sharpen, just in the wall rack.
i have the fibrox handles and like them, but have noticed they lose texture on the handles after about three months :( , i am going to try would handles with my next set, most of the vets i work with have wood handles too
When on the block, I use a 6-inch curved, semi-flex Forschner fibrox, and 10-inch Forschner breaking-knife, and smooth-steel.
I stone them both lightly every morning for a couple-minutes before going through my first swine or beef, and I am golden for the rest of the day.
When I am sticking, facing beef, bunging, and removing shanks and hocks, I like to use a 5-inch stiff Forschner boning knife, which when I hit teeth or whatnot can be a little difficult to get an edge back on, presumeably due to it's hardness of the metal, I find that a sheep-skinner is good for siding and easy to stone.
I have not been able to master using a proper-beef siding/skinning knife. Maybe I'll give that a whirl starting next week.
-- Edited by JimmyMac on Wednesday 21st of March 2012 09:09:24 PM
I have a little 6" Dexter-Russell I carry with me. That's what the guy who trained me uses. He told me "keep the little bugger sharp, and you can do anything you need to with it." I've found that to be true. Some of the guys like to rib both of us about it, interestingly, most of the ones who do are hacks.
when I was head cutter in a high volume chain store- I use to get calluses and blisters on my hand, I wanted a larger grip on the knife handle-much like a large grip on a golf-club , even the grooves for the hands/fingers, I couldnt find any fatter knife grips, so I use to tie twine around the handle to mix it up
Knowing what I know now- I should have paid for decent knives(outside of the store) early on- not keep dull thin, worn blades of steak knives-in departments where the meat mgr was too cheap to order new knives-20-30 yrs later my shoulders are paying for the youthful ignorance of cutting pallets of beef with dull knives.
when I became manager, I bought a new set of knives for each cutter and/or trainee- each cutter would make his own mark on the handle (often with the bandsaw) and was responsible for thier own knives-no one used someone else's knives-this worked ten times better than community knives.
I taught the younger trainees how to sharpen a knife on the stone, so they'd last longer than on an electric sharpener.
knives are the tools of our trade- a good carpenter or mechanic doesn't buy tools at wal-mart-neither should we use cheap or dull knives.
I go to many stores that pay for knife sharpening services- they sharpen and replace the knives every week-
I personally dont like them, advocate away from the service- they must sharpen with a bench grinder-very rough edge-a rough edge will dull faster than a fine edge
The history channel had a segment on knives-it was interesting, they showed a knife's edge magnified many times, with feathers or chards of the blade -not aligned -this is what a steel does-aligns the blade.
I believe there is a lot of truth to that statement. It's pretty hard to do a good and efficient job with a dull knife. Just like any other skilled trade (yes I said skilled) you need the right tools to do the job right. I use a variety of knives, victorinox, Sheffield and Giesser. In the past I used 6in boning knives for most tasks other than cutting roasts. Now the only thing I use a 6in knife for is trimming outer fat border on steaks. I have a very old 10" Victorinox breaker that is worn narrow and it is just perfect for so many things and about 10 times faster than using small boning knives. I'm keeping my eye out for a narrow 10" knife to replace it should I ever have to but all the narrow blade knives that long that I've seen are flex fillet type. Recently I bought a 10" Victorinox butcher style with the Granton edge that I love. It is a wide blade but thin and tapered nicely for slicing thin cuts like sandwich steaks. The other great investment I made was a hard case made by Victorinox that has a LOCK latch on it and room for steels, gloves etc. under the knife tray. My knives are always just how I left em' .... CLEAN AND SHARP! Question for other members... has anyone used the new "Prime Line" Giesser knives? I know the blades are great, wondering about the handles, they look comfortable wish they had a 10" narrow blade.
I did write something under my picture ,but I lost it somewhere,heyho. Anyway ,these are my tools of choice,cleaver,chopping knife,12ins steak knife,trimming knife,boning ,well you know the rest.
I didn't write it like the first time.lol.
Edited to add the cleaver and steak knife,and boner(s******) are over 22years old.
-- Edited by Pete the Meat on Friday 23rd of March 2012 05:32:23 PM
I like that cleaver, I have a plumb cleaver over 100 yrs old- I started collecting cleavers for a few years- I'd go to some stores, that have been in business for over 100 consecutive years, and find old cleavers in the stores, with mallets
Pete, the design of that steak -knife(two knives right of the cleaver) came about, not just for leverage, but because many meatcutter injuries (cuts) came from placing your second hand(palm) over the end of a curved steak knife, while trying to break down thru a bone-I use to do it with lamb racks, and the tip of the steak knife would easily cut the meaty part of the palm under the pinky finger
I like that cleaver, I have a plumb cleaver over 100 yrs old- I started collecting cleavers for a few years- I'd go to some stores, that have been in business for over 100 consecutive years, and find old cleavers in the stores, with mallets
Pete, the design of that steak -knife(two knives right of the cleaver) came about, not just for leverage, but because many meatcutter injuries (cuts) came from placing your second hand(palm) over the end of a curved steak knife, while trying to break down thru a bone-I use to do it with lamb racks, and the tip of the steak knife would easily cut the meaty part of the palm under the pinky finger
I only use the the large yellow knife for cracking though the bones ,well lamb mainly,it is a chopping knife although very light weight.
