I did the program at Bridgerland. Great program! Sam, Dick, Jason and Dave are very, very good butchers. It would be unfair to call them meat-cutters. They are the real deal; real high-quality meat-cutting going on there!

Stick with the Forscheners they issue to you. When you get good at not ruining knives, buy all of the discount Forscheners you can. The rosewoods are good for the home kitchen. The black handled knives are much easier to use for work. Definitely buy the smooth British packer-steel they can sell you. It is awesome! Buy a hook definitely. You might never use it again, but it's a great tool. Absolutely, under no circumstances should you not learn to use your boning hook like it's second nature.

The only other thing I can recommend is tell them you want a job as a meat-wrapper in town somewhere. You need to learn that skill. No meat-cutter is worth his salt if he cannot tray wrap.

Also, become a champ at sticking and heading. In my time there I stuck and faced probably half the beef we processed.

Forschners for me too. Most popular knife by far. We used to have a lot of Rosewood handles, but mostly Fibrox now. They take a beating on the plastic boards, but I can get the edge back in a few minutes. Once you drop them and bend the tip it kind of sucks. Some guys use Dexters,but I hate the grip.