# Ideal Boning Knives To Get



## nothing (May 27, 2014)

Hello, first time posting here and I apologize in advance for asking a question that has been repeatedly answered.  I've been combing through many other threads and seem to just be finding more rabbit holes to go down.  Between the "It's gotta be Wustof" to the "You're throwing money away at high end German brands" to the "It's Japanese knives or bust" and of course the "All you really need is a properly sharpened butter knife and a large club" crowds I'm getting more and more confused.

My Situation:

My wife and I have been hunting and cleaning game for many years.  We're quite familiar with cutlery but all of our quality knives are more "in the field" types.  Our current butchering tends to rely on a combination of skinning, fillet, classic Buck, and Havalon scalpels.  By most hunter standards we're probably quite good, by a butcher's standard we're probably fumbling idiots.

Recently my wife has begun taking a few butchering classes and is demanding some proper boning knives for our kitchen.  We're certainly willing to drop some money on quality blades though functionality is far more important to us than aesthetics.  Here is what we'll be working with along with some of our preferences:

1. Deer, Hog, Poultry in that order.

2. We tend to dislike rubber/plastic/polymer handles.

3. The size of the deer/hog we work on tend to range anywhere from 50-450lbs...the poultry have so far been much smaller.

4. I'd guesstimate that $250 per knife is the upper boundary of what I'd look to spend though I can be flexible.  Like I said previously, the goal is to get something that has the functionality we need, that will last for a good long while, and that we won't regret purchasing later on.  The Damascus blades forged inside forgotten volcanoes, infused with the blood of virgins and inlaid with gold from Olympus are not what I'm after.

My experience with knives has been that while there tend to be some great "good for all jobs" knives that actually means "usable for all jobs but not particularly great at anything." and that the best way to go, if the wallet can afford it, is to pick up the appropriate niche knives for the various tasks you'll be doing.  I'm assuming this is the same for boning knives, though if there is a One knife that'd be great.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any feedback that can better point me to what I should be looking for and I'd be happy to answer any other questions to the best of my ability to help in that regard.

Thanks in advance


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

I've worked with victorinox knives professionally andfind them reliable and durable, if you dont like the plastic handles they have a rosewood line, although i dont know offhand if they offer the boning knives like that. Dexter green river knives are carbon steel with beech handles, if you like that, but i cant vouch for them as I have never used them.
That said, my chef knives are pretty nice knives, my fish and meat knives are cheap and built to take abuse. Expensive knives are highly subjective. If you find one you like/want, buy it. But for $250 you could buy a boning knife, a breaking knife, and a butcher knife from both the brands i listed and have money left over for shipping.
I should add that victorinox is the butcher industry standard, and also not to sell yourself short on your own experience


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

I almost forgot, Old Hickory knives have wooden handles, carbon blades(meaning they rust if not maintained) and a bizarre following amongst outdoorsey types who like to customize them to their personal specs.  They run about $20-30, and are made with little vanity and will need sharpening before use.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

Grande said:


> I almost forgot, Old Hickory knives have wooden handles, carbon blades(meaning they rust if not maintained) and a bizarre following amongst outdoorsey types who like to customize them to their personal specs. They run about $20-30, and are made with little vanity and will need sharpening before use.


I'm definitely looking for carbon steel blades....unless S30V has made its way into kitchen cutlery.


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

In that case, check out the dexter russel green river line, the old hickory knives, and also look at thiers-issard sabatier and k sabatier just to see if anything looks good(both of those last ones also make carbon). I havent used these for my butchering knives, but i've beeb doing some shopping/research, and thats what i was looking at. They're all availableonline so take a look!


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

Do you know whst types of knives your looking for?


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

Grande said:


> Do you know whst types of knives your looking for?


I'm very specifically looking for knives to debone and perform final butchering tasks on deer, hog and to some degree poultry. What I'm probably having the most confusion with is an understanding of what blade lengths, shapes, and degree of flexibility or rigidness would be best for this. Along those lines am I looking for one boning knife or should I be looking for a small assortment?


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

Boning knives will be specifically sold as such, they are either curved or straight, usually about 6", and can be stiff or flexible- all these options are personal preference. If you've already been doing the work, look for one like you already like. I've known guys that liked each. If you really want carbon steel, you're options will be a little more limited by whats manufactured. I looked on madcowcutlery.com and the had a six inch straight and six inch curved boning knifebin the green river, so that will limit it a bit. The larger breaking knives, butcher knives and cimiters are used to clean and cut up the larger cuts, since i dont do whole animal butchery and you do, you probably can imagine how big of a knife you will need. Probably one boning knife, an 8" inch breaking knife(curved, blade about 1" wide) and a big butcher knife or cimeter would be a pretty all purpose collection but it all depends on what you're comfortable using.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

I've use Victorinox (Forschner) for decades and recently I thinned the blade and it works sooooo much better - pretty good for SS.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

Grande said:


> The larger breaking knives, butcher knives and cimiters are used to clean and cut up the larger cuts, since i dont do whole animal butchery and you do, you probably can imagine how big of a knife you will need. Probably one boning knife, an 8" inch breaking knife(curved, blade about 1" wide) and a big butcher knife or cimeter would be a pretty all purpose collection but it all depends on what you're comfortable using.


Thanks! That's pretty much the kind of feedback I'm looking for (before delving into what seems like the very subjective world of brands). My thoughts lean toward a flexible boning knife, but I wasn't sure if there was an accepted "right" kind with regard to flexible/inflexible for the type of work we'll be doing.

I've also noticed that within the realm of boning knives there are a lot of different blade shapes -- in particular when comparing the western style knives to various Japanese models. I learned long ago not to pick the kind of blade I want based on what looked the neatest, so I'm wondering what particular shape or shapes I should be looking at.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

Take a look at the following page. I use two boning knives, a straight stiff blade and a flexible (or semi flexible) curved blade, both 6 inches long.

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/victorinox-forschner/boning-fillet-knives


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

As far as japanese style knives, i don't really use them. I have used a shun boning knife and a global for fish but wasnt crazy about either, mostly because of the handles. I say get something basic; if you want try japanese knives later on you it will be easy to upgrade


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## knifesavers (Oct 5, 2011)

R Murphy has some carbon steel offerings but I don't think they have cimeters.

http://www.rmurphyknives.com/store/cooking-knives.html

As mentioned Dexter's Green River line has some carbons and there is always Ebay for old stuff.

Jim


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

After mulling over the situation and some of the responses I decided I've been over thinking this without enough firsthand data.  I went ahead and put in an order for the 3 piece Victorinox butcher set that Grande helped point me to.  Best case those are everything we could hope to want, worst case they're a relatively cheap way to help point us in the direction of what we prefer.  Suffice to say I'm sure they'll be better than the $15 fillet knife, Buck hunter, and WWI Bolo (my goto choppy thingy) combination that we have been using 

Thanks so much for the feedback, I'll post our thoughts after receiving and using them -- probably with more questions.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

nothing said:


> I went ahead and put in an order for the 3 piece Victorinox butcher set that Grande helped point me to.


Please provide the url to that 3 piece set you ordered.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

kokopuffs said:


> Please provide the url to that 3 piece set you ordered.


http://www.madcowcutlery.com/store/pc/Victorinox-3-Piece-Rosewood-Butcher-Set-9p2679.htm


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

I've used the semi-stiff curved boning knife for decades and love the feel in my hands but I recently thinned the blade and the edge now is way better.  IMHO I'd prefer the ones with the plastic handles for lower maintenance but the fit of the plastic handles isn't the same.  They feel much bulkier than their rosewood counterparts.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

nothing said:


> After mulling over the situation and some of the responses I decided I've been over thinking this without enough firsthand data. I went ahead and put in an order for the 3 piece Victorinox butcher set that Grande helped point me to. Best case those are everything we could hope to want, worst case they're a relatively cheap way to help point us in the direction of what we prefer. Suffice to say I'm sure they'll be better than the $15 fillet knife, Buck hunter, and WWI Bolo (my goto choppy thingy) combination that we have been using
> 
> Thanks so much for the feedback, I'll post our thoughts after receiving and using them -- probably with more questions.


And read here the post by Daniel Clay at MadCowCutlery.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

kokopuffs said:


> And read here the post my Daniel Clay at MadCowCutlery.


Great link, thanks.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

And what I've done to the rosewood handles is given them several coats of tung oil with the final coat being a 50-50 mixture of tung oil and mineral spirits - for hardening.  And that's pure tung oil.  A little goes a really long way.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I'm not a professional or anything, but I have taken a hands on whole hog butchering class.  The teacher was a meat science teacher at a local college and a butcher for many years.  We each started with a pig cut down the middle.  From there, we cut it into sub primals with a bandsaw, then into the cuts you would get at the market.

If you need to make some bigger cuts at this point, we'd use a big cimiter.  Most of the 'finishing' butchering was done with victorinox semi stiff boning knives.  The guy running it had a whole box of these.  When they would no longer get sharp by a steeling, it'd go into a 'dull' box for a professional sharpener who comes by once a week.

At home, at most I will buy a sub primal since I don't have a bandsaw.  I have a couple different victorinox knives.  The one I use the most is the semi stiff curved boning knive.  If you need to de skin or something like that, the curve really helps (i know they have knives specific just to skinning too).  Since I don't do as much cutting, I just sharpen my own knives when they get dull.  I find that the VF boning knife was very easy to sharpen on water stones.

I think for hunting, you'd want a good hunting knife for field dressing and removing the organs and blood, then you can worry about the rest of it when you get home.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I prefer the fibrox handle over rosewood on butchering equipment.  When you're deep in pig fat, you don't want the knife to slip out of your hand.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

> If you need to de skin or something like that, the curve really helps (i know they have knives specific just to skinning too). Since I don't do as much cutting, I just sharpen my own knives when they get dull. I find that the VF boning knife was very easy to sharpen on water stones.
> I think for hunting, you'd want a good hunting knife for field dressing and removing the organs and blood, then you can worry about the rest of it when you get home.


Thanks for the feedback, from what people are saying I'm feeling better and better about the Victorinox knivesI ordered. As far as skinning and field knives go we're very well covered -- though I should mention again that we've recently moved to the Havalon disposable scalpel system for the majority of that kind of work. We still carry our dependable fixed blades in the field and use them for some of the heavier work but for everything else including skinning absolutely nothing beats those scalpels. Sharper than any knife you can buy and when one dulls you just switch it out with a new blade.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

Just wanted to say that the Victorinox knives came in a few days ago.  Since then we've had the chance to go through deboning 3 chickens.  Great knives, thanks to all who pointed me in their direction.  I don't think we would have benefited at all from getting anything more expensive at this point in time.


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

I'm sure I speak for all of us when i say we're only happy we could help!


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

nothing said:


> Just wanted to say that the Victorinox knives came in a few days ago. Since then we've had the chance to go through deboning 3 chickens. Great knives, thanks to all who pointed me in their direction. I don't think we would have benefited at all from getting anything more expensive at this point in time.


Again I was even more impressed with the performance of my VF curved boning knife after thinning. I wished I'd done that modification sooner.


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## nothing (May 27, 2014)

kokopuffs said:


> Again I was even more impressed with the performance of my VF curved boning knife after thinning. I wished I'd done that modification sooner.


Outside of some fillet knives and razors these are probably the thinnest knives I've ever used, hard to contemplate thinning them further at this point -- maybe I'll see the benefits after more use. BTW, my normal sharpening system is a 1000/6000 water stone following by stropping when I'm not being lazy. Will that be sufficient for these or should I probably look at getting something higher grit around 8000 or so?


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

That's exactly how I sharpened mine a month ago, and it worked great.  I don't think super high grit will add much with this steel.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

nothing said:


> ...BTW, my normal sharpening system is a 1000/6000 water stone following by stropping when I'm not being lazy. Will that be sufficient for these or should I probably look at getting something higher grit around 8000 or so?


I use oilstones and am not interested in switching over to find out. I'm sorta' wondering, though, if my black surgical stone by Halls will do any good on this stainless blade in view of what MillionsKnives just previously stated.

I'm certain that the following has been discussed by why is that an abrasive finer than a certain grit limits its ability to make a blade any sharper or "finer honed" as it were?????


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## padkeejoe (Jun 5, 2013)

Several people have noted the Victorinox line.

I've owned and used one of their high end models for years that I reckon is about 9 inches of blade and it's an an absolute beast- a bloody German tank- easy enough to care for and sharpen- and also busts up garlic.

On the other hand, depending on what you're cutting and boning, I would also recommend (_sacré bleu -with all apologies to our French members) one of Global's flexible boning knives for smaller jobs (quail, carcass clean up and so forth)_.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Any brand that you feel comfortable with   You need 2   a flexible boner and a stiff one each has different applications 6 inch blade minimum, non slip handle


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