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Butcher's knives.

Chimney7

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2020
Messages
276
Any of you home processors out there have any input on butchers knives? I've been using two filet knives for awhile now and am ready to make the switch to a more professional quality knife set used solely for processing of deer and the occasional chicken.
 
I bought a set of Bubba knives this year and plan on using them . I've never butchered my own but I am going to give it a go this year and also do jerky, Summer Sausage and snack sticks.
 
A five inch blade boning knife and a fillet knife is all you need. I like the carbon steel ones and use a Fiskars ceramic sharpener every so often to maintain a good edge. I cut the entire deer up with the boning knife and use the fillet knife to trim fat, silverskin, grissle, and blood vessels.
 
Only specialty knife you might possibly need is a cleaver. Any skinning/filet knife you have it's more than enough for a deer. Cleaver is more for the chickens
 
Forschner(Victorinox now I guess) all the way. Industry standard workhorse. I like a flexi boning knife for 99% of what I do. Its nice to have a heavy duty skinning knife with a good curve to it, but its not necessary.

This is the answer. The knives aren’t even that expensive. I love mine so much that I made a kydex sheath so that I can use it in the back country. I use my regular hunting knife to do the dirty work and the victorinox to break down the meat. At home I also use a large fillet knife.
 
I haven't done a ton of them so I'm not the most knowledgeable but if I'm in the kitchen I usually grab a short filet knife.... Most of the muscle groups u really don't need a knife... Run your fingers along the muscle seams and u can pretty much pull them apart with just your hands
 
I use both Victorinox and Dexter knives and love them both. Both have held their edges very well, re-sharpen easily, clean up nicely, and performed exactly as they should. And they’re not overly expensive.

A good set of specific butcher knives will last you a lifetime unless you’re processing hundreds of deer a year.

My set currently includes a 10” breaking knife for cutting steaks and roasts, a 7” straight boning knife that I use solely for cleaning up the meat, a 7” curved boning knife that gets the brunt of the boning work, and a sheep skinner that I use just for skinning. In addition to those 4 I also use the Swing Blaze from outdoor edge as my gutting knife and for the initial hide cuts to start the skinning process once I’m back home.

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Gutted, skinned, deboned my last deer(cleaned knife before the deboning part obviously) with just this knife.

Just needed a filet knife to do trimming afterwards.
 

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Gutted, skinned, deboned my last deer(cleaned knife before the deboning part obviously) with just this knife.

Just needed a filet knife to do trimming afterwards.
I love the shape and size of that knife. I'd like to try and make something like that, could you take a picture of the whole knife so I can see the drop in the handle please?
 
I process all my own game. Deer, hogs, fish, whatever... these are just SOME of my tools.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Don’t forget the sharpener. “Only sharp knives are interesting.” I‘m pretty sure Larry Potterfield said that...
 
I just ordered “my wife” a set of custom knives for Christmas from a blacksmith locally. Picked my steel and types of knives. I added a 5.5 and 6 inch boning knife to the mix for processing deer. I prefer this size because I find it easier to work with than other lengths. The one in the picture in red is the one I plan to get two of. Can’t wait to try them out!

https://www.forgedinkol.com/ this is the blacksmith. He makes some good stuff.



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i realize that many of you can likely process a deer with almost any blade, but for us newbies, any tips on flexible vs rigid blades? or is that more of a personal preference thing? ( i can see the utility of a flexible blade for removing silver skin like skinning a fish fillet, it's more the boning that i wonder about) thanks in advance
 
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