Recommendation? Best Meat Processing Steel

[Vlade]

Any good housewife will tell you that the best knives to use are Old hickory knives.. my mother used to carve up roasts with hers all the time. They take a licking and keep on ticking. I haven't seen one in a while. But there wasn't any kind of piece of meat that she couldn't cut with that Old hickory knife. Just my worthless two cents

 

[AntDog]

The steel doesn’t matter much, but the design of the knife sure does.

 

[Cementite]

The steel doesn’t matter much, but the design of the knife sure does.

Yep, my go-to knife is the Forschner/Victorinox boning knife with the medium-flexible blade (not as flexible as the Forschner fish fillet knife, but not as stiff as the "stiff" Forschner boning knife) with the swept-back blade shape. (For skinning, I just use a Sodbuster in CV steel; for cutting through the sternum, I use a serrated Dexter-Russell; and for the aitch bone, I use a crosscut saw or Sawzall...) YMMV

I'm not sure whether the connective tissue and silver skin actually dulls the knives or just rolls over the wire edge burr, but I know they definitely need a touch-up on crock sticks after an hour or two...I have a steel, but have never used it enough to feel confident in straightening the burr...

 

[treillw]

I kill and butcher a lot of animals every year. I’ve used everything from 15n20 to cpm m4. 3v is probably my most used steel. But currently I’m making an actual boning knife in magnucut. It’s .090 thick, and thin convex grind, and I’ll be running it around 62 rc. Just my opinion, but I don’t see the need for the extremely high wear resistant steels myself. M4 is probably the highest wear steel I’ve used! And probably the highest I need. We butcher pigs, deer and elk throughout the year. And I’ve never needed more.

I'd be interested in seeing your boning knife.

 

[treillw]

I know that you don't need a supersteel to process meat. I've been doing it for decades with run of the mill knives that are all under $70, or even $30 for the victorinox. In reality, I cant think of much of anything that you truly need a super steel for - however a forum with hundreds of thousands of nerds ogling everything knives exists!

I've spent upwards of 60 hours processing elk this year, at night, after working overtime at my job. I just want the process to go as smoothly and quickly as possible, so I can get back inside and spent time with my year old daughter.

I'm using two victoranox boning knives and a browning fillet knife. I don't even know what kind of steel they have - the same can be said for all of my knives, except one recent purchase. After a couple hours, I need to take the knives inside, wash them, back out to touch them up in the garage, wash them again inside to get grinding debris off, go back in the garage to cut. Do that two or three times a night after work until midnight and it's just a pain.

Getting four more victoranox knives would solve my problem at a low price, but I see you all dorking out over different steels and I'd like to learn more about it and try something new.

I appreciate the advice!

The sharpening steel seems to do more damage than good for me.

 

[scdub]

Hitachi “White Paper” steel at a high hardness (~64) would be my choice. (Often used by Japanese makers).

I’m sure there are steels that will beat it in edge retention, however I don’t believe that there are many that will also sharpen up as quickly, and in the long run I think you might spend more time cutting vs. sharpening overall. This is due in part to the fact that this steel can support a very thin/sharp edge, ideal for cutting meat.

Personally I feel that carbon steels shine in high-use situations as the relatively regular sharpening will reduce the effects of edge oxidation.

It would be interesting to see a long-term (with multiple sharpenings) meat cutting test between knives of exactly the same geometry with different steels - both carbon and stainless.

 

[rodriguezryan14]

My recommendation then is probably magnucut at 62 rc, or even m4 at 64 rc. I’m not a fan of most stainless personally! Magnucut is a different level though!

I know that you don't need a supersteel to process meat. I've been doing it for decades with run of the mill knives that are all under $70, or even $30 for the victorinox. In reality, I cant think of much of anything that you truly need a super steel for - however a forum with hundreds of thousands of nerds ogling everything knives exists!

I've spent upwards of 60 hours processing elk this year, at night, after working overtime at my job. I just want the process to go as smoothly and quickly as possible, so I can get back inside and spent time with my year old daughter.

I'm using two victoranox boning knives and a browning fillet knife. I don't even know what kind of steel they have - the same can be said for all of my knives, except one recent purchase. After a couple hours, I need to take the knives inside, wash them, back out to touch them up in the garage, wash them again inside to get grinding debris off, go back in the garage to cut. Do that two or three times a night after work until midnight and it's just a pain.

Getting four more victoranox knives would solve my problem at a low price, but I see you all dorking out over different steels and I'd like to learn more about it and try something new.

I appreciate the advice!

The sharpening steel seems to do more damage than good for me

 

[rodriguezryan14]

I'd be interested in seeing your boning knife.

I’ll get a pick tomorrow. The handle isn’t polished and pretty. I used orange micarta for more grip. But it cuts well. That’s all that matters.

 

[AntDog]

Hitachi “White Paper” steel at a high hardness (~64) would be my choice. (Often used by Japanese makers).

I’m sure there are steels that will beat it in edge retention, however I don’t believe that there are many that will also sharpen up as quickly, and in the long run I think you might spend more time cutting vs. sharpening overall. This is due in part to the fact that this steel can support a very thin/sharp edge, ideal for cutting meat.

…until you hit bone. Then it’s toast. If all you’re cutting is meat (not deboning or working near them) I would think something like that would be ideal. Throw bones or anything hard in the mix and it would be chip n roll city.

Meat cutting knife patterns are plentiful and pretty cheap, relatively. Meat has been cut up with cheap butcher knives forever that are resharpened easily on the fly and keep on truckin. If it ain’t broke….

 

[rodriguezryan14]

I'd be interested in seeing your boning knife.

My mom basically took that knife over for a kitchen knife. It’s in ztuff at 61rc. It’s held up well so far. The blue handled one is 3v at 60rc. And the kukri I just finished today its in A8 mod at 59rc. The boning knife is a very basic and plain knife. But it does well for its purpose

 

[rodriguezryan14]

I patterned one off of an outdoor edge boning knife. Same design, just upgraded steel. And I prefer to use my hand made knives over store bought these days!

…until you hit bone. Then it’s toast. If all you’re cutting is meat (not deboning or working near them) I would think something like that would be ideal. Throw bones or anything hard in the mix and it would be chip n roll city.

Meat cutting knife patterns are plentiful and pretty cheap, relatively. Meat has been cut up with cheap butcher knives forever that are resharpened easily on the fly and keep on truckin. If it ain’t brok