Which knife is best for cutting meat?

D

DaisyHogan

Joined
Jun 2, 2021
Messages
1
Good morning,
I am a person who loves to cook, loves to cook, and explores to make new dishes, so kitchen tools are indispensable for me, especially knives. However, I encountered a problem that when I used a knife to cut meat, a short time later the knife became dull and could not cut anymore. So I would like everyone to be able to tell me what is the best knife to use to cut meat?
Thank you very much.
 
There is no one best answer for your question. It all depends what your meat cutting task of the day is. For a fair variety of tasks I prefer a 7 inch boning knife, for others a 10 inch breaking knife. If I'm just cutting up my cooked steak, I like a good carbon steel blade like a full size trapper or a jumbo trapper. For slicing a good sized, cooked roast a chef's knife works great. If your knife is dulling too fast it could be you just need a knife with a better heat treat. A butcher's steel (smooth not striated) will work well to touch up the edge on a knife (assuming it's not one of the so called super steels that has been heat treated to a high hardness level),
Bob
 
sharpen knife and/or reprofile to have better geometry. if you don't know how, consider using a professional sharpener here. plenty of proper sharpeners to do this for you for a fair price.

also invest in kitchen knives built with better steel and heat treatments. I use Buck kitchen knife set. as steel is better heat treated than most box store brand knives and set up with better geometry as well. there are much better knives for a lot more money out there, but I've found these work well for uses.
 
I'd suggest a different cutting board if your knife is getting dull that fast. Any material harder than the blade will cause this issue. Wood or plastic/rubber composition are good they just require a good clean up and sanitization!
 
There are really only two knives that you actually need in the kitchen, a chef's knife and a bread knife.

Get yourself a high quality chef's knife and a good cutting board if you don't have them already + good equipment for sharpening, then learn how to sharpen properly. You shouldn't have any problems after that.
 
Using the wrong blade shape tends to dull them much faster, something which I think alot of people ignore. Make sure your knife has plenty of curve and belly so you are slicing the meat instead of chopping or sawing through it.

A boning or fillet knife would be great, you can find plenty of good ones or go with a more premium option from tops or the mentioned benchmade.

Good luck!
 
Hi Daisy. I would highly suggest you invest in some sharpening stones and learn to sharpen freehand. The task can seem daunting at first but with some practice and elbow grease you will learn a skill that will last a lifetime. I know a few chefs and they all sharpen their own knives. If you have other friends that love to cook and they don't sharpen their knives, you can offer your services in return for free food/wine/booze/etc. My neighbor is a hunter, I sharpen all his knives and in return, he gives me some venison and other treats. It's a win all around.

You can get some more info below ..
https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/maintenance-tinkering-embellishment.794/

Check out some youtube vids. A few channels I like ...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOluHMoKJ6CrS0kcybhaThg

You will admittedly need to spend roughly $100ish to get some sharpening gear, but those stones and a strop (watch the videos if you don't know what that is) will last years and years.

If you decide to learn to sharpen freehand and you don't have some "crappy" knives to practice on. Hit the local garage sales, goodwill/thrift shops for the $1 kitchen knives and practice on them. If you screw up, and you will at the beginning, you won't damage a good knife.

Good luck
 
Cutting boards can be the worst culprit in the kitchen, no glass ever.
Breaking down and portioning raw meat will take your edge away fairly quickly.
All knives require sharpening with use.
As in the rest of life nearly everything has trade offs, generally the knife that will last longer between sharpenings will be harder to sharpen and conversely the knife that will be easier to sharpen will not hold an edge as long.

What knives are you using now ?
 
I would check out the kitchen section, there is a wealth of knowledge there. I found a knife and board are both important. After going there I decided on a wusthof classic ikon and a larchwood board. There are also makers here who I am sure could help you out.

Keep cooking
 
Personally, I prefer a sharp non-serrated clip point, drop point, spear point, or Spey/ budding blade to cut or slice meat.
It don't matter if a folding knife or not.
 
Welcome:)

For kitchen use, I bounce around between a couple of entry level Shun knives, namely a Chef and Utility blade. I am also a big fan of budget ceramic knives. As long as you understand their limitations and don't expect a screaming sharp edge, they seem to work well at going through moderately thick boneless meats like cuts of beef and pork.

I use a bamboo board because it is easier on my knives and supposedly has natural anti-microbial properties. I also maintain my knives quite a bit. The laminated Shun knives have a simple VG-10 edge which won't hold an edge forever, but they do stone and strop well.

Best of luck to you, and welcome again:)
 
There's a lot of bad information out there regarding knives, particularly as pertains to the longevity of a knife's edge.
You came to the right place! Pardon the length of my message; I'm bored and knife usage is my favorite part of cooking.
Meat processing doesn't typically dull my knives very quickly. I think there's another issue going on here.

A few questions for you-
1) what kind of knife are you using?
inexpensive kitchen knives usually have low grade steel (poor heat treatment, bad grind, etc) which dulls faster than most midgrade quality knives... if it was even sharp to begin with.
You don't have to spend a fortune on a kitchen knife, but in my experience I expect a quality chef's knife to cost me 50-100 bucks.
I love my Zwilling Twin Signature 8" chef's knife and the edge retention has been satisfactory.

2) what kind of cutting board are you using?
edges and hard surfaces (bone, countertops, metal sinks) do not mix.

3) Do you sharpen your knife on a stone, 'sharpening' steel, or neither?
Knife edges need fairly active maintenance. A sharpening steel can increase longevity of an edge, but eventually the knife will have to be sharpened on a stone again.

4) Was the meat you were processing "bone in"?
(see comments on #2) Bone can wear down edges quickly, which is why cleavers exist.

5) When you put your knife in your sink, or lay it down on the counter, do to take special care to make sure the edge doesn't bang on the hard surfaces?
(see comments on #2) My wife doesn't understand why I gasp every time she drops a knife into the sink. I just shake my head and go get my sharpening stones.

6) you don't run your good knives through the dishwasher, right?

A quick and related story- I was talking to my inlaws about their kitchen knives, and my mother in law tells me that her chef's knife never cut very well.
Out of curiousity I ask, "when was the last time it was sharpened?".
She responds, "I don't think it's ever been sharpened".
I ask, "oh, well when did you get it?"
"Oh, we've had that thing for maybe 20 years." 😨

So you know what they did? they went off and got an expensive Cutco knife set, buying into the myth that these 'legendary' knives have magical edge retention capabilities.
After a few years of daily use and no sharpening and they're just as dull as any knife would be.
 
Any sharp knife will do just fine, but no matter what you choose you will still need to steel them often and sharpen them as needed.

Having said that...

If you want to sharpen less often, then I recommend a fully serrated blade.
 
Dextar said:
Thanks for reply, another vote to S35VN.
I also see more with CRUWEAR on Youtube videos ;D

BTW, when I search from Internet, seems there is no item available for Manix2 S35VN....Did I search the wrong term?
Click to expand...

Lee D said:
I use this OKC in the kitchen for meat and vegetables. (2nd pic included because veggies is a daily thing to feed the African tortoise I keep for my granddaughter lol)



Click to expand...

Better looking than me!
 
I have over a dozen kitchen knives that I use to cut meat with and which knife is best to use depends entirely on the task at hand.

As for "dulling," all steels will eventually dull (regardless of the "quality" of the steel or the type of cutting surface used) but IMO extremely hard stainless steels are unnecessarily expensive for kitchen knives.

All of my kitchen knives are make w ordinary carbon steel or lesser quality stainless steel blades, which are easily re-honed w/a "sharpening" steel or, if the edge is lost, easily resharpened on a 2 sided (fine/course) carborundum stone (or, if I'm more energetic, w/my Spydero Sharpmaker).
 
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being a knife nut, I have many types I use in the kitchen, both carbon and stainless.

These are the ones in my kitchen I usually go to for meat.

4sYjL6L.jpg



I would suggest stainless for your kitchen, as the maintenance is much easier. My preference for cutting meat is a rather thin blade, long and thin for slicing large cooked pieces like turkey or ham or beef roasts,

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and smaller santoku type for smaller tasks. I don't have one of these, yet think it would a very good all around kitchen knife, and very suitable for your purposes.
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