Why the round point on meat slicing knives?

D

Dago Red

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
987
hey guys,

Got a smoker last week and decided I needed a new knife for slicing brisket. I bought a 12” victorinox, with the dimples on the side. I can see why buffet guys like em, it’s way thinner than my chef’s knives and my breaking knife. What I don’t get is why the round blade tip. It’s ugly and I don’t see a reason. Wouldn’t a seax or tanto work just as well?

My first brisket was delicious but my daughters were disappointed I didn’t slice it w my cutlass :D

Red
 
Probably to add more heft to the tip to get more cutting power?
I have old Victorinox butcher knife with pointy tip and it's mad slicer of meat. I was actually shocked how well it cuts.

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First thought is safety / liability. Why give a worker a pointy knife if they don’t need it to be pointy?

Second thought is for serving. When they use the knife like a spatula. The broader tip gives more support to the slice. And you won’t be thrusting a pointy knife at the person holding the plate.
 
eveled said:
First thought is safety / liability. Why give a worker a pointy knife if they don’t need it to be pointy?

Second thought is for serving. When they use the knife like a spatula. The broader tip gives more support to the slice. And you won’t be thrusting a pointy knife at the person holding the plate.
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This, but also the round tip does somewhat assist in rocking the tip on a cutting surface when raising the heel of the knife to begin a stroke. It's like a little wheel.
 
I have both rounded tip and sharp tipped Vic kitchen knives. They honestly work about equally well for everything other than trying to pierce something. Mine are inexpensive and last and last.... work well.

One thing the rounded tip does accomplish is it reduces the chance of the point being broken off when prying lids and so forth in the kitchen. My wife has a habit of doing that and one of the dominant reasons I do not have really good kitchen knives.
 
We are talking one of these meat slicers, correct? Used with long slow strokes to slice large cuts of meat.

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I have never liked using those since I have a yanagi which is AWESOME for getting nice thin slices of meat.
But I guess its smart to have a rounded tip so someone doesnt get stabbed.
 
Generally called a “Granton” edge slicer
It’s rounded because as stated, it’s used like a spatula to serve the sliced meat. Also it’s never meant to pierce anything, it’s use is for one thing only really, carving/slicing large roasts, hams, etc.
 
My wife's a meat cutter, we have a bevy of Vic's but not that particular one. She's got some monsters, one has a 14" blade and shaped like a Bolo w/a heavy tip, she calls it her Halibut knife, can split pretty much anything with it :) The boners and slicers only last 2-3 years before they're ground down to nothing except a sharpened spine, then I throw them in the shop box. They're inexpensive but very functional.
 
It's a meat SLICER, man!

You want a point? Then get a meat stabber or meat dagger.... better yet, that's what the meat fork is for!

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder on these pieces. I find that effective = attractive when it comes to meat slicers.

And yeah I agree... they're ugly.
 
22-rimfire said:
One thing the rounded tip does accomplish is it reduces the chance of the point being broken off when prying lids and so forth in the kitchen. My wife has a habit of doing that and one of the dominant reasons I do not have really good kitchen knives.
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Your wife uses a flexy & thin 14-16" meat slicer (the length of the 2 professional versions that I own) to pry lids off of things? Pretty awkward and inefficient to do that.

I'd suggest just leaving a medium sized flat bladed screw driver in the knife drawer for her to use for that purpose but I'd understand if she still just grabs a knife instead. LOL!! ;)
 
I can honestly say that you can't teach that old dog any new tricks. I accept it and adjust. :D She usually uses paring knives for this. It doesn't matter what I say. It just pisses her off.
 
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eveled said:
First thought is safety / liability. Why give a worker a pointy knife if they don’t need it to be pointy?

Second thought is for serving. When they use the knife like a spatula. The broader tip gives more support to the slice. And you won’t be thrusting a pointy knife at the person holding the plate.
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Ditto - safety is my thought as well.
 
eveled said:
First thought is safety / liability. Why give a worker a pointy knife if they don’t need it to be pointy? Second thought is for serving. When they use the knife like a spatula. The broader tip gives more support to the slice. And you won’t be thrusting a pointy knife at the person holding the plate.
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IMO, the tip of a slicer is blunted mainly because the thinness/flexibility and length of the knife does NOT make it effective for stabbing anything because if you tried to do that the blade would probably just bend and would not penetrate the material being stabbed very far and would not be effective for that purpose.

As for use in serving, yes a slicer can and is used for that BUT practically speaking, it is not very efficient to use a slicer for serving because of its flexibility and length. So, while it can be used for that purpose, I don't think that this is the main reason why the tip of a slicer is blunted.

Also don't think that "safety" per se is the reason to blunt the tip either. Yes, the knife is "safer" w/a blunted tip, especially since the knife is usually so long and might inadvertently touch something/someone BUT, if there was some reason for the tip to be used for stabbing, I have no doubt that the knife makers would make the tip sharp.

Lacking such a need, they simply blunt the tip and the fact that it's "safer" that way is just an incidental consequence of doing that.
 
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They aren't designed for stabbing. Also might save some labor/time not having to sharpen the end. When manufacturing in bulk that savings adds up.
 
I don't know if this is the reason, but slicing knives are often used in the dining room, cutting thin slices and using the knife and carving fork to transfer the slices onto a customer's plate. Think steamship round or ham at a banquet. Since there are often lines, some speed is needed.
So a round tip really is safer. A pointy tip is also of no practical use.
 
22-rimfire said:
I can honestly say that you can teach that old dog any new tricks. I accept it and adjust. :D She usually uses paring knives for this. It doesn't matter what I say. It just pisses her off.
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Hmm. Wonder what that s like.
 
I get the safety thing, my wife got too close to me working the other day and took a small slice from the boning knife. Let’s be honest though, if cosmetics didn’t matter we wouldn’t have blade forums :D

My wife is same as yours rimfire, I want to buy some really nice knives but even now it’s all I can do to keep her from leaving mine (wusthoff, victorinox) in the sink. My paring knives are almost never sharp I have no idea what she does to them.

Any other recommendations on a higher end slicer capable of doing fine cuts on brisket? My understanding is that Granton edge and length are the keys.

Red
 
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