A Few Good Knives

[Bloom]

I am looking for a good set of all around knives for butchering a hog, steer, and working in the kitchen. I've seen a bunch of high priced name brand knives but I want a knife that can be sharpened and used. Really USED. I don't need a pretty butcher block for storage. They need to be tough and I hope not to spend a small fortune. I've seen the sets with fancy names in those countertop butcherblocks for $500.

The sheath for butchering looks nice. I've seen a couple on videos. Not necessary though. I can make my own. I am a leathercrafter and I make my own buckskin and rawhide.

I hope someone can lead me in the right direction. Only a few really good knives are necessary. I don't need a set of steak knives. Currently, I manage with a set of serrated ginsu in the pretty wooden butcherblock.

Thank you in advance for help.

[jennigrey]

Look and see if you have a knifemaker in your community

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I like these blades you can buy them as blanks or get them with scales attached I prefer to fit the scales to my hand

good steel not over priced http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/453/1

if you can do some basic wood working , fitting scales is easy

yes they can be Really used

just wash by hand they are high carbon and rust easily if neglected but hold and take an edge very well

[Bearfootfarm]

Get a "deep" hacksaw from any hardware store, a good heavy cleaver from a kitchen supply store, and a medium sized Kershaw knife for skinning and gutting, and you won't need anything else

You can probably get all three for under $75

[HermitJohn]

Ok, toss the serrated knives... they are fine to cut bread and coffee cake, but thats about it.

Just about any heavy knife with regular stiff blade will work fine though you probably want to avoid the $1 knives at 99cent store... Think about it, how much quality can they put into materials and labor and still sell a knife for $1?? But I have seen plenty good chef knives for $10 to $15 new. The $10 to $15 ones will be dull as anything fresh out of the pkg, but they sharpen up well and keep edge well.

Better to go to thrift store and look for older USA or Japan made knives. They will be 50cents upto $5. Not the super high end custom Japanese knives, though great if you find one. But just the regular factory made ones meant to compete with the older USA knives.

What you need to do is learn to properly sharpen knives. Most knives, even higher dollar ones come badly sharpened. At best they will come seemingly sharp, but lose that sharp edge quickly. Because they sharpened it with too wide of an angle. That wide angle means people can be lazy and whack rocks or trees with it and not damage edge too much, but it will get dull quickly even by most careful user.

A narrow angle edge will last much longer but you cant abuse it. No dishwasher, no glass cutting boards, no leaving knives unprotected in drawer full of metal kitchen gadgets, etc And yes you can sharpen a knife manually with mouse pad and some sheets of aluminum oxide sandpaper, but stainless steel knives are really hard/slow to do, especially if you have to first reshape the edge before honing it down.

I got lazy in my old age and bought a little $35 belt sander from Harbor Freight. Works great. You need to buy some aluminum oxide belts or zirconium oxide belts. The silicone belts wont begin to touch stainless steel though they can do the older non-stainless carbon blades (the kind of old knives that get to looking tarnished with age). Then use really coarse grit to shape the blade, coarse as you can get within reason say maybe 40 or 60 grit, then work your way up from 200 grit to 1200 grit in at least three steps, and on up to 2000 grit for final polish if you can find it. If you really want to get extreme can get a leather belt for the belt sander and use jewelers rouge, it can get to very fine grit. But those leather belts kinda pricey, dont last real well. You can make your own if you can find some solid (not sewn together) leather belts in clothing section at thrift store.

Frankly for kitchen knives 1200 grit is plenty. Maybe use a hand strop if you want that extra bit polish. The grit on the sanding belts wears down, so you can also use one worn nearly smooth for that final polish. Technique best learned from experimenting with pile of old knives, but lot websites and videos showing how to use a belt sander to sharpen a knife. No need for me to try to explain.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

besides my green river ,5 inch camp , 6 inch butcher , 6 inch boning knife and parring knife the only other knife I use on any regular basis is my chefs knife , I have 2 a 8 inch chicago , it doen't hold an edge as well as I would like but I have it and ti takes me only a few seconds to touch it up with the diamond steel , you should spend the money and get a dexter diamond steel

if you want pre made knives dexter russel are a good value you can order them or get them from a restraunt supply house

skip the fancy wood cutting boards get the HDPE poly boards

http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell...XXAP1XYFKB1JXM

if you spend a lot of time making sandwiches or cutting bread , while the others work fine these are nice http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell...YE7YB8QK8PVBKR
my last batch of sandwiches in bulk was 180 I was wishing I had something other than my 5 inch camp with , but it sure beat any knife available at the time
that is the nce part about the 5 inch camp you can make a nice seath for it and carry it wth anywhere and it is an incredibly useful versatile knife

[7thswan]

You can go to a butcher/processer/packing, the kind where one takes live hogs,cattle ect. to be butcherd. They usally have used knives for sale. They still have some like left in them.

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by GREENCOUNTYPETE

I like these blades you can buy them as blanks or get them with scales attached I prefer to fit the scales to my hand

good steel not over priced http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/453/1

if you can do some basic wood working , fitting scales is easy

yes they can be Really used

just wash by hand they are high carbon and rust easily if neglected but hold and take an edge very well

Second this. I like and use Green River pattern knives a lot.

[whiterock]

Old, Old Hickory from garage and estate sales work for me

[logbuilder]

I have a set of Farberware kitchen knives. They have held up well and the blades sharpen well. I like the feed of the handles and they clean up better than wood handles. They are not that expensive.

I also have heard good things about Zyliss knives.

Here is an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Cutle.../dp/B00MHSPG5M

[Bloom]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

Get a "deep" hacksaw from any hardware store, a good heavy cleaver from a kitchen supply store, and a medium sized Kershaw knife for skinning and gutting, and you won't need anything else

You can probably get all three for under $75

Thank you. That combination seems like a good place to start. I'll investigate Kershaw and see if I can find one.

Originally Posted by HermitJohn

Better to go to thrift store and look for older USA or Japan made knives. They will be 50cents upto $5. Not the super high end custom Japanese knives, though great if you find one. But just the regular factory made ones meant to compete with the older USA knives.

What you need to do is learn to properly sharpen knives.

I have found a couple of Old Hickory knives and they're in storage somewhere. Those are what I need to sharpen and keep in good condition. Thank you for the tip about Japanese knives. I'll need to look up the names to look for. I've been looking at the knives in the thrift stores but most times they're all junk. I mean real junk.

Originally Posted by GREENCOUNTYPETE

besides my green river ,5 inch camp , 6 inch butcher , 6 inch boning knife and parring knife the only other knife I use on any regular basis is my chefs knife , I have 2 a 8 inch chicago, you should spend the money and get a dexter diamond steel

if you want pre made knives dexter russel are a good value you can order them or get them from a restraunt supply house
the nce part about the 5 inch camp you can make a nice seath for it and carry it wth anywhere and it is an incredibly useful versatile knife

Thanks for giving me a list of knives I'll need. I want to get a good set of versatile knives that I can sharpen and use. I'll look at the Dexter Russels and see if I can get one or two. and the diamond steel. I only have a cheap steel and the harbor freight hone.

Originally Posted by 7thswan

You can go to a butcher/processer/packing, the kind where one takes live hogs,cattle ect. to be butcherd. They usally have used knives for sale. They still have some like left in them.

The guy I get my hides from might have some for sale. What a great idea! Thank you.

Originally Posted by whiterock

Old, Old Hickory from garage and estate sales work for me

I don't know if my Old Hickories are the old old hickories but I'll take them out of storage and sharpen them up. I think I have two with some kind of geometrical design on the sides. Thank you for the reminder!

[Bloom]

Originally Posted by GREENCOUNTYPETE

I like these blades you can buy them as blanks or get them with scales attached I prefer to fit the scales to my hand

good steel not over priced http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/453/1

if you can do some basic wood working , fitting scales is easy

yes they can be Really used

just wash by hand they are high carbon and rust easily if neglected but hold and take an edge very well

I could do this. It would be educational and I'd have pride in the knives. Thanks for this advice! I will buy from the website you posted. I am there already and the selection is great. Thank you! I knew I came to the right place for advice.

[wwubben]

We were issued chicago cutlery knives by the packing plant I worked in during the 1970s.I bought some for myself and we are still using them today.Great knives.

[HermitJohn]

The old hickory knives are fine. They are the old non-stainless carbon steel. You need to keep them clean and dry. Maybe light oiling with the edible kind of mineral oil before putting them up. The "Farberware" type Chinese 'forged' knife mentioned by logbuilder are probably best of cheap NEW knives available. I am of opinion that these faux forged knives all come out of same China factory, whatever name on them and they come in variety of names with very few differences otherwise. The cheaper versions are as good as the more expensive versions, they just come pre-dulled. Expect to have to sharpen any of these brand spankin new out of package. I even ran across one version on Amazon where the seller bought the pre-dulled version in bulk someplace, did professional sharpening job on it, and jacked the price considerably. He used a belt sander, I have become experienced enough to tell. They can be sharpened and hold the edge well as any non-exotic kitchen knife. Really the most important thing is to look for a heavy STIFF blade whatever the brand or country. You shouldnt be able to bow it. With exception of fillet or paring knife which IMHO need bit of flex. And yes if you are butchering large animals you need a heavy cleaver. Look for older professional butcher versions, it literally should be a meat axe.

[7thswan]

I know this is going to sound crazy,but my favorite knife is one from Martha Stewart- older chefs knife.

[HermitJohn]

Oh, just mention, even the really cheapo crappo knives are useful for sharpening practice. They are some of most challenging to give a usable edge, cause they never had one, and the metal is marginal for knife use. I have even put real knife edge on some formerly serrated/scalloped edge knives and even couple cheap steak knives, though usually kind of a waste of sanding belts.... Some of them do surprisingly well. One of my favorite paring knives is a former Ecko USA scalloped edge bread knife I got for 25cents. I cut it short and reshaped blade. Unlike most paring knives, it has longer handle which fits my hand better. Became obvious it was higher quality steel than most bread knives.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

if carbon steel is not your thing , another brand worth giving consideration is Victorinox these are the real Swiss army knife maker they have good steel for stainless and they make commercial meat packing knives as well as almost any type available I have some fur handling knives that are this brand as my local trap supplier sells them and they cut very well and will take an edge

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...sl_f3ykz4enk_b

[KMA1]

If you want inexpensive and carbon steel the best bet IMO is Old Hickory. If you want inexpensive and stainless, then Chicago Cutlery is a really good serviceable knife. Both can be sharpened although stainless always be more work to sharpen than carbon. Both will last a long, long time. We are still using some of my Grandmother's Old Hickory knives, and we bought a set of Chicago cutlery with the butcher block when we go married 34 years ago that still look and cut great. I buy both whenever I find them cheap at flea markets. I also like several older Henkels knives I have bought at flee markets really cheap. Got to love older German steel and craftsmanship.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I belive there to be a quality difference between the old chicago cutlery and the new

the new just are not the quality is my experience

here is an interesting read on it from cheftalk that both agrees an gets into the when and why http://www.cheftalk.com/t/56464/about-chicago-cutlery

[Jolly]

The Old Hickory (estate sales/yard sales) or the Dexter-Russell (new) would be my pick. The commercial fishermen down here all use the Dexter-Russells like Pete linked...