Recommend me a Butchery / skinning knife...?

[gra_farmer]

So I am gearing up to be more of a smaller holder over the next few years and I will be undertaking more butchery....now I do have some skills, and this is not completely new to me, as I used to be a sheep farmer and skinned hundreds of sheep in my youth and the odd cow (I had help with the cow!!)... mostly with the trusted opinel no 7 and 8.

Jump forward to the present, and it has been small game, and ducks.

So for those experienced hunters / small holders out there, what do you use? And importantly what would you avoid, in a butchery blade?

Cheers, Gra

 

[British Red]

, what do you use? And importantly what would you avoid, in a butchery blade?

Cheers, Gra

Depends on what we are butchering. A small filleting knife & poultry shears for birds. Same filleting knife for small game.

For larger game I use a Victorinox semi flexible boning knife for basic skinning

https://amzn.to/3GEfkQI

I use a large butchers knife for cutting steaks etc.

https://amzn.to/3RzGzhN

I ought to buy a proper bone saw but for occasional work a large hacksaw is fine.

A good gambrel and "handy billy" are also amazingly useful

 

[Nice65]

One of those lovely Alan Wood Safari knives would be just the ticket eh?

 

[gra_farmer]

I have tried the angled boning blades before, but I tend to favor the straighter blades, but could give it a go. Cheers Red

 

[gra_farmer]

One of those lovely Alan Wood Safari knives would be just the ticket eh?

It's too small...I used the Fallkniven TK2 on the duck....needed the length to get inside the bird

 

[Damascus]

Outdoor edge do a butchery lite kit in an all in one pouch. I’ve used mine now for past 15 years an excellent bit of kit, has boning knife, skinner/gut hook, caping knife (excellent for rabbits etc) and bone saw.

 

[Nice65]

It's too small...I used the Fallkniven TK2 on the duck.

You used a Vic Classic SD to carve the turkey last year mate, it’s a machete by comparison

In honesty, my Safari gets very little use. It lives in the van and occasionally comes out for something, really not very often. I think I only keep it because to replace one costs a ridiculous amount now.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I think you could tweak the thread title. Butchery knives are not quite the same as hunting or skinning knives.

For a butchery knife how about

FALLKNIVEN F2Z, F3Z, F4Z​

Fallkniven F4Z

The perfect dressing and skinning knife! The form of the blade is ideal to skin somewhat larger game and then open it before hanging. Since the edge can be made thin without losing in strength, it will easily part the thickest skin.

heinnie.com

Or

Benchmade 15500-04 Meatcrafter OD Santoprene Fixed Blade

Turn your overland or hunting campsite into an outdoor kitchen with the Benchmade 15500-04 Meatcrafter

heinnie.com

 

[British Red]

I have tried the angled boning blades before, but I tend to favor the straighter blades, but could give it a go. Cheers Red

I have both. This one was recommended to me by "Frosty the Butcher" & Scott Rea (check out his YouTube channel for all things home butchery). I find the curved better for skinning but long and straight better for boning out

 

[gra_farmer]

You used a Vic Classic SD to carve the turkey last year mate, it’s a machete by comparison

It was a 8 kg goose....and yes I forgot about that...fun

 

[Nice65]

It was a 8 kg goose....and yes I forgot about that...fun

Probably so weak and hungry from snacking on tiny morsels you’ve forgotten. It was the poor, starving children I felt sorry for.

 

[gra_farmer]

Probably so weak and hungry from snacking on tiny morsels you’ve forgotten. It was the poor, starving children I felt sorry for.

You have met my two girls....they eat more than me, twice over...and they are 6 and 8 years!!!

Although a strange knife to use, the classic SD did everything for that whole month...and I really used it on everything, even cutting plaster board.

 

[gra_farmer]

I have both. This one was recommended to me by "Frosty the Butcher" & Scott Rea (check out his YouTube channel for all things home butchery). I find the curved better for skinning but long and straight better for boning out

Thanks Red, I will look into the carved blade again....

 

[stonepark]

You size the knife to the task, SWK or trout\bird knife\poultry shears for fish, game and fowl, Victorinox 5" Lamb knife for skinning sheep and deer and 6 inch boning knife all useful.

 

[Nice65]

You have met my two girls....they eat more than me, twice over...and they are 6 and 8 years!!!

I have, sweet little ladies they are. Are you getting hassle from the female population to get a Mimi dog?

Sorry, I’m not helping on the knife front, though I suspect I’ve done my fair share of enabling over the years.

 

[Brizzlebush]

Weapons of choice.

Basically what Hugh said. For the reasons he said.
Main thing is that it's SHARP.

I like both of these as they've got fat, grippy handles that stay grippy when covered in blood/fat etc.
Solid, workhorse blades that are cheap and easy to clean and sharpen. I think both of these are at least 15 years old and I've got older. I've not broken one yet.
You don't need bling damascus for this work.

The extra finger guard/grip is also good. When you're doing a lot of work one can tend to get a bit complacent, so it's quite nice to keep soft parts of oneself away from razor sharp parts.

These two do pretty much everything. Unless I'm cutting a lot of meat, then a longer blade is good. Again, working at speed, a longer blade is more difficult to stab yourself with. Still possible of course. A chainmail glove would fix that.

For meat cutting larger pieces, I would avoid a very deep blade as it tends to stick to the meat and slow you down.
For boning, you don't want a very flexible blade as it'll flick when you don't want it to, and prevents accuracy.

All that said, it's surprising what you can do with anything very sharp.