Processing knives

[greathorse]

If it works use it, eveyone has their preference for tools. I can comfortably say I have cut hundreds of thousands of birds in my career, but don't know everything there is to know. I can tell you that if you get to that oyster and break that leg back off the joint and just touch that area with the knife as you are pulling that oyster comes right with the thigh meat.

Whatever knife you choose get a good one not the junk you get at walmart, get a good steel and a sharpening stone. It also doesn't hurt to know a real good knife sharpener person that has a wet stone and knows how to shape and condition a knife. Whichever knife you use make sure you get the tip very sharp as that gets used a lot on fileting and cutting up.

I didn't really mean to disrespect either, just stating what I have learned after some 50 years, most of which I have had a knife in my hand to earn my keep. My father was a butcher as was his. ,

 

[Brunty_Farms]

See that's my biggest problem is learning how to use the wet stone. That and being cheap and buying walmart knives. I'm going to invest in some knives which is why I'm jumping on this thread. Not just for poultry but for deer and lambs as well.

I have the stones but need to learn how to use them better.

 

[greathorse]

It is about patience and knowing the angle. Even those of us that need very sharp tools for our trade will take a knife to an expert from time to time to shape it. If your "expert" just has another version of a grinder you will not be interested. A real good knife guy will have a very large stone on a wheel that turns slowly and has a bit of water on it to keep it and your knife cool while grinding and shaping.

If you use a knife more or less occasionally this may only occur every couple of years if you have some ability with the stone and steel.

 

[duckfat]

I buy my Dexter poultry processing knives through here. Very inexpensive.

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

Shame we're not closer to each other. I can get a knife frighteningly sharp....just not consistently so. Would be nice to butcher together sometime and see what we can learn.