Boning knives. Selection, reviews and description

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Meat must be cut before cooking and eating. Yes, even so that there is less pulp left near the bones. Cutting meat is hard work. Here you can not do without special skills and experience. Specialists know the sequence of operations, the direction in which to cut in order to obtain quality pieces. One of the difficult steps in cutting a carcass or part of it is the separation of the meat from the bone. But skill alone may not be enough. You need a quality tool that will make it possible to do it quickly. In this case, both the hands and the knife must remain intact. What is this tool, and how is it different from the rest?

Tools for butchering carcasses

• Boning knives.
• Cleavers.

Let's consider these varieties in more detail.

Boning knives

Knives for cutting animal carcasses, trimming and separating meat from bones are called boning. How are they different from the rest? Can any long knife be called a boning knife?

In order to cope well with cutting meat and separating it from the bones, you need to have a very sharp knife. But this is not enough. In order to easily get aroundthe work of the bones, separating as much meat as possible from them, it is necessary that the knife be very flexible. But since the deboner has to perform operations of varying complexity in his work, he also needs different knives: both flexible and rigid.

According to their sanitary and hygienic characteristics, they must be suitable for working with food, which is meat.

All knives must meet certain specifications.

Shape

The blade of such knives is long and rather narrow. Its end is sharpened in the shape of the letter V. Professional boning knives are designed in such a way that they easily enter the meat. Usually they are designed for processing pork, beef, lamb and poultry. The meat must not stick to the blade.

Length

Boning knives can be 130mm to 300mm long in 10mm increments, sometimes 5mm. For deboning, products from 13 to 15 cm are usually used, for trimming - from 23 to 30 cm.

Usually, each specialist uses several knives in turn, depending on the type of carcass being processed. They are personal instruments adapted to a specific master. After all, the more convenient it is for a specialist to work, the higher his productivity.

Material for making

The boning knife experiences quite strong loads during operation. In addition, during sterilization, it is immersed in hot water, which kitchen knives usually do not like. Moreover, it is affected by the aggressive environment of meat juice. To ensure that the boning knives last as long as possiblelonger, they are made of stainless steel with a high carbon content.

Cromolybdenum steel is also used. It is hardened by vacuum heat treatment.

Sharpening

Sharpening a boning knife takes place in several stages. The preliminary is carried out using special machines, and the main one is done manually. And to achieve impeccable smoothness, it is polished with grinding and polishing wheels. For these operations, it is convenient to use universal grinding machines.

Handles

The shape of the handle is of great importance for comfortable knife handling. After all, a person needs to wield it throughout the working day. Therefore, the handle should be conveniently fixed by hand, not slip. That is why its surface is a little rough.

During knife operation, the hand may slip to the blade and cut itself on it. To prevent this from happening, the end of the handle must have a protrusion to prevent possible injury.

Knife handles are often made of polypropylene, a very durable plastic. It has a small specific weight, so the handles are light. Polypropylene products have an attractive appearance.

Used polyoxymethylene, micarta. To prevent the blade from falling out of the handle, it is riveted. In professional knives, this is done using aluminum alloy rivets.

Hardness

Bone knives should be hard. This property is measurable. There are many ways, but the most accessible and generally accepted is consideredRockwell method. It is based on measuring the depth of penetration into the tested material of a special hard tip of the device, called a hardness tester. Depending on the material from which the tip is made, eleven definition scales are distinguished, indicated by the first letters of the Latin alphabet. The unit of measurement is designated HR, to which is added a letter indicating the scale on which it was carried out. Knives are determined by a scale marked with the letter C.

The highest possible value for the steel from which knives are made is 70 HRC. But in reality, their hardness does not exceed 65 HRC. A knife with a value greater than this value will be very fragile, therefore impractical. Therefore, usually high-quality blades have a hardness index ranging from 56 to 62 units. There are also harder ones, but in such cases the blade is protected by special mild steel plates. This is found in Damascus sabers.

It is not possible to check the hardness index at home, so you have to trust the manufacturer. In order not to be deceived, you need to buy knives from well-known manufacturers with an excellent reputation. Or test the quality on your own experience, risking making a mistake.

Professional boning knives

All knives can be conditionally divided into kitchen and professional. We use the kitchen at home, preparing dinner for the family. And the production is professional. This does not mean that at home you cannot cut meat or other products with a professional knife. But workkitchen when trimming meat in production will not work.

Professional knives are divided into boning, chef's, carving, for vegetables, fish, bread, vegetables and others.

Knives "Tramontina"

These knives are designed for professional use. They don't break and stay sharp for a long time. The 2mm blade is made of stainless steel.

Tramontina boning knives feature a beautiful white polypropylene handle. The antibacterial covering of "microban" protects a knife from dirt, does not allow to breed various pathogenic fungi, a mold, microbes. Customer reviews indicate that the coating does not wear off over a long service life, no matter how long the knife is used. The shape of the handle is comfortable to grip, large and light, does not slip in the hand.

The blade is very carefully polished, does not darken over time. It is sharpened in the shape of a V, which allows you to cut accurately, easily and accurately for a long time.

Eicker knives

Eicker knife blades are made from chrome-plated stainless steel. In order to save them from brittleness, steel is first alloyed with molybdenum and vanadium. The result is very sharp knives that do not dull during operation. Therefore, they are not sharpened, but only corrected and polished. To do this, use a special musat - a sharpener made of chrome-vanadium steel.

Eicker boning knives are equipped with a comfortable handle molded from fiberglass nylon and rubber. That's whydo not slip, well fixed in the hand. Boning knives of this brand do not break and do not form cracks. They are not afraid of falling from a height. It is safe to work with knives with such handles, because the protective ledge prevents accidental cuts. It helps to cut meat carcasses easily and without much effort. This is evidenced by customer reviews.

There are hard, semi-flexible and flexible boning knives in the Eicker series. With the help of a set of such tools, you can perform all the necessary operations for cutting meat.

How much does a boning knife cost? The price of a professional Eicker brand tool is approximately 800 rubles

Giesser knives

Giesser boning knives are made from chrome molybdenum steel with a hardness rating of 56 HRC. The blades are treated with silver to protect against germs. Each product has its own number, according to which it is repaired or replaced. Lifetime warranty for PRIME LINE knives from the manufacturer Giesser. Price - about 1200 rubles.

Japanese KAI SHUN boning knife is made of Damascus steel. Its blade is sharpened on both sides, which allows it to easily penetrate deep into the meat. The handle is made of ebony, treated with special substances from rotting and insects. It is very strong due to the high content of oily substances in the wood. Does not deteriorate, does not rot, does not break.

The all-metal ring (bulster), located at the junction of the handle and blade, prevents the accumulation of meat residues and injuries during operation. At the end of the handle isspecial "heel" made of steel. It prevents the knife from being destroyed by accidental impacts, making it last longer.

Blade length 150mm, total length 272mm. Sharpening type plain. Blade hardness - 61 HRC.

Working with this knife is easy. This is what customer reviews say. The hand does not get tired for a long time.

The price of such a product is about 10 thousand rubles.

ERGOGRIP knives

Wide boning knives have a 15 cm stainless steel blade. Ergonomic handles in various colors allow you to work for a long time without feeling tired. Blade steel hardness - 56 HRC.

Price - about 1 thousand rubles.