Looking for recommendations on where to buy knives?

[Bowland blades]

To be fair to the OP, he was just looking for some advice, didn't state his budget. Could easily get away with a lot less than fifteen quid although at this level I'd go more Kuhn Rikon for stainless or Hultafors for carbon, perhaps give the Opinel a miss ...

besides the swelling issue , that can prevent a knife opening the Opinel in High Carbon i would have to say it the best knife for the least money . They take and hold a good edge and real easy to re -sharpen .

 

[slider]

Good old SD, the OP ask for recommendations and it turns into a slagging match!

 

[South of the M4]

you can sharpen a hard frozen turd , its all about the degree of what you call sharp ! Oh and of course the crucial bit of how far you get with that edge after the sharpening
some folks of course just obviously have a far lower grading of the description of " sharp " That is all .
Tell you what go on a butchers supplies online and think why Boners are sold in boxes and so dirt cheap ? Yet some of the other specialist knives are a few hundred ! Reason being is they are a semi disposable item !
How many Knives do you imagine i sharpen from total blunt , remove chips from, correct customers sharpening mistakes in a year ? I can tell you as a full time Knifemaker its a heck of a lot 300-400 plus easy likely 1000 plus , if it wont cut cleanly through 4mm veg tan leather with one sweep it doesn't go out!
You can put a sharp edge on a credit card so it will cut paper , it just wont last !

However people now seem to have a sub £20 budget for boning knives in a larder environment, they buy them by the boxful and when the steel can no longer straighten the edge up and polish it up to sharp- it gets binned ! why ? Because to get them truly sharp again you need to be able to raise a burr ( try it you simply wont get one of worth) and as my butcher tells me " we only send the big cleavers and such to sharpening

Crikey Mr Bowland, that's just not correct. Butchers/slaughterman keep the same knives, use a stone (or a commercial wheel in larger premises) to sharpen when the edge dulls, wearing blades down over time to almost a needlepoint while thinning the blade as it gets close to the spine (See attached). A new knife needs to be settled in so it feels right for the job in hand. A new 6 inch boning knife is often a bit unwieldy and may need the point rounding off or the belly flattened.
Ditching a knife when the factory edge cannot be straightened? You are pulling our legs, surely?

 

[Tim.243]

Good old SD, the OP ask for recommendations and it turns into a slagging match!

merry xmas

 

[Tim.243]

Crikey Mr Bowland, that's just not correct. Butchers/slaughterman keep the same knives, use a stone (or a commercial wheel in larger premises) to sharpen when the edge dulls, wearing blades down over time to almost a needlepoint while thinning the blade as it gets close to the spine (See attached). A new knife needs to be settled in so it feels right for the job in hand. A new 6 inch boning knife is often a bit unwieldy and may need the point rounding off or the belly flattened.
Ditching a knife when the factory edge cannot be straightened? You are pulling our legs, surely?

View attachment 286066

Great example here Larry..Tiny worn sharp knife Big lump of meat.
Merry Xmas from Essex

 

[Cheviot]

Crikey Mr Bowland, that's just not correct. Butchers/slaughterman keep the same knives, use a stone (or a commercial wheel in larger premises) to sharpen when the edge dulls, wearing blades down over time to almost a needlepoint while thinning the blade as it gets close to the spine (See attached). A new knife needs to be settled in so it feels right for the job in hand. A new 6 inch boning knife is often a bit unwieldy and may need the point rounding off or the belly flattened.
Ditching a knife when the factory edge cannot be straightened? You are pulling our legs, surely?

View attachment 286066

 

[Bowland blades]

Crikey Mr Bowland, that's just not correct. Butchers/slaughterman keep the same knives, use a stone (or a commercial wheel in larger premises) to sharpen when the edge dulls, wearing blades down over time to almost a needlepoint while thinning the blade as it gets close to the spine (See attached). A new knife needs to be settled in so it feels right for the job in hand. A new 6 inch boning knife is often a bit unwieldy and may need the point rounding off or the belly flattened.
Ditching a knife when the factory edge cannot be straightened? You are pulling our legs, surely?

View attachment 286066

Can i just say at one time in my past i specialized in Stainless steel fabrication , within slaughter houses , meat cutting and packing plants and i have customers and close friends in the trade . I have seen pretty much everything done all ways by the trade. However that's the same in every trade my wife winces through what her Brother in law does as an accountant and i think the fact she is considerably higher up the food chain work and salary wise speaks volumes ! You can sharpen a hard blast frozen turd to a degree but the easiest way to cut yourself is to use a blunt edge! Besides the raggey edge over the lazer-like precision of a truly sharp knife gives to your product .
that bottom blade isn't indicative of a well sharpened knife ! look at that primary edge its about 1/4" its more like a prison shank than a professional butchers boning knife
A victorinox straight boner is 2.7 mm on the spine and 0.5 mm just behind the primary bevel , while the picture of your bottom so called sharpened knife .................... !!!!!!
What i pay per knife as a small stockist of commecial boners is simply not worth the time taken once its past honing with a steel like i say .
Was the lowest knife sharpened on a workshop DIY bench grinder or what ! ?

 

[Bowland blades]

View attachment 286123

Another illustration of time taken to produce a far less useful and safe knife ( unsafe because of the increased force must be used ) Imagine how much time has been put into that over the cost of a new one after it wont steel up correctly? I mean it has many hours into it to take out all that metal , imagine taking it between those two states as regards time ? Actually i suspect these grind backs are actually done high speed with a bench grinder over heating the blade and loosing its original heat treatment , so your not just fighting the the fatter bevels shown
However if people wish to , they can

 

[Morkai]

People making out that sharpening a knife is some sort of mystic black magic that only a few highly skilled and privileged few can do....
F*ck me....

 

[Bowland blades]

People making out that sharpening a knife is some sort of mystic black magic that only a few highly skilled and privileged few can do....
F*ck me....

well there is a massive industry supplying various contraptions past that of a simple stone and many people who take knives in for sharpening on a commercial basis and plenty folks ready to pay them to do the task ! Are you suggesting the folks who sharpen knives for others are all working some type of Scam ? Plus those who choose to send them out are extremely gullible ? Or perhaps extremely lazy?
It certainly not "high skilled" or a thing of " privilege " Bit of a unusual comment really and a very negative one to all those who do find sharpening, well a problem ?
What most folks need is a lot of practice on a lot of knives and a little bit of instruction and not forgetting a realisation of what truly sharp actually is .
Personally i dont take any knives in commercially for sharpening , i might help someone out now and again and i will always service knives i have built . As the saying goes " I have no dog in this fight " .

 

[Morkai]

well there is a massive industry supplying various contraptions past that of a simple stone and many people who take knives in for sharpening on a commercial basis and plenty folks ready to pay them to do the task ! Are you suggesting the folks who sharpen knives for others are all working some type of Scam ? Plus those who choose to send them out are extremely gullible ? Or perhaps extremely lazy?

Did I say any of those things?.....
No.

It certainly not "high skilled" or a thing of " privilege " Bit of a unusual comment really and a very negative one to all those who do find sharpening, well a problem ?
What most folks need is a lot of practice on a lot of knives and a little bit of instruction and not forgetting a realisation of what truly sharp actually is .

It's not a negative comment towards those who find sharpening a problem.

What I do find negative is your attitiude when anyone doesnt take what you say as gospel.

Personally i dont take any knives in commercially for sharpening , i might help someone out now and again and i will always service knives i have built . As the saying goes " I have no dog in this fight " .

You have no dog in this fight, I can tell as you're happy recommending cheap throw away knives for this type of use. Yet, when someone asked about stalking knives you berated people for spending good money on a gun and travel but not an expensive knife...suppose it only suits when you have skin in the game, eh?

 

[Bowland blades]

Did I say any of those things?.....
No.



It's not a negative comment towards those who find sharpening a problem.

What I do find negative is your attitiude when anyone doesnt take what you say as gospel.



You have no dog in this fight, I can tell as you're happy recommending cheap throw away knives for this type of use. Yet, when someone asked about stalking knives you berated people for spending good money on a gun and travel but not an expensive knife...suppose it only suits when you have skin in the game, eh?

I have a solution

 

[Cheviot]

Another illustration of time taken to produce a far less useful and safe knife ( unsafe because of the increased force must be used ) Imagine how much time has been put into that over the cost of a new one after it wont steel up correctly? I mean it has many hours into it to take out all that metal , imagine taking it between those two states as regards time ? Actually i suspect these grind backs are actually done high speed with a bench grinder over heating the blade and loosing its original heat treatment , so your not just fighting the the fatter bevels shown
However if people wish to , they can

WOT A LOAD OF YOU TALK

 

[South of the M4]

Was the lowest knife sharpened on a workshop DIY bench grinder or what ! ?

No. I hope you are not under the impression the knife was ground that way to be used from new.
It started life as a 6 inch boner, was touched up on a stone daily, sometimes twice a day, over perhaps a 9 month period, and developed that way as an expression of how I, personally, wished the knife to be. That image was the end of its working life. I can assure you that you wouldn't be grabbing it by the shiny end.

Besides the raggey edge over the lazer-like precision of a truly sharp knife gives to your product.

if it wont cut cleanly through 4mm veg tan leather with one sweep it doesn't go out!

A 'raggey edge' is often preferable, giving a bite to a knife in the often indelicate process of skinning or butchery.
A 'one sweep' cut gives no indication of usefulness in the real world. Perhaps you've watched Kill Bill too often.

I have seen pretty much everything done all ways by the trade. However that's the same in every trade my wife winces through what her Brother in law does as an accountant and i think the fact she is considerably higher up the food chain work and salary wise speaks volumes !

Uh... this is apropos what?

 

[308tikka]

 

[Tim.243]

People making out that sharpening a knife is some sort of mystic black magic that only a few highly skilled and privileged few can do....
F*ck me....

Can i just say at one time in my past i specialized in Stainless steel fabrication , within slaughter houses , meat cutting and packing plants and i have customers and close friends in the trade . I have seen pretty much everything done all ways by the trade. However that's the same in every trade my wife winces through what her Brother in law does as an accountant and i think the fact she is considerably higher up the food chain work and salary wise speaks volumes ! You can sharpen a hard blast frozen turd to a degree but the easiest way to cut yourself is to use a blunt edge! Besides the raggey edge over the lazer-like precision of a truly sharp knife gives to your product .
that bottom blade isn't indicative of a well sharpened knife ! look at that primary edge its about 1/4" its more like a prison shank than a professional butchers boning knife
A victorinox straight boner is 2.7 mm on the spine and 0.5 mm just behind the primary bevel , while the picture of your bottom so called sharpened knife .................... !!!!!!
What i pay per knife as a small stockist of commecial boners is simply not worth the time taken once its past honing with a steel like i say .
Was the lowest knife sharpened on a workshop DIY bench grinder or what ! ?

 

[Bowland blades]

No. I hope you are not under the impression the knife was ground that way to be used from new.
It started life as a 6 inch boner, was touched up on a stone daily, sometimes twice a day, over perhaps a 9 month period, and developed that way as an expression of how I, personally, wished the knife to be. That image was the end of its working life. I can assure you that you wouldn't be grabbing it by the shiny end.



A 'raggey edge' is often preferable, giving a bite to a knife in the often indelicate process of skinning or butchery.
A 'one sweep' cut gives no indication of usefulness in the real world. Perhaps you've watched Kill Bill too often.

Uh... this is apropos what?

well i certainly cannot agree a raggey edge is better at anything , well perhaps i can as at the end of its life you could extend the life of the next fresh knife not using it to unfasten the atlas joints and other such tasks ? That's not really cutting in the obvious terminology, regards it cutting anything or skinning better though then i have to differ as a really slick / razor sharp edge requiring only light contact simply placed in contact and drawn back i always going to be faster, easier and safer for the user . This is because when we place the extra pressure into a cut we loose a lot of the control and the ability to control / stop the knife under said higher pressure required

 

[kieran222]

I have a number of fdick butchering knives, boning, dicing and steak but probably only ever use the boning knife. So my advice would be if you are starting out a boning knife can do pretty much everything you want.
I don't use a saw for field gralloch and lots of others are the same. I have a butchers saw but never use that. Only really necessary for French trim, chops etc but there are plenty of other options for butchering.
I had a victorinox boning knife which wouldn't cut butter now, my first lesson in how to treat a knife, stop cutting when you hit bone.

 

[Bowland blades]

I have a number of fdick butchering knives, boning, dicing and steak but probably only ever use the boning knife. So my advice would be if you are starting out a boning knife can do pretty much everything you want.
I don't use a saw for field gralloch and lots of others are the same. I have a butchers saw but never use that. Only really necessary for French trim, chops etc but there are plenty of other options for butchering.
I had a victorinox boning knife which wouldn't cut butter now, my first lesson in how to treat a knife, stop cutting when you hit bone.

The boner is what it is , a knife for " boning" hence if you search butchers supplies they are sold by the box not singular and treated as semi disposable items. Separating joints contacting the bone side tight up to the white when taking the meat off etc .. Of course its also gets used as the general purpose knife

 

[pendle]

People making out that sharpening a knife is some sort of mystic black magic that only a few highly skilled and privileged few can do....
F*ck me....

You might as well include re barreling home loading even long range shooting etc
All a mystic dark art encountered by us stalkers at sometime.