Best Boning Knife for Butchers – Features, Tips & Recommendations

Best Boning Knife for Butchers – Features, Tips & Recommendations

Ever wonder how meat can be so tasty and juicy? It's all in how you prepare it.

Meat has to be cut and separated from the bone in a way that preserves all the tasty juices, and the boning knife is the best tool for this. Read on to see the best boning knife for butchers designed for different tasks and what to consider when buying one.

So, let's get started.

Things to Consider When Buying the Best Boning Knife for Butchers

Boning knives come in many shapes and sizes. Here are some things to consider when choosing the best boning knife for butchers.

Flexibility

Boning knives can either be stiff or flexible or somewhere in between. The flexibility of the blade will determine how it will be used.

• A stiff blade – A stiff boning knife is ideal for filleting large fish like tuna and for trimming large cuts of meat.

• A flexible blade – A flexible blade is more suited for smaller fish, and smaller poultry as well. Flexible blades also work well on small pieces of meat as they can bend around small bones and cartilage better than stiff blades.

• Semi-flexible blades – Sometimes you have large pieces of meat with thick bones of all shapes and sizes that can break your stiff blade. In this case, you need a strong but more flexible blade that can work around the thick bones without breaking. Some boning knives are semi-flexible for this purpose and work well on meat on bone and ribs as well.

ZWILLING J.A. Henckels Pro Boning Knife 14cm

The Blade Shape

Boning knives are traditionally straight-edged and narrow, with a sharp point to pierce through the meat without losing the tasty juices. Now, however, you may find boning knives with a curved blade, in which case they can also be used as a fillet knife.

Boning knives also come with a bolster between the handle and the blade to protect the fingers. Working with meat and fish is a slippery business and the bolster prevents the hand from slipping onto the blade.

The Handle

Meat and poultry are slippery and the knife handles have to be of a non-slip material so that you don't lose grip while working. The handle material should also be impervious to moisture for the purposes of hygiene, as a damp handle will attract harmful germs and contaminate the food.

Many boning knives have handles made from a mixture of wood and synthetic material like Micarta and Pakkawood. Other brands have impervious hardwood, while others like Furi have stainless steel handles.

F DICK ErgoGrip Knife Deboning Championship 3 Pc Set

We've seen the main features of a good boning knife. If you are looking for the best boning knife for butchers, here are some of the most popular choices: 

F Dick Premier WORLDCHEFS Boning Knife Flexible 15cm

Developed specifically for international professional chefs, this flexible boning knife has a high quality, hygienic and non-stick coating to prevent food material from sticking to the blade.

It has a bolster to protect your fingers and to give extra strength and balance when using the knife, and a non-slip mother-of-pearl handle.

Shun Kai Classic Gokujo Boning Knife 15.2cm

If you like fish fillet as well as meat, this is the best boning knife for you- it doubles as a boning and fish fillet knives.

This has a stiff, narrow, razor-sharp, curved blade which helps it get to the meat closest to the bone. The narrow blade reduces friction as you cut the meat and the curvature of the blade gets to the hard-to-reach corners. For filleting, the blade is long enough to slide through the fish and remove the skin and bones.

The D-shape of the knife handle provides a firm and comfortable grip. The ebony Pakkawood material of the handle is water-resistant, so all the juices and water from the meat and fish don't soak into the wood.

Shun Kai Michel Bras No 8 Boning Knife 12cm

Although many knives are made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel, once in a while they succumb to moisture, heat, or acidic substances and begin to corrode. Corrosion is difficult to stop once it has begun and sometimes you just have to let the knife go.

Boning knives come into contact with a lot of juices from meat, poultry, and fish, and they could easily corrode. The best boning knife to avoid this is the Shun Kai Michel Bras No 8 Boning Knife 12cm. Its stainless steel blade has an extra coating of titanium to enhance its corrosion-resistant qualities.

Its black Pakkawood handle is in the Japanese chestnut shape for extra comfort and a firm grip. It is also laminated to make it resistant to water and moisture.

Furi Pro Boning & Trimming Knife 13cm

When you need to remove as much meat as possible from tight corners on bones, this is the best boning knife for that. It's strong, narrow blade allows you to pierce the meat without squeezing out the juices.

Boning requires a lot of effort and you should be as comfortable as possible doing it. The Furi Pro Boning knife has a reverse-wedge handle which gives a secure and firm grip, allowing you to work without tiring yourself out.

Tojiro Pro Flash 63 Layer Damascus Boning Knife 15cm

If you're a meat, fish, and poultry lover and you would like a knife that can handle all three, this is the best boning knife for you. It's narrow; the sharp blade gets around meat, fish, and poultry bones easily.

A good boning knife should be strong but flexible enough to bend around the edges and corners of bones to get at the meat. Made with a core of VG-10 steel encased in 63 layers of Damascus steel, this knife blade is flexible yet strong and boasts a hardness of 61 Rockwell.

A durable knife needs a durable handle. The Tojiro Pro Flash series handle is made of synthetic Micarta embedded with stainless steel. Although the handle is synthetic, it has a wood-like look and feel.

Final Words

Boning knives are not commonly found in kitchens, but if you love cooking and eating meat, nothing but the best boning knife for butchers can help you prepare those tasty meat dishes. Check out our collection of best boning knives around by clicking here!