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stan5677
04-06-2019, 01:28 PM
Needles to say my knife skills are lacking and so are my current set of knives which makes hacking a trimming more of a chore than they should be. Any recommendations for a good knife or knife set?

Joshw
04-06-2019, 01:35 PM
Really depends on how much you want to pay. Victorinox is my choice for meat work. Get a semi-flexible boning knife, and a filet knife, and it will make trimming go very quick.

Speeed
04-06-2019, 01:38 PM
I'm a fan of Zwilling J.A. Henckels. I have the professional "S" series.
They were not cheap. With knives you get what you pay for.
Buy once, Cry once.

Wustoff is also good stuff. Cant go wrong with them.
Shun seems to be pretty popular as well.
My utility knifes (boning & brisket) are Victorinox They were relatively inexpensive.

sknabnoj
04-06-2019, 01:44 PM
Check out Misen knives. They started as a kickstarter with their chef's knife and now they have been expanding their line. I think a solid chef knife and paring knife are the basics and then for us BBQ guys I love a nice thin blade boning knife like a Dexter Russell or something. Beyond that maybe a bread knife and that's it. You really don't need to go crazy with a set when those four knives will do most of your heavy lifting. My opinion of course...

pharp
04-06-2019, 01:52 PM
My local Sam's has a Henckel set on sale right now for $199. I have some good ones already or I would have bought them.

SmoothBoarBBQ
04-06-2019, 02:46 PM
I would just buy the specific knives you want rather than buying a knife set. I'm a big fan of Dexter knives that you can get at any restaurant supply store...white handles, NSF rated. Great knives, great price (~$20 per knife), and they hold an edge pretty well. I've got a chefs knife, boning knife, and nakiri and they are fantastic.

I'd also recommend looking into a sharpening system like the Ken Onion Worksharp (https://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-Knife-Sharpener-Onion/dp/B07CW4T6RS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=153651116094&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9010156&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t2&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7466939137853687909&hvtargid=aud-649564993678%3Akwd-68996191167&keywords=ken+onion+worksharp&qid=1554579955&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1). I run a small BBQ food truck type operation, so I'm using my knives almost everyday. During the week I use a "butcher steel" to re-align the edge and keep it straight, but maybe once a month I'll take all my knives and give them a few minutes on that Worksharp and it brings the edges back to razor sharpness. It's a much better investment than spending a lot of money on a high dollar knife...no matter what you do your knife edge will need to be restored every so often. If you don't have a sharpening system upon which you can rely then your new knife will become a dull POS in a short amount of time.

Good luck!

IamMadMan
04-06-2019, 03:38 PM
If you buy a set, you'll get some knives you may never need or use.

Your best bet is to individually buy them for your purpose and need, in the long run you'll save money and only own the knives you will use.

While many will recommend many good brands, I have recently found that the Dexter Sani-Safe line is very affordable and a good quality knife used in commercial kitchens. I had purchased some for my helper and I actually think they are easier to handle than some of my Wusthof Knives. They are much cheaper and they take abuse well, but that's my personal opinion.

In any event, knife sets make for convenient purchasing, but, buying individual pieces with specific purpose is the way to go. For a BBQ specific set, I would want a 4" paring knife, 10" Chef knife, 12"-14" slicer, 6" stiff boning (beef and pork), 6" flexible boning knife (poultry), a set of poultry shears, and a sharpening steel to start. There are so many you can add to the mix if you want to expand...

My preference for commercial use would be Dexter Russel Sani-safe knives. The handles just work for me, especially with wet or bloody hands. But Mercer "Millennia" is also a good buy for the money. I have Mercers that I bought on sale from Webstraurant. Price was very good and quality is also great IMHO.

Both Mercer and Dexter-Russel are very popular knives in the food industry. They are affordable, they can take abuse, and they hold an edge very well. Both have been around for many years providing knives to the food and restaurant industry.


Many years ago I paid big bucks with the belief that Wusthof knives were the best as others raved about them. With daily use and abuse, yes Wusthof's are great knives, but I refused to let my helpers touch them, so I bought them Dexter-Russel's and Mercer's. Long story short I was helping a friend and did not have my personal knives so I used my helper's set. I was amazed at balance and quality, and they worked well throughout the day. I left the event thinking that maybe I bought into the hype and paid too much for the Wusthof's when other quality knives were much more affordable.

I am not saying that Wusthof's are not great knives, they are fantastic. What I am saying is that with constant use, I find the Dexter-Russell and Mercer to be great knives as well. If I had known, I would have been happy with the latter and I would have saved a lot of money.

The bottom line is that it's your choice and your money, only you have to be satisfied with your purchase, and only you have to be happy with their use and their ability to hold an edge.

Also, while a good knife with the ability to hold an edge is very important, the person holding the knife also needs to have at least basic skill as well.

m-fine
04-06-2019, 04:15 PM
I have a mix of knives at a wide range of price points. For anything you need with BBQ, add me to the list recommending the affordable commercial knives. They can be sharpened quite sharp and the handles are more ergonomic for pros who will hold them all day for hard use rather than display them in a fancy block. The extra gripping is also very nice with greasy meats. The money savings is just a side benefit, although I recommend spending it on a great sharpener rather than pocketing it!

For a sharpener, I cannot recommend the chefs choice line strong enough. The Trizor XV15 will give your slicing knives a sharper 15* Asian style edge that will glide through the toughest meats. I also have a 20* one for my chopping knives. The result is better than factory and more durable than the 15, but those don’t get used for BBQ often since I am usually doing some form of slicing work.

m-fine
04-06-2019, 04:18 PM
Oh I forgot to mention, my commercial knives are Mercer, Dexter, and ICI. They are all great working knives.

airedale
04-06-2019, 06:00 PM
Dexter knives. Forget the fancy brands with fancy prices if your goal is cutting meat. If your goal is impressing your friends, OTOH, then go with the $$$.

Re sharpening, I am not a fan of the fancy gadgets. Two or three stones including a Hard Arkansas to finish, works for me and is really all you need. Something like this, maybe: https://www.garrettwade.com/universal-sharpening-system.html or two or three of these http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=72834&cat=1,43072

That said, I recently bought one of these https://www.worksharptools.com/guided-field-sharpener.html to throw in the kitchen drawer and I am quite impressed for quick &dirty touch-up. The "strop" is a joke

stan5677
04-06-2019, 08:18 PM
Thanks for all the advice i'm going to check out all the brands everyone has mentioned don't need anything fancy just something that will make my work a little easier than what i have you know trimming fat and then slicing after after cooking

Joe Black
04-06-2019, 08:39 PM
Blythewood had a nice knife set (Victorinox) today at the SC bash. I didn’t inspect them but I saw them work and they did very well. Contact Dennis, he will give you all the detail I’m sure. Good luck in your search.

sudsandswine
04-06-2019, 08:44 PM
I use a Victorinox 6" curved boning knife or their 8" chef knife for 90% of my trimming or cutting needs. I also have a 12" cimeter for when I cut big things or feel like getting medieval. Theyre simple, affordable, and hold an edge well. They do everything I need, I cant imagine ever changing to something more expensive....though there is lots of nice steel out there and I can surely appreciate it. :thumb:

Home Farm BBQ
04-06-2019, 09:19 PM
I just ordered a bubba blade cordless electric knife. It better do everything well. Very curious about that knife. Comes with 4 blades. It was backordered. I do have a bubba blade fillet knife and it has been great.

Otherwise victorinox. Cheap and do fine with sharpening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

70monte
04-06-2019, 11:04 PM
I like the Dexter-Russell Sani-safe knives and have several. I also have a Zwilling J.A. Henckels set that is pretty nice.

SmokerKing
04-07-2019, 09:45 AM
I have a knife roll with Victorinix and Dexters for BBQ'ing. I even bought an electric knife for cutting BB's.

My wife has her Henkels in the kitchen.

Wampus
04-07-2019, 09:58 AM
I’m cheap.
I have 4 kids, so I have to be financially conservative.
That said, I don’t spend a lot of money on cutlery.
I won’t say that the expensive knives aren’t worth the dough, but I don’t buy em.

Since I started butchering and cooking more, I’ve used the plastic white handled boning knives I got at Sam’s. I’ve replaced them since but they hold a decent edge. I sharpen them.

I have bought a good chef’s knife that I got for $25 (big sale). Can’t recall the brand. Bought a serrated slicer from RD for $11 and have used it for years.

airedale
04-07-2019, 10:08 AM
@stan5677 (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/member.php?u=91465), a couple more things:

1) Your knives will quickly become problematic unless you buy some stones and learn to sharpen. Or shell out bigger bucks for one of the proprietary sharpening contraptions. Don't take your eye off the sharpening ball.

2) I will confess that I do like an electric knife for slicing hot and tender brisket. It is quite feasible to use a carefully-sharpened conventional knife but the electric knife is much faster.