Forschner knives

[schoolmaster]

I have seen these knives in several meat processing shops. I am looking for a knife to skin and process deer with. Would these be a good choice?  Why do the pros use them?

[Hodr]

Hello schoolmaster,
I have never skinned a deer, hog or elk as some one else has always volunteered, so I can't help on skinning.  I have broken down and butchered many as I was raised in a restraunt and what works for beef has generally worked for game.  To begin with, the real butchers do NOT buy expensive knives.  A trip down to a restraunt supply store should let you find an assortment of Dexter, Russel, Dexter russel knives.  These will be relatively inxpensive with SaniSafe plastic handles.  They can be thrown in a dishwasher after use or dipped in a diluted clorox solution during use with no ill effcts to blades or handles.  You can probably get away with just three blade types; a scimatar, a boning knife and maybe a couple of paring knives.  These will be sharp enough to seperate you from a finger so be careful.  Total price should be under $60.  Nice but not needed is a good cleaver for seperating joints and ribs, a good one can run up to $50 and it needs to be heavy enough to hit the back of the cleaver with a hammer.  For slicing cooked meats and food prep consider an offset sandwich knife about 10" long.  It will be come indispensible when you cook.  Don't throw these in a drawer unless you put the plastic wrapper back on they were packaged in.  Best means of storage is on a magnetic knife rack, blades last loger and stay cleaner. For the price of the one Forschner at Macy's you should be able to pick up the 3 Dexter that you will probably never wear out.
 
Hodr

[james]

 I bought  a Dexter boning and a skinning knife when I had a meat processing class in college and I am still using them 35 years later.  They are so old they have wood handles so I don't put them in the dishwasher.   I process my own deer, antelope, and elk and a few for family and friends so they are well used but still in good shape.

[SHOOTALL]

Sam's Club has knives like that .
 
One thing about shinning a deer is hair it will dull a knife very quick so get a knife that sharpens easy .
Or get a cutco knife I have seen them skin over 30 deer between sharpenings . They have a double d edge and must go bact to the factory for sharpening or you can file the dd off and have a smooth blade like I did on one .

[Victor3]

I have seen these knives in several meat processing shops. I am looking for a knife to skin and process deer with. Would these be a good choice?  Why do the pros use them?

 I've had a set (6) of fairly expensive forged Forschner kitchen knives for a few years now. Nice looking, but they do not hold an edge for long. 

[muznut 54]

I have Dexter 12in and 10in butcher knifes and an old wood handle carbon steel Briddell meat cleaver that you could cut down trees with.I also have an old wood handle carbon steel boning knife with the name wore off the blade. I have butchered moose many bear and deer with.

[Joel]

When I worked at a Walmart Super Store, the butchers used some cheap, black handled knives that were almost like throw aways.  Once a week some company would show up, take the used ones and leave new.  The couple of Forschners I've bought are junk...they went to Goodwill.  I've used  Russell blades and they're MUCH better blades.  My deer processing knives(been doing it for decades) consist of whatever hunting knife I used, two good boning knives (I've Chicago Cutlery) and  a very thin Gerber fileting knife.

[charles p]

I've worked with professional fish cleaners for about ten years.  They use Dexter Russell knives and sharpen them with an FDick hypersteel.
 

I've skinned many hundreds of deer.  Most are hanging from a gamble, head down.  After cutting around the legs, I use a gut hook to open the skin on both the belly and the back of the deer.  This allows me to work on one half of the deer at a time.  It is much easier and faster and you do not have to keep circling the deer.  My deer are brought to the shed whole, skinned, then gutted.  Usually they are in our walk in cooler within 30 minutes of being killed.  I prechill and wash the cleaned carcass with cold well water from a garden hose.  I never butcher a warm deer.  I prefer to let it hang in the cooler for a few days up to a week. A fan to circulate the cold air is a must.  Most of my venison is ground into burger and if aged more than a few days, the meat starts to get mushy when ground.  If you make roasts, aging two weeks is OK.

 

[gcrank1]

If you want 'a cut above' pay big attention to these chaps; they have the edge........

[Ranger99]

use forschner and old hickory for butchering
chores. no problems other than cold and
bloody hands at times.
of course, if you've never noticed, professional
meat cutters constantly steel their knives during
use. not a problem for me.
unless i'm field dressing, i never dirty up my
carry knife.