Use of outdoor knife for heavy kitchenwork?

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mark76

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I am looking for a knife for heavy kitchenwork: cutting chicken bones, maybe cut frozen foods and the like. At the same time I am also looking for an outdoor knife. For camping tasks, chopping small wood and so on. Now I wondered if I couldn't use the same knife for both tasks. I was thinking of knives like the Fallkniven F1, Bark River Bravo 1 or a similarly sized Swamp Rat knife.

Does anyone have experience with outdoor knives in the kitchen? Would it work?
 
I haven't used an outdoor knife in the kitchen but I use Misono Swedish steel western Deba for the rough stuff in the kitchen, and I think it can tackle chopping small branches/kindling no problem.
 
ESEE 6 drop point, plain edge. Tough guy. Indestructible. Could get comfortably sharp. Same could be said about swamp rat ratmandu 6 inch blade.
 
Well I guess it can be done, but unless you have a very good reason, I would rather get a good outdoor knife that would full fill the outdoor tasks and get some sort of cheaper cleaver for those heavy kitchen tasks. Since outdoor knives have been designed for very different purpose they will be awkward at best in the kitchen (big bolsters, too thick blades, etc..).

If you really want to chop wood you need a big bowie knife or better yet machete of some sort (I can not help but think of knives Burt Foster does)- I would not want to try to portion chicken with that.

Since I get the impression that you need an outdoor knife anyhow - just get one that will work best outdoor and then just try it in kitchen - maybe it will work, maybe not. But I would not try to choose outdoor knife with kitchen use in mind - you may end up with a knife that will be miserable at both tasks.


My personal experience is with Mora 2000 - which is by all accounts a very light and slim blade for an outdoor knife. It is still NOT pleasurable to use for cooking - only the tip part is thin enough not to wedge even semi-hard food ad there is absolutely no clearance for fingers. It would be of course not suitable for cutting bones or frozen food at all.
 
on my hunting trips; if i am near my truck, i have an old forgecraft bullnose knife. i use it for camp cook duties. cutting and flipping meat on the fire. i got it for $5 at some antique roadshow. it gets crazy sharp.

i used it for turning elk primals into smaller pieces that can go into plastic bags and then into ice for the roadtrip home.

backback trip/hunts..i carry a Mora Companion. i'm about to pick up a havalon bolt knife soon..but i'm on the fence.
 
A hatchet or machete isn't going to make a great cooking knife.
 
I can't see how you'd use an outdoors knife as a kitchen one, but I can imagine using some sort of bullnose/cimeter as an outdoors knife.
 
A "Ka Bar" type knife is robust enough for a most outdoor applications and could have some utility in the kitchen. I've seen them used to carve, chop and even used as steak knives. By manly men of course.
 
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