Lobster Spliiter Recommendation

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CalleNAK

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Was hoping to get some advice from you guys. My uncle is a commercial lobster fisherman and I was thinking about grabbing him a lobster splitter for Christmas. I’m not entirely sure what he uses now and if he’ll even use this one but he’s a tough one to shop for so better than nothing. I was hoping to find something around or under $100 if possible. I know Victornox sells one for about $120 or so, which is what I’m leaning towards. I would really like to get grab him a Tojiro 240 western deba but more than I want to spend without knowing if he’ll put it to work or not. Can any of you chime in with something that would serve the purpose of a splitter that I might be able to get a good deal on. Still enough time to find something used on eBay if that’s the case. Just really should be stainless since it will probably be used out on the boat, and I doubt salt water and carbon steel will play nice with each other without paying serious attention to it.
 
I split over a 100 a day. Go on eBay and get a #0 orv#1 old Beatty and son cleaver, best lobster splitter I've ener used. Love using a 100+ year old knife too.
 
That's good to know, I've got a #0 & #3 Beatty. I could give him my 0 and shop for a replacement over time. So you don't need a pointed tip on the blade to do a good split on the lobster? I worry about the Beatty being cast steel though and getting pretty rusted on his boat.
 
Seems to me that CCK should have something that would fill that bill.....
 
I split over a 100 a day. Go on eBay and get a #0 orv#1 old Beatty and son cleaver, best lobster splitter I've ener used. Love using a 100+ year old knife too.

Those are sooo dang cool! If I had a bigger place I'd get one just for s&g's.
 
I would go for a yo deba or your plain ol western knives like a wustof or a henckels.
 
No idea if these are any good or not but take a look

http://www.knifeprocutlery.com/butcher-knives/

http://www.knifeprocutlery.com/butcher-knives/lobster-splitter/

Well that might fit the bill, thank you. Too bad they don't give any description at all about their blades. Don't tell you length let alone thickness. For $40 I might give it a shot. Anyone in a pro kitchen ever used/seen this brand before and can chime in? Seems like some generic, low grade stuff.
 
Yeah I've seen a few pass threw my kitchen via the knife service. All of those in the plastic handle that resemble Victorinox seem the same to me. Chicago, KnifePro, etc, not quite as nice as the Victorinox that they resemble , but serviceable. Does Victorinox have a lobster splitter or equivalent?
 
There is a Beatty #00 cleaver on E-bay. Bidding starts at $9.95.

Jay
 
This is one of the reasons I bought the 240 tojiro yo deba. So I can beat the crap out of it and not care. Fits the bill nicely. I'm sure I have a vid buried in my pc demonstrating lobster dismantlement.
 
I picked up a knife in Spain that seemed to be referred to as a "poultry cutter" there. Most of the butchers I watched in Madrid used them as general purpose meat cutting knives. Mine is a 10-inch "3 Claveles" but I saw other brands in the shops. Very heavy, wide chef style knife that I would call identical to a lobster splitter. You can find them on the web if you search.
 
I use a Tojiro DP Western Daba F-814 210mm and have never found a lobster or for that matter a mastodon it couldn't split.
 
or this:
airshirzlobstertimi.jpg
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[SUP][/SUP]I ended up ordering this one.
http://www.knifeprocutlery.com/butcher-knives/lobster-splitter/

It was low priced and stainless. They got back to me saying that it has a 10" blade and is a 1/4" thick at the spine so pretty hefty. When I get it in hand let you guys know how it feels. Thanks for all the advice. I do feel like grabbing a few sea spiders to put my Beatty's to work with now though.
 
There called AIRSHIRZ and used at the processor's .
cutting live lobster and cutting cooked shells the live ones will take a more toll on your blade
and no i have not used one i use old thick german knife.
 
Thought I'd share an update. I picked up the one from www.knifeprocutlery.com and am pretty impressed with it. For the price, it's hard to beat. It's got some mass behind it and feels pretty good. Huge belly on it. I also stumbled across one on eBay too that I just couldn't pass up. The listing said it was a 12" Old Clyde but I can see any markings on it. It's a beast though. Not sure if it was designed to be a lobster splitter or what, but I"m sure it will serve it's purpose. Figured I'd let him pick which one he wants, but I'm hoping he goes with the knifepro one, I'm pretty smitten with the beast.

Here's a some pics of them. Sorry, not very good at taking pics. I threw in my Hiro AS 240 in there too for size context. That old clyde makes the Hiro look like a kids knife.

21j55aa.jpg


Pick of the spines. Each of the splitters are about 5mm thick with the Old Clyde being a bit thicker.
9bk8wl.jpg
 
That Old Clyde is awesome! Great catch!
 
I used my San Han Nga $15 HK thin/medium cleaver yesterday to crack and split Western Australian crayfish and blue swimmer crabs and it came through with flying colours! Clean, efficient cuts and no damage to the edge, even under LED 30X loupe.

It's going to make a comeback in an hour or so for the roast pork loin roll with crackling!
 
Revisiting this thread. Bought a Wusthof classic 20cm chefs knife and chipped it splitting lobster/crayfish. Was easy to fix on 1000 JNS stones but isn't a sustainable option. Has anybody tried the Wusthof cleaver or any other suggestion
 
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