What do y'all use for "heavy duty" tasks?

[BCROB]

...or the whole block, by the looks of that thing! And it's gorgeous.

Hahaha thanks Dan , always enjoy making the beefy blade kitchen "Boss's"

 

[Casaluz]

For splitting chickens and racks of ribs I use a Suisin High-Carbon Steel Honesuki 150 mm, for big jobs of hard vegetables and proteins I reach for my trusted Gesshin Kagero Yo-Gyuto Powdered Steel 240 mm

 

[jbart65]

An F. Dick heavy cleaver for rib bones, boned chicken, and cutting leg of lamb bone, etc.

A Messmeister 9-inch Stealth Elite for hard squash and such.

An Anryu Hammered for boneless meats, veggies, fruit melons and everything else. My toughest J-knife.

 

[Leifer]

I just got the MAC SDK-85 "heavy cleaver" in their Ultimate line.

4mm at spine.
351 grams (12.4 oz)

....de-boned a chicken with ease....hacked it's way through the backbone easily.

 

[JaVa]

My 18 year old Mac pro. I have no Idea what steel they were made at the time. It's never been thinned and is a little fat behind the edgeI thought about thinning it and also maybe selling it, but eventually decided to keep it around for beater duties and not thin it. With the sturdy edge it can really take good beating and I don't need to go slumming with European softies. :justkidding:

 

[jljohn]

Just to link them together, here is a thread dealing with knives used on squash specifically:

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...s-Your-Knife-of-Choice-for-Hard-Winter-Squash

I've been using a Victorinox/Fibrox 10" chef's as my beater.

 

[Omega]

That video of the Tojiro Western Deba is unbelievable to me.. I've been so careful and gentle with my knives.. I can't believe how incredible aggressive he's being, and that a single bevel especially is just shrugging it off.

 

[Leifer]

I may have a different experience than others.....I like a thinner blade to quarter a winter squash....it seems to "cut through" the stiff flesh, where as a thick blade is "forced through" or "breaking through".
As long as it's a long-ish blade, and I can put pressure (two hands) one the tip and one on the handle....it seems to work.
Yes, that's pushing as well, but it slides easier.
Perhaps I'll do a test.
Def a 50/50 blade though. If it's one-sided I get a curved cut.

 

[ThEoRy]

That video of the Tojiro Western Deba is unbelievable to me.. I've been so careful and gentle with my knives.. I can't believe how incredible aggressive he's being, and that a single bevel especially is just shrugging it off.

Who me? lol. No sweat. It's just a Tojiro yo deba. It's basically a really really thick and heavy double beveled gyuto. I would never do that with my single beveled debas.

 

[Omega]

Who me? lol. No sweat. It's just a Tojiro yo deba. It's basically a really really thick and heavy double beveled gyuto. I would never do that with my single beveled debas.

Ooooh.. My ignorance is showing. I didn't realize that was double beveled! I mean, even still, I'm quite impressed- I'm sure I've just been scared into timidity by all the well-meaning-yet-fervant words of caution with Japanese knives.

And it certainly wasn't a criticism of you! Only to say your confidence is inspiring. And also terrifying ;D How does that knife hold up after a long night of Chicken prep?

 

[daveb]

L, There's probably a thesaurus around here somewhere but "western" or "yo" describing a knife will mean double (though perhaps asymetric) bevel, describing a handle it will mean the traditional Euro, sometimes 3 rivet, handle as opposed to "wa" or Japanese.