After a knife that makes removing silverskin off pork loin my favorite kitchen task

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iocariel

iocariel

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
15
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9
Location
Dallas, TX
LOCATION
What country are you in? US

KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chefs knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)? Petty, utility, boning... Something thin and maneuverable.

Are you right or left handed? Right

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle? Either

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)? 150-180mm

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no) Yes

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife? $150 USD



KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment? Home

What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.) Meat trimming. Very specifically, removing silverskins. My 210 chef's is a bit too unwieldy for a 1-2 lb pork loin.

What knife, if any, are you replacing? Currently trying to get the job done with a MAC 210mm gyuto

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.) Pinch grip

What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)

What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.) Thin, in both blade thickness and height. Easy to make thin slices and maneuver.

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)? I do like pretty knives, but it's not a priority

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)? Easy to sharpen is a plus

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)? This won't be used that often and I can sharpen it, so I'm not too concerned with edge retention, but it's a bonus

KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.) Yes

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.) Yes

If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.) I've got a Shapton 1000 and a ceramic honing rod. If I need a special stone for the knife you recommend, let me know, I'll buy it.

SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS

This is not going to be a heavily used knife, it's just to make my life easier. The loins I'm working on are small and narrow, and I do one a week. I'm not working on a whole pig. It probably doesn't need to be close to $150 to get the quality I need, but I'm a sucker for cool knives, so if there's something aesthetically awesome or if it will drastically reduce the care the knife needs, I'm willing to spend more.
 
If this is more or less task specific, once a week, and easy to sharpen is a plus, it sounds like the world of F. Dick, Dexter Russell, etc. butcher/boning knives. Nothing sexy but surely functional.
 
210 petty, for sure. I like my Fujiyama for meat trimming tasks.

20210625_115309.jpg
 
I would say it depends if you like some flex or not. I love my Ashi 210 petty/suji, but for this kind of work I often turn to a Honesuki, which is shorter and much stiffer.
 
180mm petty for all silverskin and trimming tasks. Thin is good. The bst knife cited above is close to ideal.

Soon the knife will be doing double duty for cutting fruit, esp citrus, and other small tasks.
 
My TF Nashiji 160mm petty (Actually a JCK FKRZ White Steel #1) is my silverskin slayer. It's also very affordable, holds it's edge well and sharpens to a keen egde easily. I love it!
 
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I use my Mazaki 210mm sujihiki for this. This have a little flex, and is in white 2 and very easy to sharpen.
What I prefer is to set this up with a very fine stone, so its not aggressive, and make it much easier to ‘’glide’’ under the skin.
 
What about one of these just to be different? This is what I use. They are cheap on eBay. I recommend the 4-star versions as the steel is better.


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Buy a cheap western boning knife. You can use it for your silverskin and any other butchery task you can think of in a home kitchen.

They are a ***** to sharpen but it will take a long time to dull if you're mainly using it off of a board cutting TL silver.
 
This is something I've been struggling with and experimenting with as well... my observations so far - and keep in mind they might not be universal and just personal preference.

-Lower blade height is better; too much blade height just gets in the way - which is why narrow sujihiki-style petties come out doing well
-Thin narrow tips are best - and why fillet knives do fairly well at this
-I'm not necessarily a fan of flex - and this is why fillet knives are also not perfect
-Ease of sharpening is nice - and a reason I don't like western style boning knives with their swept tip
-A bit more length is nice... I always found the 150mm of most petties and boning knives to be on the short side, and prefer something at least 180ish

If I had to buy right now and money / import cost was of no concern I'd probably give that Silverthorn trimming knife serious consideration since it seems to check most of my boxes.
Trimming Knives
Same goes for this weird Kanehide concoction, that looks interesting, apart from the hideous handle.
Kanehide Bessaku Sujihiki 210mm Elastomer Handle (T)
Haven't used either of those though, so would be interested in hearing if anyone tried them in this role.

It's kinda weird how you can find a gazillion boning knives in pretty much every store and from every brand, and almost no trimming knives, when in practise most home cooks are far more likely to do trimming than actual boning. The only actual boning I ever do is birds, but I do trimming quite a lot.
 
If you're going low budget I personally preferred cheap fillet knives over cheap boning knives for the job. But YMMV.
 
Jovidah said:
If you're going low budget I personally preferred cheap fillet knives over cheap boning knives for the job. But YMMV.
Click to expand...

This is a case where "low budget" doesn't necessarily equal low quality. It is a purpose built knife that is very effective. I personally prefer this one as it doesn't have the flex that makes fillet knives more challenging on the stones.
 
Yeah I don't disagree on the budget not necessarily being bad part. I just didn't particularly like these kind of western style boning knives all that much for the task. Tried a bunch. They don't check half my boxes, and invariably I find them a bit too short. Not sure they're purpose built either; they're boning knives, not trimming knives. Especially the length is a bit annoying; for some reason most knife manufacturers draw the line at 15 cm for a lot of their meat-oriented knives.
I agree the flex on fillet knives isn't ideal either, hence making this another one of those 'ethernal quests' for me. I think in the end what would work best would be something like a really thin 180 hankotsu, or a stiff 180 fillet knife.
I actually found my Robert Herder K6M to do the job surprisingly well - even though it's a bit too large at 23 cm. If they made that in a slightly smaller version with a thinner tip I'd buy that instantly.
 
If you do this enough to warrant getting a knife specifically for it, how about a 210mm fuguhiki? I've got one and it's the mutt's nuts for trimming boneless protein and that's about it. So good in fact that I had to train myself to trim a pork tenderloin with it without gouging deep into the meat or making a ton of waste; it doesn't follow or separate tissue, it just cuts, but once you get the hang of it it's great. The length of a 180mm single bevel petty might be more manageable but the fugu is thinner, narrower and pointier while still stiff so that's a toss up.
 
I've got a bunch of knives in the petty size from 135mm all the way to 210mm.

My Mazaki 150mm is my go-to for pork silver skin, specifically. It has quite dramatic distal taper down to a very, very thin and pointy tip. For beef tenderloin, a 180mm Zakuri usually gets called upon.
 
I really need to get more petties and 210 sujis. For now I only have a 190-200mm takada no hamono white 2 petty that is actually awesome for different butchery tasks. It’s pretty much all I use it for. Want something ss clad or semi stainless though. Maybe a wat 210 suji.
 
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