chicken spines - scissors (or knife?)

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nonoyes

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I ruined a pair of messermeister multipurpose scissors doing something multipurpose and am looking to replace.

Is there a questionnaire for that?

Need to cut paper, twine, cardboard, clamshell packaging on Christmas, and zipties. Also should be able to assist in spatchcocking chicken.

I know people also like the Joyce Chen's. Those look handy but dainty. Can they cut chicken spine bonelettes or clamshell packaging?

Home environment, occasional use.

I don't have plans to cut larger bones.

(Kicking myself hard for missing the black friday sale in Tojiros that someone kindly posted in the sales thread.)

Other recommendations based on your experience cutting chicken spines greatly appreciated.

I know I can do spines with a knife but it always feels wrong. I am open to suggestions.
 
playero said:
iuse my hands taking the chicken apart
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I can break a chicken down almost pretty well with any knife, cutting between joints. I' not too good pulling whole pieces with my hands. But to spatchcock? Don't you have to remove the spine?
 
OXO poultry shears: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PGG7ZQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

61EN9p86C6L._SL1500_.jpg
 
I use the misono Swedish Carbon honesuki and never had an issue with chipping or edge deformation. Also the hankotsu and deba are solid.

For shears I have the tojiro take apart and also the JCK kagayaki… they work for chickens too but I wish they had the “chicken notch” lol
 
aboynamedsuita said:
For shears I have the tojiro take apart and also the JCK kagayaki… they work for chickens too but I wish they had the “chicken notch” lol
Click to expand...

Interesting. I don't know when I've felt the need to get through a primary bone. I have done it accidentally with my knife but not on purpose. So after cutting bones and such with the tojiro and kagayaki, can you still cut parchment paper and do similar odd jobs?

Thanks for the tips. I'm gonna have to look at bunkas now, too, dang it.
 
I do like a western deba for this purpose. I've got Tojiro and Shun/Kershaw shears, but scissors don't do the work for you. A big heavy, double beveled blade sure does.



That said, they're pricey if you're just looking to replace a set of shears.
 
Oops I meant deba. Don't even know what a bunka is, tbh. Trying to act like I know what I'm talking about, it's not working.

Thanks for the video and insight.
 
DaveB recommended the Gerber game shears in another thread. I ordered a pair for Thanksgiving spatchcocked turkey, and was pleased with them. They're quite affordable, too.

I did find that the shears didn't cut through flesh + bone together super well, so I slit the flesh over the ribs before shearing. That worked great. I'm not sure if that's standard practice or not.

Home Depot and Amazon both have them for a good price.
 
I like the CCK Kau Kong chopper, thick and robust, the extra weight on the "tip" makes them great for chicken backs
 
nonoyes said:
Interesting. I don't know when I've felt the need to get through a primary bone. I have done it accidentally with my knife but not on purpose. So after cutting bones and such with the tojiro and kagayaki, can you still cut parchment paper and do similar odd jobs?

Thanks for the tips. I'm gonna have to look at bunkas now, too, dang it.
Click to expand...

I’ve had no issues, I maybe do a few chickens a month (eg 1/week) at home only
 
Tosa butakiri - $42 now from JWW. Probably White 3? I cut up five cases of chickens with this - starting with halving through the spine and breastbone - and it still shaved afterward.
 
I'll take any largeish knife with a not too thin edge. At home a simple 20cm german butcher's in 1.4116.

Used to use a meat cleaver for it but got tired of splatters of chicken getting all over the kitchen. Pretty much retired the thing.

I don't have a honesuki but the way I see it the shape is optimizes for getting a lot of force down with one hand, and also scraping meat off bones.

A German butcher knife is longer so you can use your other hand to lean in on the knife with two hands and press through the spine without having to resort to chopping.
 
I also use a honesuki and have no problem going through the spine and even breast bones. I use a kiridashi for the other stuff.
 
GorillaGrunt said:
Tosa butakiri - $42 now from JWW. Probably White 3? I cut up five cases of chickens with this - starting with halving through the spine and breastbone - and it still shaved afterward.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting ootb find! Described as a slicing knife but that cannot be quite right, it's short and heavy? Looks like a great multipurpose for my home, breaking down roasts or chickens. Thanks for sharing.
 
I hate to use a dirty word here, but cutco kitchen shears are really good. I break down chickens regularly with them. They’re very sturdy, and come apart for cleaning.
 
nonoyes said:
That's an interesting ootb find! Described as a slicing knife but that cannot be quite right, it's short and heavy? Looks like a great multipurpose for my home, breaking down roasts or chickens. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Not the OOTB edge - I put a new edge on it just like all my knives, and flattened the bevels. But yes - it’s not a very common style of knife, and I don’t know much about them in general or this one in particular; I got it when I got some Japanese knives for butchery tasks. Definitely not a slicer, and not really a butcher knife as I understand them, and too fat to be a general purpose knife; not super thick at the spine but ground very thickly. Gets as sharp for me as any other white steel knife and tough as a mother. It’s the one I pull out to do anything you should never do with a J-knife. Also the Munetoshi wa-butcher is good for chicken bones, though that one is more for contoured cuts and joints: the best way I can describe the butakiri is that it does meat cleaver tasks with a slicing motion.
 
If you are going to cut the backs into smaller pieces go for a heavy cleaver.
 
playero said:
hands
Click to expand...

Not with raw chicken,
if you spatchcock, etc
need to cut out the spines.

Cutco or other similar shears
are OK for this. Also a 225-240
bullnose butchr, for the reasons
mentioned earlier (two hands).

but ymmv depending on personal
desires and setup.

Japanese videos sometimes show
them using deba (to chagrin
of traditionalists).
 
Bullnose butcher :) Finally know what the English name for them is.
 
Didn't want to bump this but wanted to thank you all. I got more replies than I deserved. Many ways to skin a cat and I got a lot out of the suggestions.

Knives are really fun. I want more. But I need a new multi-purpose pair of scissors like right now so that's first. And, as is evident from this DitmasPork photo essay on spatchcocking chicken, the Tojiros do the work all by themselves so you can just sit back with clean hands and take pictures:

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...st-plain-good-show-us.298/page-93#post-539084

Thanks all.
 
I bought the Shobazuro Shears, after using them nothing even comes close to compare, I also have Tojiro, not as much money but not that much of a drop in performance for the price.
 
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