What do you use a flexible knife for?

[ditomura]

I’ve never used a flexible knife before and I was wondering if it would be worth getting one. Are they better than a stiff sujihiki/petty knife for removing silver skin from a chuck roast or other tasks?

 

[Just a DK]

I’ve never used a flexible knife before and I was wondering if it would be worth getting one. Are they better than a stiff sujihiki/petty knife for removing silver skin from a chuck roast or other tasks?

I think you want stiff for that. flex knives I think have a specific use case to try to get as close to bone (fish and meat) by being able to push the knife against bone to get into tight spaces.

That being said, I can do that on fish poultry and ribs with a stiff boner too no probs.

 

[stringer]

Mostly when I think about a flexible knife it is for filleting or skinning raw fish. Or cutting very thin slices of softer product like smoked salmon or beef carpaccio. Flex does not help with silver skin in my experience.

 

[aporigine]

… with a stiff boner too no probs.

ah, youth

 

[Jovidah]

Just a home user, but I second the 'not liking too much flex for silverskin'. Prefer stiffer for that, but mostly prefer thin & narrow tip.

They seem mostly advertised for skinning fish fillets, but it's not like you can't do that with a stiff knife. I've sometimes seen French style fillet knives advertised as 'sole knives'. Supposedly flex is useful in taking fillets from certain flatfish off the carcass.
The Spaniards also seem to swear by flexy knives for cutting jamon slices.

 

[stringer]

Just a home user, but I second the 'not liking too much flex for silverskin'. Prefer stiffer for that, but mostly prefer thin & narrow tip.

They seem mostly advertised for skinning fish fillets, but it's not like you can't do that with a stiff knife. I've sometimes seen French style fillet knives advertised as 'sole knives'. Supposedly flex is useful in taking fillets from certain flatfish off the carcass.
The Spaniards also seem to swear by flexy knives for cutting jamon slices.

You can get better yield scraping the flesh off of the ribs/fin bones with a flexible knife. Especially flat fishes. It lets you get closer to the bone with less risk of cutting through the bones. You can also get better yield when removing the skin. I have seen lots of people use those dimpled flexible Victorinox "salmon/lox slicers" for this job. Those make a lot of sense for stuff like Spanish jamon. It doesn't matter for a home user probably either way. I actually just bought my first flexible fillet knife I have had since I lost one in culinary school 20 years ago. Places I worked where I had to fillet fish usually had rental knives that work fine for that kind of thing. You don't need anything expensive if you want to try it. Just get something restaurant supply. Other than those special use cases I almost always prefer stiff boning knives/petties/sujihikis/gyutos etc. Flex is not something you want for general purpose cutting. And it is more difficult to sharpen until you get used to it.

 

[Jovidah]

You can get better yield scraping the flesh off of the ribs/fin bones with a flexible knife. Especially flat fishes. It lets you get closer to the bone with less risk of cutting through the bones. You can also get better yield when removing the skin. I have seen lots of people use those dimpled flexible Victorinox "salmon/lox slicers" for this job. Those make a lot of sense for stuff like Spanish jamon. It doesn't matter for a home user probably either way. I actually just bought my first flexible fillet knife I have had since I lost one in culinary school 20 years ago. Places I worked where I had to fillet fish usually had rental knives that work fine for that kind of thing. You don't need anything expensive if you want to try it. Just get something restaurant supply. Other than those special use cases I almost always prefer stiff boning knives/petties/sujihikis/gyutos etc. Flex is not something you want for general purpose cutting. And it is more difficult to sharpen until you get used to it.

I actually do all my fish (which is mostly small ones because I'm a cheapskate) with a western style filleting knife that has at least some flex, and I agree it actually makes it a breeze to get the fillets clean off... easier than with a stiff petty. Never felt the slightest urge to go get an expensive deba.
That knife (https://morakniv.se/en/product/companion-fishing-fillet-155-s/) is actually what I recommend my normy friends as a 'cheap allround protein knife', because it kinda does everything well for a good price (flexy enough to do fish, but still stiff enough that it's still fine for the kind of meat trimming you do as a home user).

 

[nopomo]

Peeling mangoes on the board.

 

[Desert Rat]

I use a little Marttiini fillet knife for small fish, it also goes in my hunting pack to de-bone big game in the field.
I also have a larger vintage Case fillet knife with a gut spoon for bigger fish.

It's either all I know or I just don't know any better. It works though.