I use my knives after a harvest… from turning off my lighted nock through my last step of processing, the grinding process, where I use them to prep the cuts of meat and scraps that are to be ground. Only three knives are employed during my medium to large-game butchering process: a skinning knife, a boning or filet knife, and a 10-inch butcher’s knife. All have straight edges, and all are sharpened to an angle of 20 degrees.
My skinning knife has a somewhat slender, 4 ½-inch blade, and it gets as much use or more than the other knives. This Remington R-6 Skinner is supposedly a collector’s item that I unknowingly purchased in a local sporting goods store about 30 years ago. I needed a skinning knife and was also looking for one that could also be used for field dressing. It was exactly what I was looking for and I was fortunate enough to get it on sale.
Obviously, my R-6 Skinner is used for skinning after field dressing. But I also use it to get into tight spaces or to scrape meat off the bones and tendons in some instances. Its greatest value other than being very ergonomically friendly is realized when it is used to get under the loins and tenderloins and scallop them away from the adjacent bones and connective tissue. A boning or filet knife can and is typically used to perform some of these tasks on the larger animals. But sometimes, I’m just chuggin’ along and don’t switch knives after going from the skinning step to removing the tenderloins and loins.
The boning or filet knife’s first cut if not used for the loins, is to remove meat from the hind quarters and is usually started at the bottom joint of the animal’s femur bone. I’ll use the thin blade to follow the femur to the hip and use it to work the meat off the bone. It is also used in conjunction with my skinning knife to debone the meat from the front quarters and neck region. I’ll also use it in the kitchen to open the three muscles that comprise the back of the hind quarter and to remove the glands that are within these three muscles. It can be used occasionally for scraping muscle from tendons and tendon sheaths, and for cubing meat for the grinder. A boning or filet knife with a 6-inch blade is ideal for medium-sized game such as deer.
The last type of knife I use for medium and large game is a 10-inch butcher’s knife. This is the one that looks like a swashbuckler’s sword in the picture. It has just one use during the rough-cuts stage: removing the front quarters. Its primary use is in the kitchen, for cutting the loins into 1-inch-thick medallions and scraping them off the silver skin. I also recommend using this knife to cut the back portions of the hind quarters across the grain of the muscle into cutlets, or steaks that I call “New Jersey Strip” steaks since the latter are more elongated in shape than round and… because I live in New Jersey. By now you may have realized for medium and large game, I debone all the meat. This is one of my “keys to the game” that enhances the meat’s flavor and contributes to achieving tender cuts of meat. The three types of well-sharpened, straight-edge knives are all that is needed for the tasks associated with most large and medium game butchering when following my processing suggestions. The point I also wanted you to catch was associated with the use of the 10-inch butcher’s knife. It was; “cutting the loins into 1-inch-thick medallions and scraping them off the silver skin.” The second action in this task, especially going across tough tendons on a cutting board can really dull a knife’s blade. However, I have found that when my knives are sharpened to an angle of 20 degrees, I can perform all my cuts and get through an entire deer without having to resharpen any of them during the butchering process. However, my main reason for selecting a 20-degree angle for my hunting and processing knives is because this angle cuts like a razor through red meat while it provides lengthy durability.
My experience with using knives sharpened to angles less than 20 degrees is that those blades dull quickly and then need to be resharpened for effective cutting (and safety reasons) more frequently, slowing you down during the butchering process. I have also come to realize blades with angles greater than 20 degrees are just not the most efficient tool for the job when it comes to cutting through the muscles of game animals, some of which may be warm and not as firm as chilled meat during early steps of the butchering process. Simply put, you’ll just be working harder.
One of the questions you’re probably asking yourself after reading this is, “well, how do I know if I’m sharpening my knives at a 20-degree angle?” Check the literature that came with your knives and sharpeners or contact the manufacturers and inquire about the angles of both. Additionally, those of you who may have knives that came sharpened to a different angle such as 22 degrees, can modify the angle of the blade by obtaining and using a sharpener with fixed grooves of 20 degrees or by first using a coarse stone at that angle to a greater extent than you normally would when sharpening. Then, finish with your medium and fine stones as desired.
I’m hopeful you have found some value from sharing of my experiences using various knife angles to process game over the years. You can also learn more about my “7 keys to the game,” how to optimize the flavor and tenderness of your game meat. I spell them out and go into detail about each in Chapters 2 and 3 of “Changing The Game.”
