Chopping Boards

[PPP]

I’m starting to process more and more rabbits now that spring is here (apparently) and have noticed that my Mora knives need sharpening quite frequently (I’m a bit ocd about having a razor edge).  I use nylon chopping boards for the first stage of processing before the housekeeper allows me into the kitchen, could these be the problem?

Any suggestions for chopping board material (to be kept in an out building so cheap is good)

[panoma1]

14 minutes ago, PPP said:

I’m starting to process more and more rabbits now that spring is here (apparently) and have noticed that my Mora knives need sharpening quite frequently (I’m a bit ocd about having a razor edge).  I use nylon chopping boards for the first stage of processing before the housekeeper allows me into the kitchen, could these be the problem?

Any suggestions for chopping board material (to be kept in an out building so cheap is good)

Good old wood! All chopping boards will carry germs if not properly cleaned (and if they are!) but cooking the meat kills em anyway!

Edited April 30, 2018 by panoma1

[motty]

If your knife is making regular contact with a chopping board, it won't stay razor sharp for long.

[rimfire4969]

Mora's have a big fan base but any knife that cheap will not hold an edge as well as a knife with better steel which tends to equal more money.

 

[Savhmr]

A lot of shooters should look towards pro-kitchen knives for some fabulous steel that doesn't cost a King's ransom....usually as good as or better than many fancy "hunting" knife blades for a small fraction of the cost.  I have a fair few hunting knives including moras and strop them after each use but their edges need regular honing to stay at their best.  One kitchen knife  that I own just needs the occasional strop and is ideal for everything from processing rabbits to gralloching....I even butchered a deer with it last week and all it needed was a quick strop to remain razor sharp.

The best £49 you'll ever spend:

https://www.procook.co.uk/product/procook-damascus-x100-vg10-utility-knife-5

 

 

 

[PPP]

Interesting, I had looked at procoook but wasnt sure how good they will be.

Thanks for advice, will also pick up a wooden board

[ditchman]

they say Beech is what you should use............

[Savhmr]

1 hour ago, PPP said:

Interesting, I had looked at procoook but wasnt sure how good they will be.

Thanks for advice, will also pick up a wooden board

Quality is good.  Just remember not to hack into bone as the edge is very fine and hard, so could be prone to chipping but the blade itself is strong due to the folding of softer steel over the spine.  AUS10 is one of the best knife steels currently available (along with VG10).  These are AUS10, but they haven't yet updated their advert details.

For the board, beech or bamboo (which contains natural antibacterial qualities).

[moondoggy]

One of those wooden boards made out of blocks showing the end grain.

End grain is much kinder to knives.

[Uilleachan]

8 minutes ago, Savhmr said:

Quality is good.  Just remember not to hack into bone as the edge is very fine and hard, so could be prone to chipping but the blade itself is strong due to the folding of softer steel over the spine.  AUS10 is one of the best knife steels currently available (along with VG10).  These are AUS10, but they haven't yet updated their advert details.

For the board, beech or bamboo (which contains natural antibacterial qualities).

Thanks for the tip, I only looked in on this thread as I need a new chopping board  Now I have a new japan made kitchen knife (thats meant to be the birthday present sorted, for the cook) plus a board, but the bonus was the "Spend more than £50 and get this fantastic chefs knife worth £49 enter this code at checkout: bla bla bla" which looked like a scam until I got to checkout and entered the code, now I'm thinking the cook may be better off with the chef knife and me the wee Damascus Jap chib, we can share the board  

Cheers for the tip, the buckshee knife offer's is only on for today.  

As to chopping boards for butchery, I got on well with a section of pitch pine former church pew and a bag of course rock salt for cleaning it, sadly no more that board, but I still have the other bit which is my fly tying board. Beech is better, but everyone should have a 25kg bag of rock salt in the shed.  

[PPP]

2 hours ago, Savhmr said:

Quality is good.  Just remember not to hack into bone as the edge is very fine and hard, so could be prone to chipping but the blade itself is strong due to the folding of softer steel over the spine.  AUS10 is one of the best knife steels currently available (along with VG10).  These are AUS10, but they haven't yet updated their advert details.

For the board, beech or bamboo (which contains natural antibacterial qualities).

Thanks for this, I have a chunky cleaver for hard going stuff, will pick one up at the weekend, there is a pro cook near me

2 hours ago, moondoggy said:

One of those wooden boards made out of blocks showing the end grain.

End grain is much kinder to knives.

Excellent, thanks, that’s what I have in kitchen

[PPP]

2 hours ago, ditchman said:

they say Beech is what you should use............

Brill, thanks 

[Dougy]

Find out a local tree surgeon and ask if you could have a decent size cut out of a tree, as long as it's not Yew you'll be ok.  

As far as knives go, look at what the professional use and not what the poser's use. You will find it hard not to see a Victorinox in any butchers or slaughters house throughout the UK. 

Knives

 

Added photo for idea

Edited April 30, 2018 by Dougy

[Savhmr]

The Victorinox budget range are excellent knives for general butchery.  The utility knife that I linked to though makes for a better all purpose game knife (ie instead of the poseur's knives) as it has a very strong forged blade but it also makes a good compact general butchery knife.  For the kitchen, we still use Wusthof and Yaxell knives...haven't found anything better for the price.  The procook range though is superb value for a good quality forged set...check out their X-50 range (we have a few of those too and they're really as good as some of the top makes without the silly price tags).  Most important thing I think for any knife, apart from a decent sharp blade, is how it fits and balances in the hand.   What suits me may not suit someone else and vice-versa.

[clakk]

Wusthof for me ,Mora in the field for gutting but Wusthof in the Kitchen ,dad bless him left me a full butchery set which is used regular in our house .The nylon board being very stiff and hard wearing will take the edge quickly from your blade atb

[Dougy]

Years ago the environmental health inspectors insisted that butchers moved away from the old wooden blocks and cutting table's. The reason was that they were supposed to harbour harmful bacteria, so quite a few company's, all though objecting strongly,  started the change. The new nylon  chopping blocks were utterly useless, without the weight they bounced all over the place and the cleavers took chips of nylon out, and left plenty of crevices in were meat and blood would hide nicely. Even just cutting on the cutting boards some of being 6 ft x 3 ft would have horrible cuts in that bits of meat and blood would work it's way into. And they were impossible to clean properly. 

It was a huge step backward as far as cleanliness went in the butchers, needless to say the EHO's back peddled when they found out that the wood used actually held it's own antibacterial qualities. 

And no there was no refund on the huge loss and outlay in the dumping of the wooded blocks and the buying of the rubbish nylon things.

[Savhmr]

I've often wondered too with growing evidence of micro-plastic in our food and the serious health consequences this can bring, whether using nylon is such a good idea.  our knives are all kept razor sharp and I can't help but think that tiny slivers of nylon must come off the boards....it has to go somewhere and putting raw meat on a board cris-crossed in deep scratches and then cutting it up over them has to liberate some small quantity of plastic.  I also noticed that after a while, all of our nylon boards start to develop an unpleasant smell, however well washed and scrubbed.  We're chucking them out and just using beach and bamboo chopping blocks.  Our large beech block is periodically coated with Tung oil and has lasted donkey's years so far and looks like it will out last me.

Oh...to anyone thinking of buying that knife mentioned earlier....take care when using it.  It is surgically sharp with just a few wipes on a very fine ceramic rod and a few strops on leather.  The sharpening angle (as with some Wusthoff knives) is 15 degrees, not the normal 25, so take care not to ruin the edge first time you hone it.  I managed to take a clean slice off the top of my thumb yesterday using mine whilst in a hurry and barely even noticed I'd done it!  It has to be the sharpest knife I've ever used.  When first delivered, the edge isn't sharpened to the standard it should be so you'll have to at least use a strop...I had to lightly hone mine on a 6000 grit water stone to begin with but maintain the edge using a fine ceramic honing rod and leather strop now.  A few wipes on each keeps it razor sharp. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Savhmr

[Dougy]

Over the years I've been using knives I learnt the hard way, put your fingers under the blade you will cut them.

You'll soon learn.  

Or end up trimming that much off your digits they'll be nothing left.