# What do y'all use for "heavy duty" tasks?



## DanHumphrey (Apr 6, 2016)

So I know that nice, high-hardness Japanese knives aren't for use on bones, frozen food, melons, etc. I assume you all do eat these things - what knife (or knives) do you keep around for that sort of task?


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## Castalia (Apr 6, 2016)

an old 10 inch Sabatier chef's knife and a thick cleaver.


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## IndoorOutdoorCook (Apr 6, 2016)

Heavy cleaver from thailand. Costs less than $30. The company is known for machetes, grind is super fat. After a year of use I can say it is indestructible.


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## Smurfmacaw (Apr 6, 2016)

I still have a couple of german knives around for when I need to do something that would damage a knife with hard steel.


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## bkultra (Apr 6, 2016)

Victorinox Fibrox Chef's Knife


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## Benuser (Apr 6, 2016)

If I'm sure there will be some damage, either a soft vintage carbon -- Sab or Sheffield -- or a SLD Honesuki by Hiromoto.


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## spoiledbroth (Apr 6, 2016)

Tojiro 240 western deba


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## DamageInc (Apr 6, 2016)

Mac Ultimate from back when they were made with tungsten. Fantastic beater knives.


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## daveb (Apr 6, 2016)

Other peoples.


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## joshsy81 (Apr 6, 2016)

The resident in house 10$ beaters


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## Godslayer (Apr 6, 2016)

Henckles walmart / Canadian tire knife. I think she cost around $30-$40 cad and I've had her for well over a decade. Sharpened once.


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## cheflivengood (Apr 6, 2016)

daveb said:


> Other peoples.



:rofl2: I was going to say make someone else do it.


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## Matus (Apr 6, 2016)

The SLD honesuki from Hiromoto (JCK) can stand more abuse that I would have ever expected from such a knife.


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## Marcelo Amaral (Apr 6, 2016)

Heavy cleaver. Great for frozen food and bones. http://www.tramontina.com.br/produtos/43276-cutelo


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## preizzo (Apr 6, 2016)

Misono deba with dragon &#128009;. 
That knife can beat everything &#128516;


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## ThEoRy (Apr 6, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> Tojiro 240 western deba



[video=youtube;urIeUid1TMo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urIeUid1TMo[/video]


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## WildBoar (Apr 6, 2016)

Wusthof beater for frozen stuff. For melons I like to just use my hands :spin chair:


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## panda (Apr 6, 2016)

i'm considering a suisin HC as an UD (ugly duty) beater simply because it's carbon steel is lower hrc than the other options. i would just get a carbon sabatier if they didnt have those stupid finger guards.


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## jacko9 (Apr 6, 2016)

I kept my old German knives around to practice sharpening and to handle tough stuff since I already paid for them a long time ago - no worries about damage.


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## Keith Sinclair (Apr 6, 2016)

CCK medium Kau Kong Chopper KF 1402. I like it is compact front weighted and can handle any task.


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## brainsausage (Apr 6, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> Tojiro 240 western deba



Same. Except mine is a 270&#128526;


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## aboynamedsuita (Apr 6, 2016)

Misono Swedish steel yo-deba, hankotsu, honesuki
Itinomonn wa-butcher
Old Henckels set that I still keep on my countertop, also for the times when I need something sharp/pointy and just want to leave it in the sink until later


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## toddnmd (Apr 6, 2016)

CCK large Kau Kong Chopper KF 1401. Or a Victorinox.


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## andre s (Apr 6, 2016)

Joe Calton Cleaver


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## HomeCook (Apr 6, 2016)

ThEoRy said:


> [video=youtube;urIeUid1TMo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urIeUid1TMo[/video]



This:knife:
And my old Wusthofs


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## panda (Apr 6, 2016)

tjangula's mention of misono yo deba reminded me of seeing a thread about suisin hc line and chuckles saying he likes the suisin deba which are $100 less than misono's.


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## brainsausage (Apr 7, 2016)

My 270 tojiro cost about 160. Definitely no frills, but it's made for beating on ****, so who cares?


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## Hianyiaw (Apr 7, 2016)

daveb said:


> Other peoples.



Best reply probably


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## spoiledbroth (Apr 7, 2016)

daveb is everybody's worst friend itk


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## krx927 (Apr 7, 2016)

I use old Wusthof chef knife.


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## Tobes (Apr 7, 2016)

F. Dick 260 mm, undestructible easy to get a shaving edge with a ruby sintered rod


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## spoiledbroth (Apr 7, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> Same. Except mine is a 270&#128526;



What's that weigh in at lol!


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## barramonday (Apr 7, 2016)

Misono sweden steel western deba and a super heavy, cheap cleaver ( aprox 10mm at spine ).

The Misono is real pleasure to use.


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## Jovidah (Apr 7, 2016)

For actual bone work I have a nice old German carbon cleaver I once bought at a thrift store for 2 bucks. 
For all the other times when I don't want to ruin my knife... I have this really crappy German steel 'santoku'... that even has a bolster... :scared4:
Let's just say it was something I bought before I 'saw the light' and found out that bolsters and santoku's are a _really_ bad match.
It's definitly on the nomination to be replaced by a Victorinox Fibrox at some point.


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## Iggy (Apr 7, 2016)

Had a Fujiwara FKM Western Deba once...
today I use a 280mm Custom Workhorse Gyuto made out of 1.2562... this steel is just indestructible! :knife:

For the really bad stuff I use one of my old knives with softer steel (Zwilling, Sabatier...)


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 7, 2016)

I'm so impressed with the Trizor steel in Chef Choice knives. I have a 8" chef and with some thinning, it now shaves hair and stays that sharp even after cracking crab claws, or mauling pounds of crusty chicharron. Sure its thick behind the edge but has wicked distal taper and a 1/2 bolster so that it can still be sharpened on whetstones. A very underrated knife. I can't justify it but I want this 10". It would without a doubt cut down a small tree. 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BTI96M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## F-Flash (Apr 7, 2016)

Tojiro DP western deba 240mm and tojiro DP gyuto 300mm. Both are heavy and can take beating. Deba more so of course, being more than twice as thick.


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 7, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> My 270 tojiro cost about 160. Definitely no frills, but it's made for beating on ****, so who cares?



Y'all have a funny idea of "beater"; someone earlier mentioned a Mac Ultimate that seems to be $270. My "good" knife doesn't cost that much... :newhere:


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 7, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> For actual bone work I have a nice old German carbon cleaver I once bought at a thrift store for 2 bucks.
> For all the other times when I don't want to ruin my knife... I have this really crappy German steel 'santoku'... that even has a bolster... :scared4:
> Let's just say it was something I bought before I 'saw the light' and found out that *bolsters and santoku's are a really bad match*.
> It's definitly on the nomination to be replaced by a Victorinox Fibrox at some point.



Can you explain for the uninitiated?


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## Jovidah (Apr 7, 2016)

I was refering to 'full-size' bolsters all the way to the cutting edge. They make it both more difficult to sharpen and more difficult to cut all the way until the end. So essentially it makes an already short blade even shorter in every way. Sharpening any knife with a full size bolster is a pain in the ass; either you can't sharpen all the way, or you have to somehow grind the bolster down to make sure it doesn't stick out and leave a gap just before it.
And if I used it to rock chop stuff like bell peppers they would always 'catch' at the bolster. When cutting bigger stuff such as celeriac, you'd get stuck at the bolster. Maybe not so problematic when you have a 10 inch chef's knife, but with a shorter knife...meh.
On top of that all, it makes it unnecessarily heavier (and not in the right place) so it actually makes it worse for chopping.
So when you see a santoku with a full-size bolster...run... 

Just for sake of completeness, it's this piece of poopy:






Regardless of the utterly crap blade, the handles are actually pretty nice. Not much to look at, but they have this really grippy semi-soft rubber on it that is really comfy and works great when wet. I would actually prefer to have that over the usual POM or pakka-wood.


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## brainsausage (Apr 7, 2016)

DanHumphrey said:


> Y'all have a funny idea of "beater"; someone earlier mentioned a Mac Ultimate that seems to be $270. My "good" knife doesn't cost that much... :newhere:



It's surprising how quickly '200 for a knife is insane!', turns into '500 seems reasonable'.

Be careful my friend. This slope is greasy...


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## malexthekid (Apr 7, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> It's surprising how quickly '200 for a knife is insane!', turns into '500 seems reasonable'.
> 
> Be careful my friend. This slope is greasy...



This!!!!


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## brainsausage (Apr 7, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> What's that weigh in at lol!


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## malexthekid (Apr 7, 2016)

I use an old scanpan set i got when i first moved out of home.

Can someone explain what the issue with using jknived on melons is? I use most of my high end knives on melons (though it is mostly watermelon and the occasional rockmelon {cantaloupe to you guys})


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## brainsausage (Apr 7, 2016)

Keeping with the theme of heavyweights...

270 Toyama:




165 Shig:


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## panda (Apr 7, 2016)

a beater does not have to be cheap, it just means it can handle abuse and you don't mind beating the crap out of it.

ive never heard of advising against using jknives for melons, that's new to me. i suppose if you twist the knife while peeling the rind you could chip, but that has to do with technique and not the knife.


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## jacko9 (Apr 7, 2016)

German Wusthof Cleaver - takes a licking and keeps on ticking cutting bones or whatever.


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## brainsausage (Apr 7, 2016)

panda said:


> a beater does not have to be cheap, it just means it can handle abuse and you don't mind beating the crap out of it.



Well said. Half the reason I love my Toyama. Sucker can take a beating and still out perform most any knife out there. For its virgin journey, I took it out for a catering gig. Busted through 25# of hot, crusty brisket, and only had a micro chip or two to show for it. And my Toyama is ground pretty damn thin BTE...


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## spoiledbroth (Apr 8, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> View attachment 31433



Haha! That's awesome. What an absolute tank that thing must be.


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## chinacats (Apr 8, 2016)

malexthekid said:


> Can someone explain what the issue with using jknived on melons is? I use most of my high end knives on melons (though it is mostly watermelon and the occasional rockmelon {cantaloupe to you guys})



I've never had an issue with melons with a J-knife, or any other nice knife for that matter...


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 8, 2016)

chinacats said:


> I've never had an issue with melons with a J-knife, or any other nice knife for that matter...



One of my friends said _not_ to go the J-knife route because of bones, frozen food... and melons. If y'all don't think they're a problem, I trust you over him. I assumed the problem was the edge getting wedged in the firm melon and breaking a bit, if you didn't get the whole thing at one motion.


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## Keith Sinclair (Apr 8, 2016)

Yeh melons not a problem even use J-knives for pineapples. Maybe meant hard skin Kabocha pumpkin, summer squash etc.


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## mikedtran (Apr 8, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> 165 Shig:
> 
> View attachment 31435



That Shig looks a little familiar. Really glad it is going to a home where it will get some serious use! =)


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 8, 2016)

keithsaltydog said:


> Yeh melons not a problem even use J-knives for pineapples. Maybe meant hard skin Kabocha pumpkin, summer squash etc.



What about spaghetti squash? Do I need to keep a big ugly around for when the girl cooks one of those?


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## richard (Apr 8, 2016)

keithsaltydog said:


> Yeh melons not a problem even use J-knives for pineapples. Maybe meant hard skin Kabocha pumpkin, summer squash etc.



This.

There are some of my J knives I would use with squash, but some others that I probably try to avoid in that application if I can help it. But melons I've never felt wary with...even watermelon...the rind is a little tough, but it's very thin and inside it's not dense and hard like a squash is.


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## spoiledbroth (Apr 8, 2016)

DanHumphrey said:


> What about spaghetti squash? Do I need to keep a big ugly around for when the girl cooks one of those?



what is it with women and spaghetti squash


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 9, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> what is it with women and spaghetti squash



Well, this one's gluten intolerant, so it's the way to have spaghetti without actual spaghetti.


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## rhymeswithoranj (Apr 9, 2016)

I keep my Globals for tough jobs.


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## BCROB (Apr 11, 2016)

depends if you wanna go through the chicken bone or the whole chicken in a single swipe..........


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## DanHumphrey (Apr 11, 2016)

BCROB said:


> depends if you wanna go through the chicken bone or the whole chicken in a single swipe..........



...or the whole block, by the looks of that thing! And it's gorgeous.


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## BCROB (Apr 11, 2016)

DanHumphrey said:


> ...or the whole block, by the looks of that thing! And it's gorgeous.



Hahaha thanks Dan , always enjoy making the beefy blade kitchen "Boss's"


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## Casaluz (Apr 11, 2016)

For splitting chickens and racks of ribs I use a Suisin High-Carbon Steel Honesuki 150 mm, for big jobs of hard vegetables and proteins I reach for my trusted Gesshin Kagero Yo-Gyuto Powdered Steel 240 mm


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## jbart65 (Apr 17, 2016)

An F. Dick heavy cleaver for rib bones, boned chicken, and cutting leg of lamb bone, etc.

A Messmeister 9-inch Stealth Elite for hard squash and such.

An Anryu Hammered for boneless meats, veggies, fruit melons and everything else. My toughest J-knife.


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## Leifer (Dec 10, 2016)

I just got the MAC SDK-85 "heavy cleaver" in their Ultimate line.

4mm at spine.
351 grams (12.4 oz)

....de-boned a chicken with ease....hacked it's way through the backbone easily.


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## JaVa (Dec 11, 2016)

My 18 year old Mac pro. I have no Idea what steel they were made at the time. It's never been thinned and is a little fat behind the edgeI thought about thinning it and also maybe selling it, but eventually decided to keep it around for beater duties and not thin it. With the sturdy edge it can really take good beating and I don't need to go slumming with European softies. :justkidding:


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## jljohn (Dec 11, 2016)

Just to link them together, here is a thread dealing with knives used on squash specifically:

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...s-Your-Knife-of-Choice-for-Hard-Winter-Squash

I've been using a Victorinox/Fibrox 10" chef's as my beater.


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## Omega (Dec 11, 2016)

That video of the Tojiro Western Deba is unbelievable to me.. I've been so careful and gentle with my knives.. I can't believe how incredible aggressive he's being, and that a single bevel especially is just shrugging it off.


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## Leifer (Dec 11, 2016)

I may have a different experience than others.....I like a thinner blade to quarter a winter squash....it seems to "cut through" the stiff flesh, where as a thick blade is "forced through" or "breaking through".
As long as it's a long-ish blade, and I can put pressure (two hands) one the tip and one on the handle....it seems to work.
Yes, that's pushing as well, but it slides easier.
Perhaps I'll do a test.
Def a 50/50 blade though. If it's one-sided I get a curved cut.


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## ThEoRy (Dec 11, 2016)

Omega said:


> That video of the Tojiro Western Deba is unbelievable to me.. I've been so careful and gentle with my knives.. I can't believe how incredible aggressive he's being, and that a single bevel especially is just shrugging it off.



Who me? lol. No sweat. It's just a Tojiro yo deba. It's basically a really really thick and heavy double beveled gyuto. I would never do that with my single beveled debas.


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## Omega (Dec 11, 2016)

ThEoRy said:


> Who me? lol. No sweat. It's just a Tojiro yo deba. It's basically a really really thick and heavy double beveled gyuto. I would never do that with my single beveled debas.



Ooooh.. My ignorance is showing. I didn't realize that was double beveled! I mean, even still, I'm quite impressed- I'm sure I've just been scared into timidity by all the well-meaning-yet-fervant words of caution with Japanese knives. 

And it certainly wasn't a criticism of you! Only to say your confidence is inspiring. And also terrifying ;D How does that knife hold up after a long night of Chicken prep?


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## daveb (Dec 11, 2016)

L, There's probably a thesaurus around here somewhere but "western" or "yo" describing a knife will mean double (though perhaps asymetric) bevel, describing a handle it will mean the traditional Euro, sometimes 3 rivet, handle as opposed to "wa" or Japanese.


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