Guilty of bad knife thinking

S

stargawker

Joined
Mar 1, 2014
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228
Just getting into better knives, so my knife thinking isn't that sharp yet. :)

I had a client give me a couple of salmon. While I appreciated the gift, it had been over 20 years since I cleaned a fish - ANY fish! So I found a YouTube video on cleaning a salmon, watched it a couple of times and decided to give it a go. I have no dedicated fishing knife, so I grabbed the closest kitchen knife I could find to the shape (a small deboning knife, I think) and went out and gave it a go.

My first attempt was a little rough, the second much better. Overall, it went better than expected (thanks to the video) but I found that my kitchen knife had difficulty breaking the skin on the fish. My kitchen knives were bought as a cheap set some years ago and this experience showed me how poor they are.

It was only after I was done, that I realized I should have taken some other knives out as a backup. While my knife collection is just starting, I do have an Ontario RAT 2 and a Rough Rider lockback canoe knife that are always kept sharp. Either of these may have worked better but they never occurred to me, probably because I assumed the greater length and serrated edge of the kitchen knife would have worked better. One of these two knives was probably even in my pocket that day as my EDC, but I never even thought to pull it out and try it instead.

So I learned that I should experiment more, try multiple knives to see what works best until I learn. Oh, and to start looking for better kitchen knives. :)
 
And! Get a filet knife. :). Hopefully you won't get as obsessed as some of us here. I could probably carry a different knife every day of the year and not repeat carry.
 
I've found for my needs, the Victorinox kitchen knife line is a good bang for your money. I like the Fibrox handles as they are a little larger and the material is still easy to grip when wet or slimy. I use several for processing deer and other meats.

Maybe worth a look.
 
It's important to have a good boner but for larger jobs a filet knife is definitely the right tool.
 
So many "Knife People" over look there culinary knives and have some lousy dull as a door nob stuff in their kitchen. Don't feel bad.

Kitchens knives get used more often than most any other. First, get a good primary Chef knife, then a long slicer, Short slicer/sandwich knife and a couple of paring knives. From there you can get Boning Fillet etc knives as needed.
 
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