My old boss told me to never sharpen my boning knife past a 20 degree angle. Tried a 15 degree edge on a pork shoulder last week and it was a game changer.

3 comments

3 Comments

My uncle ran a butcher shop for thirty years and swore by a 22 degree edge. A 15 degree angle is way too thin for breaking down a whole carcass. That edge will chip on bone or cartilage, and you'll spend more time fixing it than cutting. For a pork shoulder at home, sure, but try that on a side of beef and you're just making more work for yourself.

simonb9226d agoMost Upvoted

My grandpa was a butcher in Chicago and he used a 17 degree edge on his scimitar for forty years without chipping. Modern steels are way better than they were thirty years ago, so a thinner angle holds up fine. I think @phoenix_clark3 is stuck in the past on this one. A sharper, thinner blade goes through tissue cleaner and actually reduces how much you hit bone because your cuts are more precise.

pats8921d ago

My buddy Jake sharpened his main boning knife to 17 degrees for his catering gig. He was prepping fifty pounds of short ribs last Friday and the tip just folded over on the first rib bone. Had to stop everything, regrind the edge back to 20, and he was an hour behind on prep. He said it cut like a dream on the meat, but one wrong touch on hard stuff and it was toast.