That cheap boning knife cost me $60 in ruined meat

I bought a $12 boning knife off Amazon last month just to see if it could handle light work. First week it felt okay but by the third week the edge was chipping bad. I ruined a whole pork shoulder trying to trim it clean and had to toss about 4 pounds of meat. Anyone else have bad luck with those bargain-bin knives?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa_clark741mo ago

Man that sucks. I actually read some article about how cheap steel in those knives is way too brittle for boning work, its meant for like light veggie slicing. The metallurgy just isnt there for stuff like pork shoulder where you hit bone or cartlidge. My buddy bought a similar cheap one and it literally snapped in half on a chicken thigh bone. Better off saving for at least a Victorinox or something mid range, they last forever and you wont waste money replacing ruined cuts.

kai_park1mo ago

Did you check if that article mentioned the heat treatment too? @tessa_clark74 I think you hit the nail on the head. Cheap steel is almost always a gamble, especially when you're talking about the hardness versus toughness balance. A lot of those budget knives are made to be hard so they hold an edge for a few uses, but they trade away any ability to flex or absorb a shock. Boning a pork shoulder or chicken thigh is basically a series of small impacts and scrapes against bone, and that brittle steel just chips or snaps. I've seen the same exact thing happen to a buddy's knife, a big chunk just broke off after one bad hit on a rib bone. You're right that it's better to save up. I've had my Victorinox for almost a decade now and it's still going strong, no chipping, just regular sharpening.

ben_nguyen27d ago

Ended up switching to a Victorinox Fibrox after a similar disaster with a cheap knife that chipped on a pork shoulder bone. That thing has lasted me years now with just regular sharpening and no issues at all. Really drives home that paying a bit more upfront saves you money and frustration in the long run.