What does a knife cut?

• A knife is for cutting meat; it is not meant to cut through bone or any other hard surface. Glancing the blade on bone is a sure way to blunt your edge quickly. Trying to cut through bone with a knife is an impossible task; you might as well wave goodbye to your blade for the day.

• For the fine cutting of meat it is the end of the blade that is used – that is, the last inch of the blade to the point. Do not use that when cutting around a deer’s knee joint to remove it, use the first part of the blade near the handle to break the skin and sinew, then dislocate the knee and cut through any tendons that are left. The last inch of blade is always used for finer work.

• If you are filleting then there are times you will glance the bone using it as a guide to your blade. Try to prevent the end of the blade scraping the bone. If it does, and it probably will, use a steel to sharpen it straight after you have completed that task. Just a few strokes over the steel and the blade will be as good as new.

• Anything that you glance a blade on will blunt it. Try to keep it away from metal. For example, try to avoid glancing the blade on a carcass cradle, a gambrel or a wooden bench.

• I run carcass handling and butchery demonstrations and by the end of the day the knives, which are all sharpened beforehand, are just about sharp enough to attempt to cut a banana with. It is hardly surprising as people come to learn various techniques and inevitably the knives are used and abused. Which reminds me, I have just held a course and need to sharpen all of my knives as I can hardly tell the difference between the sharp bit and the back of the blades.