Spent $150 on a boning knife that chipped on the third job

I picked up this fancy German steel boning knife from a local shop because my old one kept losing its edge. Cost me about $150, which hurt but I figured it would last years. Third time using it on a whole hog, the tip chipped off while I was working around the shoulder blade. Called the company and they said it wasn't covered because of "improper use." Anybody else ever drop good money on a knife and get burned like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron89623h ago

Yeah that "improper use" excuse is total garbage. They know full well people are gonna use these knives for actual butchery work, not just slicing tomatoes in a fancy kitchen. $150 is a lot of money to get told to kick rocks after three uses. I get that high end steel is harder and can be brittle, but chipping on the shoulder blade of a hog is pretty standard work for a boning knife. Feels like these companies are selling us a dream that breaks the second we actually need it. I'd be pretty pissed off too.

iris_rivera4423h ago

That whole "harder steel means it stays sharp longer" sales pitch ignores the trade-off. They never tell you about the brittleness part until after cash leaves your account.

the_ben1d ago

Bought a $200 Japanese gyuto a couple years back and the edge rolled on the first pork shoulder I broke down. I was pretty bummed too. Honestly, I think some of these high end knives are just too brittle for the kind of work we do with bones and joints. I switched over to a Victorinox Fibrox for my heavy boning work and it's held up way better, cost me like 40 bucks. Your mileage may vary on that but that's what worked for me. A lot of those expensive knives are meant for precision slicing, not hacking around hog shoulders.