Hand Forged Boning Knife, 6 Inch Carbon Steel Blade, Green Resin

Sunday afternoon, two whole birds on the board, and the plan is eight pieces from each with the backs and wings going in a pot for stock. That is the job. Six inches of 1095 high carbon, stiff the whole way along, with a fine point that finds the gap in a hip joint. The handle is green resin, sized for a wet hand.

Specification

The blade

1095 is plain high carbon with no pattern in it. The spine keeps the dark gray it came from the forge with, and the bevel is taken back to bright satin. The blade runs straight to a fine point on a shallow flat grind that holds the tip thin. It is stiff. A fillet blade is thinner and has give so it can follow the ribs of a fish. This one is the opposite, rigid and short, for working around joints. Carbon steel darkens as you use it and it will spot if you leave it wet.

The handle

Green resin, poured and then shaped and polished by hand, so the color sits deep. Resin takes up no water and no fat, and it does not care how many times the knife goes to the sink in an afternoon. The tang is full, running the whole length, with two brass pins holding the scales on. Four and a half inches is a short handle and that is deliberate. It keeps your hand forward, near the point, where the control is.

The leather sheath

Vegetable tanned leather, stitched by hand, with a welted edge so the seam sits clear of the steel rather than under it. The face is stamped in a basket weave and a snap strap goes over the handle. It covers the blade and stops there. That is what you want for a knife sharing a drawer, or riding in a bag to a friend's kitchen. It was never meant as a belt rig.

Who it suits

Buy birds whole because the price per pound is better and the carcass is worth keeping, and this is the knife for it.

• Anyone taking whole chickens apart at home
• Cooks separating a shoulder or a leg before it roasts
• Someone who wants one stiff knife for meat and poultry
• A cook doing all of it with a paring knife

What comes in the box

• The 6 inch boning knife
• The hand stitched leather sheath
• A care card
• Lifetime warranty and free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

Every blade here is forged, ground and sharpened by hand in small runs, so no two finish the same. The hammer marks land where they land. Resin pours the way it wants to and no two handles carry the same swirl. What arrives will be close to the photographs without matching them.

Looking after it

Hand wash it, dry it straight away, and put it away dry. A light coat of food safe mineral oil before it sits keeps the steel settled. Cut on wood or plastic, never glass, and never the dishwasher, where the heat will take the edge. A gray patina comes up over the first few months and that is the steel looking after itself. More sits on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade, added here on the product page. Around 30 characters fits, so a name and a date reads better than a sentence. We send a proof image before the laser runs, which adds 3 to 5 business days. Engraving is free on orders of 10 or more. There is more detail on the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Will this steel rust? It can. 1095 darkens with use and spots if it is left wet, so dry it and oil it now and then.

Is 6 inches the right length for a chicken? It is. The blade reaches through a bird and still turns inside a joint.

Can I use it on fish? You can, though a fillet blade has give and this one has none. If fish is the main job, look at the fillet knives.

Is the blade flexible? No. A boning blade is meant to be stiff, and this one is stiff out to the point.

Is it sharp when it arrives? Yes, sharpened by hand before it ships.

If you would rather have a curve at the point, the boning knife with a curved Damascus blade does this work in another shape. When fish crosses your board as often as poultry, the Damascus fillet knife in olive wood is the flexing half of the pair. The group sits in fillet and boning knives, the other plain steel pieces in 1095 high carbon, and the rest under kitchen knives.