cleaning knives whilst processing

[fordfisher]

When I cut up my harvest, I like to sharpen from time to time. However,I seem to get fat buildup on my knives and this seems to clog my diamond sharpener. have you all found anything that will cut the fat off of the steel easily?

 

[ShawnT]

I hold them under hot water from the sink faucet. Hotter the better. It sort of melts the fat off and makes them easier to clean.

ShawnT

 

[RAF]

I've never had a fat build up problem but if you hot water should help. What kind of a knife are you using. I use a boning knife, not the same knife I hunt with. For keeping my knife sharp I use a honing steel.

 

[fordfisher]

Ive generaly used a cheap kitchen set but this year I bought a decent quality set with high carbon, should hold an edge longer. But the fat doesnt get on the edge mainly on the sides of the blade. Ill try the hot water. Im not usually close to hot hot running water since I do the butchering at my barn, I do have hot water available though.

 

[Bucker]

deer

we cut in a detached garage w/ no water. I take my turkey deep frying pot as we always need water to clean table off, knives etc. One it;s boiling back it way down. You always have hot water then.

 

[ShawnT]

Bucker,

Good idea. That is very close to my next suggestion. We de-bone in the barn and then take a chunk in the kitchen and work it up. So Running water is no problem. But we also used to keep water hot on a camp stove when we had no heat and later just kept the pot on the wood stove in the shop. Just keep a dish rag in or next to the pot to wipe the knifes and boards off.

ShawnT

 

[MOdeer]

ShawnT has it right. Hot water will "melt" the fat, makes it easy to get off the blade. We actually take a plastic glass fill it with water, and microwave it to get it boiling hot. Then you can dip the blade in there for as long as you need, then wipe it with a paper towel. Just don't us the same glass for a beer! :shock:

 

[fordfisher]

thanks for the suggestions, Saturday we open for first muzzle season. Ill let you know how the hot water works on big buck fat.

Bucker how do you like turkey from the turkey cooker?
nate

 

[ramitupurs84]

I worked at a meat market for 2 years and hot water that was bleached w/ dial soap made everything come clean. Especially the floors. Sharp sharp knives were always stored for specific uses. Other knives who days were limited were still sharp but used for general uses then sanitized after individual uses. I like fillet knives for skinning, I like a medium length and medium flexible knife with a nice handle for pulling meat and silver skin off. I use a "butcher" knife for cutting chunks for the grinders.

As weird as it sounds paper clips are cool for getting into places on knives were you want the meat out of....