Boning Knife
A boning knife takes punishment. Don't spend much on one.
A boning knife is a specialist tool — long, thin, and flexible enough to work around joints and bone without taking half the meat with it. It's also the knife that gets the most abuse. Scraping against bone dulls an edge fast, which is why spending serious money on one makes no sense. The Starrett Professional Stainless Steel Narrow Straight Boning Knife costs £5.50, takes a sharp edge quickly on a honing steel or leather strop, and is reliable enough to reach for every time you're breaking down a chicken or deboning thighs. When it's done, sharpen it. When it's truly done, buy another one.
Why I use it
Boning knives wear faster than anything else in the kitchen. This one costs £5.50 and sharpens back up in thirty seconds on a strop. That's the whole argument. I use it for butchering chickens, deboning thighs, and anything else that involves working close to bone — and I don't have to think twice about how hard I use it.
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