I finally figured out why my breakdowns were taking so long

I was breaking down a side of beef at the shop last Tuesday and kept hitting this wall where my knife work was just sloppy. Took me like 45 minutes longer than usual. I was getting frustrated, swapping blades every few cuts, blaming the steel. Then my buddy Mike walks over and watches me for a minute. He says, 'You're standing too far back from the table, man. You're reaching instead of letting the blade do the work.' I moved my feet closer, squared up my stance, and suddenly everything just clicked. The silverside came off clean, the flank was perfect. I'd been fighting my setup for years over something that simple. Anyone else ever had a basic posture thing mess with your cuts that bad?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_sam1mo ago

Wait, so you're telling me I broke down and bought a whole new set of Japanese blades last month for nothing? I moved my cutting board an inch to the left and suddenly my posture was perfect and my knife was sharp again. Now I'm stuck with a bunch of fancy steel I'm too scared to use because I don't want to chip it. Thanks, Mike.

the_fiona1mo ago

Tossed my old knives in a drawer for backup and never looked back, those Japanese blades just sit pretty now.

ivan7741mo ago

I actually read somewhere that most home cooks never sharpen their knives more than once a year if that, so the real issue isn't the steel it's just people not maintaining them. Those Japanese blades need a specific angle when you sharpen them too, like 15 degrees instead of the standard 20, and nobody tells you that when you buy them. I saw a YouTube video from a knife shop in Tokyo that said most of their returns were from people who just beat them up on bamboo cutting boards not even knowing they were doing damage.

gray8751mo ago

Roll that cutting board an inch to the left and suddenly you're a sushi chef with a $300 paperweight. I'd just use the fancy ones for opening boxes at this point, they'd be good for something. Or hang them on the wall like some kind of kitchen museum piece. Either way, you've got a nice story to tell about the time you spent a mortgage payment on a knife you're too scared to touch.