Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife | Gear Review

I love the Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife. I’m not stating that you can’t get by in life without it in your knife arsenal but on certain jobs it just makes them more pleasurable to perform. In fact, quite a few of our jobs. Let me list out some of these jobs.

Smith’s 8″ EdgeSport Boning Knife

You can slice your deer backstraps into steaks and, for that matter, even your beef ribeyes into rib steaks with a 6” knife, but you will make a lot smoother and more professional-looking steaks if you use an 8” knife. If you use a smaller-bladed knife on this job, your steaks will be slightly ragged-looking.

You can also get more steaks (and of even thickness) with an 8” knife. Let me explain. Unless you’re a professional steak slicer you’re likely to cut your steaks at varying thicknesses from 5/8” to 1 ¼” thick. I’ll lay a ruler on the backstrap and make a mark every ½” and then make my slices with an 8” blade knife. This allows me to produce consistent thickness steaks; consequently, I get more steaks because they’re of the same thickness. Even with the backstrap marked, it’s hard not to make choppy cuts with a smaller-bladed knife. It will also make obtaining more uniform thickness steaks easier if the meat is chilled and slightly crusty.

If you like to smoke briskets, then a Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife works great for trimming the thick fat cover down to a uniform ½” thickness. You’ll want a uniform fat thickness for three reasons:

1. If you slip and make a cut down to the lean, then that area will get dried out when smoking the brisket.
2. If the fat is too thick, then it prevents the smoke from penetrating the meat.
3. If you don’t trim the fat to a uniform thickness, then the meat will not cook uniformly.

On certain fat-trimming jobs, the good trimmers semi-roll their wrist while pushing the blade through the fat. It might be a little hard to visualize what I’m saying, but try it next time you trim the fat on your meat, and you should be able to figure it out.

I like to smoke meat and make BBQ sandwiches. Whether I use briskets or deer/antelope/elk shoulders after they’re smoked, you have to chop them up into ½” chunks.

Another instance when I chop a lot of meat is when making sausage. You’ll have to chop your big chunks into roughly 1”x4” chunks so they fit into your grinder. If they’re too big they’ll plug up your grinder or not fit into the throat of the grinder.

For me, the Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife has the perfectly designed blade for all of my slicing/trimming job needs.

You could say that I favor this design because it is what we have used for the last 45 years in the big Beef Plants. I’d respond, though, that they use this design because it is what performs best. Remember, this is what these guys do for a living. And once again, you can use whatever knife you want, but the upswept 8” design, like on the Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife, is the perfect design.

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Sharpen the Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife like any other knife, but after it is sharp, touch it up while using it every 2-3 minutes with a smooth steel, and it will stay sharp for the day.

I’m not saying that it is the perfect fish filleting knife, but one time while on a King Mackerel fishing trip in Florida, the guide grabbed a knife with this design and did a good job of filleting our catch. It has basically zero flex, so I’m not recommending it as the ideal fish fillet knife, but it did work fine on our mackerel due to their design.

I like that it comes with a plastic sheath. This way, you can throw it in your boat or tackle box without dinging up the edge. Plus, it helps prevent you from getting cut. The sheath has slots cut in the sides so the blade can air out.

As usual, we will close with the company specs. The MSRP on the Smith’s 8” EdgeSport Boning Knife is $32.99.

Product Features:

• 8″ Razor sharp curved 400 series stainless blade
• Non-slip soft grip TPE ergonomic handle
• Breathable protective sheath
• Perfect for fresh or salt water
• Lanyard Hole: Tether Ready

About Tom Claycomb

Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”