Meatcrafter knife excellent for butchering venison.

[Islander]

Put the Benchmade/Meateater Meatcrafter to the test today on a buck rear quarter. Very nice. Need to get used to the ultra pointed blade. Stick..."Ouch!" Going to cook that eye round (top right) for lunch tomorrow. Photo was taken before I cleaned up each piece to remove all fat and most silver skin.



Mixed up a jerky marrinaide. Used the Wolverine Lodge recipe posted on another popular hunting site. First time making jerky. Should be able to dehydrate it tomorrow morning.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

They look like great knives. I just can't stomach that price.

Making jerky is a tradition of mine! Looking good.

 

[Islander]

They look like great knives. I just can't stomach that price.

Making jerky is a tradition of mine! Looking good.

I know what you mean. I'm finally at an age where I can buy stuff just because I think it's cool and not feel guilty. No kids at home.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I know what you mean. I'm finally at an age where I can buy stuff just because I think it's cool and not feel guilty. No kids at home.

Hell yeah! I'm happy for you. Splurge away. Maybe I'll exclusively ask for that as a present and I'll have it too.

How do you dehydrate your jerky?

 

[ImBillT]

I’m broke as a joke, and still believe in the “buy once cry once” line of thinking. It means that I do without sometimes. Sometimes it actually means that I buy the cheapest and worst product in existence because I intend to replace it with the best in the not too distant future. Other times I buy the best “bang for your buck” type of product. Occasionally I get to buy the best there is(and that almost never disappoints). It depends on the item.


I’m glad you love it, and hope it’s wonderful. I really like Steve.

 

[Shangobango]

It’s on my list.

I want a Benchmade fixed blade for my belt first.

 

[asdew1880]

Any experience in how it compares to a cheaper Dexter butcher knife?

 

[Islander]

Hell yeah! I'm happy for you. Splurge away. Maybe I'll exclusively ask for that as a present and I'll have it too.

How do you dehydrate your jerky?

Thanks Boomerusaf! A really fun time of life right now. Wife still invites me to "workout" on a regular basis, and can afford the time and funds to camp and hunt enough to feel like I'm not getting ripped off.

We have a Brevelle countertop oven. Bought on a whim, and turned out to be an unbelievably useful appliance. We almost never use our big built-in oven anymore. Can cook a 13" pizza or 14 pound turkey, and everything in between. Doesn't heat up the whole kitchen and cools in minutes. Very accurate temperature control and dirt simple to use.

Anyway, the Breville has a convection oven feature. It can also run temperatures down to 120 degrees. So it makes a fantastic dehydrater. I will first do 10 minutes at 275 to kill any bacteria, then probably around 4 hours at 160.

That's the plan. First timer for me, but not exactly a complex recipe.

I'll post the results in this thread.

 

[Islander]

Any experience in how it compares to a cheaper Dexter butcher knife?

I don't compare it to any other knives.

Like I tell my buddies, my F. Dick Boning Knife is almost as useful and only cost $18. The Meatcrafter is better in every way, but not enough to buy it for that reason. I like to support the two USA companies that produced it. I like the incredible steel and other materials. The shape and flex is perfect, as is the handle thickness. It looks cool. Finally, it will last several lifetimes and if not lost will become a family heirloom.

 

[ImBillT]

Any experience in how it compares to a cheaper Dexter butcher knife?

Based in the steel it should hold its edge better, but be more difficult to sharpen. The beauty of high carbon steel is that it sharpens as easily as bad stainless and holds its edge as well as high end stainless. With stainless, most formulations do one or the other. N690 and ATS-34 are notable exceptions that sharpen almost as easily as 1095 and hold their edge better. S45VN should hold an edge better than N690, and ATS-34, but will require special abrasives to sharpen. 1080-1095 carbon steel(somewhat including O1 and it’s relatives) sharpen easily on almost anything and hold an edge quite well. The only big disadvantage is corrosion resistance. I’m not sure what Dexter currently uses, but their old knives were plain carbon steel in the 1080-1095 vein, so edge holding wouldn’t be quite as good, but you could sharpen them by looking at them.

 

[Islander]

I’m broke as a joke, and still believe in the “buy once cry once” line of thinking. It means that I do without sometimes. Sometimes it actually means that I buy the cheapest and worst product in existence because I intend to replace it with the best in the not too distant future. Other times I buy the best “bang for your buck” type of product. Occasionally I get to buy the best there is(and that almost never disappoints). It depends on the item.


I’m glad you love it, and hope it’s wonderful. I really like Steve.

Same here. Over almost 60 years on this earth I've learned to buy cheap or the best. Cheap is temporary, but it has to work. I almost never buy intermediate level, because when I then buy what I really wanted I haven't spent 1.5x as much as if I would have just bought the best the first time.

I learned my lesson with guitars. Still have 14, but only 1/3 of them are fine instruments.

 

[ImBillT]

Same here. Over almost 60 years on this earth I've learned to buy cheap or the best. Cheap is temporary, but it has to work. I almost never buy intermediate level, because when I then buy what I really wanted I haven't spent 1.5x as much as if I would have just bought the best the first time.

I learned my lesson with guitars. Still have 14, but only 1/3 of them are fine instruments.

I have over 100 softball bats, so I understand your fourteen guitars.

 

[Islander]

Jerky came out pretty good. Wife said it's better than store bought jerky, and she's not a big venison fan. Got it slightly dry. Took about 4 hours at 160F and "super-convection" setting.

Will try again at 150F, because the outside dried too much at 160F. Also will check more frequently as it gets close to done.

Here is a a shot of when I pulled it from the marinade. Will add a photo of the finished jerky tomorrow.

 

[Islander]

Snapped a couple shots of the jerky I made (it was at the office). Slightly drier than I wanted, but still very good. Put it in a vacuum sealed bag and in the fridge for later. Going to make a bunch more over the next few weeks. I can't eat all to cool bars folks use on their backpack hunts (severe dairy and nut allergies), so I have to rely on granola bars, jerky, and chocolate for daytime snack calories. This jerky is better than anything I have tasted except maybe Perky Jerky brand turkey jerky. I like that stuff. But I'm no longer willing to spend $32/lb for dried meat.

Did I really say $32/lb? Yep! Perky Jerky is one of the higher end jerkies, but still not that much more than the others. CHEAP Jack Links runs $29.78 a POUND! Even the cheapest Publix branded jerky cost $28 a POUND! You could literally dehydrate some of the finest black angus filet mignon for less.

Some photos of the jerky I made. The fibers are not hairs, just muscle fibers. Good stuff!


INSIDE SHOT SHOWING MOSTLY UNIFORM DRYING

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Looks great! Not too bad for your first time!

 

[HSi-ESi]

Looks great. I've been thinking about the meatcrafter - but was curious on the flex. I do like the sheath...

I've just use a Victrinox boning knife - and made a leather sheath for it so I can throw it in my pack. It suits my needs, but knives are my weakspot...

 

[Islander]

Looks great. I've been thinking about the meatcrafter - but was curious on the flex. I do like the sheath...

I've just use a Victrinox boning knife - and made a leather sheath for it so I can throw it in my pack. It suits my needs, but knives are my weakspot...

I love the flex. Sorry, might have cost you some money.

 

[MO Betta]

Just something I've figured out over the years doing jerky that works well for me is to use a rolled up towel to keep the oven door open so moisture escapes. I line the bottom of the oven with foil to make cleanup easier and hang the strips of meat from the oven racks with toothpicks. As low a temp as I can get (170 on current oven) and let it go for 8-12 hours. Usually start it up before going to bed then check and pull when I wake up.

 

[MO Betta]

Also, I'll probably just stick with my Victorinox knives for a while. If I tried one of those high dollar knives I would end up spending too much money. Glad you like them, they look nice.