Thread: Why are kiwi knives more curved?

@Tahr actually said what I was going to next...

Gibo you are spot on. If there was no curve we would use a sharpened steel ruler. If now you look at every knife you own as simply a sharp radius, you will see how their shape dicatates their use.

For more precise work, its obvious a smaller radius is required. The interesting bit is where the fulcrum is.

Take the Blahco on the previous page, compared to the second skinner @HILLBILLYHUNTERS made. The bahco has a smaller radius, much further away from the handle at the end of a straight blade. This shifts the fulcrum forward, generally to the wrist, which makes the knife used in a 'picking' motion, great for cutting out the ring gear and head skinning etc. Smaller picking strokes of the radius in the cut.
Hillybillyhunters skinner on the right has a much larger radius, much closer to the handle, shifting the fulcrum to the rear, generally the elbow. This makes the knife more productive to use in long sweeping cuts, and is why it is favoured by freezing workers in a primary breakdown role and for people doing a lot of skinning. Being a larger radius it is less useful for delicate work although a good knifeman will make it look easy, and the radius affords a motion that doesn't use the wrist and avoiding repetitive strain injuries which is important if you are unzipping 25,000 sheep a week. Watch a good butcher or slaughterman at the works, you will see very little wrist action at all.

Theres your useless bit of info for the week