No matter you are a home cook or a professional chef, having a great set of knives is a big bonus to your journey to making delicious meals. Of course, no knife set is completed without a slicing knife and a carving knife. If you are questioning what the differences between the two types are or which knives you should buy, the information below will give you all the answers.
For knives, the blades are the deciding factor as it is important to know which blades you should use to cut various types of meat. Flexible blades cannot cut through tough meat cleanly, and stiff blades can be too rigid that it is difficult to make highly precise cuts.
Is a slicing knife the same as a carving knife?
They are both meat knives and often confused with each other but their uses are a bit different. Physically they all have blades from 6 inches long enabling them to make long cuts, but slicing knife is typically longer and narrower than carving knife which has ridged blade and thicker blade.
For large slabs of roasts, fish, hams without many bones or cartilages, we prefer a slicing knife with flexible straight blade that may have tip quite blunt or pointed to make nice thin slices. However, we use a carving knife for tougher meat or those with more bones as the ridged edge and the curved pointed tip makes it easier to control the movements for distinguishing the meat and the bones while slicing.
Is a chef’s knife the same as a carving knife?
If you have heard of a chef’s knife, a cook’s knife, or a French knife, they are actually just various ways to call a single type of knife, which we will settle to address it as a chef’s knife in this review. The chef’s knife is the most versatile and common knife found in any kitchen due to it being an all-purpose knife.
Its curved edge looks similar to a slight hill slope, granting users the ability to rock the knife back and forth on the cutting board. The blade is generally heavy and broad, making it suitable for chopping bones, vegies, fruits, or big chunks of meat. The length of a chef’s knife can extend from 6 to 12 inches. Nonetheless, this is not the perfect knife for carving. I would prefer a carving knife for cutting thin slices without crushing them and easily maneuver around the joints thanks to the ridged blade.
Now you should have the basics down about the different purposes of the carving knife and the slicing knife. All what’s left is to know which brand or model of knife to buy to that you won’t spend money on something you don’t find useful enough. With that being said, let’s end with the explanations and move on to the reviews.
1. Maestro Cutlery Volken Series German High Carbon Stainless Steel 8” Inch Professional Slicing knife with Black Wood Handle
The first contender on my list is the very user-friendly Maestro Cutlery Volken Slicing knife. Don’t be fooled by its budget price, the quality is definitely far more than my initial expectation.
The blade is 8 inches in length, allowing users to make moderately long strikes. The blade made from both high carbon steel and stainless steel manufactured in Germany, not only durable but also hard and sharp.
However, what makes this wood carving knife special is that the edge is tuned into an 18-degree angle on both sides to further increase sharpness and cutting strength. This double bevel knife makes it extra easy to smoothly slice through meat and poultry. And I don’t even have to worry about rusting or dirtying the blade as the material is already rust-resistant and stain-resistant.
In addition, the handle is made of sleek-looking black wood handle which is double-riveted to keep it stable and added in heat and water endurance properties. I could also feel the smoothness of the handle and love how it fits into my grip so firmly and comfortably.
For customers’ peace of mind, Maestro also throws in a lifetime warranty along with a 90-day money back policy. You can thus have little fear about receiving a faulty product without any compensation.
But to be fair, this slicing knife is still not strong enough to boldly cut through tough chunks of pork or beef and may wear out pretty quickly if you use it constantly like for hours for days, so perhaps not so ideal for professional use. Still, this is my favorite choice for making home-cooked meals.
2. Mercer Culinary Millennia Granton Slicer Knife, 11 Inch
The Mercer Culinary Millennia Granton slicer knife is crowned as the best-selling bread knife on Amazon for good reasons. While this knife is perfect for slicing bread or cakes, it does not lose out when it comes to meat.
With a 11 inches long blade, you have more freedom to effortlessly slice through any large loaves of bread or pieces of meat. But this knife really stands out for its Granton design offered at an extremely affordable price. A Granton knife means having a row of scallops grounded into the blade sides that help to avoid tearing and shedding of food as the blade would slide through clingy or moist food without bending onto them.
If the Meastro blade is made in Germany, this slicing knife’s high carbon blade is imported all the way from Japan, the Asian culture known for its highly skilled food cutting techniques. The cut is so clean and smooth, especially useful for slicing a fish. This also poses a rust resistant feature so it does last a long time.
I know all too well the annoyance of holding a slippery knife handle that are both irritating and dangerous, so this knife is seriously a gift. The comfort the handle’s ergonomic design offers is truly one of the best. Not to mention the texture finger points along with the finger guard make the experience particularly satisfying.
This is the knife passes the line between professional and home use with its impressive strength, sharpness, and easy of use. Though I do gripe about one thing that the blade is supposedly stain-resistant, it still caught some colors from cutting beetroots or curcumin. Should not be a big problem if you wash he knife frequently as its stains will eventually fade away.
3. 12-inch Blade Granton Edge, Turkey, Salmon, ham Slicer, Meat Slicing knife. NSF Certified
Need a slightly longer slicing knife for bigger jobs but still within your budget? The Icel Granton meat slicing knife may very well be your ideal choice.
With a blade of 12 inches, I can make long and thin slices in as few strokes as possible in order to make the food look flawlessly clean and neat. This knife is also a Granton type that helps cutting moist food more efficiently with its air pockets embedded the blade.
Like the majority of good slicing knives, this one is made from German high carbon stainless steel but is manufactured in Portugal. The conical ground supports making a smooth cut from top to bottom. I especially love how sharp the edge is just like its claim. Perhaps this excellent sharpness is from ice tempering the blade to finesse during the production process.
The unique point of this knife is the bolster less edge which helps sharpening immensely easy. I am not at all fond of sharpening knives as sometimes it does not work if I use too little force, but then it would chip the blade if I use too much force. With the Icel knife, I just effortlessly push it back and forth on my sharpener and it becomes razor-sharp in a few attempts, no hassles, no chipping, no breaking.
The National Sanitary Foundation (NSF) certifies that the manufacturing process of this knife meets the utmost sanitary standards so cut away with confidence! And of course, a knife this good does not miss being stain and rust resistant. One thing I should warn you that this is sharp, yes sharp enough to cut your finger with a slight touch, so be really careful.
4. Victorinox 12 Inch Fibrox Pro Slicing knife with Granton Blade
Next on the list is the Victorinox Granton slicing knife. In case you are wondering why there are so many Granton knives on this list, this is the most universal and ideal design for slicing knife, which can serve to slice almost any types of food with ease.
Similar to Icel, the Victorinox slicing knife is also 12 inches long for cutting long strokes. If anything, the highlight is that its blade is a bit narrower than the Icel and the air pockets are slightly more oval. This further mitigates the possibility of food getting onto the blade by decreasing friction for simpler and more flexible motions.
Approved for professional use, this meat slicing knife is marked as a Highly Recommended product by one of the most reputable gourmet magazines – the Cook’s Illustrated. This would be a great choice for any restaurant chefs looking for an adequately efficient knife for daily use without burning a hole in their pocket. I would also recommend this for home chefs who need to cut huge chunks of roasted beef or turkey for festive occasions and are willing to spend a bit more for quality.
The slicing knife is a product from Switzerland with life time warranty if you ever encounter problems with defects from the original workmanship or materials. Made from high quality European steel, this knife promises to not cause fatigue to your hands while holding it for long hours. Also, the handle is not at all slippery and I never feel my hands sweating using this.
Nevertheless, there is one downside of this which is the packaging. The knife is beautiful and all but the packaging looks a bit cheap. Okay this may be just me nitpicking useless stuffs but I certainly love knives with sleeker packaging especially for this price.
5. 14″ slicing knife Brisket Slicer, Hollow Edge
I was a bit hesitated to include the Wüsthof Brisket Slicer which is an expensive slicing knife in my list as it may raise questions. But hey there are reasons for this high price and who knows maybe this is just what you need.
With a massive 14 inches length, this looks almost like a short sword, excellent for slicing gigantic meat hunks. I used this to slice a smoked brisket and it was as simple as drinking tea. Home cooks may find this not suitable for their needs but professional chefs would probably find this a life savior.
Again, I know, this is a Granton type with hollow scallops to cut through meat cleanly without mangling them. The material used for forging the blade befits the price as it is made of chrom-molybdenum-vanadium steel, remarkably durable and free from rust or stains.
It is even cooler that they used art laser technology to produce the blade, explaining the exceptionally sharpness and the perfect shape of the edge as well as the scallops. All the knives I mentioned above are already much sharper than your average knives, but this Wüsthof brisket slicing knife takes the cake, to the extent that I am a little nervous using this.
One single thing I would have to complain is the extravagantly big size makes it very difficult to cut smaller pieces of meat or veggies and fruits, but this is a given as I would have other knives for those small jobs. You should consider to buy this only if you need to cut something so tough and big.
6. BLACK+DECKER 9-Inch Electric Carving knife, Black, EK500B
Okay you must be bored of reading about good old traditional knives for now, so how about a little mood change with our only electric carving knife on the list. This BLACK+DECKER Electric Carving knife is tailor-made for perfectly disjointing cartilages from meat, even the most stubborn ones.
This has a 9 inches blade made from high quality stainless steel with ridged edge. The most prominent is it being a carving knife set with electrical functions, which means that there are a different type of blades in one set and the blades will move horizontally while cutting. Just set up by attaching one of the blades to the handle, plug in, and press the control button, and enjoy cutting away.
As advertised, this knife set can also slice breads and meat but I don’t think it gives clean cuts like a Granton slicing knife can. Expect to find little pieces of food sticking out if you use this to lice food. However, it is so useful for drafting purposes because cutting cardboards or foams have never been easier. But chefs might appreciate its power for separating cartilages and meat more.
The handle comes with a safety lock button so you won’t accidentally turn it on and expose yourself to dangers. There is also a blade lock and blade release button to ensure that the blade won’t unexpectedly fall out while cutting. All the parts are also dish-washer safe so feel free to toss them into your dishwasher without worrying about cleaning manually.
While I was told that I don’t even need to sharpen it, I found the knife actually became duller with each use. Given that I have been using this almost every day, the durability is not bas but I definitely need to sharpen it. But that does not stop me from living this knife because it is great for working around tricky bones or cartilages and just so valuable for the low price I paid.
7. Ginsu Gourmet Chikara Series Forged 420J Japanese Stainless-Steel Slicing and Carving knife, 07142DS
Ever heard about a knife that promise to do both the slicing and carving decently? They do exist. The Ginsu Gourmet Chikara Slicing and Carving knife is one good example. Though I would recommend these two-in-one options for casual cooks rather than professional chefs as they are not as specialized for carving or slicing.
You can mostly use this knife for cutting small and simple ingredients due to the 8 inches long blade. This cannot handle a huge piece of ham or a whole turkey. But for a basic knife, this is a solid choice as the its premium stainless-steel material imported from Japan is seriously durable as it claims and the sharpness is decent for everyday cooking.
Even though it is a electric carving knife for meat and turkey, it does the slicing alone much better. The pointed tip certainly did help for carving out the meat but I still found residues sticking to the bones and it did take quite some efforts. I did not have these problems with the BLACK+DECKER knife, which I think is the best turkey carving knife I have used.
The most redeeming feature is how light weighted it feels on hand. This is nice as my wrist does not feel tired and making it an ideal knife when I need to make a quick simple meal that does not need a showy appearance.
The Chikara knife has appeared on the Best Buy section on the Consumer Report 5 times for its versatile usage and quality. I think it really deserves the title because it is likely my most used knife for casual slicing even though it is not the sharpest or the most efficient to cut large meat. Like many knives, this one also offers a Lifetime Warranty for your buying confidence.
8. DALSTRONG Slicing Carving knife – 12″ Granton Edge – Gladiator Series – German HC Steel – w/Sheath
Moving on to the Dalstrong slicing and carving knife, we have an award-winning candidate for razor-sharp slicing and filleting.
This is longer than the Chikara knife at 12 inches and feature high-end material which is high-carbon steel from Germany engineered at the standard of 55 Rockwell hardness. Same with the Meastro knife, this has an 18-degree angle on both sides, making your cutting movement more fluid and controlled.
While this is also a meat carving knife, it looks very similar to specialized Granton slicing knives except that the scallops seem rounder and less hollow. Not sure if that makes any difference to the slicing experience but I think this one only carves big rib bones moderately well. The blade just cannot reach small areas where more delicate pieces of meat need to be disjointed. Any further attempt would crush the meat and make it look unsavory.
That being said, I think this makes an outstanding slicing knife in its own right. The sharpness is on par with most of the sharpest slicing knives mentioned above. The build also seems to be quite sturdier and resist to stains and rust better with excellent edge retention capability. The handle is well designed too as it fits tightly into my hands.
I really live how this knife looks so luxurious from the blade to the handle finish. It definitely brightens up my kitchen and attracts all my friends’ gazes when they come over. No one would expect that this quality costed me under 70 dollars. Dalstrong also gives you the freedom to return the product without any charge for a limited time after purchase if you are unsatisfied with the purchase.
9. Tuo Cutlery 9 inch Slicing Carving knife – Japanese AUS-10D Damascus Steel – Meat Knife with Ergonomic G10 Handle – RING-D Series
I bought the Tuo Slicing and Carving knife as recommended by a professional chef that I am close to. It was a pleasant surprise how this fancy-looking knife actually can pull off both the carving and slicing competently.
At 9 inches, this is a good knife for medium sized pieces of meat, neither too small or too big. What so exceptional about this is a Japanese slicing knife with stunning mosaic patterns on the blade which is made of Damascus stainless steel. I think this unique design is what makes this tuo slicing knife a true one.
As with the Granton blades, this also has scallops to prevent food mangling when slicing. But the mosaic-like things grounded on the blade surface are really the factor that make slicing so fluid and enjoyable. For carving, I sometimes find very few cartilages that are hard to walk around but the strikes are mostly clean, not as neat as what specialized carving knives can do but this is certainly a step up.
Each side is 8-12 degree sharp, which should be the best angle of a blade but need great precision during the production to make one. The handle is military grade which promises to stay durable for an extended period of time. Aside from the ergonomic construct, it is also resistant to sweats and oxidization from the elements.
Despite all the awesomeness this Tuo knife can offer, don’t expect that it will glide through meat like slicing through hot butter. The sharpness is incredible for a two-in-one choice but is still lacking in compared to knives that are only meant to slice through tough meat. And the price is not really budget-friendly either.
10. Moteng Ontario Knives Slicing knife
I have saved the most basic choice for the minimalists out there. The Moteng Ontario Slicing knife is exactly the sharper and studier alternative to the typical supermarket quality knives most would have in their kitchens.
Like you would have guessed, this Ontario knife has a plain edge and flat blade, nothing fancy like the ones above. The blade’s material is simply carbon steel and the handle’s is hardwood. Everything is made and manufactured right inside the U.S, but this is why it is a charming option for those who love domestic products.
I love how the design is really straightforward but does leave an impression with some straight lines edged into the top part of the blade. For cutting power, it did a great job during the first couple of weeks but wore out a little quickly after that so I have to re-sharpen it every few weeks but it is not too much a drag due to its small economic size of 8 inches.
This knife is so cute that it fits my small hand to a T, but people with bigger hands may have troubles keeping this stable inside their grips so watch out for that. It does not come with anti-rust or anti-stain features so I do have to put some efforts into maintaining it. Though just storing it in dry places or avoiding cutting food with colors should be good enough. Also, it cannot replace a carving knife at all, but the price is really minimalistic too so you really get what you pay for.
11. Hamilton Beach 74250 Carve ‘n Set Electric Knife with Case, White
If you’ve experienced Hamilton’s blenders, you must have known how trustworthy their products are. And this Hamilton electric carving knife for meat and turkey continues to prove their hard-earned reputation.
This electric knife features a 9 inches detachable double blade, which is so sharp that it can cut breads evenly without deforming them and doesn’t require you to literally push down onto the food. The whole blade, including the handle, is approximately 12 inches long with a 5 feet electrical cord for a comfortable using.
The blade locking mechanism appears to be extremely secure with no issues with the blades inadvertently falling out as I have had with a few other units before. What’s more, the set also includes a large meat fork which comes in handy every time. To top it off, there’s a hard, secure storage case to keep both the blade and fork hygienic and easy for carrying around.
There are 2 issues that I’ve found with this knife. First off, the unit gets really heated after a short amount of use, which requires stopping the knife frequently to allow it to cool down . Second, the handle can be a bit thick for some, especially those with small hands. Moreover, you have to keep constant pressure on the “cut” button for the knife to work. Thus, one point for improvement would be to replace it with an on/off switch or something similar.
Overall, having considered the price, this Hamilton electric knife is a good value of money. And to be honest, I wouldn’t even mind paying an extra bit if I have to.
12. DALSTRONG Butcher’s Breaking Cimitar Knife – Gladiator Series 10″ Slicer – German HC Steel – Sheath Guard Included
I have experienced most of the large companies’ products whose names are well known. Without hesitation, Dalstrong remains my all time favorite for their dedication towards “perfection”. And this DALSTRONG Butcher’s Breaking Cimitar 10’’ slicing knife is one great example of this perfection.
Whether you’re a professional chef or a home cook, a sharp knife is a requirement and this Dalstrong knife is razor sharp and beautifully crafted. The blade is generous in length and is gradually curved to generate leverage so that you don’t have to saw through the meat in order to cut it.
I have used it to break down a whole chicken, slice through chicken breast, slice steaks from a ribeye roast and cut up a pork loin into chops. I have absolutely running right through cartilage and any silver skin I come across with as much ease as running a hot knife through butter.
The blade is connected with an ergonomic black pakkawood handle with full tang and triple riveted to create the perfect balance for the knife. What’s more, the knife also comes with an impeccable package presentation, making me fall in love with it at first sight.
Dalstrong’s efforts and their attention to details have definitely paid off by the love and positive reviews from its customers. This knife will prove to be a game-changer in the kitchen and will worth every penny spent on it.
13. Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Four Star Slicing Knife 200mm/8″
I have had Henckels for years, knowing how exceptional their creations are. That’s why when the company released the Twin Four Star series, I didn’t hesitate to purchase one immediately. The series features improvements on the weight and balance as well as a polypropylene handle which permanently sticks to the blade with no gap.
This 8 inch Henckels slicing knife is built from a single piece of ice-hardened Friodur steel, using a Signmaforge construction to create an exceptional sturdiness and balance. Plus, the laser-cut edge is absolutely razor sharp to give more consistently precise cuts. I have used this knife to slice raw and cooked meat and the result is satisfyingly even and clean cuts of meat with less pressure needed compared to some of my other knifes.
The handle is ergonomically-designed, comfortable for holding and provide weight as well as more balance for an easier using. I have full faith in this knife’s durability as I have a chef friend who has owned it for over 20 years. Get yourself a good sharpener and you will be set for years. The knife can withstand the dishwasher, which is also a nice extra.
This is such a fine culinary instrument that I can hardly find anything to complain about it, and it definitely worths the price offered. Henckels has definitely done it again!
My own most important personal criteria for choosing a good knife is the level of sharpness and the suitable design I need for different purposes. I don’t really care about where the material is made in as comparing that can be a bit convoluted when what truly matters is how the manufacturers put those materials into use. Hopefully the reviews have given you some useful suggestions on buying a good slicing knife and carving knife.
