Butcher Knife vs. Chef’s Knife: 9 Key Differences

If you’re shopping for a new all-purpose kitchen knife, you might be wondering:

What’s the difference between a butcher knife and a chef’s knife?

Even though they may seem similar, they are designed for different purposes.

A chef’s knife is typically 6 or 8 inches long with a pointed tip and curved edge. It’s an all-purpose knife for slicing, dicing, chopping, and mincing. 

A butcher knife is longer and heavier. It’s designed to cut through bones, large portions of meat, and whole animal carcasses.

Of course, there’s much more to learn about these two knife types before you decide which to buy.

In this comparison of butcher vs. chef’s knives, you’ll learn how they differ in design, length, usage, cutting action, sharpness, weight, price, and how easy they are to obtain.

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Use the links below to navigate the comparison:

• Butcher Knife vs. Chef’s Knife: Comparison Chart
• Differences Between Butcher and Chef’s Knives
• Bottom Line: Do You Need a Butcher Knife, Chef’s Knife, or Both?

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Butcher Knife vs. Chef’s Knife: Comparison Chart

Check out this side-by-side comparison of the butcher knife and chef’s knife. It’s a quick way to get the facts if you need to make a quick decision.

	Butcher Knife	Chef’s Knife
Blade Design	Upward curved blade, blunt or sharp point	Curved edge, sharp point
Blade Thickness	Thicker	Thinner
Blade Length	8-10 inches or longer	6-8 inches or longer
Best Uses	Breaking down meat, bones, and thick fruit or vegetables	Slicing, chopping, dicing, and mincing meat, herbs, vegetables, and fruit
Cutting Action	Blunt chop, hack, saw, slice	Rocking chop, slice
Sharpness	Double bevel	Double bevel
Weight	Weights vary, but generally heavier than chef’s knives	Often more lightweight than butcher knives
Price	Varies by brand, but usually less expensive than chef’s knives (skip to pricing chart)	Varies, but often more expensive than butcher knives (skip to pricing chart)
Accessibility	Fewer choices and less availability	Many options to choose from and easy to find

Differences Between Butcher and Chef’s Knives

There are nine key differences between a butcher knife and a chef’s knife. From their shapes to how they cut, each is designed for distinct tasks in the kitchen.

In this section, you’ll get an in-depth view of how they look, feel, perform, and their cost.

Difference 1: Blade Design

The blade design and profile for each knife speak to the specific tasks they perform.

Chef’s knives always have a distinct point, while butcher knives’ points vary — some have a sharp or less pronounced point, and others feature a blunt tip.

The chef’s knife is used to make precise cuts, pierce food, and the curved edge allows for a rocking motion to process ingredients. And while the bend of the curve is unique to each brand, all chef’s knives have the same basic shape.

A butcher knife can be flat or have a dramatic curve at the end of the blade (as you can see below). This design aids in the portioning and trimming of meat, from small to large cuts.

To give you an idea of how much butcher knife designs can vary, take a look at these examples:

WÜSTHOF Classic 8-Inch Butcher Knife: This design features a very pronounced curve and a blunt point ideal for removing the skin from meat.

Mercer Culinary 12-Inch Butcher Knife: This style of butcher knife, called a cimeter, has a long curved blade with a Granton edge to repel the meat as you slice.

Victorinox 10-Inch Butcher Knife: Here’s another cimeter-style blade that juts upward at the point.

Overall, you’ll get more variation of style with a butcher knife. Chef’s knives look similar but vary by length or special features such as layered steel, Damascus patterns, or a Granton edge.

Difference 2: Blade Thickness

Since butcher knives are designed to break through bone and process large, dense ingredients, the blades are significantly thicker than chef’s knives.

As you can see in the picture below, the butcher knife blade is almost twice as thick as the chef’s knife blade.

Difference 3: Blade Length

A butcher knife can be as long as 14 inches and as short as 6 inches. The most common sizes range between 8 and 10 inches. The length is important as it helps maneuver around bones and cut through pieces of meat of all sizes.

Most chef’s knives are 6 to 8 inches long. You can find them over 10 inches long, but typically only professional chefs use those knives.

Difference 4: Best Uses

You can use a chef’s knife for almost anything — it’s truly the ultimate all-purpose knife. It’s a go-to tool for any food prep work you may need to do. However, while a chef’s knife can be used to cut large chunks of meat, it’s better suited for smaller tasks like deboning a chicken or slicing a flank steak.

Tasks that you can use a chef’s knife for:

• Chopping or slicing thick fruit, vegetables, and cuts of meat
• Deboning or disjointing meats such as poultry or lamb
• Dicing or mincing herbs, garlic, or vegetables
• Puncture meat to create pockets for adding spices or herbed butter

A butcher knife, also known as a cimeter or breaking knife, breaks down large cuts of meat from the skin to bone, no matter the size or thickness. It’s not for smaller, delicate jobs like deboning a fish.

A butcher knife is best suited for tasks such as:

• Deboning or disjointing large, thick cuts of meat such as a rib roast
• Breaking bones in meat
• Skinning, trimming, slicing, and chopping meat
• Portioning full animal carcasses into smaller cuts
• Cutting a pizza or slicing coarse fruit or vegetables like pineapples or acorn squash

Difference 5 Cutting Action

A chef’s knife has a curved edge that supports what’s known as a rocking chop. To perform this, you place the center of the blade on the item and press downward. Then, gently rock the blade from tip to heel, back and forth. This technique produces effortless cuts and won’t cause hand fatigue.

Butcher knives deliver power to your hands. There is no need for delicate handling — the sturdy design can hack through bones and slice large, thick chunks of meat effortlessly. You can slice, rough chop, or saw. It’s incredibly versatile.

You can also use butcher knives to skim the surface of meats to remove skin and fat or navigate the joints to break ligaments and cartilage.

Difference 6: Sharpness

Generally, chef’s knives are sharper than butcher knives because they are designed for more precise tasks.

Sharpness will depend on several factors: the type of steel, the edge angle, and the blade’s hardness. It also varies between brands and collections.

For best results, choose a blade made with high-carbon steel, a total edge angle of 30 to 40 degrees (15-20 degrees per side), and a Rockwell score of at least 56 HRC.

Once you choose a knife brand, you’ll notice that most collections have at least one chef’s knife. Yet, all collections do not offer butcher knives. If you decide to buy both types of knives but can’t get them from the same brand and collection, the sharpness will not be identical.

No matter how sharp a knife might be, it will get dull faster if you use it for butchering and cutting through bones.

Difference 7: Weight

Butcher knives often weigh more than chef’s knives because the blades are thicker and longer.

The following table shows the weights for chef’s knives and butcher knives from respected knife brands.

Knife	Weight
WÜSTHOF Classic 8-inch chef’s knife	8.5 ounces
WÜSTHOF Classic 8-inch butcher knife	10.5 ounces
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-inch chef’s knife	7.5 ounces
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 10-inch butcher knife	8 ounces
Dalstrong Gladiator 10-inch chef’s knife	11.2 ounces
Dalstrong Gladiator 14-inch butcher knife	14.8 ounces

Difference 8: Price

Chef’s knives are usually more expensive than butcher knives of equal size. For example, an 8-inch chef’s knife costs more than an 8-inch butcher knife.

Several factors affect the price:

• Brand: There are high-end, mid-range, and budget knife brands from which to choose.
• Collection: There are usually collections from high to low end within a brand. The specific features, such as a birchwood handle or premium steel, can raise the cost.
• Size: The larger the knife, the higher the price.
• Construction: Butcher knives are less expensive because they are mostly stamped, while chef’s knives tend to be forged. However, some brands offer forged and stamped chef’s and butcher knives. Learn the difference between forged and stamped knives.

The following chart shows the current prices of some high-quality chef’s knives vs. butcher knives.

Difference 9: Accessibility

Butcher knives are not a common offering of all knife brands. Knife brands create collections based on what home chefs want the most. The demand for chef’s knives is far greater than for butcher knives. Therefore, some brands don’t offer the latter at all.

For example, Dalstrong has over 50 chef’s knives but only about a dozen butcher knives. WÜSTHOF has a handful of butcher knives in select collections but chef’s knives in every collection (over two dozen).

Victorinox has only one collection with a butcher knife: Fibrox.

Mercer Culinary has an entire collection of butcher knives, which makes sense because they cater to culinary schools and restaurants.

The key difference here is with chef’s knives, you get a vast inventory of options. Butcher knife choices are much more limited.

Bottom Line: Do You Need a Butcher Knife, Chef’s Knife, or Both?

Now that you’re more informed about butcher and chef’s knives, it’s time to decide if you need one or both of them.

Before I share my recommendation, let’s recap the key differences:

• Shape: Chef’s knives feature a sharp, distinct point and a curved edge. They don’t vary much in shape, no matter the brand. Butcher knives differ in shape between brands, but most have a curved edge toward the end of the blade and a sharp or blunt point.
• Size and weight: Butcher knives are thicker and longer than chef’s knives and, therefore, heavier. Although they can be as long as 14 inches, they average between 8 and 10 inches. The average chef’s knife is 6-8 inches long.
• Uses: Chef’s knives are multi-purpose knives. You can use them for just about anything — even light butchering. But butcher knives specialize in breaking down meat, including bones and ligaments, and removing skin. You won’t use a butcher knife for mincing or fine chopping.
• Cutting action: Chef’s knives are more suited to precise slicing, dicing, mincing, and chopping. You use a rocking chop to reduce hand fatigue because of the curved edge. Butcher knives have no limits on cutting action. They can saw, hack, slice, skim, or chop, and you don’t have to be delicate. They excel at tough prep work.
• Sharpness: Sharpness varies by brand, collection, and type of steel. Generally, chef’s knives are slightly sharper. Both types of knives are usually double beveled, meaning they are sharpened on both sides of the blade.
• Price: Chef’s knives are typically more expensive than butcher knives, but prices vary depending on the brand, collection, knife size, and construction. Stamped blades are less costly than forged.
• Availability: Chef’s knives are easier to find, and many styles are available. Butcher knives are more limited in availability and design.

Bottom line — a chef’s knife is an essential kitchen tool for all home cooks. If you only have one knife in your kitchen, it should be a chef’s knife. A butcher’s knife is helpful when breaking down large meats and whole animal carcasses but isn’t necessary for everyday cooking, and it’s primarily used in commercial kitchens.

If you’re looking for a high-quality chef’s knife, I highly recommend Wusthof Classic, Made In, Zwilling Pro, and Mac MTH-80. For quality butcher knives, check out Wusthof Classic, Victorinox Fibrox, and Dalstrong Gladiator.