The old butcher in Kalamazoo showed me how he holds his knife, and it stuck with me 12 years later

Grace Cooper · 2026-09-18T13:45:04.067335+00:00

I was 19 and working my first real counter job at a small shop in Kalamazoo, and this older butcher named Ray would come in every Tuesday for his order. One day he watched me struggling to break down a pork shoulder and just walked behind the block, took the knife out of my hand, and said 'you're gripping it like a hammer, it's a pencil, not a hammer.' He held it with three fingers and his thumb and index pinched right at the bolster, and his cuts got straighter and faster than anything I could do with a death grip. I tried it for a week and my hand cramped like crazy, but by week three I could feel the blade through the handle and my yield on loins went up maybe 10 percent. He never said another word about it, just nodded at me once the next Tuesday like he knew. Any of you older guys get taught a grip or a stance that felt wrong at first but ended up clicking? I want to hear what your mentors drilled into you that nobody talks about anymore.

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The old butcher in Kalamazoo showed me how he holds his knife, and it stuck with me 12 years later | Butchers - Thought Shares