Circular cutting blade

A circular blade configured for cutting meat when turned about a rotation axis in a predetermined cutting direction, the cutting blade comprising:

• a peripheral blade edge;
• and
• a plurality of circumferentially disposed cutting knives, each of which cutting knives includes (i) first and second knife sides, (ii) an arcuate knife edge that constitutes a portion of the peripheral blade edge and rises, relative to the rotation axis, between a first blade-edge location corresponding to a minor blade radius and a second blade-edge location corresponding to a major blade radius, and (iii) beveled primary and secondary knife-edge portions along which the first and second knife sides mutually converge at, respectively, a first bevel angle and a second bevel angle less acute than the first bevel angle, wherein
• (a) each knife edge is tilted such that an arc-bisecting line that bisects the knife edge at an arc mid-point, and that is oriented orthogonally to a tangent line including the arc mid-point, is non-parallel to a blade-radius line extending from the rotation axis through the arc mid-point;
• (b) the secondary knife-edge portion of each cutting knife is situated, relative to the cutting direction, behind the primary knife-edge portion of the same cutting knife such that, when the circular blade is rotating and cutting a work piece, the work piece first encounters the primary knife-edge portion of each cutting knife before encountering the secondary knife-edge portion of that cutting knife;
• (c) the secondary knife-edge portion of each cutting knife has a shorter cutting length than the primary knife-edge portion of the same cutting knife;
• (d) the peripheral blade edge further comprises a plurality of back slopes, each back slope is situated, relative to the cutting direction, behind the secondary knife-edge portion of a first cutting knife and in front of the primary knife-edge portion of a second cutting knife located behind, and adjacent to, the first cutting knife;
• and
• (e) each back slope slopes more steeply than the knife edges between which that back slope is situated.