A rolling bearing strip for a power operated rotary knife providing bearing support for rotation of a rotary knife blade with respect to a blade housing. The rolling bearing strip includes: a plurality of rolling bearings disposed in spaced apart relation; and a flexible separator cage for positioning the plurality of spaced apart rolling bearings, the flexible separator cage including interlocking first and second ends, the first end of the separator cage including a wall defining a projecting member and the second end of the separator cage including a wall defining a receiving member, the first end projecting member and the second end receiving member being in opposed facing relationship and the first end projecting member extending into the second end receiving member to secure the first end to the second end and form an annular, continuous rolling bearing ring.

A blade housing assembly for a power operated rotary knife including a split blade housing and a cam mechanism for changing a blade housing diameter between blade supporting and blade changing positions. The split blade housing includes an annular blade support section, a mounting section and a split extending through the mounting section and an inner wall of the blade support section and defining a split distance between first and second circumferential ends of the inner wall. The split includes a radial split section and an angled split section adjacent the inner wall. The mounting section includes first and second body portions on opposite sides of the split. The cam mechanism includes a cam plate bridging the first and second body portions and a cam member rotatably supported by the cam plate. The cam member is rotatable between closed and open positions to change the blade housing diameter.

A power operated rotary knife (100) including: an annular rotary knife blade (300) including a knife blade bearing surface (319); a blade housing (400) defining a blade housing bearing surface (459); and a blade-blade housing bearing structure (500) disposed between the knife blade bearing surface (319) and the blade housing bearing surface (459). The blade-blade housing bearing structure (500) includes a rolling bearing strip (502) having a plurality of rolling bearings (506), such as ball bearings, disposed in spaced apart relation in a flexible separator cage (508). The rolling bearing strip (502) traverses through an annular passageway (504) defined between the knife blade bearing surface (319) and the blade housing bearing surface (459) to secure the knife blade (300) to the blade housing (400) and support the knife blade for rotation about a central axis (R) with respect to the blade housing (400).

A two-part rotary knife blade (2300, 3300) for a power operated rotary knife. The knife blade (2300) includes a carrier portion (2302, 3302) and a blade portion (2350, 3350), the blade portion configured to be received in a nested relationship by the carrier portion and being releasably secured to the carrier portion by an attachment structure (2370, 3370). The attachment structure (2370, 3370) including a plurality of projections (2372, 3372) extending from one of an outer wall (2354, 3354) of the blade portion (2350, 3350) and the inner wall (2304, 3304) of the carrier portion and a plurality of sockets (2374, 3374) disposed in the other of the outer wall of the blade portion and the inner wall of the carrier portion, each of the plurality of projections being received in a respective different one of the plurality of sockets to releasably secure the blade portion to the carrier portion.