Recommendations on blades for butchering (hogs, rabbits, and beef). . .

A

atomicjoe23

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Mar 1, 2011
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I was hoping some of you guys would be able to recommend a quality butchering set that is somewhat complete, works well with quality steel, and will be durable. . .

. . .we have a small farm where we raise KuneKune pigs, Nigerian Dwarf goats (for milk), chickens (for eggs), rabbits (for meat. . .starting this year), and Scottish Highland cattle (also starting this year) so I'm getting my butchering building built and outfitted right now. I'm gonna need a decent butchering set that doesn't cost a fortune. . .buying livestock and putting up new buildings is costly.

I know I will need a bone saw, a cleaver, and a couple of hog scrapers but I plan to buy them separately from the butchering set. . .what I need is a set with probably 3-4 blades of varying length/width for different purposes. I will need a fairly long, straight and skinny blade that is sturdy for sticking the pigs to bleed them (they thrash quite a bit when they are first put down and you only have a few seconds to stick them and bleed them quickly) and open them up without disturbing the stomach cavity; a fairly long/wide blade for some of the larger cuts of meat, and probably a small knife for some of the more delicate work (loins, liver, and the smaller organs that are good for eating).

Thanks for the help!
 
Hello Joe, I can't reccomend a factory set but I can make you exactly what you want. I doubt any factory set will have exactly what you want. If you're interested give me a call and once I have a better idea of the designs and materials you want I can give you a quote. I can send you pics of some of my past work if you'd like. If you'd like to discuss this, all my contact info. is listed below. A phone call would be best but if you send an email bear in mind that the more info. I have the more accurate the quote will be.
 
Are you talking factory or custom knives?You don't need a dedicated sticking knife a straight or curved 6" boning knife will work fine.You planning on buying a band saw I haven't seen any body use a cleaver for butchering for 40 years if you'r just butchering for yourself it won't matter but you can make a heckuva mess with a cleaver.Hard to sell meat full of bone chips.
 
Based on what custom knives cost I'm doubting my budget would allow me to purchase a custom knife set. . .so probably a factory set and then upgrade individually as I can afford it.

I have taken a few butchering classes (including the kill, stick, scald, and scrape) and the butcher I am learning from prefers to use a knife and/or cleaver as much as possible. . .there are actually less bone fragments if you minimize use of the bone saw and you allow the bone/muscle structure of the animal to dictate where you cut at. . .he is very traditional nose to tail butcher and since we are raising are own animals I find the philosophy very appealing. . .the only thing we used the bone saw for was to split the animal down the middle of the spine; it takes slightly longer to bone around the joints (with a knife) than to cut with a bone saw, but it's worth it. . .the cleaver is mainly for making chops, etc. where the weight of the cleaver makes for a nice complete cut in one smooth motion (letting the weight of the cleaver not the force of the stroke make the cut).

You can't legally sell meat that you butcher yourself to anyone else anyway unless you have USDA certification. . .a headache I'm not interested in pursuing at this point in time. At this time I'm looking for a used, vintage cleaver; I know what bone-saw I'm gonna get, and if the price were within my range I would be looking at one custom knife (probably the long, wide blade similar to a chef's or maybe even a chef's knife) and going with either used or a factor knife for the boning knife and the smaller knife. . .

. . .this is why I'm looking for recommendations; I don't know what there is available that isn't junk.

Thanks!
 
i woul dbe antiquing if i was in your shoes (tho for me i woudl jsut make waht i needed and then if it didnt work sell and make new ajusted knives :) )

my butcher shop has knives for sale that are the same as they use in the shop. i thik they are priced ok (have not checked tho)

the kitchen knife forum has a few guys that are into butchering and they could for sure help you. im thinking a stiff boning a simatar for staking and a smaller blade for the bunnys hand saw for sure since a "meat ax" coudl make a mess till you get handy with it (i love the look of lamb splitters tho )
 
atomicjoe23 said:
I was hoping some of you guys would be able to recommend a quality butchering set that is somewhat complete, works well with quality steel, and will be durable. . .

. . .we have a small farm where we raise KuneKune pigs, Nigerian Dwarf goats (for milk), chickens (for eggs), rabbits (for meat. . .starting this year), and Scottish Highland cattle (also starting this year) so I'm getting my butchering building built and outfitted right now. I'm gonna need a decent butchering set that doesn't cost a fortune. . .buying livestock and putting up new buildings is costly.

I know I will need a bone saw, a cleaver, and a couple of hog scrapers but I plan to buy them separately from the butchering set. . .what I need is a set with probably 3-4 blades of varying length/width for different purposes. I will need a fairly long, straight and skinny blade that is sturdy for sticking the pigs to bleed them (they thrash quite a bit when they are first put down and you only have a few seconds to stick them and bleed them quickly) and open them up without disturbing the stomach cavity; a fairly long/wide blade for some of the larger cuts of meat, and probably a small knife for some of the more delicate work (loins, liver, and the smaller organs that are good for eating).

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Well, I'm a meat rabbit breeder so I can help you there! I use Friedrich Dick's "ErgoGrip" line for all of my work, and they make a poultry & rabbit knife that's ideally suited for the task. You can see my process in a video HERE (linked rather than embedded due to guts n' stuff for the weak of stomach.)

With the hog blades you've got a lot of options depending on your method, but THIS is a rather nice sticking knife. I highly suggest giving the rest of their line a look--the quality is fantastic and the handles are the most comfortable you'll find anywhere, regardless of the way you choose to hold it.
 
Thanks for the recommendations so far guys. . .

. . .Butcher_Block, I would love to make my own, but right now there are many other project higher on my on DIY project list. . .I'm not a professional knife maker, but given some free time I could hammer something functional out I think.
 
My pleasure! The rabbit in the video was over 14 weeks old, which is why it looks a little harder to process than it should be--it was a good couple of weeks overdue so the skin had firmed up a bit and thickened. It had just been so dang cold up until that day that I couldn't bear the idea of doing that kind of work in -15° F weather with -35° windchill. :D I normally spray the carcass down with water before processing, as well. Wetting the fur keeps it from sticking to the meat. :)
 
Also, I highly recommend looking for pure-bred Californian and New Zealand rabbits and maintaining separate pure lines so that you can breed for terminal hybrid vigor. First generation hybrids will grow extra fast but subsequent generations out of those crosses will provide less and less of that benefit. Thus, maintaining separate pure lines allows you to keep producing first-generation crosses while continuing to improve the pure lines. I suggest purchasing an American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) membership and possibly a membership with a local ARBA-chartered club and attending shows periodically. There are a few reasons for this: firstly, it will allow you to get professional input from judges regarding the things in your lines that you need to work on (you're looking for honest critical feedback more than trying to win, though that's fun too) which helps you develop your own eye when deciding who to breed and who to send to freezer camp. Te other major thing you're looking to gain is friends and contacts that you can consult with to pick up tips and tricks from or to acquire new breeding stock from when you need to add something to your lines.

Just attended a big triple show yesterday here in Maine (got best of breed for our Silver Fox buck!) and my other half went to the national ARBA convention in PA this past year. If you ever want some help with rabbits let me know! :D
 
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