I have been butchering animals for many years... mainly game animals, but occasionally I've processed farm animals.
I first started participating in Bladeforums about ten years ago. One of the most useful things I've learned here is that a carcass can be split down through the spine by batoning a blade down through it. Prior to that, I'd either chopped or sawed the backbone. It is hard enough to keep the cut straight while using a cleaver or axe, and it also creates the by-product of a whole lot of nasty little chips of bone that can end up in your meal. It is also difficult to keep a saw on track... and the bone sawdust isn't that pleasant in your food.
I wish I can remember who the Bladeforums member was that told me about a hunting guide who split a moose carcass by batoning his knife down through the spine. I'd like to send him a cyberhug and tell him how useful this technique has been to me and my family. If you read this.... thank you mate. It was a very helpful tip.
I don't generally split game animal carcasses. Mostly I cut the meat off the bone on the hillside. However when I have to cut up a sheep I might like to create chops and this involves cutting the spine.
My brother likes to feed his family pork ribs... and this involves splitting the backbone also. He was pleased to learn about the batoning trick... and I gave him a machete to use for the job.
I have generally used the same 10" Tramontina machete every time I've split a carcass. Over a two day period, I once butchered nine sheep for a relative. I could not see any damage on the edge of my blade.
Recently I killed two big pigs. It was a wet day, it took a long time to cut the meat off the bones on the damp hillside... and I wanted to save the tusks. If the conditions had been a bit more leisurely and pleasant, I might have tried to cut out the complete bottom jaws of the pigs. But I wanted to go home. I skinned the front end of the bottom jaws, then hacked through the jawbones with my machete. (These jaws appear with my BK2 in a recent post). I cut through the jaws with relative ease... it was a bit like cutting through a hard, dead branch of wood. However there were a few small 'dings' in the blade when I'd finished. This isn't a big problem on a $15 machete, and the blade is sharp enough again after a rudimentary sharpening. I believe that jaw bones are more dense than the vertebra bones, and when I sharpen a knife, I tend to favour a sharper angle rather than a 'strong' one...so I was surprised at how little edge deformation there was.
Has anyone else had any experience with chopping through bones?
Here is a picture I took single-handedly in an attempt to illustrate the batoning method of butchery...
I first started participating in Bladeforums about ten years ago. One of the most useful things I've learned here is that a carcass can be split down through the spine by batoning a blade down through it. Prior to that, I'd either chopped or sawed the backbone. It is hard enough to keep the cut straight while using a cleaver or axe, and it also creates the by-product of a whole lot of nasty little chips of bone that can end up in your meal. It is also difficult to keep a saw on track... and the bone sawdust isn't that pleasant in your food.
I wish I can remember who the Bladeforums member was that told me about a hunting guide who split a moose carcass by batoning his knife down through the spine. I'd like to send him a cyberhug and tell him how useful this technique has been to me and my family. If you read this.... thank you mate. It was a very helpful tip.
I don't generally split game animal carcasses. Mostly I cut the meat off the bone on the hillside. However when I have to cut up a sheep I might like to create chops and this involves cutting the spine.
My brother likes to feed his family pork ribs... and this involves splitting the backbone also. He was pleased to learn about the batoning trick... and I gave him a machete to use for the job.
I have generally used the same 10" Tramontina machete every time I've split a carcass. Over a two day period, I once butchered nine sheep for a relative. I could not see any damage on the edge of my blade.
Recently I killed two big pigs. It was a wet day, it took a long time to cut the meat off the bones on the damp hillside... and I wanted to save the tusks. If the conditions had been a bit more leisurely and pleasant, I might have tried to cut out the complete bottom jaws of the pigs. But I wanted to go home. I skinned the front end of the bottom jaws, then hacked through the jawbones with my machete. (These jaws appear with my BK2 in a recent post). I cut through the jaws with relative ease... it was a bit like cutting through a hard, dead branch of wood. However there were a few small 'dings' in the blade when I'd finished. This isn't a big problem on a $15 machete, and the blade is sharp enough again after a rudimentary sharpening. I believe that jaw bones are more dense than the vertebra bones, and when I sharpen a knife, I tend to favour a sharper angle rather than a 'strong' one...so I was surprised at how little edge deformation there was.
Has anyone else had any experience with chopping through bones?
Here is a picture I took single-handedly in an attempt to illustrate the batoning method of butchery...
