Farm Life

It rained during the night and was cool this morning. Plus, our Austerlorps are delivering peewees so, I processed 2 of the old layers using Buck's screwed together frame 110. The handle gives a solid grip no matter what you've been handling. The blade went right on cutting and with these chickens being old I had to actually skin them using the knife. Not merely pull the hide off. So, age matters. After finishing it had about 2" of burr on the edge. I went ahead and stropped this off which took no more than 3-4 minutes. Now, if I was not doing this the steel would process maybe 4-5 old birds and likely 6 young birds. There's your numbers.
Still, how many people raise and process 6 fed out young birds a year? By the time I have culled out these old layers I will have put 11 in the freezer. If you plan on using a 110 with this steel for a big cutting job (i.e. a buck) it would be a good idea to have on hand a small leather strop w/ slurry applied to strop on or a 4"X 4" stone that you could back hone on to get you through the job. Thanks, DM

 

A good question. It is when the cutting edge of the knife has been weakened from use and curls. They can be felt by moving your thumb from the spine downward onto the edge with little pressure. It feels like curled metal at the edge. These area have to be
cleaned up (straightened) or the edge won't cut at that spot. One can see them in bright light, edge up looking down on the edge. They look like shiny areas. Many factors cause them, cutting bone, dragging the blade over the cutting board, torquing the blade during use, ect..DM

 

It is common for Professional meat cutters to straighten the burrs on their knife by steeling it. This will do it. Even a brass rod will do it. However, this burr or curling is still weakened metal and will flop back and forth until it falls off. All a normal result of cutting.
One could remove this by using the slurry on a good muddy stone or with a strop. I would stay away from a hard, smooth stone. DM

 

One would think so but I have done this and it can remain as fatigued metal. Even stropping on leather with slurry applied can
flop the burr from side to side several times before it is sheered off. I get the best results from stropping it on a rough area of leather with light passes. This seems to grab it and tear it away. Once done the edge cuts crisp and clean for sometime before
requiring this again. DM

 

You should try a decent strop. DM

 

^ What I'm saying is a strop works different than a steel. A steel flexes thin metal, straight or off the apex. Whereas a strop grabs
it and peels it off the apex. Plus, a strop is very portable. DM

 

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We got a rain last night and this morning being cool, I used Buck's red micarta 110 to process a couple more old hens. I'll give you the pictures then more write up. DM