Lister Knife? (Surgical Knife)

T

TimWieneke

Joined
Oct 26, 2003
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This past summer I tried about half a dozen knife designs on field dressing hogs and have been trying to come up with a better dressing knife design for myself. Recently, I heard about a surgeon's knife called the Lister knife that was designed to be used for amputations in the 19th century in places where anaesthetic was not available.

This Lister knife was designed for very quick cutting and easy maneuvaerability while in the flesh. I got a glimpse of one and it looks like it may be an ideal design for field dressing (or have some ideal elements), but was wondering if someone might have more information or photos of one I could look at. Thanks.

Tim
 
We used to get Italian programming on cable tv out of NY .On one of the programs they showed a collection of knives used by pork butchers in the old days. It was fascinating, a huge number of knives, each specifically designed for a specific cut.... Alarion you should check that out , it's somewhere in Italy.
 
Thank you, even if without further reference is much like saying "the needle is somwhere there in the haystack" ;):p

One characteristic I see of Lister's knife and other surgical knives I've seen, is that, even for pretty big work, they don't have a big blade. Not much bigger than your average whittling knife. They instead have big handles which allow to exert much force on the blade...
Those had to be nasty times, when a surgeon's most important quality was speed :rolleyes:
 
I field dress many hogs myself and have found that a four inch with a large handle and a slight slope to it. What I mean is the blade at a slight angle to the handle. The blade tip being lightly lower than center line of handle. When making the incision in the stomach I have the blade cutting from the inside out so I am gripping the knife up side down, as you know this in a very important cut to make accurately so the handle should enable the grip to be versitile. While gutting a pig only takes a few cuts it is good to have some sort of "stopper" mechanism, guard, groove, etc... so your hand doesn't slip when its bloody. I cut the brisket with my knife and because of this I like to have a little more beef behind the edge so I don't sharpen the whole blade at the same angle. If you hang and skin your piggies before you gut them, nevermind, any ol' knife will do.
 
Hi Guys,

The knife is also known as a Liston, that should bring up a lot more hits. They're still sold by medical houses, so perhaps you could see one in person. They also stock a few different patterns and sizes of other knives for the same purpose.

I'd just be concerned a bit about chipping, most of the old ones were ground on the thin side.
 
Originally posted by Alarion

One characteristic I see of Lister's knife and other surgical knives I've seen, is that, even for pretty big work, they don't have a big blade. Not much bigger than your average whittling knife. They instead have big handles which allow to exert much force on the blade...
Click to expand...

Interesting how the big handles on small blades have come full circle in the form of the Spyderco DoDo
 
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