Knives

[Lowstorm]

So last butcher day we went to my parents house to butcher. Worked great... Because my dad has awesome knives from the 70s that I have no idea how to find.

So does anyone have a link to a set of good butchering knives that aren't $50+ each?!?! That's the price I keep seeing. It's insane! I have a litter that's will past butchering time. Well, a few weeks past. I need to git er dun soon. Hopefully next Friday.

 

[shazza]

i use disposable scalpels...i have a bunch for doing taxdermy work and i've found they're just as good for butchering too. it's a metal handle and removable, sterilised blades. you can get them in packs of 100 on amazon for pretty cheap. always sharp, when they get dull just replace em and keep doing what you're doing. i kinda prefer them over knives because they aren't as big and i can get into smaller spaces (again, taxidermy is about precision and i've just gotten into that habit of skinning/gutting style and i'm most comfortable with it.) of course a good knife will last longer, but scalpels are cheap lol.

 

[UFCreel]

I have my fathers knives from way back when. But a good alternative that works good are Rapala fillet knives. I have the 4" at $18.99 and the 9" not sure what the 9" costs.

 

[AmberRae]

Shazza is right about the scalpels. Other than those in my experience you have to spend a bit of money if you want a good knife. The Rapala fillet knives are not bad but they are not great imo either. I love Dexter Russell and Knives of Alaska.

 

[tarheel506]

I use these https://www.buckknives.com/product/pakl ... 0141FAM01/

I love Buck knives, but I have never paid full price for them. Buck does awesome sales, and if you sign up for their emails you'll get all sorts of coupons. Their lifetime guarantee is no joke...they will fix or replace anything. My everyday knife is a folding knife I got from Buck 12 years ago and I still love it.

In the kitchen I have my Nana's knives from way back when...I'll be very sad when/if I have to look for replacements

 

[Dwc77]

I'm with AmberRae dexter Russell's are my favorite my dad found some years ago for a dollar apiece garage sale I think they were not new but still. I've snagged two of them and have cleaned lots of catfish and butchered everything from hogs to rabbits. I think they are just a 7" fillet knife.

 

[2CrazyFools]

I don't like sharpening knives so... this is my favorite.

Havalon Piranta Z Folding Blade Skinning Knife 2 3/4" Blade ($33) which comes with 16 replacement blades and I purchased 100 replacement blades ($34) on top of that.

I went through 3 blades (~$1 in blades) to process 16 rabbit yesterday. I could have done it in two but... I like the edge, lol. It's also my favorite knife for deboning too since the blades are so thin and super sharp.

 

[Ramjet]

I make my own knives .... most are 1095 steel or 1095/15n20 Damascus and I can tailor the blade and edge to specific tasks.

 

[Preitler]

This are the tools I use, very much inspired by Grumpys video.

I converted a small old peeling or whatever knive, and for the bigger jobs like cutting the pelvis or the head off I use my Glock army knive, it also serves as a backup bopping device.
I keep both knives pretty much razor sharp.

The garden scissors are for the feet and head (I cut around with the knive, then severe the neck with the scissors), the pliers (tips ground narrow) are for the gall bladder.

 

[wildeden]

So does anyone have a link to a set of good butchering knives that aren't $50+ each?!?!

This one http://www.bunnyrancher.com/store/p7/Friedrich_Dick_4"_Poultry_&_Rabbit_Knife.html is only $13.25 plus shipping! ancake:

 

[Sagebrush]

Wildeden, I just took a look at your website, I love it BTW. Anyway I saw your award, couldn't help but laugh. I am so going to be purchasing a few of these when I have the opportunity!

 

[wildeden]

hahahah thank you! That I did make myself Gotta have a sense of humor when culling!

 

[Lowstorm]

Thanks everyone! The army knife is the most like what we need. Something that will go through bones. The BF says the fillet knife won't work for it. We do the bop n behead style. He calls it bop n stop Lol.

 

[GBov]

Sorry to be late to chime in but I just use any knife in the drawer and keep it SHARP with a knife sharpener. About every min or so I draw it through the sharpener so it never has the chance to go dull.

Have used paring knives, filet knives, big old kitchen knives, have even used a steak knife once when I couldn't find anything else. :lol:

The key is the sharpener. Sharp knives do the job, blunt ones don't.

And I try to never EVER break a bone, I pop joints instead when I take one apart. Sharp bone splinters will hurt you or will cut through the vacuum bag so you don't get a proper seal.

 

[Preitler]

Right, I don't cut or break any bones either, no more punctured freezer bags

The longer knive isn't better, I just can aply force when needed, or the lenght is helpful, like when cutting the rib cage from inside, but for everything else its size and thick blade are a drawback. 95% of the work I do with that cheap, small thin bladed but sharp knive, I could do all with that. (except bopping, but any piece of iron would do).

As GBov said, more important is that it is and stays sharp.

 

[Ghost]

When you skin and butcher rabbits, do you prefer to use knives with permanent blades or disposable blades, or do you use both when working on different parts of the rabbit? I can see that a few of you have already weighed in on this thread.

In the YouTube videos, the hard-core off-grid/preppers/homesteader are defiantly opposed to disposable blade knifes, because of the survivalist angle. But by stocking-up, I think surviving the next Katrina won't be imperiled by running out of blades. If it's a civilization ending event, I'm checking out anyway.

When I did my meat rabbits 10 years ago, I started saving up to get some good permanent blade knives. Did not stay with the project long enough to get them. For fish and rabbits I mostly used dollar store razor knives. Now I'm thinking about getting quality handles (those that are rugged and easily sanitized) to hold trapezoid blades. along with exacto/scalpel type blades and some EMT scissors https://duckduckgo.com/?q=emt+scissors&atb=v34-5__&iax=images&ia=images

What are your opinions on replaceable vs disposable blades?

 

[shazza]

honestly most of the reason why i use the disposable scalpel blades is because i prefer the precision. i skin 99% of my rabbits for taxidermy use, so precision is pretty important. i've gotten so used to these little, accurate knives that even using a kitchen knife to chop veggies is awkward for me - it just feels so unwieldy. even when i don't have to very precise in what i'm doing, i still reach for my scalpel because it's more comfortable for me. so i think if someone could make me a fixed-blade knife about the size and precision of a scalpel, that would work. but then i'd have to learn how to really keep it sharp, and if our kitchen knives are any indication, that's going to be a bit of a challenge

 

[Ghost]

I suppose the reason for me choosing disposable blades is, I do not want to fret over a damage blade or spend a long time resharpening it. With disposable blades, I can toss it and start fresh. I don't mind a minute or two honing a blade to achieve peak sharpness prior to use. I am considering getting more expansive disposables with S&H exacto #23's will cost me $8-$10 for a 5 pack. If I use those, I will want to keep them up as long as possible. I found how to use a car window to hone a blade. Experimenting with my trapezoid blade glass sharpening seams to make it sharper.