Butchering: Batoning the Tramontina

C

coote

Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,465
A while back I was asked to butcher a sheep, and you may recall that afterwards I was on a quest to find out how folks split carcases lengthwise through the backbone.

You may also recall that I bought a few Tramontina 10" machetes.

Anyway..... I had to butcher some more sheep. My son-in-law loaned me his flash meat saw, and I dug out a sharp Tramontina, my new sharpening steel, and my Cold Steel Finn Bear.

The Finn Bear performed well and I was very pleased with it. It wasn't my first choice of general purpose butchering/skinning knife...but we have recently shifted house and some of my good knives are in storage. The blade seemed to respond nicely to a few strokes on the steel.... and I found the handle shape very nice to hold and manouver around the animals.

The saw is a good one. However I mainly used this to cut through the leg bones and to cut the ribs in half. I tried using it to cut down through the backbone, but I found it was hard to keep on track.

The exciting news is that I found it was relatively easy to baton my 10" Tramontina down through the backbone to split the carcase. I butchered 10 sheep, and at the end of it all the edge of the blade seems just fine. I occasionally gave it a few wipes on my steel because I was also using the machete to split the chops and slice through the meat.

So..... I can heartily recommend these wee machetes for general butchering use. I am impressed with the quality of the blade steel. Also, the wide handle enabled a good grip and decent leverage when trying to split the backbone in a straight line.

I had a local leather expert make me up a nice sheath for the machete. It will be good to be able to wear this on my belt now.

Best wishes.... Coote.

ButcherTools0310.jpg


TramontinaBaton.jpg


TramontinaSheath.jpg
 
Nice pics. Thanks for the review/report. I have to ask: are you using a sheep leg as your batton?
 
Very nice clean cut, and some sexy pants for it too;). Thanks for the post, I gotta get into this machete game.
 
:) The baton was a branch from a eucalyptus tree (destined for firewood). I didn't get much bark on the meat.
 
I'll bring the BBQ sauce and the beer.Fire up the grill.

will a 24 case of Alpine(local beer) violate the fluid level restrictions for personal air travel?
 
He said it was because he had a hard time with keeping the saw on track. Batoning just ended up being more convenient. :)
 
Nice work! I don't think it would have occured to me to baton through the sternum.

Butchering is actually on my list of skills to learn this year. I'm going to try to volunteer at a butcher shop in exchange for learning. Maybe I'll have to bring a machete, or do you think my Kershaw Outcast has enough heft to work without batonning? Only one way to find out, I guess!
 
Saws don't do what you want them to, a lot of the time. At least in my experience. Batoning is easier to get the 'perfect' split, at least in wood. Seems it happens with butchering also.

:thumbup:
 
Perhaps it was me... or perhaps the narrow blade was a factor.... but I found that the saw wandered off center pretty quickly.

I've hunted all my life and I've cut up many animals. Generally I don't 'make' chops. I just cut the meat off the bones, although I have often taken whole legs with the bone still in. This time I figured my farmer host was expecting chops so I went to the extra effort.

In the past I've used a fine-toothed woodsaw, and I think the broader blade was a bit better for keeping the cut on track. For me, anyway.

Even if I found I could use the saw accurately, I got such a kick out of finding that the machete batoning method worked so well I continued to use that method.

I like to keep things simple, and I like knives. So I guess it was natural for me to stick with the machete.

I have used various gambrels, including one or two that I've made. We have a gambrel set up on a block and tackle arrangement at a camp on a family property we've spent a lot of time at. However I have come to appreciate using two separate ropes to hang the carcase on... one tied to each hind leg (generally secured, nowadays, with a slipped buntline hitch). With the ropes well spread at the top, I find that the carcase twists and swings less while working on it. Of course in an abattoir situation where a gambrel can be fixed on a rail, the twisting is unlikely.... but generally my gambrels have been hanging on a rope.

I guess with a practiced operator and a decent gambrel you are unlikely to have a mishap, but when splitting a carcase and removing all or part of one half, the gambrel and load are no longer balanced, and the gambrel can tip. It is possible that a half carcase can drop off the gambrel on to the ground if the gambrel does not have a big enough curved end to retain the hock.

Anyway I am delighted to have found that the machete works so well.

Incidentally, with these young sheep I found that the machete could be 'pushed' through the sternum to split it.... no baton needed.

Best wishes... Coote
 
Our dog, Lizzy, exhibited amazing qualities of faithfulness while I was toiling away at my butchering job. She took it entirely upon herself to guard the meat.

LizzyAndMeat0310.jpg
 
mete said:
Why baton when you have a proper saw ??
Click to expand...

And anyone who has ever sawed a backbone alone knows that the rocking of the carcass back and forth can make it hard to get a good cutting rhythm with the saw.
 
Anschutz .22 bolt-action with a box magazine. Winchester Subsonic hollow point cartridges. Head shot. I don't enjoy that part.
 
coote said:
Anschutz .22 bolt-action with a box magazine. Winchester Subsonic hollow point cartridges. Head shot. I don't enjoy that part.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it simply be easier to just slit the throat using a very sharp knife? That is the only way I have done this and was taught. Gunshots tend to spook the farm animals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top