Calling all hunters or butchers.

T

TheMartialWay

Joined
Jul 2, 1999
Messages
1,347
Hello all,
Im looking to gift a friend with a knife and I have no idea what knife on the market is suitable. I need a knife for killing a pig. From reading on the net, all I can find is basically around an 8" blade is required for slitting the throat and the knife must be RAZOR sharp. So, im looking for a razor sharp knife with 8" blade that also needs to look nice. I dont want to just get some plastic handle butcher knife, I want something nice. Any ideas? Thanks.
 
You only need 6" if you & your dogs are good enough. Superman here seems to be using a 4" folder.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyc2YvfbWzA
Svord, in order of price
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(KPS) Kiwi Pig Sticker 6 3/4 "

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(PSGP)Pig Sticker 7 "

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(PSB) Pig Sticker 6 1/2 "
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(655B) Curved Skinner/Sticker/Boning 6 " the most versatile.

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(HB) - Hog Beater 11.5"
should be a hollow handle spearhead knife.
http://www.svord.com/
 
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Gadunz,
Thank you for the quick reply. I should have been more clear on the purpose of this knife. He already owns the pig and kills them for pig roasts. He dispatches the pig with a .22 rifle and then uses the knife to slit the throat to exsanguinate (drain of blood) the pig. Being that I don't know the mechanics of this but reading that the blade should be a minimum of 7 to 8 inches long (not disagreeing with your recommended 6" length, as you know more about this than I do. Im just repeating what I am reading on the web.) I'm wondering if it's to guarantee proper depth of penetration in order to reach the carotid artery and jugular vein. But I'm just guessing here. I like the look of the svord knifes and own 2 of their folders. Their quality control on the edges so far have been disappointing and I worry that it would not be "razor" sharp. Maybe thats not the case with their higher end knives. Will look into it. Thanks again.
 
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I don't know why you need an 8" knife to drain a pig. I've seen it done with all sorts of things, mostly just some Old Hickory butcher's knife (probably around 6" or so).

There isn't a lot of sporting knives with 8" blades. Also, you need to be more specific. What blade design are you after and how much do you want to spend? I'd just go custom if your size preference is mandatory.
 
Since its dead, you only need a standard skinner-boner to bleed, gut, skin & basic-butcher the beast, not an 8" bayonet. Any pig that can be killed by a .22 isn't usually a monster, with inch thick neck skin. But maybe some farm pigs have much neck fat, that you have to cut thru?
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(677BB) Curved Skinner 5 3/4 " is usually the smallest slaughterman/butcher knife.You don't need
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except for cattle.
Svord Deluxe Sporting are apparently well finished. I ordered mine months ago but they're doing a big export order first.
TheMartialWay said:
I need a knife for butchering a pig.
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corrected
 
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Also, in your first post, you said you need the knife for killing the pig, but in the second post, you said he shoots them. If he owns a hog farm and butchers them regularly, I'm surprised he shoots them. It's better to hang them upside down and then stick them in the neck so the heart can pump out all of the blood.

Anyway, if he isn't actually killing them with the knife, any sharp knife with a decent length blade will do to cut the artery in the neck so they will bleed. But if they are already dead, they will bleed out really slowly and he won't get as much blood out.

If he is killing them the same knife can be used to cut the same artery. Unless they are some kind of monster hogs I can't imagine needing 8" or more to hit that artery. It's just above the breast plate in the neck. It isn't super deep.

I'd go with a Buck 119.
 
Ok great! Thanks for clearing all of that up. This makes it easier for me to find something suitable now that I know what is and is not really necessary. Yeah, again the 7 to 8 inches was something I read on the internet. I have zero knowledge of this process and that's why I came to you folks. he does a pig roast once a year. he buys the pig from a farm. From what I'm gathering he uses the .22 which I read with the proper place shot is more of a stunning shot rendering the pig unconscious but not dead and then he uses the knife to drain it.
 
Save ammo, use a heavy hammer then the knife. That's what farmers have done for millennia.
 
Having participated in many domestic hog killings in my youth, I don't want to be involved with trying to hang an adult live one upside down! Pigs are very intelligent animals and I am fully convinced that they know what is going on when they are about to be slaughtered. They will squeal and kick like no other farm animals I know of when the time is near.

Most people I knew shot them in the head with a .22 and just used an old well-worn standard butcher knife to bleed them. The same knife was generally used to scrape hair from the skin after scalding.
 
I've used ordinary hunting knives, and had a preference for using a Schrade Deer Slayer for years doing this work. The pigs were taken off of food the night before and only given water. Then the next day the pig would be lured with some food. Either sticking the pig in the neck while distracted by the food, or it would be calmed down by brushing it and get it to lay down, then quietly hold the animal down and slice the throat open from ear to ear to the bone. Not much more than a quick squeak from the pig, and the blood pours into the pail. The pig turns pale as it bleeds out, this is important as blood in the meat is not good which is one reason I prefer severing the throat than sticking and risking heart damage that sometimes prevents proper blood drainage. But if the animal is so large sticking behind the shoulder is the better choice.
 
I raised and sold hogs. I dispatched with a .22 then just used a buck 110 on they're throat. No need for a huge blade to do it.

Buy him a nice folder like the Benchmade Bone Collector or something similar.
 
For the throat you want a "sticking knife". They come in a variety of forms, but are common butcher's tools.
 
Sulaco said:
Also, in your first post, you said you need the knife for killing the pig, but in the second post, you said he shoots them. If he owns a hog farm and butchers them regularly, I'm surprised he shoots them. It's better to hang them upside down and then stick them in the neck so the heart can pump out all of the blood.
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I completely disagree with this statement. As someone that has slaughtered hogs for years this is completely the wrong way to do it. When you bleed out a live animal the way you describe, it puts the animal in a high stress situation. That causes massive amounts of adrenaline to be released, which heads straight into the muscle tissue. It gives the meat a very bad taste. This also applies to deer, bear or any other animal you might want to kill.

Best thing to do is a .22 or a BFH to the head. The quicker the kill, the better the meat.
 
Very true.

SPXTrader said:
I completely disagree with this statement. As someone that has slaughtered hogs for years this is completely the wrong way to do it. When you bleed out a live animal the way you describe, it puts the animal in a high stress situation. That causes massive amounts of adrenaline to be released, which heads straight into the muscle tissue. It gives the meat a very bad taste. This also applies to deer, bear or any other animal you might want to kill.

Best thing to do is a .22 or a BFH to the head. The quicker the kill, the better the meat.
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I have been in on the buthering of hundreds of hogs some of the people I butcher with have done thosands.Things might be done differently in other parts of the country or world.We shoot them with .22 roll them on their back and stick them before they really start kicking.You don't cut them ear to ear or slash their throats.The knife is inserted low in the center of the neck at an angle so it cuts the arteries at the heart, most of he time the heart will be cut.It is not easy to do right, its easy to stick a shoulder. I'am not good at it.I have probably only stuck 20 or so.I let my oldest son do it.We just use a 5 or 6 inch boning knife.Some of the knives listed above would not work very well.
 
I am a butcher now but have worked in a slaughter house when I was younger. It wasn't a huge operation but around 500 hogs a day dispatched and a few steer. Being that the USDA was on site there was no .22, only a captive bolt gun for the steers and the hogs were electrocuted then hung and bled. All any one used there and almost all I use now is the Victoronox line of butcher knives with the fibrox handles. They aren't fancy but are functional. It's what pretty much all the meat processors use with the occasional exception with a few dexter Russell knives.
My experience is that for any real work knife buying an expensive decorative one is a waste. I go through about 3 boning knives and 2 breaking knives a year. The large scimitar lasts longer.
All the best
 
I've shot hogs in the head with a 22 and after a few seconds they either get up or they start kicking if it killed them (hardly ever happens). I don't see how that is any different for "stressing" them than getting a rope around them and cutting their carotid artery. I suppose different people do it different ways. We aren't meat cutters working in a plant, we're just country boys killing and processing our food.
 
In all due respect the .22 and a penetrating captive bolt gun should serve the same purpose, destroy brain matter rendering the animal unconscious. If the animal gets right back up or is killed you are doing something wrong.
Best regards
 
40 years ago, living is south florida, we had a deep water hammock in the glades that we pinned, the only way to get to it was airboat. we would hunt yearlings with the dogs and a hammer. tie em up and ferry them out to the hammock where we let them loose. we would make weekly trips with bushels of corn and mash and grains (sometimes we would get a truck load of rotting produce from the grocery store) to fatten/ sweeten them up. I dont remember anything special in the way of knifes or guns, we used what ever was at hand ,pistols or bolt actions. as far as a knife goes, I had a skinner with 2.5-3 " of blade and a good sized handle that my grand dad gave me, did the trick nicely.
 
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