suggestions on testing piercing/stabbing

[HSC ///]

I'm just about completed on a 6.5" knife for a customer that hunts hogs with dogs and then of course will use the knife for the kill.
I don't make thick knives but this is my thickest at about .156 at the ricasso/guard .

This is my first longer knife (outside of a kitchen knife) and my first hog hunting knife.
I wanted to give it some testing before delivery to simulate the customer's end use requirement -

Any suggestions for a knife test simulation for stabbing/piercing of animal flesh?
perhaps a sand bag? wet t-shirts?

the bottom blade is the knife itself
It has a brass guard on it

 

[AlaskanHunter]

Not sure how to simulate raw pork, but it might be a good idea to cover your testing medium with green rawhide or scrap sheath leather. The hide will be the first and toughest layer the blade needs to penetrate. I suspect that wild hog hide may be a good bit tougher than its domestic counterpart. Never stabbed a wild hog, but after pig butchering last fall, I discovered that domestic pig hide is much weaker than I previously thought. Pity I can't send you a pice of moose neck hide to test with. If your blade made it through that, raw angry porkchops should be no sweat. Maybe a piece of green steer neck hide?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lieblad]

Maybe some form of analogue material, rubber tyre, rugby ball or something ??
I dont know how one might replicate the thrashing around a wild pig should be doing as its captured, never mind trying to kill it by stabbing.
I realise why firearms are not always best for this task. Still...

 

[Wulf]

Go to the grocery store and buy some ribs.

Stab them, then grill them and eat them

mmmmmm rrriiiiiiiibs

I've never hunted anything with a knife so my input here is based on theory and not experience, but I would test not only penetration but also tip strength, using bone, antler, and wood as testing media.

 

[Ja Baudin]

I was thinking a pork shoulder, some call it a boston butt. Could get one from a slaughter house or meat market with the skin still on. Stab it all you want,, then stuff it with some garlic and onions and off to the smoker!!

 

[JG Custom Metal Works]

I was thinking a pork shoulder, some call it a boston butt. Could get one from a slaughter house or meat market with the skin still on. Stab it all you want,, then stuff it with some garlic and onions and off to the smoker!!

This is what I was going to suggest. I actually have one on my fridge right now that i need to cook. Put in a crock pot on low for 11hrs, with a whole sliced onion, and two liter of ginger ale. Awesome pulled pork.

As far as testing is concerned, careful a lot of them have a big bone in them. Hence "bone-in Boston butt roast." I'd try and get a skin-on one from a local butcher. Hell, you might explain what you're doing and he might have a better idea.


ETA: Just remembered I posted the recipe here about the year ago. Here you go:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/949378-BF-Cookbook/page2

 

[HSC ///]

thanks all for the tips (and recipes)
I can see you all are a bunch of hungry guys!

 

[Roamad]

Not sure buying meat from a butcher will be a great test, as it won't have the skin on it, which is probably the toughest part to penetrate. I suggest trying various tire sidewalls. These most likely won't have the steel belts in them, like the tread. Yet will be plenty tough. If you can look for a large-ish truck tire with an "E" load rating, these are meant for pickups that have a 3/4- or 1-ton payload capacity and heavy towing ability -- and have a thicker/stouter sidewall to handle that.

 

[NJBillK]

Food for thought from a Meat Cutter (pardon the pun).

It also might be called a "Picnic" or a "Picnic Shoulder". Around here (NJ) most of the Boston butt use a boneless pork butt (located above the ham on the rear hip) where as the Picnic is the front shoulder.

They have a large shank and shoulder joint located within, but are often separated from the shoulder blade so you might have a hard time simulating ribs.

You might be able to tie a rack of spare ribs onto the picnic with butchers twine to keep it food safe and edible afterwards, or try tiring the joint closed with said twine. This way the shoulder and the shank would be pressed as tight against one another as possible.

Your best bet would probably be to skin the shoulder and tie a rack of ribs over the shoulder and the skin over that to get the layers as close to real as possible (skin>thin meat>bone>soft tissue) though.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Lo/Rez]

I had a buddy that bow hunted wild boar. He said the hide around the ribs was like body armor (very thick). Probably an evolutionary thing to do with defense against another pig's tusks.

 

[stezann]

I would make the blade less "tall", more thick, very tapered to a point. A dagger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffZNVTX1dLU

for your application, penetration it is all it is about in my opinion.