your take on hardware (NOT religious opinion)

P

Patience

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Mar 1, 2007
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I am not looking to start a religious tennis match here or animal cruelty debate or anything not involving knives, but I want to hear what anybody has to add about the HARDWARE used in a Kosher slaughterhouse. I won't tell you MY religion...I don't want to know yours, lets just talk about the knife. ;)

Here is the link http://www.answers.com/topic/shechita

I just wondered if anybody here has seen this type of knife, has one in their collection (pic) I found a video clip of a knife being used in this process, but it was done so fast couldn't see it very well. It would be interesting if the "scary sharp" you see in the posts here is the same "scary sharp" that might be found on one of these blades. Its interesting to read the rules, especially the pressing. In order for a knife to meet the specs and perform with this specific set of rules makes it kind of unique.


If this topic has been covered before please throw me a link. Thanks!
 
By biblical law the knife may be made from anything not attached directly or indirectly to the ground
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I wonder what the knives are made out of, if they cannot be made from something that was attached directly or indirectly to the ground?
 
Ive seen them used and they are scary sharp! They are not used to butcher and therfore can be thin. As it says the sharpening and care of the knife is taken very seriously.
Despite all teh hubub I found the slitting of the throat to be an inhumane way of killing when compared with some other methods. Still nothing humane about killing in the first place lol (least not most times). Iwill have to find out what was "not attached directly or indierctly to the ground", thats got me wondering as well.
 
The meaning of not attached to the ground means not presently attached to the ground or its source. I.e. a tooth to the jaw bone or a reed to the ground. I actually do kosher slaughter for a living. I have at least five knives. I can post pics when i get a chance. All shechita knives are made from stainless steel these days.
 
"By biblical law the knife may be made from anything not" at that time "attached directly or indirectly to the ground" - sounds like no guillotine devices or plug-in knives ;)
"... capable of being sharpened and polished to the necessary level of sharpness and smoothness required for shechita..." - sharp enough to penetrate through feathers/hide + musculature/ligaments/cartilage/etc. with minimal effort in a few motions - this is only sensible and easy to achieve with hardened steel. Hunting knives or any used for processing game/livestock should be just as sharp. When slaughtering chickens, I would not use a knife any less sharp. By the way, exsanguinating a chicken in this fashion is considered quite "humane" (i.e. morally up-right human behavior).

"The knife must be minimally 1.5 or 2 times as long as the animal's neck is wide, depending on the species of animal and the number of strokes needed to slaughter the animal, but not so long that the weight of the knife exceeds the weight of the animal's head. If the knife is too large, it is assumed to cause pressing. The knife must not have a point. It is feared a point may slip into the wound during slaughter and cause piercing. The blade may also not be serrated, as serrations cause tearing."
- Again, the weight and length restrictions make sense to me (not that I am any authority), a thick heavy knife may indeed "press" both vertically and laterally, though cutting IS pressing. I wonder what sense is implied here.
- I would think that a square-nosed knife (standard here) has two "points", and any cutting is indeed "piercing", but another sense of "pierce" may be behind those restrictions.*shrug* Good sharp serrations pierce without tearing, enhancing cutting ability, but poor serrations indeed tear like a saw-blade.

"The blade may not have imperfections in it. All blades are assumed by Jewish law to be imperfect, so the knife must be checked before each session. The shochet must run his fingernail up and down both sides of the blade and on the cutting edge to determine if he can feel any imperfections. He then uses a number of increasingly fine abrasive stones to sharpen and polish the blade until it is perfectly sharp and smooth. After the slaughter, the shochet must check the knife again in the same way to be certain the first inspection was properly done, and to ensure the blade was not damaged during shechita. If the blade is found to be damaged, the meat may not be eaten by Jews. If the blade falls or is lost before the second check is done, the first inspection is relied on and the meat is permitted."

I really like that the blade is ritually examined and polished to proper edge-refinement. Yes, that sounds exactly like the "scary sharp" aimed for by many individuals here :)

But this really doesn't sound that unique to me, essentially "thin/light un-pointed knife with a very sharp plain-edge, length as needed" - grind the tip off of any kitchen or fillet knife of the appropriate length and the qualifications are met. For a large animal, use a machete. *shrug* Looking forward to the images from our resident expert (above)
 
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