# Sawzall/butchering question



## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

I was just given a heavy-duty sawzall which I plan to use for many things, but one thing is while butchering, using it to cut the carcass in halves. What type of blade do I need for that?


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

farmmom, I dont butcher anything bigger than a deer so Im not sure what your butchering, I prefer to strip out the carcass rather then cutting it up.

what I mean by that is I start at the bottom and take off a piece at a time 
when Im done the bulk of the carcass is still hanging minus the meat.

though if your gonna use a sawzall I say something simular to a bandsaw blade, like the blades used for metal.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Not too sure that they make a food quality blade to fit a reciprocating saw.
Meat is generally cut with a band type saw IIRC.


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## ihuntgsps (Mar 10, 2008)

I use a cordless 18 volt sawzall and have great results on hogs with a bimetal blade.


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## plowjockey (Aug 18, 2008)

Many meat saws use blades with about 4 teeth/inch, which is somewhat large. The fine ones will "gum" up too easy.

Try like a 5 tooth wood blade. Clean the blade real good in soapy water after use and dry, to prevent rust. I coat mine with non-stick cooking spray, when storing.

Even a deer is a lot easier to work on with a Sawzall.

Good luck.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Our blade is a Milwaukee. It is around a foot long. Works great, but things do get pretty bouncy when you are down to the neck bones.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

7 inch wreaking blade is what i tried it does fine if on bone but gums up in meat some but still cuts ok


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## Sara K (Oct 1, 2008)

We did it once with a metal blade, it worked but it gummed up - we were using what we had when we had it. Used a wood blade as described above since then.....worked much easier.

Sara


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

I always cut the meat half frozen gives a cleaner cut and use at least a ten tooth per inch blade similar you a butchers band saw . I cant imagine the rough cut of a 3TPI on meat


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Sara K said:


> We did it once with a metal blade, it worked but it gummed up - we were using what we had when we had it. Used a wood blade as described above since then.....worked much easier.
> 
> Sara


A long wood blade is what I use. When I had my little deer processing shop I would use a sawzall to split the carcass after skinning. Then I would tag each half and hang the halves up in the cooler. It was a lot easier to carry each half to the cooler then to try and carry the whole thing at once. 

Splitting the carcass and cutting the head and feet off was the only time I used the sawzall.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Oldcountryboy said:


> Splitting the carcass and cutting the head and feet off was the only time I used the sawzall.


Good point. We use knives to cut the meat, except when we get them in the house and use a bandsaw to cut the parts into freezer cuts. Sawzall would be awful for cutting pork chops or roasts.


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

I always take the steel brush on the grinder and clean the paint off the blade before I cut meat with it. Might not hurt anything, but I just don't want paint in my meat.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Ditto here.....new wood blade, cleaned of paint, about 6" length. Use to split the backbone, remove head and legs. Knife or bone saw from that point on.


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

I've had good luck with a bow saw (same as used for trimming trees) to cut frozen meat. Used it to cut venison hams in half, for example. Just thoroughly clean the blade before/after use. A little mineral oil (food grade) will keep the blade from rusting between use. 

Lee


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Here's one thing I learned, if you have someone spray a small stream of water on the blade it doesn't gum up as much. Of course you'll want to make sure your saw is plugged into a CFI outlet.


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## ozark mike (Apr 20, 2008)

I use an electric chainsaw to split the animal and use corn oil in the oiler, and a sawsall just for the legs and head... and I use a 5 tooth per inch and about a 10 inch blade


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

Probably referring to a cordless [battery] 18V recip saw.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

plowjockey said:


> Many meat saws use blades with about 4 teeth/inch, which is somewhat large. The fine ones will "gum" up too easy.
> 
> Try like a 5 tooth wood blade. Clean the blade real good in soapy water after use and dry, to prevent rust. I coat mine with non-stick cooking spray, when storing.
> 
> ...


What I've seen is where the Blade connects if not cleaned and oiled it will rust in there.

But as far as Deer I debone all of it.It gives it better flavor and with CWD I think its alot better.

big rockpile


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

I'm mostly cutting up feral swine so they are usually under 150# hanging weight. Generally, I'll cut them apart as much as possible with a knife and use a pair of lopping shears to clip through any bones I can't cut through with a knife. I did try several different types of hand saws, but they always left bone meal in the meat. The bypass loppers don't make bone chips and would work for the smaller carcasses. I'll usually cut between a rib and the spine, though instead of through the middle of the spine, but the pork chops are just for us and we aren't overly fussy. I have a special pair of loppers and a special pair of garden shears which are used for food processing.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

ihuntgsps said:


> I use a cordless 18 volt sawzall and have great results on hogs with a bimetal blade.


bimetal only means that the metal in the teeth is harder than the metal in the body of the blade


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

we use a meat hand saw to split our pigs, and it goes very quick. We bought a wells saw for splitting the cows, but we did that by hand too for years. 

Our meat hand saw is about 10 teeth per inch. I think you should start with that.


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## RDS052 (Mar 15, 2021)

farmmom said:


> I was just given a heavy-duty sawzall which I plan to use for many things, but one thing is while butchering, using it to cut the carcass in halves. What type of blade do I need for that?


Amazon.com : bone saw blade


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## brosil (Dec 15, 2003)

I'm getting good results with a cleaver on my lambs. My aim isn't too good yet but it seems to chop right through bone, even back bones.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

michiganfarmer said:


> a wells saw


Wellsaw out of kazoo?
I think they started with meat cutting equipment _way_ back when.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I use my sawzall all the time when cutting bone on deer, hogs and elk. They make an actual meat / bone saw blade for sawzalls, just do a search online.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm going to purchase a Sawzall this year to butcher our goats. A few years back a professional butcher was kind enough to come out and take care of the butchering process for me; and he used a Sawzall with a "demolition" blade; so that is what I will be purchasing this year.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Nice you’ve used a saws all on deer, you’ll never do it any other way. It is ridiculously fast for beheading, de legging, and splitting. Now, for moose, elk, or beef, I would never even dream of trying to process without one. I just use a regular wood blade.
I will never, ever go back to all the manual labor and the time consuming task. I have better things to do with my time!


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