chainsaw vs recipricating saw

[ratherbefishin]

The point has been made about meat damage done when splitting a carcass with a chainsaw-has anybody tried useing a cordless recipricating saw ?

[brotherjack]

Why do you have to split the carcass at all? I de-bone mine, and even cut into smaller pieces with nary a saw involved - just a couple of good sharp knives... ???

[mainland hunter]

you can split em with a chainsaw and not damage the meat

[Sikanni Stalker]

you can split em with a chainsaw and not damage the meat

I agree, I watched an oldtimer do it once, he was very slow and steady and cut meat only with his knife. On the other hand, I think most of the guys that use a chainsaw have a tendancy to let er fly.

[Rod]

we split my moose last fall with a cordless sawsall using a coarse tooth wood blade, i was pretty impressed with the ease and lack of mess. worked as well as a commercial portable meat saw.

[J_T]

Sounds like a lot of splatter. How to introduce a new girlfriend into hunting. "Here Honey, hold this leg".

I've used a chainsaw. It is a bit messy and did leave a bit of chainoil residue on the meat. Hard to get it all off.

JT

[Steeleco]

I had an old hand show me how to split a moose with an Estwing stainless shank axe, it was the first thing I bought when I got home from that trip, no gas, no batteries, less room needed, although I do like the sound of the recip saw, too each his own!!

[ape]

We use the sawzall in camp and it works great. Just get the 12 inch wood blade and split a moose end to end in about a minute.

[Mauser98]

Sounds like a lot of splatter. How to introduce a new girlfriend into hunting. "Here Honey, hold this leg".

I've used a chainsaw. It is a bit messy and did leave a bit of chainoil residue on the meat. Hard to get it all off.

JT

We use a chainsaw to quarter our big game. We either cut with an empty oiler(there's lots of lubricant in the spine) or we put cooking oil in the oiler.

Our biggest problem is keeping the testicles out of the way.

[Ddog]

i am lol about some comments here....good stuff..i use a cordless sawsall. it works fantastic clean and efficient..

[Rob]

A buddy of mine split a moose down the spine with a small chainsaw and used cooking oil for chain oil he said it worked just fine

[partsman]

We use a chainsaw to quarter our big game. We either cut with an empty oiler(there's lots of lubricant in the spine) or we put cooking oil in the oiler.

Our biggest problem is keeping the testicles out of the way.

Well I will tell you, that the first thing I do is make damn sure My testicles are out of the way!

But I watched guys this year use there Sawzall and they plugged into the generator and off they went, split and cut up their moose slick as can be.

Great way to do it.
I still use a handsaw.

[ratherbefishin]

tell me more about this sawsall-is it cordless,what brand is it, where is it sold and what does it cost?

[Sikanni Stalker]

Sounds like a lot of splatter. How to introduce a new girlfriend into hunting. "Here Honey, hold this leg".

I've used a chainsaw. It is a bit messy and did leave a bit of chainoil residue on the meat. Hard to get it all off.

JT
LMAO!!!

on the latter part I hear folks use veg oil for quartering.

[Sikanni Stalker]

tell me more about this sawsall-is it cordless,what brand is it, where is it sold and what does it cost?

yeah mastercraft has one it's pretty cheap, cordless etc. You could spend 500 easy on one, but if you only use it for hunting........why spend the $$$$

[Elkhound]

Well I will tell you, that the first thing I do is make damn sure My testicles are out of the way!



:biggrin: Hahaha thats what I thought too. Right on Partsman

[lip_ripper00]

we have used the pecker saw for a few years on moose.I have yet to find a cordless one that will do the job with out dieing. we carry a small gen set and 110 volt Makita very slick.

[boxhitch]

Our biggest problem is keeping the testicles out of the way
Precisely why drinking and power tools don't mix ! Suggest keeping the clothes on until after the chores. Then dance away !!

[buckslayer]

if you have to split it with a chainsaw just use the tip of it to go through the bone and cut the rest with a knife. Also do this once the animal is cooled and set up a bit the meat will shrink away from the bone otherwise, and if you don't have to split it then don't as every surface you expose has to be shaved off when you cut the animal into steaks and roasts it is best split when you are going to cut it.

[rock]

I've used a chainsaw for years, works just fine. The reciprocating saw would probably work fine, especially with the battery age. Never had that 20 yrs ago.

[ruger#1]

you could hook a small power inverter on your quad or vehicle . that would work good.as for your testicles , you could have your girlfriend hold them or use a cup. might have to invent a nut bra for this chore.

[mrdoog]

nutbra?
LOL!!!!!
that's too funny!!!

[Dayto]

Well we use a good cordless reci saw works awesome in the field (we use a bone blade)and about the ol'testies I hear ya , we usually rig something up with a hard helmet and Duct tape...."If ya aint 'Duct , you sure are F*cked":-D

[huntwriter]

The point has been made about meat damage done when splitting a carcass with a chainsaw-has anybody tried useing a cordless recipricating saw ?

If you are not careful with a chainsaw two things can happen to you.

1. A lot of meat damage.

2. The chain can break and give you a nasty experience.

There are every year untold accidents from hunters cutting up game with a tool that has been designed to cut wood not bone, meat and sinew.

If you must use a mechanical device I would go with a cordless recipricating saw. However, you are likely to run out of battery power before you done cutting up a deer or moose.

The simple fact is this a saw blade designed to cut bone is very different from a design to cut wood or steel. For the money and safety you are better of buying a hand held bone saw in a butcher supply store for about $20 to $30 this will make the job of cutting bone safe and as fast as with a machiene.

On the other hand you can have a quick look at my website, go to "meat cutting tutorial" where it will show you step-by step how to cut with a knife trough bone. You will be surprised how easy and fast it is without mess and lugging heavy machinery around.

[harbinger]

WTF? Why on earth would you cut your animal with a freakin' chainsaw. Man that is soooo red neck I can't even believe it. Holy hack job batman, no wonder some people think game meat sucks. mmmmmm how do you like your steak, i prelubed it with some nice chain oil yumyum oh and that burning on your tongue thats just a little mixed gas exhaust, taste like barbeque starter you say? Take the master butchers advice and learn to do it with your knife. To each his own though right?

[Driftwood]

On the various hunts I've been on, we've used both chainsaw as well as a saws all. I prefer a chainsaw. We have a saw that we run veg oil in and it is used only for meat.

This year we used a saws all and it worked fine, but you have to watch the blade as I found it has a tendancy to bend with the cut.

The advantage of the chain saw is that you always have a back up if the camp saw dies. Hard to cut fire wood with a saws all.

[CanuckShooter]

I tried the recip saw / inverter running off my quad battery....here is what I found out...it works great...except you need one fellow to hold a leg...one fellow to cut...and one fellow to rev the quad because the inverter draws off too much juice.....I guess you could drop the fellow holding the leg and just tie it off but in the end I buckled under the pressure and bought a nice little chain saw and run only veg oil for quartering my big animals......and if you try the battery recip..they run out of juice...

[Red Foreman]

Hey thanks for the butcher link Huntwriter looks like I have some reading to do.

[Mauser98]

WTF? Why on earth would you cut your animal with a freakin' chainsaw. Man that is soooo red neck I can't even believe it. Holy hack job batman, no wonder some people think game meat sucks. mmmmmm how do you like your steak, i prelubed it with some nice chain oil yumyum oh and that burning on your tongue thats just a little mixed gas exhaust, taste like barbeque starter you say? Take the master butchers advice and learn to do it with your knife. To each his own though right?

The original question in this thread was about splitting a carcass. I don't think anyone is advocating the use of chain saw to butcher an animal.

Obviously, great care must be taken to ensure that the cut is made down the middle of the spine. We hang our moose by the hind legs so that the carcass hangs strainght. One of our party has split literally dozens of moose so he is pretty good at it.

[Shoey]

has anybody tried useing a cordless recipricating saw ?

Boy, us Renecks don't get any credit at all... :roll:

Although I've never personally had to cut a carcass, recip-saws work great for cutting out the antlers.

[J_T]

Have to admit, this has been one of the more entertaining threads. I was starting to think we should come up with a "Hunters Remedy" joke book with some of these comments and ideas.

Thanks all for the laughs. (I recognize there was some serious discussion to, which I did find enlightening, however, realizing that it was important to remain clothed and keep my testicles out of the way while butchering was very worthwhile.):razz:

JT

[Ltbullken]

There is something primal about the schmeg and blood all over the place! But a well carved knife does teh same. Quatered up a bear once with only a knife and it was quick and (realtively) clean.

[elkster]

I tried the cordless sawsall on a Elk. Not enough power. My partner brought out his chain saw, and Man what a job he did!. Met up with the C.O. the next day and he couldn't believe it was cut with a chain saw. He just used the tip of the saw, and OH Yeh!, no chain oil. What he did was drain the oil out, and then run the saw through a coupl of cuts on a log on the side of the road. No waste, no oil in the meat

[cute chick]

I use a recipricating saw I bought at Canadian tire. made by MASTERCRAFT, THE BLADE THAT WORKS BEST FOR ME is the one for cutting wet, soggy wood. I've only quartered deer with it, works great. I think I paid $119 for it 3 years ago. Comes with 2 batteries, charger, carry case.

[Kirby]

When running a chainsaw through meat I would just forget the oil. I've run saws for a fairly long time without it accidently. Your not gonna want to use a good bar/chain with cutting oil on it, so keep a spare bar and chain for the moose/elk. And another bar and chain for the wood. And all the blood/water in the meat would act as a lub anyways.

Kirby

[ratherbefishin]

what saws do the meat packers use to split and quarter beef?

[huntwriter]

what saws do the meat packers use to split and quarter beef?

Well, we use a vast variety of special saws. Some small which you can hold with one hand, some very big for which you need a counter weight on a pully just so you can lift them up. Some saws have sicular blades, others have streigt blades and still others are band saws. It all depends what bone we have to cut and what job is at hand, from cutting of feet to splitting a carcass there is for every process a special saw. Most of these saws run on electric and some others on air pressure. Of cource we also use very often a simple hand bone saw.

It is such a hand held bone saw with which I take game appart in the outdoors. They are so light you hardly notice them in your back bag and it makes all the difference in having meat waisted or not.

[ratherbefishin]

Canadian Tires house brand ''Mastercraft'' has a 18'' firetooth fairly course blade[#8?] handsaw that I have used-you can't sharpen them, its a disposable saw,very sharp and costs about $8 if I remember correctly.I don't use it for anything else but splitting and quartering the carcass

[PGKris]

Does NOBODY use a handsaw? Holy wow I didn't realize how many loggers were on this site :biggrin: Sorry had to!! We just knife 'em down the middle and split the breastbone with a handsaw! Then into halves and quarters with the knives and handsaw again for the spine. Chainsaw....never even considered that. Too messy.

[mainland hunter]

its not too messy just use the tip of the saw. cut through the meat first with a knife then use the saw on the spine. very quick.

[mrdoog]

Oh to be young again!
I've never used any type of saw that wasn't powered by a shoulder to split a spine.
Now that I've heard that a SAWZALL will work, I'm phoning my brother to bring his over.
Aside from the actual hunt, there was never a better feeling than seeing the 2 halves swinging free.
The rest is gravey.

[Kirby]

Man I got anywhere from 4-5 saws kicking around, from 54cc to 90cc, with anything from 18" to 32" bars, no way i am handsawing.:D

Kirby


Does NOBODY use a handsaw? Holy wow I didn't realize how many loggers were on this site :biggrin: Sorry had to!! We just knife 'em down the middle and split the breastbone with a handsaw! Then into halves and quarters with the knives and handsaw again for the spine. Chainsaw....never even considered that. Too messy.

[Ltbullken]

Try freezing the carcass then use a mitre saw to cut it up! :D

[Icedog]

I always carry a take down meat saw in my pack, and have used it a number of times over the years. My first choice for moose however, if I'm close enough to camp or my vehicle, is a small, dedicated purpose chainsaw. Oh yeah...I also take a pair of rain pants with me. They protect me from chain saw "splatter" and/or from soaking my pants through with blood or other varieties of moose juice should I have to kneel down while conducting some of the more delicate procedures involved in portioning a dead moose into manageable sized pieces of meat.