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what's a good inexpensive bone saw for butchering?


mazzgolf

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I want to try ossobuco for the first time (I usually throw away the leg shanks but want to see if I can make a meal out of them - hear a lot of people rave about ossobuco).

I usually just chop off the legs with large gardening loppers, but since I  plan on eating these now I want to buy a bone saw that I'll use solely for butchering and that I can use to cut through the leg bones to make the disks for ossobuco (rather than use one large piece of shank).

I was just going to go to Harbor Freight and by a hack saw, but I figure ask here what you people use? I'm not looking to spend $40 on a simple hack saw, but I'm not even sure what type of saw OR blade to get that is best to cut through the bone cleanly without leaving shards of bone in the meat.

 

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In  my opinion, most NJ deer are too small (unless you only shoot 200lb+) to cut the shanks into discs. The meat then has to be tied on to the bone or else it falls off. If you want to do it for appearance, then do it. If it's for any other reason like taste, it's unnecessary. Leave them whole. After the meat starts falling off the bone, just shred it up and enjoy!

To cut the shanks properly into discs the best way is with them frozen and using a band saw. Other methods will work but the meat will be too separated from the bone in the process. 

Edited by archer36
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I thought about a reciprocating saw. I see one at Harbor Freight for $25. I don't need a heavy duty one - it's just for butchering.

Interesting thought about the size of the legs being small. I guess the saw will still help getting clean cuts through bone and neck.  Even if I can't get disks, I can use it to cut the shank in half so I can get it to fit in a pot/frying pan.

 

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I have 2 bone saws I don't use because a sawzall is the best way to go.  I bought a pack of bone blades on Amazon fairly cheap that will last me the rest of my life.  Like Lunatic says, you really don't need to buy a bone blade as most finer tooth blade types will work just fine.  

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1 hour ago, mazzgolf said:

I thought about a reciprocating saw. I see one at Harbor Freight for $25. I don't need a heavy duty one - it's just for butchering.

Interesting thought about the size of the legs being small. I guess the saw will still help getting clean cuts through bone and neck.  Even if I can't get disks, I can use it to cut the shank in half so I can get it to fit in a pot/frying pan.

 

just leave them whole...  ive done shanks from a 180lb buck to a small doe and they will all fit in the crockpot or oven.   When the deer is hanging i usually use a sawzall to cut 3/4 way up the leg that with the meat attached usually fits perfectly in the pan.. most of the time I dont even cook the bone and just cook the meat. One thing you need to try is the marrow. Trust me you will love it... 

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1 hour ago, gregtpal said:

most finer tooth blade types will work just fine.  

What type of blades do you use? Am I hearing right you use higher TPI (tooth-per-inch) blades used for cutting metal? Or do you use wood-cutting blades?

I was thinking go with wood cutting blades - I am guessing the finer tooth metal blades would get clogged up with the gunk as it goes through the marrow and bone. ???

UPDATE: Ah.. never mind. I see all the sawsall butcher blades on Amazon are really low TPI (many are 3 TPI!) so that answers my question.

Edited by mazzgolf
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8 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

What type of blades do you use? Am I hearing right you use higher TPI (tooth-per-inch) blades used for cutting metal? Or do you use wood-cutting blades?

I was thinking go with wood cutting blades - I am guessing the finer tooth metal blades would get clogged up with the gunk as it goes through the marrow and bone. ???

UPDATE: Ah.. never mind. I see all the sawsall butcher blades on Amazon are really low TPI (many are 3 TPI!) so that answers my question.

Metal blade works very well

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I use a plastic handled version of this that I had bought a long time ago from Home Depot. I went this route instead of a hacksaw because I'm prone to breaking hacksaw blades and this will never break nor require replacement blades.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-14-in-Back-Saw-with-Wood-Handle-122MM14/204748835

David

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