Best Recipriocating Saw blade for bone?

Suther

Suther

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In my hunting pack I carry a handle that takes a reciprocating saw blade for cutting through bone when necessary. I also bought a battery powered reciprocating saw this year for an unrelated project, so while I won't be packing that in my bag there is a good chance it'll be in the truck. For those of you who have used reciprocating saws (or the hand saw that takes a recip. saw blade) on bones, what kind of blades work best? Looking online I see some suggestions about using a coarse toothed blade like a pruning or wood blade (5tpi-8tpi sort of range) but my understanding is bone saws tend to have pretty fine teeth on them, so I'm looking for suggestions from people with experience.

So, what do you use?

Thanks!
 
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Is not exactly what you asked about, but my Dad and I each used to carry Sierra Saws - or Home Hardware versions of them - could get replacement blades, which we also had - so teeth angled to cut on the pull, not the push - I suspect were actually pruning saws - fairly coarse teeth - I personally used them to split the brisket on elk, and seemed to do okay for field dressing. I had since got a Swiss Army knife for hunting - had about a 3 or 4 inch saw in it - that became my deer knife - did not carry any knives or saws on my belt after getting that little one.

At the abattoir that we used - the guy had a powered meat saw - like a big hack saw - for splitting along vertebra to split carcasses into two halves - was reasonably fine teeth, but I think that one cut on forward motion, not on the "pull" ... Different purpose, I guess??
 
Demolition blades and they are available at least up to 12”. Made to go through wood , staples, nails, plywood encrusted with grit and concrete, these are the toughest that you can buy. Cut off moose shanks, or head, halve a moose down the spine from end to end. Done it many times, good quality blades will work for years.
 
My family and I use a Sawzall for all our butchering, and we either use demo blades as suggested above, or plain old coarse tooth wood blades.

You're correct, handheld bone saws generally have fine teeth, but when used on a reciprocating saw, the fine teeth plug up with bone/fat/sinew fragments quickly and become useless, while a coarse toothed wood blade will keep cutting.
 
Potashminer said:
Is not exactly what you asked about, but my Dad and I each used to carry Sierra Saws - or Home Hardware versions of them - could get replacement blades, which we also had - so teeth angled to cut on the pull, not the push - I suspect were actually pruning saws - fairly coarse teeth - I personally used them to split the brisket on elk, and seemed to do okay for field dressing. I had since got a Swiss Army knife for hunting - had about a 3 or 4 inch saw in it - that became my deer knife - did not carry any knives or saws on my belt after getting that little one.

At the abattoir that we used - the guy had a powered meat saw - like a big hack saw - for splitting along vertebra to split carcasses into two halves - was reasonably fine teeth, but I think that one cut on forward motion, not on the "pull" ... Different purpose, I guess??
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I have looked at the Silky PocketBoy saws, and also the Bahco laplander (which is on sale for $35 at KMS Tools right now); but even the 5" silky is a lot more bulky than a reciprocating saw blade and handle to go with it, which is why I ended up going the recip saw blade/handle route, it is just so compact/lightweight in my pack, and the ability to use any recip. saw blade makes it a very versatile option IMO.

Ashcroft said:
Demolition blades and they are available at least up to 12”. Made to go through wood , staples, nails, plywood encrusted with grit and concrete, these are the toughest that you can buy. Cut off moose shanks, or head, halve a moose down the spine from end to end. Done it many times, good quality blades will work for years.
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Thanks for your input.
 
When I got my first pack of bone blades for my sawzall I got them from my now deceased butcher. They have no paint on them and the ones I have are in 6inch and 10inch and are 22 teeth per inch.
They don't dull off like the usual brand names blades do on hard bone. I want to say they are stainless but I am really not sure.
Wonder if Cabela's stocks sawzall butcher blades.
 
We have used the Milwaukee 12" demo blades for the last few years to either half or quarter moose with a 20V Dewalt recip saw and it goes through them like butter. Sure beats doing it with a handsaw.
 
45ACPKING said:
When I got my first pack of bone blades for my sawzall I got them from my now deceased butcher. They have no paint on them and the ones I have are in 6inch and 10inch and are 22 teeth per inch.
They don't dull off like the usual brand names blades do on hard bone. I want to say they are stainless but I am really not sure.
Wonder if Cabela's stocks sawzall butcher blades.
Click to expand...

Not that I've ever seen. Just checked their webpage to make sure, didn't find anything. The closest they have is saw blades for a havalon, which I do own/carry, but at 2.9" they seem like they'd be uselessly small.
 
I found the demo blades, with big teeth leave a lot of bone fragments in the meat. Im going to try a middle of the road blade, whatever I happen to have in the storage box at the time.

We used a electric chainsaw on a moose one time, to split it in half. Filed it with mineral oil. Worked pretty slick, but easy to get off centre.

this (ish): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-9-in-9-TPI-Demo-Demon-Carbide-General-Purpose-Reciprocating-Saw-Blade-DS0909CGP/302748190
 
I found the demo blades produce a lot of undesirable bone chips.
The 22 tooth per inch blades don't leave any bone chips and cut like crazy. The materal that accumulates from the 22 tooth saw is like a wet paste and easily wiped away. Makes great clean chip free cuts on ribs and doesn't make a mess of the meat.
Really, most blades meant for metals will work to varying degrees
Whatever blade you do choose, burn the paint off or remove it with a solvent.
 
I use the bi-metal blades, they have a finer tooth than a demo blade. Have a handle that takes sawzall and hacksaw blades, sawzall are stiffer so I use those in the field. At home to take the lower legs off or go through bones I use a hacksaw.
 
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