What kind of work is a Bullnose butcher knife for?

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I have an Old Hickory bullnose butcher knife but rarely use it. (We hammered it (wood batan) through a small Aspen for a walking stick. No damage all to the knife. Amazing. Howerver the wide nose seems unwieldy for most kitchen chores. Worked ok when we butchered our deer last year, but not ideal. Can you folks give me some examples of how / where that style is used?

(zero points for "butchering." just sayin.... :eyebrow: )
 
It is used for slice through large boneless primals or smaller ones for trimming primals.
 
As Chuck said they were basically used for breaking down and trimming primals, as were most bullnose butchers back in the day.
 
Primals - the large areas of different parts of the animal, cut off the bones, and being made into less large pieces, ready for the grocery store to make steaks, roasts, etc from?

I checked some videos about butchering, and they seemed to use more pointy knives taking the large slabs of meat off the carcass. Can you describe what the shape of the bullnose was supposed to do?
 
The bulbous tip gives a knife more length on the edge for longer, cleaner cuts. I also find the shape useful for skinning hams, the tip can follow the curve and the rest of the length lifts the skin. That said, I haven't used mine since I last broke a pig six months ago. It's a pretty specialized thing.


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Primals - the large areas of different parts of the animal, cut off the bones, and being made into less large pieces, ready for the grocery store to make steaks, roasts, etc from?

I checked some videos about butchering, and they seemed to use more pointy knives taking the large slabs of meat off the carcass. Can you describe what the shape of the bullnose was supposed to do?

Kind of. Your primals for beef are chuck, rib, loin, and round. Sub primals are things like chuck roll, rib roast, top sirloin, eye round.
 
Yes it is also good for skinning. Most skinning knives are extremely upswept bullnoses.
 
It's more forgiving to lead with than a pointy slicer/scimitar. And the added weight on the front end gives you more power/control when doing large cuts.
 
It's more forgiving to lead with than a pointy slicer/scimitar.
Does that mean a common technique for butchers (in the context of this thread) start with push cutting of those large pieces? So the wider bullnose helps control knife sort of like a keel or steerer of some sort?

I can see how the longer rounded edge would help with skinning, and be somewhat specialized, which explains why I don't use it much. Seems too massive for what little I do here at home. When we hunt Whitetail deer, we don't need much of a skinning knife, especially when we get the smaller ones (better venison and easier to get out of the woods :biggrin: ). It's easy enough once started to just pull the skin off the carcass, rolling it as we go for both leverage and keeping the hair off the meat. I think the last time I used my butcher knife was 2 years ago, breaking the large parts of the deer down.
 
I use an old Case bullnose to french airline breasts...but I think it's mainly due to it being tough as nails...
 
I use an old Case bullnose to french airline breasts...but I think it's mainly due to it being tough as nails...

I was hesitant to google that, thinking "...setup..." but now I know. I think I'll go get a chicken and try that. Looks like a good way to save the wing meat. Watching the first video come up, that guy had it done faster than I can figure out which way is up.
 
my camp hunting knife is also an old bullnose. so tough. i agree, the big tip and my feeble butcher skills make for some awkward moved.

but it took apart an elk nicely. i think i am on the search for a vintage boning to have right next to it. the next elk, i cant wait.
 
my camp hunting knife is also an old bullnose...it took apart an elk nicely. i think i am on the search for a vintage boning to have right next to it. the next elk, i cant wait.

Also searching for a good vintage (read: cheap) boning knife, (repeating myself) for venison. I have one (actually being exchanged 'cause it was bent a little by the handle) but am now looking to score really good carbon cheap. Half of the fun is finding it. Anyone can spend $$, but what challenge is that? If I had the tools and experience to thin a knee, one of the older Old Hickory would work very well I think, based on the experience with my butcher knife.

:biggrin:
 
This type of butcher knife created to be an all purpose tool. Like most all purpose knives they don't necessarily do much of any thing perfectly. Back when I grew up on the farm, the normal cutlery battery was 2 or 3 butcher knives and a couple of paring knives. That was all that was all that was needed for everyday cooking and canning garden produce, as well a butchering chickens, hogs and cattle start to finish. I certainly wouldn't willingly try that today.
 
It works especially well on half pigs and beef shoulder.
 
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