roe deer from field to plate with one knife

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

The fieldcrafter-uk knife in a real world test.

Taking a roe deer from field to plate, with one knife.

The deer had been shot and bled then left to me to process starting with field dressing the animal.

Opening the veins and arteries with the knife was simple and accurate. The drop point allowed for instant penetration and the blade passed easily through the connective tissue to allow blood to leave the body and improve the meat.

The animal was placed on its back for the removal of its digestive tract heart and lungs.

 

Again the knife offered control and very accurate cutting, no internal organs where ruptured or accidentally cut throughout the process.

Very quickly everything was removed and the animal turned belly down to allow any congealed blood from the body cavity to escape.

Once home I hung the animal and removed head, feet and what remained of internal organs (colon windpipe, diaphragm)

I’m not very well geared up for deer processing as I rarely get carcases so had no choice but to hang the animal with para cord from the hock in my grinding shed !!

 

I could now start to skin the animal, this is something I get told by a lot of deer stalkers is not possible with the knife as it’s designed. I had not processed and animal of this size with a fieldcrafter until now so was looking forward to finding out once and for all if that was true!

 

It’s not true!

The knife was superb in use, the blade shape and edge worked beautifully together.

I have to say this is the best knife I have owned and used outside the butchery industry.

The pelt was removed better than I have done in a very long time; I only had to tickle the blade once on a cotton mop on the buffer to hold that hair splitting edge.

Even in a trade setting I would have expected to have used the steel maybe a couple more times throughout this process.

Control and comfort where how I would describe the knife, I was able to hold the knife in the many holds you would expect to get the job done without fuss and fast.

 

That done pelvis and sternum where split with the knife through battening with a lump of timber.

This was probably no necessary in the end with how I finished the butchery, but this was my first roe carcase and I approached it as I would a lamb in the same scenario.

One cleaned dressed and ready to cool carcase.

I decided I would leave the knife over night unclean and sheathed to see what the effect of blood would be on the steel. Again deer stalkers tell me carbon is no good for this as it needs too much care??

 

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

as it was when i stoped for the day.

 

 

The next morning it looked like this.

 

Pretty much identical to how it was left??

 

A couple of squirts of bleach based kitchen cleaner and a go over with a nailbrush and some warm water it looked like this ...

 

No pitting rust or any patina really!

I must admit I expected to see some sign of use but nothing!

 

So that’s the theory on not being able to skin with the knife and that it must be stainless to be any good for wild food prep ruled out.

 

Time to break up the carcase to manageable portions; I tend to bone out a lot of the meat I get for stewing and mincing and just leave the larger joins for roasting.

So the neck is cut through breast cut and both four quarters removed for boning.

 

 

Time to start boning the meat then, this will be minced or made to stewing steak.

Any scrap will go for the dogs, nothing wasted J

By this stage I think I had used the steel 3 times, mostly because I’m cutting towards bone, but worse than that I have a nylon cutting board and it dulls an edge really fast!

So 4 tickles to this point 3 with the steel one on a cotton mop! That’s not because it wasn’t sharp it was I just require razor edge at all times.

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

Now the hind quarters.

I want boned and rolled double cannon or loin, 2 shanks and 2 haunches. I have the fillet away for my tea J

Kidneys are cleaned for going into a steak and kidney pie.

Done ready for cooking.

After everything was in the fridge or freezer, I cleaned up the knife gave it a couple of goes on the steel and guess what......

Shaving sharp!

 

I don’t think that’s a bad workout for a knife. There’s no chipping of the steel all most no patina, no corrosion or signs of wear.

 

The only “issue” was through the warm blood I found the knife did stick in the sheath once.

However it was once and a squeeze of the leather freed it straight away.

 

Sorry I didn’t get any more pics but I’m a one man band now so I found it challenging J

 

The dog enjoyed her spoils to, her teeth are bad so she just pulls the meat off now, smelly old dog .

 

 

 

I hope that didn’t offend anyone?

All the best, matt

[shootgun]

Good job and a good knife mate... All i can say, tke skinning procces was a bit messy in my opinion, but the butchery spot on! Well done!

[bigman]

Great write up Matt really enjoyed that and it's made me hungry ,

[malkiserow]

Can I ask why you use such thick steel rather than a couple of mm thinner?

 

Very interested to hear more

 

Thanks

[colin lad]

a lot of people go on about this knife that knife but like you i am a butcher and have been for 32 years and can say you only need 2" of sharp blade thats all you need to turn a deer into oven ready venison,

i did completely prep a cwd with my swiss army knife to prove it once,

well done

though i would say if you were working at ours them stings on them rolled loins would be cut and you would be told to get them evenly spaced lol

only joking

good job

 

colin

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

Some good points there thanks gents !
The blade is thick because I was always being asked to make bushcraft knives , I bough a couple and used them and didn't like them much .
Looking into it bush crafters use there knives at times like axes etc so I created this knife as a sold all rounder .
As I don't practice bushcraft and I don't really understand it ( to me it's fieldcraft)
I blended the two things and designed a knife I could trust to do all the things required .
The thickness of the steel is me making sure the blade will last years and years . It's not Likely to snap or be ground away soon , and another thing I noticed was thinner blade flex under battening and that causes the scales to desperate from the tang but not always snap the scales , in that void you get grot / muck / bacteria .
So the answer was thicker steel .
That and to be different from the ray mears copies I need something that's not been done .
As a result I have a higher finer grind . Thicker steel and will not use any organic handle materials .


As for the rolling I agree . The string is to thick and weak and because the meat wasn't set up ( no fridge big enough ) it was moving and squishing about !!
I wasn't a bad butcher but not a great one and I'v Not worked in the industry for almost 20 years now !

A friend of mine said that must be high end butchery and I explained I would have had my *** kicked for that in the shop !!
But as non commercial project there's room for an another hand ?

Edited September 18, 2013 by matt fieldcrafter-uk

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

i just saw the coment on skinning !!

are you seriouse ?

how is it messy

theres almost no conective tissue or meat on it ?

the part in the mide of the back is on every one of the 100's of animlas iv skinned other than rabbits .

iv not palmed it out either it was all done with the knife to prove its possible .

if i wanted to i could have whipped that off and ignored the topic !

personaly i thought it was a good pelt no splits no waste .

we will have to see when its tranned how well i did i imagine .

thanks tho ....

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Great to see one of your knives in use Matt.

 

A VERY neat display of butchery.

 

I'm very happy with both of mine!

[shootgun]

i just saw the coment on skinning !!

are you seriouse ?

how is it messy

theres almost no conective tissue or meat on it ?

the part in the mide of the back is on every one of the 100's of animlas iv skinned other than rabbits .

iv not palmed it out either it was all done with the knife to prove its possible .

if i wanted to i could have whipped that off and ignored the topic !

personaly i thought it was a good pelt no splits no waste .

we will have to see when its tranned how well i did i imagine .

thanks tho ....

Too much blood on the skin and knife mate... i've done 100's myself as well, and when it comes to skinning, my hands , my knife and the skin they barely got a drop of blood on... as i said very well executed, and great butchery

[colin lad]

I would agree with the blood on the skin it should come off clean

 

Colin

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

Ok fellas !!

This was all done in one movement I didn't wash my hands or knife from sticking the animal to the point I had its jacket off .

The animal was still red-hot when I was skinning it !

But I bow to your superior ability and want to comment on it

 

Il not loose sleep over it tho iv got to be honest !

 

Each to there own eh

[camokid]

 

 

 

wicked pics nice to see it done.. i to use a knife from start to finish but mine was a £10 wood mora...

your blade will last a lifetime but the price is just too much for me lol

 

well done

[matt fieldcrafter-uk]

Hey what ever floats your boat mr.

IM well aware the cheap cnc made mora's can do the job .

But it's nice to have choice ?

And yet again I find my self saying there not for everyone.

Iv had two mora's and lobbed them both

To soft a temper and to much like an action man toy for me !

There was a reference made between mora knives and mine as the difference between asda jeans and something a little better quality .

If you happy to wear asda jean then more power to you !

[njc110381]

It's a nice looking knife. What's the asking price?

 

I've done all you have done there apart from cutting the ribs with the knife from a swiss card. It's about 30mm long! That said I do like a good write up and am not knocking it in any way. I'm all for a nice hand made British knife. You just can't compare it to the likes of a Mora. Yes they will both do the same job, but a nice piece of work like this feels special, will be nicer to use and will probably last longer too.

[camokid]

dont take it as a knock mate as you would be wrong!! i just cant afford a £150 blade

 

nice to see some DIY pics as i like to dabble myself

[SEshooter]

Good write up. Enjoyed reading it. If I ever win the lotto ill be sure to buy one of your knifes lol, only joking mate

[bazzab]

Use a Mora myself. Superb bit of kit and was recommend to me by a butcher with 32yrs experience.

 

Take ya point about quality BUT spending 150 on a knife for my hobby would be insane it just doesnt make sense to me. Sorry but pointless imo.

 

 

 

 

 

And as for the asda jeans comment??? I love george HE ROCKS.

[colin lad]

Not knocking anyone's knife if you can afford £150 then that's fine they will all do the job myself i use what ever is at hand

my works knife cost less than a tenner and will do more carcasses than most people on here will ever do.

my last job i had to bone out 200 sheep a day 4 days a week and would expect a knife to last 3-4 years each.

its all about how its looked after

 

colin

[bigman]

£120 is nothing to what some customs can cost , it's a case of whatever floats your boat I guess , me personally I love sharps have a smallish collection which are all users and have to admit to spended double that amount on a knife ,

it could be said the same about shotguns really , they all go bang some just posher than others

 

Cheers

Edited September 20, 2013 by bigman

[TIGHTCHOKE]

One small point!

 

 

Matt's knives are £120:00 a piece!

[Grandalf]

Very impressive but I'll stick to set of tools I bought on Ebay for £45.

Knives, saws, etc.

For the number of deer I do they work just fine.

[bigman]

One small point!

 

 

Matt's knives are £120:00 a piece!

 

Edited ;-)

[Rexcernui]

When i was a butcher I used either dik ergogrip or victorinox. Now that I'm not a butcher any more I still use those blades because i like the way they work. Always have an opinel in my pocket for field use.