Beef bone cutting question

[dpearce]

Got my 1/3 a cow last Friday! Thankfully it all fit into the chest freezer, too, so bonus!

Anyway, we got all the bones and beef fat they would give us. I have some pretty big bones, so I'm wondering what's a good method to cut up the femur and some of the longer rib bones. I'd like to boil them down for bone broth, etc...

I tried with a hacksaw (fresh clean blade) and could barely make a dent. I have a band saw, but it's for woodworking, not for meat cutting, and I'm pretty sure with these bones being wobbly, I'd wreck the blade no matter what. (Already wrecked a blade last week because I went to cut up some chucks of wood for smoking and ignored my own advice and did not use a sled, like I should've)

Anyone have a tried and true method they'd like to share? The bones are frozen, by the way.

Thanks in advance!

Admin I hope this is in the correct subtopic. Please move if needed.

[RonB]

Don't forget to roast the bones before making the broth.

I haven't done it, but maybe a jigsaw with a fresh blade?

[Oak Smoke]

I use a saws all or what is called a reciprocating saw. Mine is a corded DeWalt but there are so many cordless options out there. I use the course cross cut blade. You will have some serious clean up to do. I use a sharp wood chisel and a hammer to split bones.

[Ace]

The butcher uses a band saw to cut through bone. A reciprocating saw with the correct blade (as Oak Smoke mentioned above) would be the next best idea I would think.
I've used one to cut through Deer bones.

[JeffJ]

If you have a band saw you should be able to swap out the blade for one suitable for cutting bones. Or a handheld bone saw. Just make sure to clean up any bone powder from the cuts.

[dpearce]

Trouble is I have urethane tires on the band saw. Meat cutting saws apparently need rubber tires? (I think). And I don’t really feel like cleaning the tires. I actually have a suitable blade for it (at least as far as TPI is concerned) but it’s not stainless steel. Fortunately, I have a reciprocal saw and stainless steel blades for it, so we will see how that goes!

[dpearce]

As just a follow up, I did confirm that you don't want to use urethane tires when cutting meat/bones. They'll gum up causing the blade to slip, tiny bone chips can become lodged in the tires, and would be a pain to clean and sanitize. Food/bone cutting band saw wheels and rollers are usually stainless steel as well, which I know my woodworking saw doesn't have.

[Dewesq55]

Recip saw with a stainless steel bone blade. You can buy the blades on line

[dpearce]

Thanks everyone for the tip on using a reciprocating saw. Ordered some stainless steel blades off everyone's favorite online retail seller (was surprised how cheap they were) and was able cut down the rib bones and femur with lots less effort.

Side Note: Borrowed the saw from a friend who has a few and doesn't need it back. The trigger does not work, it's stuck in the on position. And it's corded, so as soon as you plug it in, it's alive. Much fun dealing with that. I'm going to take it apart and fix it for future use.

[HawkerXP]

Nice!

My friend also just got a cow back from the processor and it came with a bunch of bones.