F. Dick 14-inch Beef and Pork Splitter

Splitting a hog or a lamb down the spine by hand takes a two-handed tool, and this 14-inch F. Dick splitter is made for that intensive slaughter work. Its heavy head goes through bone cleanly in one strike, and the long handle gives room for both hands.

The handle has finger grooves molded in for grip and safety. F. Dick seals blade and handle so no gap opens up under hard use, which matters where sanitation is checked. The blade is tapered and balanced for splitting, and the edge is hand-sharpened at the factory with a bevel on each side that makes honing straightforward.

Its weight lets the cutter split with controlled strokes rather than full swings.

For beef carcasses, the 16-inch beef splitter has a longer, taller blade and about a pound more weight. Below this size, the one-handed 10-inch 4-pound meat cleaver handles heavy bones. When a mechanical saw is unavailable, a splitter like this is the manual alternative.