NCJ Number
210769
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 50 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2005 Pages: 796-801
Date Published
July 2005
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study identified the general class characteristics of the cuts made on bone by a single-blade knife and a hatchet.
Abstract
The cuts were performed on sections of human femur by attaching the weapons to a device that permitted calculation of the force applied to the bone. With the 2 weapons, 3 kinds of trauma were inflicted on the bone: 1 with the knife blade (15 samples), 1 with the sharp part of the hatchet (15 samples), and 1 with the tip of the knife blade (15 samples). The latter trauma was done by hand, since the device used in the other tests could not perform such a motion. Each lesion was initially evaluated macroscopically by recording the general features of the lesion and every detail visible to the naked eye. Attention was given to the shape, the edges, and the bone features visible near the edges of the lesion. The macroscopic examination also determined whether the blow's orientation could be determined macroscopically when the tip of the blade was used. Each sample was then coated with gold to facilitate using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM analysis focused on the features of the floor, the walls, and the edges of the lesion, the associated bone lesions near the edges, the features of the extremities, the presence of bone fragments near the edges, and the orientation of the blow when the tip of the knife blade was used. The macroscopic analysis showed that one of the edges was generally more even in the knife samples than in the hatchet samples, but in both cases the lesions were linear and narrow with either a raising or a small depression near the edges; it was difficult to accurately macroscopically interpret the edge features. Microscopically, however, specific characteristics of the cuts distinguished between the knife and the hatchet. 8 figures, and 24 references