A man has been found not guilty of stabbing his brother after a magistrate accepted that it could have accidentally happened while the accused was making a sandwich.

Walter Riley, 22, was accused of the reckless wounding of Eric John Russell, 27, in their house at Menindee in far west New South Wales in February.

In the Broken Hill Local Court, Magistrate Geoffrey Dunlevy ruled that it was "entirely possible" that Mr Riley came up behind Mr Russell when he was making a sandwich and that Mr Riley accidentally stabbed his brother near his heart.

Outside the court Mr Riley said he had used a jumper to stop the bleeding.

"I tightened it real tight so the blood couldn't come out real fast," he said.

"Slowed the blood down a bit, put him in the car and mum took him up to the hospital."

The magistrate added that the prosecution had not proved any malice nor that the accused could have predicted the injury caused to his brother.