Knife help?

G

Gary O

Guest
My son-in-law has a birthday and I would like to get him his first quality hunting knife for field dressing deer-size game. I am thinking fixed blade, full-tang, drop point, 4-5 inches with a leather sheath if I can find one for under $100. With so many possibilities out there, what say you?
 
I know you said fixed blade, but I've got a Buck Folding Hunter that's a topnotch knife. Easy to sharpen and holds an edge well too.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but in looking at knives recently I noticed that a lot of well known "American" brand knives were marked "Made in China". I'll take "Made in America".

Kershaw's are all or mostly all made in America, and the one I've got seems to be a good knife too.
 
My favorite knife...

...is a folding lock blade Gerber my brother gave me a couple of years ago. Has about a four inch blade with a gut hook at the end and a synthetic "rubber" handle. Honestly, I wasn't wild about the rubber handle until the first time I used it and found it was much less slippery when wet than some of my other knives. Good all-around ergonomics, and it holds an edge well. Mine came with a black nylon sheath that does a good job of retaining the knife. Compact and easy to keep handy (I normally leave it in my hunting backpack).

I have a couple of handsome custom knives that also work well, but they've seen very little use since I've had the Gerber.
 
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Knife

Gary,
You might want to look up Sportsmans Guide on the internet and go to "Puma" knives. They have a Puma Stag Skinner knife for 79.97. I have been using one for quite a while and I think it is a good knife. It is made in Germany so it is not triple C(cheap chinese crap). It comes with a leather sheath and is a fine knife. I have given some to some of my hunting friends and they are impressed by it. I have been a fan of German made Puma knives for years and think they are some of the best out there for production made knives.

Best,
Dan Batko

"Where are we going and why am I in this basket?"
 
Try and get a Cold Steel blade with ATS34 made in Japan... great value...

Any blade with ATS34 will be good...
 
Knife

Is this to be a real working tool or a"lookie me"thing.A knife shoud be a real working tool-not a wall hanger to impress some other none user!Will
 
My choice...

I will recommend the Gator from Cabela's. It features a 4 inch blade in SV30 steel. This may well be the best edge-holding steel available today. I believe that they have them on sale for $69. Good shooting...James
 
I would get one with a half serrated blade to half regular blade.....stainless. Folding is best (to have in the field). I've field dressed about two dozen animals in the past 12 to thirteen years and the serrated part is great to cut through the ribs when field dressing. But the most important part, no matter the type of blade (if you actually harvest an animal) is sharpness. Don't show your buddies how sharp it is by cutting things, it dulls the edge. Just dress the animal in the field and be done with it.

Carp
 
I know that a fixed blade knife makes a nice gift, but. I have gone to folders exclusively. The new ones weigh practically nothing, carry easy, and are safer to use. Buck has a new folder which is very good. I have used it for two years on about 10 deer on its original edge. I just got a gerber drop point (I prefer a drop point) which is light and small and everything needed for deer. Its is a good knife, it just doesn't make much of a present.
 
Buck,Gerber either one will last and keep a good edge. Get him a good wetstone and steel to keep the knife sharp (less chance of cutting yourself with a sharp knife)
 
Dennis Sorensen said:
Try and get a Cold Steel blade with ATS34 made in Japan... great value...

Any blade with ATS34 will be good...
Click to expand...

+1 ATS-34 or the American version 154-CM are both high quality steel for knives. A blade of 3 1/2 inches is plenty long. There is no need for those "Rambo" bowie knives of 5 inches and longer.
 
Something like this one, made of 440C is a good one at a reasonable price. It has a 3 1/2 inch blade.

RandysKnife005-E-1.jpg
 
You might as well figure out right now that S-30, S-60 and S90 steel mass produced knifes are not going to be found. ATS 134 is hard enough to find in a mass produced knife for under a hundred bucks. The folders are so much easier to find and as and every day user, I have to say a lot more practical to carry and safer than a ridged blade. My everyday carry folder is S-60, but it is valued at many hundreds of dollars. I also have ATS 134 and have to say it is vary good.

For the money the ATS folders are pretty hard to beat. I think anyone with and ATS-134 folder would be well served with such a knife and barring loss, would last a few lifetimes.:D
 
I've found Gerber knives to be excellent, IMO they're the best available American made knives. Not fancy but good steel.

I'm comparing Gerber head to head with 'similar' stuff like Buck, Schrade, Camillus, Puma, Kershaw, Case etc........ not the custom stuff.

al
 
I've been using a Gerber folder with a gut hook for about 4 years now and like it. The problem with gut hooks are that even though they open up a deer like a zipper the hair gets the hook dull. I have found that a ceramic round sharpener works very well. The one that is about 1/4" in diameter and about 10" long. Other than that the only other complaint is cleaning the fat out of the hinge of the knife.

I wish I could find a cheep non folding one with a gut hook with a handle like the Gerber.

I do have another one with a "T" handle (same material as Gerber) with a gut hook which works good when using the hook, but it is not comfortable butchering. I can't remember who makes them.

gt40

PS: Try pruning loppers to cut through ANY bones you normally would use a saw. They can cut an hour off of butchering time. There is a video of a guy doing a whole deer with the guts inside in 8 minutes. If things are going right I do it in about 20 minutes with almost all the meat boned out.
 
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I don't want to be accused of discouraging the giving of a fine knife as a gift, but here's an idea that I've found very practical. I was shown this setup on a hog hunt, and I have to admit I keep my custom knives mostly for show now.

Get two folding utility knife handles . In one of the handles put a "regular" utility knife blade for skinning and boning, and in the other handle put a roofing blade, which works beautifully as a gut hook. The whole works is less than $25. You can spring for extra blades if you want to spend more. ;)

When one end of the skinning blade or gut hook gets dull, turn the blade around. When that end gets dull, throw it away and put in a fresh blade. [Yes, I am lazy. :cool:]

Toby Bradshaw
baywingdb@comcast.net
 
tobybradshaw said:
I don't want to be accused of discouraging the giving of a fine knife as a gift, but here's an idea that I've found very practical. I was shown this setup on a hog hunt, and I have to admit I keep my custom knives mostly for show now.

Get two folding utility knife handles . In one of the handles put a "regular" utility knife blade for skinning and boning, and in the other handle put a roofing blade, which works beautifully as a gut hook. The whole works is less than $25. You can spring for extra blades if you want to spend more. ;)

When one end of the skinning blade or gut hook gets dull, turn the blade around. When that end gets dull, throw it away and put in a fresh blade. [Yes, I am lazy. :cool:]

Toby Bradshaw
baywingdb@comcast.net
Click to expand...

:D

This is a great piece of advice! And 25.00 is HIGH....... what, you ain't got Lowe's in your area?

That said, I like to sharpen knives, used to do it for money..... and a good skinner will make life mostly excellent eh.. IMO utility blades are dull and rough and have no radius angle for getting fat off, but the "roofing blade for a guthook" thing is awesome! And a utility blade is certainly sharper than most skinning knives...

Having sharpened a few and at one time being involved with all the testing that the glossy mags tout (rope, hair, cardboard, bamboo, paper, tomato, etc...) I'll stick by my recommendation of a Gerber blade. :)

And add a box knife!

LOL

al
 
A good utility knife

As has been pointed out by two guyes here before me a Gator from Gerber is a very good knife. It is a folding knife in nylon sheeth with about 4 inch blade. the steel in the blade is very good, sharp and holds the edge well. Knifes are like rifles. Some are showpieces and work of art, other made for special application and other just for use. This Gerber is like your .270 or 30-06 Rem 700. It will not stir any emotions around the campfire and has no WHOW effect but does its job with out complaints. I have a few Buck knifes also (excellent knifes) and some other but it is the Gator that I take with me on a hunting trip.
 
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