Best steel for 4.5" Drop Point hunter blade

J

jayloar

Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
6
I'm looking to have a 4.5" or 5" drop point hunter/skinner knife made with either flat ground or hollow ground blade. The knife will be for cleaning/skinning deer & elk. I don't really care if it is stainless or not. I'd like the blade to take an absolute razor edge, resharpen readily and hold it's edge well. What steel should I go with and should I use .125" stock or some other thickness?
 
I'm not so sure about resharpening easily but D2 is an excellent steel.

For ease of sharpening you could go with good old 1095.
 
I would go with VG10 personally. As for the stock, I would want something a bit thicker for a knife that long. At least at the base.

So are you going to try and find a knife that meets all of your specs, or are you building one?
 
I think you are looking for the BRKT Highland special (AGRussell about $60) or the Foxriver (knifeworks about $90)
Its neither hollow nor flat ground but it fits the bill in all other aspects. Got to love the BRKT A2 steel.
 
I'll probably have to have one built because I also want a handle with finger grooves for better grip when things get messy and it doesn't seem that the manufacturers like to make handles with finger grooves. I'll check out the BRKT and Foxriver knives that HoB recommended.
 
As a reference design look at the Cold Steel Master Hunter. It offers a lot of what you want for doing elk. I assume you want a steel that will get you all the way through skinning an elk without needing to touch up the edge. You also want a steel tough enough for splitting a pelvis or the brisket on an elk. I would look at 52100 for a carbon steel alloy or BG42 for a stainless (or maybe S30V). The 52100 should be easier to sharpen than the stainless and tougher. The BG42 should be tough enough and takes a great edge. It will be a bit harder to sharpen, but I still like it. Another steel that you might consider is A2. It won't hold an edge as long as D2, but it will be tougher and easier to sharpen.

http://www.coldsteel.com/fixed-blades-master-hunter.html
 
s0rce said:
I'm not so sure about resharpening easily but D2 is an excellent steel.

For ease of sharpening you could go with good old 1095.
Click to expand...

Im an S30V junkie, but, for a hunter that will be used for skinning, I'd say the best makers around use D2 (Dozier)or A2(Bark River), maybe AT-34 or 154cm or 52100(Marbles).
 
Before you have an expensive knife made, check out the Swamp Rat Bog Dog. 4.5" D2 blade, and a Resiprene C handle that doesn't get slippery when it is covered in blood and fat. All this for under $90.

Swamp Rat's cryo tempering stops D2 from becoming brittle, and the edge holding is fantastic.

David
 
Your original question implied that you were going to make this knife. ??? If so, might I suggest O1. Properly heat treated, O1 is as good of a steel as anybody needs for what you're describing. Now, if you're talking about a factory knife, I would suggest the Spyderco Moran Drop Point in VG10. Those things are flat ground so nice and thin, it's scary.
 
In ten to eleven months he will make you what by all acounts is a razor sharp knife that will hold an edge. Call to see if you can have him custom make his drop point hunter with finger groves.

Other than that check out Swamp Rat for when more Bog Dogs will be ready.

Good hunting.

rgc
 
Dozier is the way to go.....if you dont want to wait go to:
a g russell site or to
vintage knives....they have Dozier's in stock
 
The AG Russell Deer Hunter is a great knife. It is very well designed for hunting tasks and has a thin blade that cuts very efficiently. I didn't suggest it since you were looking for a 4.5"-5" blade length and the Deer Hunter blade is only 4" long. The handle is very well shaped for use in either an edge-down or edge-up (body cavity opening) grip. The plastic thumb-bolt sheath is very effective, but mine rattles a little. Something that can be fixed with a little enginuity. I have one with a D2 alloy blade. This would be a noticeable challenge to sharpen except the very thin blade profile reduces the effort to convenient levels. Depending on the size of your hands you might find the handle a bit too slim for optimum gripping. It works well in my medium hands.
 
As a newcomer you might not have run across the knife destruction tests that Cliff Stamp performs. These are not representative of the stresses a hunting knife would ordinarily encounter, but they give you a sense of how close you are to the performance limits of your knife. They give you an idea if you have a comfort margin with your knife. Cliff has tested Deer Hunters made from 3 different alloys up to destruction. Here is a link to his results: http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/deerhunters.html
 
I was at the A.G. Russell site and they have a knife that looks about perfect. It is Gil Hibben's Pro Guide Hunter. This is the design I've got in my mind but it's got "440" steel. If only they had some good steel in there. Oh, well. That Swamp Rat Bog Dog looks pretty interesting.
 
Another knife that looks about right is the Damascus USA V-62 but as the name implies it only comes in Damascus steel.
 
I thought of the Hibben knives when you described the design that you had in mind, but I thought that you would need a better steel to get through an elk. You might be able to find an old Colorado Cutlery hunting knife somewhere in the mountains or front range. They were made from 1095 alloy and had about the design that you are looking for. I think that they may be out of business. I think they were in Berthoud. They used old equipment from Western Cutlery in Boulder. I know I have seen their stuff in some odd locations in the mountains. I just can't remember where offhand. It might have been in Frisco, Grand Lake, Craig or Glenwood Springs. I don't think I've seen any in Colorado Springs for a few years.
 
In custom blades, you could find something in O1 or 52100 (carbon) or D2, RWL34, BG42 or S30V (stainless). In the factory blades VG10 seems to be one the best and more companies are using S30V now. All those steels will give you great performance. However, all the stainless steels and D2 also, are much more difficult to re sharpen. I generally find that carbon steels have a better quality edge and are tougher, so you can get a knife that has a thinner edge, so it cuts better. But thats just my personal and subjective view. Jason.
 
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