Blade length for Hunting knife, another can of worms?

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
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Hi Guys,
I really do not want to open another can of worms but I have another question.
I have never slaughtered an animal, I hope to change that soon so I can get the first hand knowledge.:cool:
What, in your opinion is a good length for a hunting knife for slaughtering the average deer? I want to get into that side of knifemaking and some opinions will be appreciated.
I do not want to try selling too long or too short knives for the job. I know a bigass blade impresses the buddies but I am after practical for the job.
Also, how important is it to have a "saw" on the back of the blade?
Any comments will be helpful. Thanks,

Mike
 
not to start any trouble ,but you usually want the animal dead before trying to use a knife on it. slaugthered can mean killing whereas butchering is to cut the meat to usuable pieces. you will get many answers to this question, everyone has their favorite type and length of blade. a 4 inch blade should be fine for most of the work. a small hatchet to cut through the pelvic bone can make things easier than a knife. have never seen a use for saw teeth on a hunting knife.
 
Mike, a deer hunter uses his knife for initial 'field dressing", i.e., removing innards and a couple of glands that can taint meat. The knives used for that purpose range from ridiculously large with 6-7" blades down to smallish pocketknives such as a "trapper" pattern. I gutted and skinned a deer once with a little 1 1/2" trailing point blade I had made just to show people. In my personal opinion, a nice size 3-4" bladed drop point hunter is most excellent for that inital field task and makes a comfortably carried general purpose field knife. Skinning and butchering are tasks that need a different set of tools. This presumes you don't need to quarter the carcass for transport.

Just my opinion, other's mileage will vary.
 
Mike

I've dressed quite a few Mississippi whitetails, but nothing larger. Also, we have easy vehicle access to all of our hunting spots, so I've never had to field dress anything, and that might change the requirements. We have always hung our deer up at the barn and had access to power, so we don't usually use a knife for splitting the pelvis and ribcage, or for cutting off the feet. With those luxuries in mind, I've found that I prefer a blade of about three inches that is ground pretty thin and doesn't have an upswept tip. This year I used a semiskinner with a 4" x 1" blade that I forged from a bar of W1 drill rod on a couple of deer, and I really like that overall package. I also used a small drop point with a 2" x 1" blade that I ground out of 440C a couple of times. It worked great in the skinning dept., but I ground it a little too thin, and the edge got some small chips while we were boning some meat with it (it was a poor choice for that, anyway). We usually use dedicated butcher and boning knives for those purposes. If I had to do it all with one knife, I pick about a 5" semiskinner or drop point that is flat ground with a convex edge. Nonslip handle material is also a must. I like canvas micarta, but any well designed handle should work. Half-guards are a must for me, as well.

Todd
 
Uuh, yes Shakudo, I did mean "butchering". Sorry. Well, I did say I do not know much about it, that kinda proves it.:o
Thanks to you and Fitzo so far, this must sound like a really dumb question to you guys who probably grew up with this stuff. City slicker, thats me, I just love eating the meat!
I will have to do this myself one day, the first hand experience is essential so a person can see just how the tools work. I have no qualms about butchering anything, just have never had the oppertunity.:D

Mike
 
Mike, there's just nothing like the smell of guts an hour after sunrise on a cold crisp autumn morning :rolleyes: :)
 
Thanks Todd, very informative.:thumbup:
You insist a couple of times on the drop point. Clearly must be reason. Will you elaborate please?

Mike
 
fitzo said:
Mike, there's just nothing like the smell of guts an hour after sunrise on a cold crisp autumn morning :rolleyes: :)
Click to expand...

Better than napalm Fitzo? :D :D Oh boy, there goes the thread again....

Mike
 
Mike, when one "opens" the abdominal cavity, piercing the intestines is to be avoided. One way to do this is to make a small cut, then insert the knife with the edge "up" and the index finger protecting the point so as not to rip anything undesirable. A drop point lends itself to that task nicely whereas a trailing point increases the risk.
 
Aha, excellent "point" Fitzo, thanks. I am getting smarter by the minute.:D
I have heard that the entrails smell nasty when you hit them.

Mike
 
Abdominal cavity is malodorous regardless, and bad when intestines are punctured. Much worse, the detritus can taint the meat.
 
My test for a 'hunting knife' is to get a deer and dress it out ,skin it and completely butcher it .This tests edge retention, blade shape , handle shape. For all those jobs - 4 - 4 1/2" slight drop point blade, straight handle. A very fine production knife that well meets these tests is the Cold Steel Master Hunter. For more serious work a 5" stiff boning knife, a 10" butcher's knife , 18" butcher's saw. BTW a folding saw like my Gerber ,only 3 Ozs, is handy to saw pelvis and breastbone in the field. NO saw on knife , NO gut hook [ a pain to make and sharpen and not necessary ] NO weird curves on blade or handle ,no finger grooves. Works for goats, sheep ,deer, calves !!!
 
Mike, IMHO the blade should have a cutting edge of at least 4.5 inches. The first half inch or so near the guard can be use to cut around the leg bones at the lower joint, through the hair and down to the bone. This is so you can expose the joint and break it there to remove the lower legs. When this is done the blade will have lost its bite in this area. The upper end --the still- sharp 4 inches or so should have a nice sweep for gutting and skinning. The pointy end should be ground pretty thin (yes you have to be carefull with it) for caping work. I like a drop pt or semi skinner shape for this. For boning and general butcher work a fillet knife with a medium stiff 6 inch blade works great. Later at home a 9 inch butcher or fillet knife is great for cutting steaks and roasts. I carry both knives in the field when I go hunting. Some times guys will bone out a complete animal on the spot to get the weight down for remote packing. Turns a 900 pound elk into 250 pounds of meat. Make the knives as light as you can. Every ounce matters when you are hiking and hunting at 8000 feet... Now which steel to use? this is a different thread....PHIL
 
NO gut hook [ a pain to make and sharpen and not necessary ] NO weird curves on blade or handle ,no finger grooves.

I am in the process of making a large knife with a gut hook out of 3/16 D2 for a customer. Mete is right in the statement that this type is a PIA to make. The round tapered diamond sharpeners work pretty good for sharpening the hook portion.
 
What works best depends a bit on your style too. but I agree with Mete, no wierd curves, NO gut hooks, no saw. if the back curves down to meet the edge, like a drop point or semiskinner, it helps keep the point from piercing the intestines(a good way to ruin meat, and make a huge mess), but a straight back works well too as does an unsharpened back on a clip point.

length? I have field dressed a moose with only a 1 1/2" neck knife that I had made, but it took a bit longer. 4 1/2" would be about the most I would want as anything longer seems to get in the way. I personally like 3 1/2" in either a nordic pattern, or DH Russel Canadian Belt Knife style with a lowered edge and leaf shaped blade, nothing on either knife to get caught when reaching inside an animal. I know that many people will insist on a guard, and for the way they use a knife it works for them, I like it simple, just the way I learned I guess. BTW, unless I need to quarter an animal on the spot, I do not split the pelvis, I cut around the bung from the outside and pull it through. A good point and a slender blade help out there.
Might I suggest, find an experienced hunter to teach you, much easier than trying to learn from a book, or see if you can learn from a butcher, one who butchers for the local hunters, he or she will probably be able to show you how, and may be able to show you carcasses that were done well, and ones with mistakes. seeing how a mistake was made may help more than seeing a well dressed deer.
 
Folks, This is what Bob Loveless Developed the Drop Point Hunter for many years ago in the first place. It has become the most copied using knife in the world. For larger game than White Tail there is the Banana Skinner. Take a look at the bottom of my site. The Drop point is set up to open the animal with out snaging the intestins. Enough stright edge for the joints, and ribs, and enough belly for the skinning chore. DPs have been proven over the years to be the single best Deer out there. Mike Lovett http://www.lovettknives.com/
 
This thread has brought to mind the sad subject of all those chickens who have had their wings amputated just to feed a bunch of cruel football fans !!!
 
Strange thing that. Buffalo wings. Never knew bufallo have wings, I always though birds and such had them. Ever seen a buffalo fly, good thing they don't, imagine what that could do to your windshield!!

Seriously Guys, thank you for all your input, I have learned a lot again, I will definitely try to get in touch with a hunter or a butcher to get some first hand messy knowledge of this stuff.
I appreciate all the replies, some very in-depth and concise information and thank you for taking the trouble to post it.
I will let you know when I have blooded my first knife.:thumbup: I have made and sold a few already but so far they have been for show.
Maybe it is a good thing because have been a drop point.:D :D

Sincerely,

Mike
 
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