Blunt tip skinner??

[elasmonut]

A customer has asked me to make a fixed blade piece with a similar blade shape as the EKA swing blade, the blunt tip recurve blade that does a similar job as a guthook, a blade that will slice hide away from a carcass without piercing the skin.
Ive handled a few versions but never actually used one. I have even made a few attempts but am not entirely happy with the results, Im on mk 3 at the moment, so I seek the sage advice of the more experienced here who may have made or better yet used something like this before.The first few attempts I have made have reminded me I suck at grinding recurves but I am willing to combat that with slow and careful filing and hand sanding.
My main question is how thick do I need to keep the tip so the design works the way it should?
Due to lack of skill , knowledge about this design and my leaning towards thin profiles, narrow bevels and distal tapers,and maybe insufficient stock thickness to begin with, the last few attempts have left me with a tip thickness of about 1/8th" or slightly thinner, whilst this provides what I feel is good edge geometry for a blade that by design is very narrow,no blade width for a nice high flat grind like I normally prefer, it leaves the tip thin enough Im worried it will pierce skin despite its rounded profile.
So I guess what Im asking is how thick should the spine be at the tip for this design?
The thicker the stock is the less likely the tip will pierce,but thick stock equals steep bevels contrary to good slicing,the very intent of the design.Im pretty confident choosing edge geometry for folders, kithchen knives ,machetes, skinners,axes even but this is a design I dont fully understand so any feedback or advice would be appreciated.At this point I might even just rough handle the couple Ive done and send em out for field testing.But I would like to hear from anyone with an opinion.

 

[Horsewright]

That would be a very tough grind. I've done some of these:

I call it a Packer Safety Knife. The original was designed and commissioned by JR Rodeo judge. He wanted something that he could jump in with and start cutting kids loose if they got hung up. Knowing that there are a lot more mule draggers (packers) that face wrecks with lot of rope and flailing large animals on a daily basis, then there are JR Rodeo judges, I named it The Packer Safety knife. Even still these are very tough to grind too and the last one I did is out in my shop trash can right now.

I make these too. These are Castrator knives. They are used to castrate cattle in chutes or on a calf table where there is a possibility of the left hand getting kicked/knocked back into the right hand holding the pointy knife. Many have said that they would make excellent skinning knives for that exact reason, no point. Maybe something to head your client towards if the other doesn't work out. So the last ones that I did of this style made it on the bus to Peter's HT. The last one of the Safety Knives got kicked to the curb.

 

[Geoff Flato]

I don't have a picture handy, but one of my most popular Skinners is somewhat of a modified spey point. It works quite well as the tip isn't really close to anything, and the entire blade is belly. If you're having to skin entirely with the knife rather than pulling a lot off, the more belly on the blade the better. It also comes in very handy for fleshing the hide after. I'll get a picture later on

 

[elasmonut]

Thanks guys I agree that its largely the design thats complicating things and something simpler would be one solution. I actually read Horsewrights thread the other day and thought that both designs looked easier to grind than the awful thing Ive assigned myself and would lean toward something more like that if asked to do another, but the customer is kind of set on the design so Ill peservere and see what my frustration tolerence is like.
Still not sure how thick to keep the flats at the tip to prevent piercing as the design is similar to Horsewrights packer safety knife but much less height at the tip and more recurve.Good to know Im not the only one to mutter a few profanitys while trying to grind one these though.