Building my first hunting knife, need advice

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GaryPogueCustomKnife

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Oct 8, 2013
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Why spending the day with my friend today, I was getting to know him pretty well, and discovered he has a love for hunting. He showed me his hunting knife, which was a cheap Walmart Remington with a rubber/plastic handle. He is one of my best friends and I feel the need to make him a decent knife. The steel I have are not known steels, but I have tested most of them and trust them. I plan on using a piece from a old 12" sawblade that is 1/8 thick. I plan on annealing it, grinding it, then heat treating it. I have made a few out of it and done my own HT and all turned out very sharp and hold a nice edge.

I plan on putting either aluminum or steel bolsters on it, but don't know if I have the skill to do it. Some advice on the design and blade length, style, etc. I have only made pocket knives and a few larger knives with 6"+ blades. I do not have any known carbon steels like 1095 or 1084, but have a variety of old sawblades and files suitable for a blade.

Thanks,
Gary
 
As a hunter myself I would not like a blade larger than 5 inches. Preferably the blade would be 3-4 inches long. I have been struggling with designing my own knives to have a bigger belly on them cause they all turn out looking silly to me, but a nice belly on a knife is great for skinning. The smaller blade lengths help with control when gutting, making sure you don't hit anything you don't want to accidentally poke. Drop point is all I would do for a hunter, but a lot of them are clip points also. Hope that helps.
 
3 1/2 - 3 3/4" blade is a real sweet spot for blade length.

4" +/- for the handle.

Some sort of finger guard whether the back side of the blade or a bolster is a very important feature, which is often overlooked.

A comfortable, durable, and easy to clean handle is WAY more important than a fancy one at least to me.

Blade design really is open to lots of interpretation, but here are my favorites.

My favorite of all is the long sweeping belly of the Phil Wilson designs.

The top knife is the one I pick up first almost all of the time.

Ingram and Dozier use identical profiles on the bellies of their knives.

Nessmuks are a good design as well as long as they are not too long and not too tall from edge to spine.

Hope that helps.

 
Ah yes I forgot something. HANDLE MATERIAL. Doesn't matter what it is the only thing that matters is if you can still grip it while its raining, if it fell in a river, or if it's drenched in blood because it WILL be one of those things at one point. Easy to clean. Much past that making it look nice is all fine and dandy, but me personally I don't want to be plunging a work of art into a deer gut.
 
I have only been hunting a handful of times so I do not have much experience, but plan on getting into it more. I think you guys did a great job explaining what a hunting knife needs to be. I might make some micarta or seal some tight grain wood I have for the handle. Does it really matter what kind of finish I put on the blade? Satin would be a great Finish for the blade, but I am no expert.
Gary
 
Satin finish actually is better than a high polish finish. If he really uses it, scratches will occur and are not a big deal with the satin finish.

Micarta really looks nice and continues to look nice even with very hard use. Wood holds up ok, but can swell or at least lose its finish if it is in prolonged wet conditions such as rain or an ice chest.

Very kind and thoughtful of you to make him a knife.
 
You might think about nickel silver bolsters. I like the looks of the Canadian Belt knife. It is an extremely functional design for cleaning, skinning and preparing game.
 
Satin finish all the way for the same reasons jeffbird said.. I wish all knives were satin finish personally, but in my world all knives would be used too. Nickel silver, Stainless, Brass are all good choices for bolsters/guards. I personally like the look of brass for a hunting knife. Kind of a classic look to me.

Examples

Mark Knapp makes some BEAUTIFUL knives.
5500073_42_mt_itimg.jpg


This kind of knife I would put on display and not put into a deer.

I do not know who made this knife but it is pretty, clean, functional and it is a knife I wouldn't be afraid to use.
Classic-Hunter1.jpg
 
Excellent thread, although old hat for some I am sure! I'm going to be making a couple hunting knives fairly shortly and I too would like to hear everyone's favorite features on a hunting/skinning knife!
 
To me this last one marked --- Forge is a super design for a hunter as well as a semi skin style that would also work great. Frank
 
Don't know why I mentioned steel type as I just remembered you don't have a known steel type so I take that comment back.
 
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