Favorite hunting knife?

For me it has to be my Busse CABS. I know Busse is generally associated with large "hard use" knives, and while I don't doubt the toughness of this knife, it's a bit on the skimpy side for a Busse. The thin convex blade grind can take a screaming sharp edge and hold it pretty well. I field dressed a buck with it a couple of days ago, but still am new to the knife. It's both my woods bumming and general hunting knife.
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I've got a few that I favor. A couple older Gerber Gators and one Gator Mate for small game that I use, a Gerber Magnum LST, Buck 119. Buck Vantage Force Avid just got a couple notches in it for deer at the beginning of the season. I also have a Buck Alpha Hunter Elk Horn Handles that I prefer. There was an old Buck Crosslock, a 180 when they first came out, but lost it in a move. And last, but not to be the least, a Kanetsune Urushi. It is the kick ass of the group. Going on five years and still as sharp as it was out of the box.
 
My Busse Active Duty has dressed more deer than I can remember, but I used an Izula2 this year just to see how it would do. Did fine, but I prefer a bit more blade. I will probably try my Moran Drop Point next. Mora 780 Craftsman handles butchering duty quite well and has for several years.
 
For me it has to be my Busse CABS. I know Busse is generally associated with large "hard use" knives, and while I don't doubt the toughness of this knife, it's a bit on the skimpy side for a Busse. The thin convex blade grind can take a screaming sharp edge and hold it pretty well. I field dressed a buck with it a couple of days ago, but still am new to the knife. It's both my woods bumming and general hunting knife.
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I don't normally pay much attention to Busse knives, but I REALLY like that one. Very cool
 
I haven't gotten to try this one yet, but I'm going to do some hunting in a couple of weeks, and it's going with me.

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Killer Brian, awesome blade!

What ever happened to that blade we passed around (8 yrs ago :D on another forum) and eveyone did something different to it?

One person did the handle, one person did this, did that ect. ect.


I made the kydex sheath for it.:)

You remember that?
 
Mod7
That knife was given to someone. I can't remember why. Either a father for loosing his daughter or a daughter for loosing her dad. Wish I could remember!!
 
This is something that I want to experiment with -- what knife is the best for "hunting"? (gutting and skinning medium and big game) Unlike some other sorts of knives, I feel that the best "hunting" knives may not be that expensive, so I don't think it's an experiment that is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

I've been looking at a lot of desigs -- here are some of the criteria that I'm starting with:
1. A good majority of experienced hunters that show up on these sorts of posts strongly favor a small blade (in the 2.5 to 3.5 inch range). To me, this makes all the sense in the world -- when you have your hand deep in the animal separating hide from muscle or making precisions cuts when gutting, you don't want a big blade.
2. For the same reasons, along with the fact that you are going to be doing a lot of slicing through flesh, the blade should be thin, with a grind that allows clean, efficient slicing.
3. I tend to think that the more blade belly the better (but this is something that I want to experiment with).
4. I know a Buck 110 will do a great job (as did my Old Timer cave bear as a kid), but I have to say a fixed blade is superior. Easier to clean and folders don't usually have #10 below because the blade is on the same line as the handle.
5. Since you don't want to be doing a ton of touch ups in the field, the steel needs to be able to hold a good edge, but it shouldn't be a pain to touch up in a few minutes. So, a steel with good wear resistance but also good grindability.
6. The steel should be able to take a sharp edge.
7. I'm still not sure what the best sort of blade-tip is. Should it be designed not to puncture things you don't want to puncture, like a drop-point or traditional skinner tip, or should it have a sharp tip that you can use to puncture hide, etc. when you need to? UPDATE: After processing a deer with my sharpfinger, I decided that I like a pointy blade for making the initial punctures of the hide, etc.
8. The knife should have a general sleek, low profile. No gut hooks or big hand guards or end caps. This includes a small maneuverable handle. You are going to be maneuvering in tight places.
9. The handle should be something that isn't going to soak all the blood and gunk in and can be cleaned easily.
10. This may just be my opinion, but so far I have tended to like a design where the blade edge sits below the handle (down by or below my knuckles when I am holding it). This is one of the harder features to find.
11. I guess stainless is preferrable all else being equal, but so far I have loved working with good carbon steels, so to me it is worth taking a little extra care on keeping the blade dry.
12. Per troutfisher1311, comfortable, secure spot for thumb (reverse cutting) on heel of handle
13. Secure spot for thumb on blade spine

Anyway, you all can agree or disagree with these; I'd love to hear it. Based on all of this, I have picked up one of the venerable Old Timer sharpfingers. I have looked all over at all sorts of designes for much more cash, but this one still seems to be the top contender. I also picked up a Kershaw skinning knife (model 1080) for a very low price, and it is a nice little blade with a hollow grind. The sandvic stainless steel seems to be a good one.

Some others that I'd like to try are the Ken Onion Skinning (~$50-60) knife in that bohler D-2-like steel and the fixed blade Benchmade bone collector skinning knife (more expensive). I have also seen some great classic skinning knives that are shaped like a buffalo skinner but have a shorter blade that would be better for smaller animals. Maybe the many lamb skinning knives out there would be good, but they don't seem to have as much belly. Buck makes a lot of great looking designs, but I don't know if I love their 420HC steel -- the fixed alpha hunters made from sandvic are probably great. Some svords look very nice too if you like convex.
 
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Kirk, I agree with all of these but #10.

Other than that:

I personally like some belly, but not too much.

As a diehard whitetail hunter, a narrow blade(edge to spine) is also very important to me.

I find that if you carry a diamond sharpener, that the harder to sharpen steels become easier. The diamond also leaves a little bit of a toothy edge that rips through hide and flesh.

One last thing, I use my knife upside down a lot while field dressing and skinning. By upside down I mean sharpened edge facing me with my thumb pressing against the "heel" of the blade. This prevents you from cutting hair into your meat. Your cutting it away instead. So having a safe, comfortable spot for your thumb is a must.

Hope this helps
 
I'd agree with the thumb spot ... it makes me think that it is also nice to have a spot on the spine for your thumb. The kershaw skinner that I got has some very good jimping right where your thumb wants to go.

One other thing that I forgot to say is that think once you are done with skinning, I think it's time to clean off the hunting knife and put it away. I'm not sure what is best for quartering, whether it be a cleaver, saw, or more robust knife, but for boning and slicing up the meat, I think butcher type knives will do a much better job than a little hunting knife. I'm experimenting with these too -- I got an F. Dick semi-flex curved boning knife and recently picked up what I think is a pretty expensive Japanese boning knife for a very low price on the big auction site. I think that these will do a great job for me but we will see.
 
Yeah- I didn't read it either. Too much for my intake valve :)

Ill have to break it down into smaller bites :)
 
Update -- I just used my old timer sharpfinger to gut and skin a white tail. It does a great job and seems to be perfectly designed for the task. The blade is a great size and I like how the blade edge sits at/below my knuckles and has a good amount of belly. This allows me to effortlessly and efficiently swipe through membranes as I separate organs and hide. Also, like I said above, I wasn't sure whether I wanted a sharp point like the sharpfinger has on a gutting / skinning knife, but I am now convinced that that design is a lot more useful (on deer at least) than a less pointy blade like a nessmuk, drop point blade, or more traditional skinning blade.

There are a lot of great designs out there but I think I'll stick with the sharpfinger that I bought for something like $13.
 
I don't know that it is "brilliant", but is the best I can express what I have learned and prefer from my experiences in my environment with the particular game I encounter. Had I been born later and just now entered the hunting field, no doubt I would be biased toward one or two of the knives currently in fashion. Many people today would consider my choices to be as "out of style" as bell bottom pants. Two fixed blades, yes. They were in style and readily available when I began hunting seriously in my early twenties. Before that it was fish and small game and I used whatever small folding knife came to hand at the time.

Don't be so sure that your choice of an Old Timer sharpfinger is so "out of style" -- I am part of a younger generation and have been in search of a great hunting knife and made the same choice. So far, I have concluded that for super hard use woods/utility knives, there is something to be gained by spending the money on the latest and greatest (such as ESEE, Busse-kin, etc.), but for hunting, I think it was pretty well figured out long ago. Maybe a sharpfinger with some newer improved steel and a more modern handle material would be an improvement, but it would also cost a lot more than the 1095/delrin model that never fails (and in fact works perfectly) and costs very little.

In addition to the marketing issue that you described, I'd also point to the trend in the last two plus decades to focus more and more on increasing profits by making the same sorts of products in a cheaper way rather than by making better products. The Old Timer sharpfinger is a great example -- they had the right formula and now that is gone and they are making the knife of crap steel in China.
 
The Sharpfinger is a design that works extremely well and will never go out of style. Here is a modern one with Ebony and Ivory scales by Ryan Weeks.
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A little more than the $13 paid for an original one but this ain't your grandfather's Sharpfinger.:D
 
The Sharpfinger is a design that works extremely well and will never go out of style. Here is a modern one with Ebony and Ivory scales by Ryan Weeks.
314577_388296147924698_52320628_n.jpg

A little more than the $13 paid for an original one but this ain't your grandfather's Sharpfinger.:D

Yep... Worth every penny too
 
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