Gut hook

peter nap

peter nap

Joined
Nov 27, 1999
Messages
3,745
I've never made a gut hook on a hunter before. I always felt that they were just a gimmick. I decided to try one this year though. Any tips on making it?:confused:
 
I'd like to hear some tips too, especially like how to grind that inside curve. I'm working on a hawkbill type blade now and am worried about grinding the inside part. Have you checked out the work of Steve Ryan, Peter? Wicked gut hooks on some of his blades.
 
I haven't looked at his work very closely Peter. I did a search a little while ago and couldn't find any with a guthook but what I did find was that Jerry Hossum is turning up more all the time. Go Jerry, looks like your famous!
 
Peter,

I fooled with making a couple, but the 2 I made I forged the hook in, I just drew out the stock to a small round strip about like a pencil and curled it up over the tip, forged to shape I wanted and then finished shaping with a round file, I wanted them to where they were easy to resharpen, and if you leave them big enough to shapen with a file they won't clog up in use. I was going to forge my blade to shape and then cut the gut hook slot in with a hot cutter or chisel but I wanted a more rounded blade point so it wouldn't slit the paunch or intestines when being used. Theres a lot of different ways of producing a gut hook if thats what your wanting, but after fooling with one that I made, last hunting season, I would rather just use a 3"-4" drop point.

Bill
 
I would rather just use a 3"-4" drop point
Click to expand...
I'm afraid that's what I'm going to find Bill. I've gutted hundreds of deer with everything from an ax to a sog powerplier (used it on 2 last season and it doesn't work well). I've always been happy with a good drop point but I'm trying to be more open minded these days. You might say that I'm still trying to find my niche in the knifemaking world.:rolleyes:
 
peter and peter, i have not ever gutted a deer. i just always thought that having the hook on top of a blade was a accident ready to happen. watching people do this with numb hands with the edge pointed at them:eek: i wont put them on my hunters
 
I don't think numb hands are the problem. After sitting in a tree for 6 or 7 hours it's my brain that's numb....my butt too but that has nothing to do with a knife......:rolleyes: I hope!
 
peter the numb brain is conected to the numb hands:D i know a maker that uses a round file to make the gut hook.
 
Heres my 5th and last gut hook. Had a few people that wanted them more for the novelity than anything else. Had one guy try his on an Elk the gap would have to be an inch wide to handle the hide and all.
I filed my hook out and sharpened it with a diamond hone.It's a real
B---- anywhere near a buffer be careful.
fddc7d6a.jpg

Take Care
TJ Smith
 
I've made a few gut hooks. I don't use them, but when your doing a custom order you add what the customer wants. Some folks love them. I take a cobalt bit and drill a starter hole after marking out where the hook will go. Then out come the chainsaw files going from the spine to the drilled hole. After it's shaped the way you want it take some round stock, dowels or whatever and use sandpaper until you get to where you want to be. I'm sure there is an easier way but, that's never been my style. Like TJ said, keep that hook away from the buffer. The wheel can grab that hook before you ever even had time to think it could happen.

J.
www.mountainhollow.net
 
Best use for a gut hook is taking a hot pot off an open fire by hooking the wire handle:)

When I built the prototypes for the Buck Crosslock I finally figured out a good way. I mounted the blade in the vise on my old Sharp mill and used a 4"x3/16th abrasive wheel. Ground in halfway on one side, shifted the vise and ground in halfway on the other side. That 4" diameter worked great.

Two companies that make great gut hooks are Buck and Outdoor Edge.
 
I don't make them for the same reasons
I use a what I call a leg zipper
they've been around for some time.
this one I made for a moose hunt
I went on a few years ago.
http://www.kynd.com/~graydg/gray126.JPG
it cuts on the inside and blunt on the end.
you can cut a thick hide with this..
 
1/8" Peter
the sheath was rather different to..
I made a long knife just for the hunt
to get that A hole out too...long ways in there..
on a moose..
 
Kit, did you know thats what the gut hook was originally designed for? Had nothing to do with gutting a critter.
I've made several gut hooks and don't care for em at all. Best tip I can give you is don't get within ten feet of a buffer with one. I just made the blade and then drilled a hole where I wanted the hook to be and then cut the rest out with a dremel and an abrasive disc. To sharpen it just file it down to an edge with a round file and after heat treat use a round ceramic stick.
 
Graymaker has a very interesting knife there for "un-zipping" skins and probably more useful than the usual US style Gut Hook.

Looks like the Europeans might be ahead of us for the useful style Graymaker has made.

The "Knives 99" publication by Krause Publication, page 41, has a picture and 1/2 page of text about the usefulness of a European/Continental "Gutting Blade", apparently common in Europe on small folding knives (like Swiss Army style).

I like the idea of the minimal size of this "gutting blade" style and avoiding the often pointed end of the US style "Gut Hook".
 
the only gut hook I ever made, was on a specialty knife for an electrian. He used it to strip cable with. Anyway to make a short story long, I shaped the slot then laid my dremel in at an angle with a sanding drum on it and ground out the bevels. I sandblasted it because it was a utility knife. I wouldn't even walk by the buffer with it.
 
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