Gut Hooks

I own a SOG swingblade with the gut hook on the main blade... 4 of us fought over who got to use my knife this last fall when we were cleaning 3x 10 pointers. It wasn't even fair to the buck knives that got traded around/ resharpened.

I'm still eyeing a Buck Zipper... if they made that in S110V steel; Forget about it... I'd buy it on the spot!
 
I rather have a hook on it's own rather then on a knife. They do work good though , I guess it's all what you are used to using. Best game knife iv'e used is a stainless steel boning knife. Once I'm finished the aebl hunters I'm working on now I can guarantee you I'll be making a boning knife with 3/32 aebl. It just doesn't make sense for me to have a hook ruin and get in the way of my knife for a 15 second task that can easily be done with a knife edge. I think all I use my buck knife with hook for is to cut rope with now.
 
I just got mine off the buffing wheel and she looks pretty nice actually. Spear point and the swedge before the hook is fairly blended for smoother transition. Taped up and ready for a forced patina then off to get fitted with Cocobolo on the handle

 
I far prefer the sprettern style used in scandinavia and Germany:

I've made little side sprettern en suite with hunting knives for free a couple of times rather than make gut hooks. I've also done a gut hook or two integral to the butt of the knife.
 
Yes, gut hooks ruin the look of a knife, and also limit the use of the blade. 'Dropped Hunters' were made for gutting out, and that's what I use, blade length 3". I also use a small seat belt hook, marketed by Colonial a few years ago, called the 'Tatt cutter'. OP, your knives look too good to screw up; see if you can make your customer a dedicated hook, maybe even add a little pouch to the sheath for stashing it.
 
I've worked on a pretty fair amount of whitetails in the last 40 years. Early on they were kind
of a novelty. Now I prefer a knife of 1/16" thick steel that is more of a boning knife than what
I would consider a hunting knife.
Ken.
 
HDCutlery said:
Yes it is sharp starting 7/8" from the hook tip. It was per request for whom I am making it for. Was a bit of a pain as I had to walk my plunge back during grinding. This will be the last of either style I will be doing for some time.
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Hmmm , that's going to end up bad for the customer. When I use a gut good the panch from the moose balloons out of the cut and pushes against the knife tip. It's a nerve wrecking job , I can't imagine doing it with a sharp edge/point.
 
Hehe I don't disagree with you there. As stated before this is entirely by request and I'm just doing it for the educational purposes. IMHO it is a rather sleek design and with the current patina it pops.
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grumpy_grinder said:
Hmmm , that's going to end up bad for the customer. When I use a gut good the panch from the moose balloons out of the cut and pushes against the knife tip. It's a nerve wrecking job , I can't imagine doing it with a sharp edge/point.
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No doubt! Most guys I hunt with don't even like skinners with a fine tip for this reason. This is asking for trouble.
 
Been hunting in Alaska since I was wee lad.. and tried out a gut hook once. For its intended purpose it worked pretty good, not really any faster IMHO than proper field dressing technique with a well designed Skinner or drop point.

my biggest issue with it came after the belly was zipped, the hook on the spine was a severe hindrance in skinning as the pointy bit would catch on anything. I gave that knife away as soon as I returned to civilization.
 
Tip to handle the blade is 4-1/2 " . It all started out from a 2" x 5/32 " A-2 tool steel .

It has a steep drop point and all is rounded in order to avoid what others here have talked about , cutting the internal organs
 
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