MUK after Deer Season

D

Damn_Animal

Joined
Sep 14, 2010
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NY Deer season has officially ended for me, and I have filled all my tags. The MUK was this years field companion, and it preformed well at most of its tasks. It excelled in skinning the animal after it was hung, and did a good job at processing the deer making it into steaks and such. I did find that after the first deer it was significantly duller than when I started(before it would slice paper and take hair off your arm, after it would rip paper). It opened the first deer up no problem, and did a great job in field dressing it. The blade shape was perfect, the hump on the spine of the blade worked as a buffer zone between the bits you dot want to cut open(IE the stomach) and the skin. The thick blade was sturdy enough to split the rib cage in the field making pulling the vital organs such as the heart and lungs out easily and allowing me to actually see the windpipe making it easy to cut it up higher than I would normally be capable of with feel alone.

The second deer was not as easy. The knife has become very dull after the first deer, even with a good stropping the edge was not recoverable. I had to put in significantly more effort in all tasks, the most notable points where the first incision, cutting the windpipe, and skinning. Halfway through the field dress I actually put the MUK away and opted for the BUCK my Uncle was carrying which was still very sharp after doing a deer of its own, and had not been sharpened in between. The BUCK only has a 440c blade and seemed to maintain a sharp edge after its deer better than the MUK.

This raises a question for me, is this normal that INFI loses its edge retention so quickly, I felt the edge went dull faster than it should have especially when compared to my B11 that can still cut paper after being used to chop open some shooting lanes for me in the woods. Overall I was very pleased with the knife, I just realize now that I will have to get something that allows me to sharpen a fully convexed blade otherwise I may need to go to a more conventional grind knife. As it stands it is an ideal knife for deer, if you can maintain the edge yourself and not have to send it out to be resharpened.

On the season I would give the knife an 8/10 on how well it did, would be a 9.5/10 if it hadn't gone dull after the first deer.
 
I had a similar experience.
When opening up the animal, put the edge under the skin, rather than putting the edge on the hair side, and the edge will last much longer. All in all, the Muk is my favorite shape knife I have used for cleaning deer and feral pigs, but better edge retention would be nice. On the other hand, it touches up easily with a small steel in the field.
Others I hunt with tried it and now are looking for one also.
 
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While I don't have a MUK for comparison I do have a B-11. I agree that the B-11 stays very sharp even after moderate to heavy use. Would that be because of the V-grind? This asks the question which edge is better when cutting against a hard surface such as bone? I hope this doesn't highjack your thread.
 
While the convex grind is much acclaimed for it's strength, I have had better results in almost every chore and sharpening when my INFI has a V-grind.
 
It very well could depend on the grind, I can't say for sure. I like the knives and would not challenge the hype about the steel and the significant testing that has been performed in rope cuts, lateral bends and such but will say that the same result as yours was found with a new factory edged AD that I sold to a good friend. I was very sad to hear the report back that it was put away due to dulling before one full deer was completed and another knife with much less reputation finished the job.
 
Jeff, I was cutting from the underside, withthe back of the blade resting inside the deer and the sharp side laying on the under side of the skin. HD, i did think about this some as well, I was able go go through the rib cage but the MUK but you could tell it lost its edge, while the B11 went through a good number of small trees opening up nice shooting lanes without dulling it to the same level. If its true that the convex gets duller faster, is it possible to put a conventional v edge on the MUK if no mabey ill look at getting a CABS
 
Damn_Animal said:
...the B11 went through a good number of small trees opening up nice shooting lanes without dulling it to the same level... is it possible to put a conventional v edge on the MUK
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Yes, you can put a v-grind on the MUK or other INFI. It's steel after all and your knife -- you can make it fit your own purposes.

As for the B11 remaining sharp while opening shooting lanes, remember that you are likely chopping green wood which is actually pretty soft. If you are chopping standing dead oak, hickory, elm, that will provide more resistance to penetration than green wood. Even chopping fairly large green branches of laurel and pine (fairly soft wood), I've found the asymetrical edge to remain pretty consistently sharp through extended sessions, as long as I keep the edge away from the rocks. YMMV.
 
I hunt northern hardwood mostly black cherry (some of which was dead) ash and beech. As far as putting a v grind on it will I need to make the entire knife v grind or can i do just the edge without getting rid of performance. Also would modifying the edge like this eliminate the warrenty?
 
RokJok said:
Yes, you can put a v-grind on the MUK or other INFI. It's steel after all and your knife -- you can make it fit your own purposes.

As for the B11 remaining sharp while opening shooting lanes, remember that you are likely chopping green wood which is actually pretty soft. If you are chopping standing dead oak, hickory, elm, that will provide more resistance to penetration than green wood. Even chopping fairly large green branches of laurel and pine (fairly soft wood), I've found the asymetrical edge to remain pretty consistently sharp through extended sessions, as long as I keep the edge away from the rocks. YMMV.
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it's a busse, the edge should still cut paper even after use, note picture's.

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danm_animal changing the edge is good for it. infi dosen't really get good till you sharpen it a time or two(three max). this is why you are told to beat it.
 
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D_Animal,

No worries with your blade my friend. It sounds like a simple edge geometry issue. The edges on the Muks were ground primarily for slicing soft tissue. You need a bit more of a robust edge once you start splitting the pelvis and ribs.

Send it in and we'll put a more appropriate edge on it for your application at no charge.

Let's Drink!

Jerry


.
 
Jerry Busse said:
D_Animal,

No worries with your blade my friend. It sounds like a simple edge geometry issue. The edges on the Muks were ground primarily for slicing soft tissue. You need a bit more of a robust edge once you start splitting the pelvis and ribs.

Send it in and we'll put a more appropriate edge on it for your application at no charge.

Let's Drink!

Jerry


.
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Will do boss man, when I ge back hom for Winter Break Ill get it in the mail!
 
Damn_Animal, did anything ever come of this?:

Jerry Busse said:
D_Animal,

No worries with your blade my friend. It sounds like a simple edge geometry issue. The edges on the Muks were ground primarily for slicing soft tissue. You need a bit more of a robust edge once you start splitting the pelvis and ribs.

Send it in and we'll put a more appropriate edge on it for your application at no charge.

Let's Drink!

Jerry


.
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What sort of edge does your Muk have on it now? Jerry, can you tell us what might have been more appropriate in this situation?

The missus was using a Muk to quarter a chicken in the kitchen this arvo. I was getting in trouble because it has lost its edge. I wanted to sharpen it again with a v-grind. What geometry should I be going for? I may send it back to the US to have Busse do it properly for me.

Chris.
 
Jerry Busse said:
D_Animal,

No worries with your blade my friend. It sounds like a simple edge geometry issue. The edges on the Muks were ground primarily for slicing soft tissue. You need a bit more of a robust edge once you start splitting the pelvis and ribs.

Send it in and we'll put a more appropriate edge on it for your application at no charge.

Let's Drink!

Jerry


.
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WOW Jerry...you are a MANIMAL, (half-man half-animal) good to see that omnipotent creators(like yourself) still take time to respond to meer mortals like us!! M akes me feel good knowing that although I might never own a REAL Busse...The (Replica Poor Mans Fusion Battle Mistress) RPMFBM that I made, I tell everyone how I wish it was a real one, and speak nothing but praises of what I hear, keep up the good work!!!

And also thanks for being a real person!

Still drinking!

Beau
 
Interesting observations...
While I rarely hunt, but I'm an avid fisherman, my primary knife abuse is processing fish, and all other kind of knife tasks at home or around a camp.
I've found cleaning a nicely sized fish - scaling or skinning, cutting the head off, filleting could be quite abusive for an average knife.
Last year my Muk worked easily through around twenty and some fish without major edge loss-issues. All I've done is some stropping after a few cleaning sessions.
Still shaves. :-)
 
If you keep the convex edge, study up on using a loaded strop to maintain, and get a sandpaper block kit to maintain in the field.

The convex grind is very very easy to maintain, but you have to have the technique and tools.

Sharpening it to a v grind is like any other knife. If that is the route you want to go, it will be fine.
 
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