Push knives ?

[Hix]

What the heck is a push knife ? Would one make a half decent skinning knife ? I don't open many boxes or letters but I do admire a knife that can skin or clean fish .

 

[madcap_magician]

A push knife is a knife with a vertical handle that you hold in a clenched fist. There are some strange variants, from simple vertical handles with a blade sticking out, to knives with egg shaped handles that look almost normal. Here's a couple. And yes, there are a fair number of push knife style skinners, though I couldn't tell you if they're an improvement in any way over a normal one.

That last one is a Cold Steel Desperado, which isn't QUITE a push dagger, but it's the only one I could find a pic of that looked like the egg-shaped handle I was describing.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Outdoor edge makes a push knife (blade perepindicular to the handle) specifically for hunting/skinning- the whitetail hunter (and variants of it). The inuit use the ulu for most duties even today- but beware that push daggers are illegal in some areas (in Canada only the ulu is allowed)

 

[akabu]

the Cold Steel Desperado design in a better steel would fill the bill.Low profile ease of access and Flexability of use.

 

[Hix]

Interesting . Not sure the clenched fist is any improvement over the old method of holding the handle of a skinning knife but certainly differant .

 

[fixer27]

Mercwerx makes a really nice push knife a seraphym, and cold steel's safe keeper II may be better suited to all around use single edged and not quite as long. A push knife does not have to have a "T" handle, rather it is merely a short bladed knife that is easily and quickly and easily accessable.

A great all around short blade is the schrade/baer desigend Sharpfinger. Relatively cheap, 25 dollars or so, with a upswept blade for more cutting power, it is hard to wrong with one.

Try the Scharde forum in the manufacturing section of Bladeforums if you want to read about them.