Who own one of the "Knives of Alaska" knives

IABIGBUCKGUY

IABIGBUCKGUY

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How many of you guys have or still do own one the "knives of Alaska" I'm new to this site and to the addiction of buying and owning multiple knives "My wife is going to kill when this over" Back to the question what do you guys think about the KOA ?
 
I have owned a Knives of Alaska wolverine hunter for years. Takes a scary sharp edge and is my constant go to knife for hunting.
 
I have their two fillet knives. Both are solid.
 
I have owned two KOA knives; a fixed blade I gave to a cousin, and a folder I picked up in their store last time I was in AK. I used the folder for the whole two weeks I was up there (along with a W.C.Davis drop point hunter), and then put it away. It was a good knife, but most of my user's are custom, and I prefer to have a knife built exactly the way I want it to something mass produced.

I saw your thread on KaBar/KOA. I won't own KaBar; they scream "cheap" and the grips mostly suck.


Don't worry so much about the steel, look at the design and what you want the knife to do. I've never had a lot of reason to hack down forests, but have skinned a fair number of different critters; most people use a blade that's way too big. If you're going to save the hide you're going to want a slim blade about the size of your index finger with a drop point; what Bob Loveless would call a "caper" and a lot of mfrs call a "bird & trout". You try and get around the ears and nose with a blade over 4" and you'll be fustrated.
 
I have one of their steel header fillet knives.

Pros:
Nice ergonomics that fit my hand well.
Decent steel (best I have had for a fillet knife)
handle is nice and "grippy" when wet.

Cons:
I have rust growing out from under the rubber handle material.
The pins/handle material is put together very cheaply and does not line up. Does not affect function, but just looks bad.
VERY VERY cheap sheath.
 
I've got three - one of their Brown Bear Combo sets from about 15 years ago with stag handles (its the Brown Bear Skinner/Cleaver with the Cub Bear Caping Knife and a sharpener in a very nice sheath), as well as inheriting a single Cub Bear, also in stag, from my old man when he passed. I've used them on several deer, and been quite pleased. They do in fact hold a scary sharp edge, and are quite comfortable to work with. The Brown Bear is a bit heavy, but then again it is a cleaver, so . . .

The only downsides I can mention is they do tend to be a little spendy for what they are, and the newer stag handle seem to be, IMO, not as nice as my older ones. My old Combo set has a very nice set of stag scales, mottled tan with darker red-brown highlights. The newer Cub I inherited has scales that aren't as nice - basically almost pure white with a little bit of brown highlights. They look, I dunno, sorta plasticy, instead of like high-quality antler. All the pics of the new stag handles on their website look like my father's knife, and not my richer-looking older ones. That may well be an issue of personal preference, though.

Long story short - I think they're pretty decent knives, and I like mine just fine :)

-Ron
 
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