<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by WKeating:
Has lots of "belly" for slicing but not much "poke" Excellent for med to large game where slicing gets the job done and when inside the body your cutting by feel and don't want to "poke" things like organs and intestines which lets nasty stuff out to ruin the meat. But for birds and small game I find that a clip point is better. Don't get one with a "gut hook" as it tends to hang up inside the animal. For opening up a med to large animal to gut it make a cut then turning the blade up and putting your finger along the back to guide the blade just keep sliding it up the belly. Good Luck Weldonk </font>
The primary reason that Loveless developed the dropped point is discussed in the quote above.
When you skin a medium to large sized animal, one of the easiest and quickest ways to "unzip" the belly of an animal to "field dress" the carcass (remove the guts and lungs and heart) is to turn the blade upside down, edge facing the sky, poke a hole in the hide and run the tip of the knife under the hide using your index finger on the spine to guide the knife. You must have a sharp "belly" on the knife for cleanest, lowest force-applied work.
When used upside down, because the lowest point of a drop point blade is lower than the point, that smooth & lower portion of blade spine can sort of glide smoothly along pushing the innards downward without poking a hole in them, with the sharp tip up and away from poking a hole in the guts.
The belly of the dropped point is adequate later in this dressing process for skinning out the carcass (separating the outer hide from the "meat", which is an exercise in slice fascia connective tissue, pull hide away, slice fascia tissue, pull some more).
Of course a full upswept skinner offers more belly and is better than a dropped point for the actually skinning chore, the the dropped point is a great balance between these two primary chores, while allowing a semi-point to still exist for the poking of holes in carcasses.
The Semi-skinner design is arguably even better than the dropped point, as it often has a sharper point, more "sway" and plenty of clearance upside down, and more belly than the drop point for a given blade width.
And Bob Dozier has a design that is right between the two, a masterful, clean hunter blade design... see his K2 General Purpose Hunting Knife for about the nicest balance of traits you could ask for in a true medium/large game hunting knife.
http://www.dozierknives.com/
I would agree that for small game (squirrels, rabbits), where the skinning chore is often a little cutting and a lot of pulling by hand, you can make better use of a narrower blade, that is, the blade is easier to use at 1/2" or 3/4" wide from cutting edge to spine. Bird & Trout knife is the style ascribed to these. However, see Dozier's little 3" semi-skinner for another great balancing act, and his K7 Slim Outdoorsman as a close example of "Bird & Trout" knife. (although I'd rather have a 4" fillet knife for a trout or other medium fish, these B&T's work well on small panfish).
Another good example of a "Bird & Trout" or small game knife is found here at AG Russell, a B&T w/ drop point:
http://www.agrussell.com/agrussell/agdh-8a.html
... and here at "Gent's hunter"
http://www.agrussell.com/agrussell/agd113.html
... and here as Hunter's Scalpel:
http://www.agrussell.com/agrussell/aghs34.html
For large game, you don't necessarily need a knife longer than 4". I find 5" a practical maximum for me really... past that, the extra blade just gets in the way really and is harder to control, and limits your ability to extend your index finger out along the spine and control the tip of the knife like an extension of your index finger. A 4" dropped point and a 4" skinner profile would do nicely together on big game for me.
Back to the "backyard" so to speak: The dropped point is also useful upside down to open other stuff... boxes, bags full of fertilizer or dirt where getting the cutting edge in the material means dulling the knife unnecessarily, etc. Ever stick your knife too far into a box and cut the valuable contents instead of just tape & cardboard? Try putting the tip of your index finger on the spine of the knife about 1/4" away from the point... use your index finger as a blade "stop" to keep from overpenetrating into the box. Try using your knife upside down too... works like a champ.
If you need a fine point for some reason, stabbing something or creating very small precise holes, then the clip point comes into its own. I like the spear point (see Benchmade 710) better than clips myself. Again, belly + point equals wide utility.
Hope that helps.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 03-06-2001).]