Why short handle knives?

J

John Andrews

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Jan 24, 2003
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I see more very short handle knives made for fixed blade hunting knives. I'm not knocking them because I have seen so many great looking knives with short handles, even for the longer hunting blades. Maybe this is a handed-down thing from maker to maker,I don't really know. I was raised with working knives since I was a kid and especially the 8 years I worked in a packinghouse where water, cold and hot temps as well as all the regular slick and slimey you find in a hog kill plant. We had knife handles that filled your hand for understandable reasons. The shortest knife handle I have ever made is 4 1/2". I use my hand and compare my hand to the client's hand and go by that for measurement.Every customer I have has been very happy with this.They know they are going to have a handle long enough to fill their hands if they have to do some serious work with it, like cutting through deer brisket, pelvis joint, ect. While I worked at the packing house I made the stick(kill) knives for the guys because there was not a decent stick knife on the market.The factory knives didn't retain an edge and created a lot of fatigue. Killing thousands of hogs per day takes a lot of work! Anyhow, my question and 5 cent's worth.
 
The short handle knives I make are for field dressing. I would want something small with a short blade. In my opinion anything over 3" is too much blade for that specific use. I look at it this way if I'm hammering nails I want a claw hammer. When I'm using a cold chisel I'm using a sledge. I hunt and I field dress my game so that goes into my design's. If I'm have to split a ribcage or a pelvis(I woulden't have to do that in the field, at least not for whitetail) I'm grabbing a knife thats suited for that.
 
I see your point there, blackboogers, and well said. In this area the way everyone field dresses deer is to cut up through the chest brisket and through the pelvis where it joins so as to get all the gut and anus out. Maybe it is just a regional thing like squirrel and dumplings in Kentucky. Thanks for your reply, B.
 
Also have to bear in mind the customer. Only knife I've sold so far was a "hunting" knife designed to order for a friend. He said he wanted something just like a Fulford neck knie I had, but with a thicker handle. Couldn't figure out why he wanted something that small(small for a hunter, it was a great neck knife). He planned on using it for gutting trout. How this fits in as a hunting knife I'm not sure, but the customer is always right. he got his "hunter".

Course, this past month he showed me how they butchered the elk back home. Y'all would be amazed to see how well a Dewalt Reciprocating saw works to do a butchering job. :D
 
I did my first deer that way. I had a guy who has taken many deer show me a better way. Instead of breaking the pelvis just core out the anus pull it out a bit and tie it off than you can pull it thru under the pelvic area and just roll out the guts. I did it that way this year and it worked great.
 
I'm going to try that, Blackbooger. Sounds a heck of a lot easier and safer then cutting through the pelvis. You can still teach an old dog new tricks. We are just a little slower.
 
John,
How about a pic of your 'stick' knives?
All this time I thought the lil' piggies got blunt trauma to the head...
 
EBBTIDE, have no pics of stick knives, sorry. Knives had under 1/8 in. th., about 3/4" W and about 5 1/2" L and was actually double edged dagger more than anything. Object was to stick the juglar with as little effort as possible. Hogs were run down a chute that narrowed down to width of one hog. There the hog would be stepping onto a conveyer that would carry it still standing upright and squeezed/restrained at the shoulders.Right there was a guy(shocker) that would slap a shock helmet on the hog's head and pull the trigger. Hog receives two double quick jolts that stuns the hog.Just past him is the shackler who whips a shackle chain around one of the hog's ankles, hooks it,then reaches up and hooks the ring on the free end of the chain and hooks it onto the overhead gamble on the moving overhead conveyer chain.About this time the sticker/kill man sticks the hog in the jugular.Most of the hogs are still stunned until bled out, but there is still a lot of hogs that wake up when they are stuck or before they are bled out.These are the squeelers. All this happens in just a very few seconds, so it is necessary the blade goes in quickly and with little effort. Killing thousands of hogs has to be a very quick and slick operation. The best kill knives I made from .100 thickness industrial hacksaw blades with a wood handle that formed the guard and the buttcap, all one piece. Butt and guard were large enough as to keep hand from slipping up or down the handle. LOTS of blood. Stick man looks like he has been completely submerged in blood and needs a handle that does not slip, and like I said a blade that goes in with no effort.I spent 8 years working in that hogkill plant.
 
Hey! That's how I got my start too, I got sick of the crap knives they gave us at the packing plant And started making/sharpening my own. and then doing them for other people. Cool!
 
Mongolguy, right on! I worked for Wilson Foods in monmouth, Ill. plant for 8 years and never did have a factory knife hold an edge. I made some much better utility and boning knives that would. As soon as you hit bone with the issue knives the edge rolled!And then it was the world of crap.
 
I worked for Federal Beef til the plant burned down last year. I would take the blades from the split saw that were cracked or too wore down and makr the blades from them and a piece of the old cutting boards for the handle. They worked well but they sure wern't pretty. I still have about twenty of them left. Want some? I'm using chop saw blades from my new job now. (welder)
 
It is really nice to see that there are a few people left who know what works and why. Many of my working knives are a little on the small side for some people. I have tried to explain that when using a knife to field dress an animal, a shorter blade is easier to control and less fatiguing on the user. Most of the cutting is done with the belly or first inch or so of the blade. The larger the knife, the farther away from this "sweet" spot your hand is. You lose a lot of leverage and have to work harder.
 
YOU!!! Now I have a name and person to attach blame to for the fact that all of Monmouth stinks. :)

Just giving you a hard time, but strange how coincidences like that work out. a former friend was at monmouth a coupla years ago, and I came to visit him a few times. COuldn't stand the smell over by the pig plant.
 
Alot of the knives I've beeen making lately are small hunter/utility knives, about 3-4" long. The shorter handles are mainly designed around the first three fingers on your hand, where most of the cutting action is coming from. (Heck, the old vikings use to swing those broad swords around using only their index, middle finger and thumb). Most folks seem to prefer the shorter handles with a good contour as opposed to having a 3" knife with a 5 1/2" handle. It's also more appealing in appearance and less akward to carry, too.

...my 2 cents
 
yup( core out the anus pull it out a bit and tie it off than you can pull it thru under the pelvic area and just roll out the guts )
we don't split the rib cage in the field either up here.
on the moose we just kind of crawl in side and do the work:D
yes small and short blades and handles right tool for the right job :)
 
Thanx John.
Sounds like those guys really earn their $$$.
I'm in advertising & many moons ago Hillshire Farm was one of our clients. The Agency execs went on a class trip to the 'plant' a few became vegans afterward :eek:
I saw the pix & I'll say again...you guys earn your $$$.
My Dad (94) told me that when he was a kid on the farm in Germany they raised 2 hogs. One for them and one to sell. The butcher would come to the farm and dispatch them with a hammer and cold chisel to the noggin. They didn't waste a bit, either. Even the blood was used/saved.
 
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