Show Us Your Hunting Knife

[C.W. Richter]

With so many pages I'm sure it's been covered. The knives with the Green River style point are best as they are designed to ride on top of the entrails upside down while gutting. A smaller lighter knife is Handy for skinning but the larger knife easily breaks through rib cages etc as necessary. Many moons ago a fisherwoman gave me a knife set as a birthday present on a hunt. Still use them to this day but cary even lighter stuff on a mountain hunt. The larger knife has the Green River style convex top at the point but it's sort of obscured by the gut hook.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Just picked this up. Fantastic knives

 

[503]

Left is a nice chopper/cleaver my late wife had made for me. Right is a Boker. They make a great team.

Cheers

 

[robtattoo]

Little late to the party.....
These are 2 I made myself (I used to build knives for a living before I moved Stateside)

Both are simple O1 tool steel with blaze G10 handles. Top blade is 7/32" and is pretty hefty. I built it for my first elk hunt back in 2012.
The bottom knife has been my go to for 16 years & has been through countless critters. 1/8" thick & is just about perfect, to my mind.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi robtatto,

I like the bottom one!!! Great design for my taste, both the blade and the grip.

CF

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

I want to say, this very good knife has a strong influence, on purpose or not, of the Phil Wilson knives design. Not to diminish the value of your efforts and the making of the knife, quite the opposite!
Congrats!

Best!

CF

 

[MS 9x56]

Just picked up an older R J Richter Mora knife.

 

[BeeMaa]

Just picked up an older R J Richter Mora knife. View attachment 492553

Pretty piece of wood on the handle.

 

[charleslabounty]

I don’t carry it. Just have it in a display case, but it’s certainly very functional.
Made by Cedric Pannell of Port Elizabeth.

 

[MS 9x56]

Pretty piece of wood on the handle.

The wood is birch. Nice grain. That handle made the sale for me.

 

[BeeMaa]

Two more knives followed me home from SCI. Another Havalon, but this time a Forge model. My current Havalon Piranta will find a new home with IGS. The handle on the Forge is a little bigger and more comfortable to use for me. Plus it was a show special of just $40...who could possibly resist. Certainly not me.

Lastly is the newest in a long line of hunting knives that I swear I will never buy another one of...Diamond Blade Knives (DBK) Summit. This thing is absolutely amazing with Mosaic pins and G10 scales. Friction forged D2 blade steel with an edge hardness of 65-68 Rockwell, while maintaining a spine hardness of 42-45 Rockwell. How sharp is it? I just thought of picking it up and it cut me. But seriously it's so sharp that a Kydex sheath is necessary inside the leather sheath to keep the blade from touching anything. It will cut right through leather and stitching on a conventional leather sheath. Officially classified as WFS...wicked f*%$ing sharp. I'm having a conversation with them about making a cross-draw style sheath to better suit my needs.

 

[mdwest]

I grew up with the "sharpfinger".. the blade profile remains one of my favorite for basic skinning and caping work..

I never liked the delrin plastic handles, square butt, or the lanyard hole at the center rear of the handle though.. So I made an "improved" sharpfinger for myself a few months ago... I upgraded the handles to OD green G10 scales with hunter orange G10 liners, and moved the lanyard hole to the top of the rear of the handle (only to find out after the knife was complete that moving it made little to no difference at al in terms of comfort when using the lanyard) and rounded the butt.. Pins are black G10 rods.. I also modified the edge and grind geometry a little bit as well, and went with a kydex sheath with a tek-lock on the back for belt mounting rather than a traditional leather sheath (my kydex skills are FAR better than my leather skills).. I figured modern steel (S30V), modern handle materials (G10), etc warranted a more "modern" rather than traditional sheath..

Im headed out on a "veterans" hog hunt this weekend with about 10 other guys... we typically take 10-15 hogs over a 3 day hunt period between us this time of year (we've been doing this hunt for the past 4 years).. I expect to be able to give the knife a solid workout and know by Sunday evening whether it was worth the effort.. or if I should have just stuck with my original sharpfinger lol...


View attachment 454912

Ive gone through probably a half dozen different "hunting" profiles over the last few years while making knives trying to figure out what I like best (whats most comfortable in the hand, what works most efficiently, etc).. for deer and hogs I think I have settled on my "modified sharpfinger" (I call it the "middle finger" )..

Ive built about a dozen of them at this point.. given most of them out to friends to test and use.. and kept 4 for my wife, youngest daughter, and I (three are like the one in the above post.. G10 scales, bright colored liners, etc... Wife got an OD Green with pink liners.. daughter got pink scales with white liners.. and I kept the one with OD scales and orange liners).. and I made a "special" one for myself using pieces of a broken stock off of a purdey shotgun for the scales that I got off a friend in Maine..

I took the Purdey "middle finger", a buck 110, and 2 other hunting profile knives I've built to the field this year and tested them all in side by side comparison to see how things shake out.. in 2023 I've managed to field dress, clean, and skin 8 hogs and 7 deer (so far.. theres still another week to go! )..

The middle finger out performs all the others by a very wide margin.. so I think thats what Im going to stick to for the next few seasons to come..

For larger, thicker animals (elk? bear? etc) a bit more blade would probably be welcome.. but for TX whitetail (not much bigger than a long legged doberman lol).. and TX hogs.. Im giving them all the middle finger from now on

 

[baxterb]

Little late to the party.....
These are 2 I made myself (I used to build knives for a living before I moved Stateside)

Both are simple O1 tool steel with blaze G10 handles. Top blade is 7/32" and is pretty hefty. I built it for my first elk hunt back in 2012.
The bottom knife has been my go to for 16 years & has been through countless critters. 1/8" thick & is just about perfect, to my mind.

View attachment 482709

these are great - especially the bottom one

 

[AustinL]

That middle finger looks great and I agree looks like all you need for our Tx game. I much prefer s smaller profile knife for most dressing tasks

 

[Warbeast]

My Saufänger for wild boars while dog handling:

 

[Tundra Tiger]

@mdwest ... First of all, your knives look fabulous. And aren't knives a funny thing? Kind of like women and art, or so it seems to me. I had Old Timer Sharp Finger back in my college and high school days, that my grandpa gave me. It was one of my fur shed knives and I never cared for the design. Maybe Old Timer just didn't make a very good one? I don't know. I have that knife still and have not used it decades. Upturned blades have just never done it for me. But then, we likely might not agree on art movements and women either. And this fall? The only knife I used on my buddy's 73" moose was my Havalon, literally. (haha) Well, that and a Stanley Fat Max to take off the head. Again, good work Dave - you make a nice looking knife.

 

[Red Leg]

My favorite is the one upon which Gary (VonGruff) and I collaborated five or six years ago. The idea was a general purpose hunting knife that would also make a useful self-defense weapon. It is fine for gutting a deer, but the places it travels with me, it is primarily kept as a weapon. We used a saber grind and relieved top edge. The point is in perfect alignment with the center of the haft providing a very powerful and directable thrust. The thumb rest and finger guard allowed us to do away with a guard which clutters up so many dual purpose blades such as a Bowie. We equipped it with a cross draw sheath. It is not only the most comfortable design for getting in and out of or riding in a vehicle, but it also allows ready access under any conditions.

And before you roll your eyes at the use of a knife in a self-defense situation, with a modicum of training a knife can be very effective - particularly in close quarters like a vehicle hijacking or hotel room.

 

[WAB]

I’ve actually started making some knives. I’m using mesquite from my friends ranch for the handles and putting a London oil finish on them. I really like the Damascus blades. They sharpen up easily and hold and edge.

 

[mdwest]

@mdwest The only knife I used on my buddy's 73" moose was my Havalon, literally. (haha) Well, that and a Stanley Fat Max to take off the head. Again, good work Dave - you make a nice looking knife.

I have to admit.. despite preferring customs and being something of a hobiest maker myself.. havalon knives are wonderful..

while they are a "production" knife and lack the "beauty" of a custom.. the blades are razor sharp, and the disposable/replaceable blade feature is super practical.. the ability to swap out different blade profiles is extremely cool as well and makes the havalon incredibly versatile

Ive got a Havalon Talon and probably a dozen blades for it.. (a few filet blades, a couple of bushcraft blades, probably a half dozen gut hook blades, and a couple of the serrated blades as well..

I havent carried it in a while.. but.. Im talking to a buddy of mine about heading to AK next year for one of the salmon runs.. If we end up doing that trip, Im going to guess the havalon with the "fishing" profile blades will be what makes the trip with me..

 

[Barry J]

I am a huge fan of the Bob Loveless drop point hunter. The top knife is made by Bark River Knives. It is called the Classic Drop Point Hunter. This one is made from S45VN steel.

The smaller knife was made using a Brisa 70 blade in 12c27 steel. It is meant to be used as a companion knife to the bigger knife for more delicate work, like joints and caping.