Old Timer Sharpfinger Field Use

rabid wombat said:

Though I never owned one, always a favorite and wanted….shoot, I just got a Buck Folding Hunter….

Case Sod Buster Jr, on the other hand….

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Someone say Sodbuster Jr? T'was my dads, and ive been carrying it every day for the past 10 years or so.


My sharpfinger isnt an Old Timer, but a Schrade.

A quick look on EBay shows used US made versions are going for four to five times the amount for new Chinese made ones.

Is that just collector value, or are the US made ones that much better?

If I was going to get one, it would be the carbon steel 1520 usa made. I just have a "thing" about 440 stainless. I don't like it. Or china.

The Sharpfinger seems to have achieved cult status. I generally prefer a fairly short drop-point for dressing whitetails and always wondered why lots of guys prefer pointier blades. I bring my deer to a butcher now but when I used to cut them up myself, I used my four-wheeler or lawn tractor to pull the skin off them and never felt the need for a skinning knife.

I was thinking about it this fall... as I was field-dressing my buck, I realized that in almost forty years of hunting, I've never watched anyone else field dress a deer. No one in my family hunted and I learned from reading. I've always hunted alone. I remember what an adventure it was field-dressing my first buck.

I have been using a Schrade Sharpfinger like the one in post #26 for over 50 years. A good friend bought me one because I always helped him field dress his deer. Several knives have come and gone over that period of time but I have always kept the Sharpfinger handy. In 1999 I went to taxidermy school and during the deer mounting process I found that the Sharpfinger is handy for trimming Bondo when forming ear liners and that became it's permanent job. I like a very clean skinning job on deer capes so I use a #22 scalpel for skinning and have moved to a Buck folding hunter for hunting because it is much safer during hard use. I always lay on the ground while sliding under a barbed wire fence and I am afraid that I will cut my leg with a rigid knife.

I've been running an Anza LP since 1996. As I look at it, the blade shape is similar to the sharp finger but not as radical, and a bit shorter. I've dressed deer, antelope, elk and various small game and waterfowl with it and never found it lacking. The only time I wanted someth6else was with bear and hogs. Those things are greasy as hell and a nonslip handle is much appreciated. I also wanted a bit more edge for those critters. A cold steel ATK was my solution.

One of my favorites and still use one on desert small game today.
After retirement my dad ran a working class type bar and a lot of the regulars became like uncles to me. Aside from hunting season my family were not big shooters, and i learned handguns and reloading and general gun/life talk from these guys (mostly vets, a lot of union tradesman and a few bikers). A clear memory from those Friday and Saturday nights were the knives on most guys belts, mostly Sharpfingers or Buck 110s. Over the years i was gifted one of each from different guys. I have bought several of each since for general use and the originals occupy a point of pride on my bedroom dresser along with some old photos of those times. No one really had much but so many incredible memories those blades bring back.

I just picked up a beautiful Vintage USA Sharpfinger at an estate sale yesterday along with a Buck USA 121. Got some old Ammo and a squirrel call too.

Woodbridge said:

Great find, that's a dandy sharpfinger, doesn't appear to have been used or sharpened much.

Score on the 32 spl in the background too, not too easy to come by these days.

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Thanks! I started a thread in general discussion about my Estate Sale score yesterday

My wife bought me a sharp finger for Christmas 41 years ago. Used it to dress and skin deer for 35 years. Retired it when Rapala brought out a line of hunting knives. That knife probably dressed and skinned nearly a hundred deer over those years never used anything other than Arkansas whetstone a and a razor strap to sharpen it. Went through 3 different sheaths for it as it kept cutting holes in them near the tip.

I started out using a Shrade Sharpfinger to gut deer. I switched the last few years to a folding Buck 112.

BigBlue 94 said:

Someone say Sodbuster Jr? T'was my dads, and ive been carrying it every day for the past 10 years or so.
View attachment 1053806

My sharpfinger isnt an Old Timer, but a Schrade.

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That is a fine looking single six. Not common to see a fixed sight single six these days.

That scrimshaw sharpfinger needs a little tlc, but is still pretty neat too.

Bazoo said:

That is a fine looking single six. Not common to see a fixed sight single six these days.

That scrimshaw sharpfinger needs a little tlc, but is still pretty neat too.

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Its a 50th anniversary model so it has just the old school gutter sight. Which i like. Along with the short barrel!

Yeah the blade got left damp with something and in a leather sheath...

That's "patina". It adds "character". LOL

Larry in wyoming said:

That's "patina". It adds "character". LOL

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Yup! Haha but on a knife like a scrimshaw, patina isnt cool!

My old Ka-Bar on the other hand... A good amount of the finish on the blade has worn away. Though it has chopped wood, stirred fires, stirred soups, and been thrown through a buddys foot (by his own hand i might add). Even chopped a timber rattler's head off after a car in front of me ran over it. No knife i own has seen as much use

I have no idea what you are talking about......LOL!

My Sharpfinger was part of a box of momentos given to me by my late friend's widow. That has been years ago now.
Every time I see the "Jt" brand he burned into the scabbard, it just stops me in my tracks.
My best use for the Sharpfinger was the two winters that I trapped raccoon. I carried it on my gunbelt along with my SSS .22 revolver. I also used it to skin out about 80 raccoon pelts.

I had to dig out my old Sharpfinger and check it out. It was a gift in the early 90s from a family friend who worked for my grandfather. It’s a US made Schrade 152OT so I have that going for me.

Bark River is making a modern version in 3v that interest me with all the love the original gets.

I see they are making a Generational USA Series Sharpfinger now . I just ordered one . Made in the USA , bone handle , 1095 carbon steel blade . It looks a little different than the original . I will give it a knock for that . It seems like they would have copied the original IMO .

I had a large Sharpfinger but I don't know what became of it. I never used it much. I use a USA made Shrade Oldtimer with a gut hook for skinning. That gut hook will unzip a deers hide in no time. I use a short blade butcher knife for everything else.

red rick said:

I see they are making a Generational USA Series Sharpfinger now . I just ordered one . Made in the USA , bone handle , 1095 carbon steel blade . It looks a little different than the original . I will give it a knock for that . It seems like they would have copied the original IMO .

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Do you have a link to where you ordered that knife? Suddenly I'm really interested!

hawg said:

I had a large Sharpfinger but I don't know what became of it. I never used it much. I use a USA made Shrade Oldtimer with a gut hook for skinning. That gut hook will unzip a deers hide in no time. I use a short blade butcher knife for everything else.

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I have one of those but found the gut hook too shallow as It kept slipping out. Not a bad skinning knife but for me gut hook was only good for small game.

9x56MS said:

I have one of those but found the gut hook too shallow as It kept slipping out. Not a bad skinning knife but for me gut hook was only good for small game.

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I don't have a problem but you have to keep the skin tight as you go. My BIL tried it and he let the skin bunch up and threw it on the ground in disgust.

Larry in wyoming said:

Do you have a link to where you ordered that knife? Suddenly I'm really interested!

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The only place I saw it in stock was Amazon . There were some places that sold it for a lot less money , but they were out of stock . SMKW had it for $58 dollars , when it was in stock . Knights Knives had it for $50 dollars .