Defend the large hunting knife!

[alsask]

We are fortunate today to live in a world where there is a great variety of well made knives at very reasonable prices. I can look back 45 years ago and remember the selection, and price point, of knives.

One hours wages for the average tradesman today will buy a much better knife now than then.

 

[goon]

I still have a Becker BK7 around somewhere that I thought I needed about a decade ago. Turns out it's just not necessary. As stated, there are better tools for intentionally making stuff and smaller knives are just as useful, if not more so, for most tasks. Also, though this isn't a problem with the BK7, don't the classic Kabar's have the clip point sharpened? That's not good if you need to choke up on the blade to do something more precise.

As for staying dry in bad weather, rain gear and finding myself a nice hemlock to hide under have been my preferred strategies.

 

[Jaymo]

One hour's wages today buys a cheap, Chinese made knife.

I have a K-Bar Marine Hunter.
It's actually more of a USMC Kabar, with a 1" shorter blade (made in stainless instead of carbon steel) with an aluminum pommel.
I bought mine in 1983, when I was 13.
I've never used that one for skinning.
I've used it a lot for woodsbumming.

I guess the little knife guys with their inferiority complexes would have a conniption over my 18" HI Bonecutter Khukuri.
It chops/splits wood better than any hatchet I've owned, and it's Karda works very well for skinning and small game.

I also have Bowies with 13.5" and 18.5" blades.
They work well for brush clearing. I don't use them for skinning.

One of my favorite knives is my old USAF pilot's survival knife, given to me by my uncle when he was in the USAF. Made by Ontario, it takes and holds an extremely sharp edge.
It has a 5" blade. Not too long, not too short. Cuts very well.

I'm a big fan of Mora knives.

I prefer fixed blade knives for skinning, dressing, and butchering because they are better suited to the task. I can get a better grip on their full sized hilts, and I don't have to worry about inopportune blade closures or breakages.
Not having to wash guts out of the knife's innards is a plus.

I do often use a trapper or a stockman for small game because I like a spey blade for that purpose.

Having watched the Rambo movies, I can honestly say I've never lusted after one of his knives.
I do like the knife he used in the last one. Strictly utilitarian.

Which knife do I use when hunting?
Depends. Depends on what I'm hunting and what I need to do with a knife on that trip.
I will say I strongly prefer carbon steel to stainless.

For some purposes, I find hunting shears to be more useful than any knives.

I know, my logic often has more contradictions than the King James Bible.
What can I say?

And, what's up with Ka-Bar calling their 1095 steel 1095 Cro Van?
1095 is a plain carbon steel, not Chrome Vanadium.
Once you add Chrome and Vanadium to the alloy, it's no longer 1095.
You'd think their marketing department could come up with a better line of BS than that.
Next, they'll be calling them Perfection.

 

[lobo9er]

i thought it was 1095 with chromium and vanadium added, and if it is why not call it 1095 with chromium and vanadium or 1095 cro van? What should they call it?

 

[mac66]

My hunting knife has always been a fairly thin 4" blade type. I've field dressed dozens of deer in 45 years of hunting. I prefer a smaller thinner blade to get around the organs and to cut out and around the **** etc. It need to be sharp enough to cut through the breast bone as well. I also use the same knife for butchering/deboning. Not ideal for that but that's how I do it.

The last two deer I did was with a Mora Clipper just to try it out. It works well for that.

I spent a lot of time in my youth out in the woods camping, ultralight backpacking etc. I also was a scout leader and taught wilderness survival. Never had much need for a something larger than a pocket or small fixed bladed knife.

In defense of large hunting knives, I heard that Davy Crockett hunted bears with knives and killed him one when he was only 3. He was after all, king of the wild frontier.

 

[Sam Cade]

And, what's up with Ka-Bar calling their 1095 steel 1095 Cro Van?

They are different steels.

Once you add Chrome and Vanadium to the alloy, it's no longer 1095.

Correct.
Please look here:

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/1095cv.shtml

1095CV(Sharon Steel) - Cutlery steel, patented,developed specifically for cutlery by Sharon steel(now defunct). Similar with AISI 1095 steel, with added trace amounts of Vanadium, Chromium and Nickel.

Known Aliases:
Sharon Steel - 0170-6, Sharon Steel - 50-110B, Sharon Steel - Carbon-V, Sharon Steel - 1095 Cro-Van, Sharon Steel - Carbon V

 

[lobo9er]

I guess they should call it sharon steel...

 

[BLB68]

The knife in the OP doesn't strike me as particularly large. It's very similar in overall size, and as far as I can tell, design to the Buck 119 I have on my desk.

I'm not really sure what the designers of these knives were thinking. The 119 is overly thick for dressing game, which can be seen if you compare to butcher's tools. That seems to indicate that the design is meant to be an all around outdoors knife, compromising for more durability. But having carried one in the field in the Army, I find it's not a particularly good all around outdoors knife, either.

I think these designs are basically compromises, and they perhaps compromise too much. The Mora I have sitting on the desk next to the 119 is a far more useful all around knife, and that has little to do with the blade length.