Rabbiting knife

[Dartmoor navigator]

Hi Folks,

It has been a long time since I have logged on here, so please forgive me if I am in the wrong section of the forum.

I am looking for a 'nice but cheapish' knife for general hunting and fishing. Nothing more complex than gutting and skinning a rabbit really.

Can anyone help with recomendations please. I am currently using an Opinel 8 (it works OK) but was just interested in something with a bit more style about it.

All the best


DN

 

[Shewie]

Hi DN - welcome to the forum

A stainless Mora clipper will probably be ideal for some game prep. There a specific filleting knife on that link to if that would be better.

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

Thanks Shewie,

'Game prep' - I like it when there are proper words for things

I joined the forum a few years ago and lurked for a bit. Life seems to have turned full circle and I find myself involved in more 'field type' aspects of the outdoors.

 

[Hoodoo]

I just picked up a nice one off this forum made by jojo.

 

[Metis Man]

I was taught to skin rabbits by hand with out a knife but that was the tradition here. My mother used to turn them inside out and use them for socks. Opinel have a good rep fancy is for show. I personal have 2 knives a leatherman surge and a Ka-bar 1211 for heaver stuff. nether one is perfect but it works for me. in the summer i also carry a fillet knife.

 

[redneck]

As far as they go, an opinel is probably one of the best you can get for such a job, no need to change really.

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

Thanks Redneck,

Actually... It does OK. Others have suggested that it is just as good as anything as well.

I guess I just like quality items and wanted to see what was about. I don't know much about knives, but I do know the Opinel is easy to sharpen.

 

[Everything Mac]

I used an opinel for some time until I lost in at a shooting comp

Though as said you won't go far wrong with a stainless mora.

Andy

 

[plastic-ninja]

Hi DN.
If you like the feel and function of your Opinel but want a little more class have a look and see if you can find a nice Laguiole folder.They are mostly hand made and cracking steel.Very popular in France but pretty pricy sometimes.Try these on for size.Prices from about £50 to around £2500!!
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...&sa=X&ei=qtVFTa7PL4nIhAfvn7XaBg&ved=0CDUQHzAA
I own 2 of them and they are fantastically good working knives but classic design and craftsmanship.
Cheers , Simon
www.layole.com/uk/

 

[Xunil]

I dislike any folder for game prep.

A fixed blade is (usually) safer and certainly more hygienic in use and to look after.

I also rarely use a knife for skinning rabbits - one small tear and then you just yank. Job done, takes seconds and no knife needed. If I have a lot of rabbits to process I usually cheat by nipping the feet off with secateurs, after which you can rip the skins off whole in moments.

A small nick allows you to gut the carcass with almost zero mess and the real work (in knife terms) is in jointing the carcass.

If you absolutely must change from your current tool of choice then I'd suggest a fixed blade rather than another folder, but my own preferences are just that; my own.

A carbon Mora is easier to sharpen than a stainless (for most people) so keep that in mind as well.

You really have to ask yourself what you want to achieve - run a simple requirements analysis exercise to ascertain what you want (in performance and use terms) and then start adding the "nice to have's". This should start pointing you in one direction or another.

 

[Raybennett]

Hi, just thought I'd add my pennies worth. I use an opinel for trout, pike, rabbit, pigeon and on lucky days in winter the odd duck. And I find it works for any aspect of prep and butchering these critters. I find anything with a gut hook a bit cumbersome. I popped one or two bowels in rabbits before the guthook stayed in the drawer. Haha

 

[Raybennett]

I agree with xunil on the hygiene though. With it folding it's a job to keep clean. But I have to cross a few roads here and there. And the police can be a bit funny about a fixed blade on show. So it suits me in that respect. And the only reason I even mention a guthookis that you can learn more from what doesn't work than what does sometimes. Again I don't know if anybody else is a fan of them. But it didn't work for me. Especially with fish.

 

[Xunil]

Guthooks can work quite well on larger game - they make unzipping a deer a quick and easy task. Trouble is, that is (or should be) a quick and easy task anyway, and for pretty much anything else a guthook is a bloody nuisance and (often) an inherently weak point in the blade. I hate them with a passion

I like to use something along the lines of a bird and trout knife (when I use a knife at all) for the majority of small game prep. Anything larger is like trying to open a tin can with a long stick - you end up with the tool feeling miles away from the task at hand. My all time favourite factory knife for this sort of work was a Schrade Old Timer Sharp Finger, which some thieving scoundrel swiped last year

This might sound silly but have you considered upgrading your Opinel No. 8 for another Opinel No. 8 ?

Check out the Opinel No. 8 garden knife. It has a drop, almost spear point blade and a pleasantly tapered handle. The blade is Sandvik stainless which always contrives to never feel as sharp as it actually is. My 30-year-old Normark SuperSwede has the same blade steel and it is one of the only knives that regularly bites my fingers...



Regarding crossing roads and similar boundaries I always carry an inexpensive canvas gunslip with me, where the gun is popped in if required. A fixed blade knife and sheath can be kept inside said gunslip or in its outer pocket, and the whole thing can easily be rolled into your game bag/pocket thus avoiding any unpleasantness.

EDIT

I had meant to add that a slender Puukko would make a truly excellent bird and trout knife for small game work, and they are more socially acceptable (but no less illegal) than most fixed blade knives. This one is not mine, but I wish it was

 

[peaks]

Hi,
Opinels are great, but if you want to change
How about these? :
http://www.shop4gerber.co.uk/gerber_remix_knife.html

or a Doug Ritter CRKT mk 5
http://www.heinnie.com/search.asp?s...92&numPriceMin=&numPriceMax=&btnSubmit=Search

or a BK13
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200570306446

or
http://www.heinnie.com/product.asp?P_ID=6115
Hope this gives you food for thought!
Cheers

 

[sargey]

 

[silentpaddler]

Well I think anything sharper than a butter knife should pretty much do it. In this part of the world we generally tube-skin them by standing on the feet and
pulling the hide off over the head, then even a sharp clam shell is enough to slit the guts out....my knowledge of knives is minimal compared to most here
on the forum, but I've been doin' it here in the Canadian bush for 30+ years with a ten dollar Mora and it's all the knife I ever needed...

 

[forrestdweller]

i use a small fixed-blade "buck"(no connections to company etc. ...) - i think it's called black diamond- for small to medium(wallabies) game. the rubberhandle is soft and wears out quick(replaced it with hardwoodscales); apart from that it does the job well enough for me.

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Several people have commented about knifeless rabbit prep in this thread, would any of you be willing to do a tutorial on them, as it sounds a good skill to learn

Also, to cleam my cheap folding knife after rabbit prep, i pour boiling water over it, it washes away the blood, and the i give it a wipe with some veg oil. Works for me, but other opinions may differ

 

[Xunil]

Several people have commented about knifeless rabbit prep in this thread, would any of you be willing to do a tutorial on them, as it sounds a good skill to learn

No tutorial needed.

Imagine a packet of crips, where you grasp one side of the packet in one hand and the other in the opposite hand, just below the sealed end. You pull and, hey presto !

Same with rabbits.

I either start at the base of the back above the tail or on the belly - tear the skin away, put your foot on its rear feet (or tie them to a branch or similar and pull down towards the head.

You can either twist the head complete with inside-out skin off the carcass or, if you absolutely must use a knife, use a knife

Some folks have to pull a little fur off when they start learning this since they tend to grab the fur and not the skin underneath it, but it's dead easy on most (but not all) small game and birds.

Rip, yank, pull, usually in that order. So endeth the lesson

 

[FGYT]

Several people have commented about knifeless rabbit prep in this thread, would any of you be willing to do a tutorial on them, as it sounds a good skill to learn

Also, to cleam my cheap folding knife after rabbit prep, i pour boiling water over it, it washes away the blood, and the i give it a wipe with some veg oil. Works for me, but other opinions may differ

fairly simple you jsut ned to make a small hole i nteh skin about hte belly this can be doen with any thing a bit of flint or even break teh back leg and use the sharp point (i havent tryed it but you could probably rip a hole )

once in you jsut put fingers in and pull the skin comes off in 2 parts when you get to teh legs just keep pulling usally leaves its socks on at eh head pull over till the neck I normally sever the meat wit ha knife and twist but again you can probably twist off with out a cut

Gutting now is the same small nick and open with the fingers a flick and its out etc it then joint it (knife) and bag it move on to the next shot

so no you dont need a knife but it can make it easier for bits and you do need one to joint it tho a 1" keyring Opinal will do all of it easily (you dont need a hatchet to chop the legs off )


probably loads differnt ways round the world

ATB

Duncan