Stainless Skinning knife

[Ed]

I have a couple of kellam otters and find them good little working knives..... they have wooden handlles though so may not be up to spending long amounts of time dunked in water.


Ed

 

[Buckshot]

I bought on Otter from Stuart at the Gathering.
Very nice little knife, I use it for carving normally.
I think it's a little big for what I'm after and as Ed says, the wood handle is an issue.

Bark River looks lovely but I think a little overenginerred for me.
I bet they're a decent price too.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Stew]

How about a Cold Steel Bird & Trout?
Can't get much simpler than that.

 

[leon-1]

Buckshot, I know what you said about custom makers, but the Allan Blade pack pal scandi will be about $50 (I think that is about £27), if not try talking to Allan to see if he would modify an already existing design or put in your own design to him, he seems to be quite receptive to things and of course it does mean that he has another design in his collection for a later date .

 

[george]

How about a Cold Steel Bird & Trout?
Can't get much simpler than that.

Stew you beat me to it - Buckshot I had one of these for ages til I lost it! Works great - like a sharp extension to your finger. Some people might think the blade is too small but once you get used to it it works like youre unzipping whatever it is you're skinning or gutting. Held with your index finger along the back of the blade it's like you're using an extra long razor sharp fingernail to do the work.

great little design IMO.

George

 

[Buckshot]

Thanks guys,

I think the Cold Steel Bird and Trout looks good.
Anyone know of a retailer in Oxfordshire or anywhere I can get mail order from in the UK? For some reason my credit card doesn't want to work in the US.

I do like the look of the packpal but I think that's a 'next year' purchase.

Much appreciated people - thanks

Mark

 

[tomtom]

you used to be able to get it from The British Kinfe Collectors Guild they dont seem to have it at the moment but they say that they can get anything you want.. so why not ask them!

 

[Ed]

http://www.heinnie.com :biggthump

Ed

 

[Stew]

Joe at Outdoorsupplies sells them but he's out of stock at the moment. Send him a mesage and I'm sure he'll sort you out.

 

[leon-1]

Joe at Outdoorsupplies sells them but he's out of stock at the moment. Send him a mesage and I'm sure he'll sort you out.

Joe is excellent, I have bought a few things from him and his service has been very good, I didn't realise he had this model, so that's a good hit Stew :biggthump

 

[Hoodoo]

One of the best places to find a good skinner is at a trapper's supply store.

Check out this link.
RAM

Look for skinning knives. The ones by Post and Zepf are excellent. I think Post uses stainless. This is Ron Post's small pelter:

 

[Burnt Ash]

I'm looking for a knife specifically for gutting and skinning. It needs to be able to go into the washing up bowl for a good scrub afterwards so I don't want any additional handle material, just a full tang to hold.

Knives "specifically" designed for skinning and gutting are rather different from one another.

A skinning knife has an accentuated belly that can be swept through the connective tissue as the hide is drawn away from the body of the animal. Skinning knives reach their apogee with the Inuit 'ulu', where the blade is pretty well a part circle in shape.

A gutting knife usually means one for making an incision along the ventral line of an animal's abdomen (to allow the guts to be removed) and designed so as to avoid perforating the viscera. A swept point skinning knife would not be a great design for gutting, though there are ways of using such a knife design to gut successfully.

I suspect what you are after is a knife that will skin and gut (small game and fish?) effectively, without being a specialist in either area. You've said you want it to be easy to clean when its covered in slime and gore, etc. You could do far worse than the stainless version of the basic Mora, or the Mora Clipper (as someone else has mentioned).

Fallkniven makes a Fisherman's knife and the excellent H1 Hunter (a skinning blade shape, but with a clever relief to the point that improves its gutting ability).

Incidentally, a good friend of mine swears by his fully serrated Spyderco Endura, which he uses almost exclusively to gut and prepare literally hundreds of trout and salmon every year. There's no doubt that the Spyderco type scalloped edge gets through the vertebral column and bones very effectively. On that tack, I'd probably go with a half serrated version myself.

You pays your money, you takes your pick, but you do not need anything custom or expensive for these jobs.

Burnt Ash

 

[EdS]

Got agree wit hburnt ash,vyou don't NEED a custom knife for skinning etc - I'm very happy with my SAK never failed me yet. If I was to get something else it would be from a butcher/meat industry supplier.

For the cost you could get a specific skinning knife (useful for deer etc) and a gutting knife and still have plenty of change. You can afford to loose several of these knives per year while out on the hill.

And as I said they are designed for industrial use so hygine regs & cleaning.are not an issue.

Custom knives look good, feel good but at the end of the day its just another tool.

 

[Andy]

J Adams make one I've just noticed. Not sure if he will post though.

 

[Buckshot]

I agree with you guys.
I know the design of a gutting knife is different from a skinner. What I should have said is that I'm looking for a knife to use for preparing game only (gutting and skinning).

I could aways use the Woodlore I normally carry, it's just that all the equipment gets a bit, how shall I say it, gooey when you're preparing a deer. It's just nice to have a specific tool for the job, that's all.

Cheers :biggthump

Mark

 

[Andy]

Have I mentioned butchers boning knives? Easy to find a stainless one with a plastic handle. It's what My dad skinned stuff with when he worked at a butchers. they used wood handles without any problems come to think of it