One good knife?

[GF.]

I'm getting to the point where I still hope to have a few more years of hunting ahead of me than behind, and have started looking at my kit. I've got 2 knives that I always seem to take with me - or at least one of the two. One's an Old-Timer Sharpfinger which, to be honest, I've never been real successful in getting or keeping sharp. I don't know if it's the steel, the shape of the blade or operator error, but my chef's knives, paring knives, filet knives, carving knives, pocket knives and Stinger broadheads are all kept scary-sharp, and this one bugger just never quite feels up to the task. Oh, and my other knife is a little Spyderco. It's not really even all that dull yet, but I can see very small chips out of the edge as a result of using it to slice up through the sternums of maybe a dozen deer now....

But I kind of have this nagging desire for a truly good hunting knife. Not 'fantastic', 'excellent' or 'collectible'; just one that will be a pleasure to use and with a little character to it so that I'll - God willing - be able to pass it on to a grandson (or daughter) some day 30-40 years from now and they'll think of it as a cool thing to have and not just a crappy old knife that used to belong to Grandpa.

Any recommendations? Bonus points if it's in keeping with my Norwegian or Chippewa ancestry, or if it looks and feels at home in the company of a trad muzzleloader....

And so as to take good care of the heirloom to be, what do you guys like for a good, hard-use belt knife? I've been thinking about a Mora type, because I understand that it's a style that has been used with very little modification for a very long time.

Oh, and I'm not opposed to taking on a bit of a project, if there are blades that can be bought as kits and hafted as a DIY. I promise not to rush through it the way I did on my ML kit ;)

[Bill Gunn]

Some of these look nice/different....

http://www.worldknives.com/types/scandinavian-knives-12.html

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2250/777751/13525437/381598167.jpg

[Greywolf]

GF Look at TOW for blade blanks and have fun doing your own.
or just buy a Randalland be done with it.

[Sabre]

I have fixed blade hunting knives from Buck, Schrade/Old Timer, Bear MGC, Marbles, Puma and Linder. Of those I like and use the Linder and Puma the most. The Linder and Puma both have genuine stag handles. Their 440c blades take a razor edge easily, hold it quite well and are very well made for what they cost. From the combined standpoints of good looks, materials, quality craftsmanship and performance I don't think a better knife can be had for the money. Either would make a fine heirloom to pass down and several models from each company can be had for around a hundred bucks or a bit less if you shop around.

[swamp]

depends on what you mean by good... http://geneingramknives.blademakers.com/

[Sabre]

GF, Forgot to say that Puma and Linder both offer several different grades of knives. Puma's cheaper lines are made in Spain and China and I would avoid those. Their good stuff is made in Solingen Germany. That's what I have and can recommend. I have no experience with the cheaper lines offered by Puma. Linder also has several different grades of knives. As far as I know, all of the Linders are made in Solingen but their cheaper knives have 420 stainless blades and I would also avoid those and stick to the higher grade knives with 440C or ATS34 blades for good performance/edge holding.

[DancesWithKnives]

If you're going the easy route, another viable option would be a Dozier. I've had good performance out of them and MOGC has proven Dozier reserves similar to the number of barrels of oil under Arabia.

However, I like the idea of something with Scandi heritage. Perhaps a laminated steel blade? If you go this route, I would suggest a grind along the lines of the second knife in the photo Bill posted. The more radical Scandi grinds in the two lower knives look like they would be better for wood carving than hunting applications.

DWK

[Bill Gunn]

I've been lookin' at this one (over, and over, and over !!!), I may order one...

http://www.worldknives.com/images/dynamic/products_1191_1_original.jpg

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Both of these put out some really nice knives.

Alan


http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/artists/?artist=276

http://www.mooremaker.com/

[GF.]

depends on what you mean by good...


Good... as in ... not a POC... Not as in 'worth more than my wife's car'.... :laugh:

I like Bill's Scandi link.... The Helles seem to do something for me, and with most of 'em under aC-note, they'd be a bit of a stretch on my budget - which is about right, considering what I'm looking for - but not completely out of reason. Haven't seen a German Puma, though - only the cheaper ones such as turn up in Sportsman's Guide catalogs, so I've always been wary of that brand. I do like Solingen steels, though, when I use 'em in the kitchen.

Anybody know if the on-line prices are a world different than you might find in a specialty store? Something like this, you really oughtta know how it fits your hand before you go plunkin' down your money.... And if I'm looking at re-shaping a handle, I may as well start with a blade and see how it goes, rather than messing up a perfectly good finishing job.....

Just when I thought the end of hunting season would have me spending less time day-dreaming on-line..... ;)

[Bill Gunn]

I was looking at this Helles too, I like it ($92.00)...

http://www.worldknives.com/images/dynamic/products_2098_1_large.jpg

But I also found this other Brusletto Bramsen...
I like the blade a little better than the other Brusletto, and it's only about $82.00, vs $116 for the other one...

http://www.knifesupply.com/eshop/products/brusletto_bamsen_the%20bear_knife.jpg

[swamp]

100 bucks for one of the above knives or 250 bucks for a Gene Ingram knife... the best value is the GI knife by far... at least if you are wanting a working knife... imagine a knife that will gut and quarter a moose and the working edge will still shave hair off of your arm... I know a chris reeve ubejane has done that and I imagine a GI knife would likewise do that

http://geneingramknives.blademakers.com/Image_Knife.asp?Ident_Value=1997

[Sabre]

I can take a deer from field to table, that's gutted, skinned, quartered, boned and butchered with my old carbon steel, Case folding hunter without stopping for any re-sharpening. It holds an edge longer than any other knife I own, including Benchmade's , Buck's and Spyderco's with blades of such supposed high grade "super steels" as S30V, 154CM and ATS34. I have not been impressed with any of the new, super hard stainless steels {and Reeve uses S30V if I'm not mistaken}. I feel that they are hyped FAR BEYOND their worth by internet keyboard jockeys with more money than brains and don't offer enough longer edge retention VS ease of resharpening than good old, well heat treated carbon steels or even 440C stainless with a good heat treat {like Puma}. That old Case folding hunter of mine is still in excellent condition and cost me a whopping 50 cents at a yard sale about 10 years ago. Nothing from Reeve or Ingram will ever come close to outperforming that knife by 500 fold {and I seriously doubt by even twice} and hence they will NEVER offer as much value for MY dollar.

[swamp]

Well, not for your dollar of course but his orders are currently backed up till the later part of 2012 according to an email I got from him today... I guess a few folks like his knives LOL

[Bill Gunn]

As Sabre said, my present knife (a Buck 110) does all I could ask of it as far as the blade goes.
This year I gutted, and boned out an entire 1.5 year old buck, gutted a 2.5 year old doe, and then gutted another 1.5 year old buck.
When I gut a deer, I open the entire rib cage by cutting it open to the throat through every rib on one side along the Brest bone.
It was only after doing all of this, I touched up the blade with the fine Lansky stone, then put it away untill next year... God willin' .

As GF said, just looking for a straight knife with some character, something that the grandsons can look at and say "This was Gram-paws' deer knife... cool ain't it !!"

[GF.]

I guess a few folks like his knives


And God bless 'em for it ;)

I think its great that there are guys out there who can build a knife that Knife Nuts are willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on, and I'm glad there are Knife Nuts out there keeping those craftsmen in business. But at some point you stop paying for functionality. If Chris Reeve has a 2-year waiting list, that tells me two things; one is that his customers don't want an excellent knife, they want an excellent knife with his name and fingerprints on it. We tell ourselves it's all about the blades, but come on.... I really like that Helle that Bill posted up top of this page (so did my wife, actually :cool: )and that seems to me to be a pretty fair price. But in poking around, it appears that that blade can be had at retail for about 1/3 the cost of the finished knife. I don't know how you guys value your time, but - even ignoring the woods, etc. - for me, the idea of being able to turn out a finished knife anywhere near that nice on $60 worth of labor... No heffing way, Hemingway. Not even at the $3.35 minimum wage I made washing dishes back in college... :rofl:

Sabre or DaveHawk could probably get a lot closer to turning a profit on something like that; not only do they probably have all the right tools for it, but their skillsets are in a whole different league. Buying me a wrench don't make me a mechanic.

So the second thing Reeve's waiting list tells me is that he's not charging enough, because there are enough people out there who are longer on cash than patience that if I were to receive one of his knives this week, it'd be on e-Bay - making me a tidy profit - the next.... Profit which the knife maker could have had for himself and which, of course, he fully deserves.

Kinda puts a new spin on 'scalp knife'..... :laugh:

For my money.... You've hit the nail on the head with your comment on edge-holding vs. re-sharpening effort there, Sabre. My Old-Timer might be a technically 'great' knife, or it could be the $20 hardware store item that I thought it was back in about '86/'87 when I paid ten bucks for it - scoring a discount because someone had put it into the sheath backwards and cut through the stitching. I'd rather have to sharpen a knife that allows me to do a good job of it than have a knife that loses that scary-sharp edge the maker put on it, and then be unable to really get it any sharper than it was when I decided it was dull enough to need a touch up. It's a lot easier in the kitchen where you can put a steel to it every time it comes out of the block....

Thing is, though, I don't care if the steel in that Sharpfinger is good, bad or indifferent, because it's such a PITA to get it sharp anywhere but the 40% or so nearest the point. I dunno - maybe that's what this knife is built for so that it'll be handy for skinning & caping, but that would make it a specialty blade in my book, rather than the all-rounder that I'd rather have along. The blade on that Helle looks like you could use it to skin an Elk in the morning, get your backstraps off the hill on the first load that afternoon, and bone out the quarters next day.

But now that I'm looking at the costs of blades, I might take on a project knife or two after all. The Helle looks nice, and there's a Solingen design called the Platte which - in addition to being named for the river on which I first learned to hunt - they say makes a fine patch knife and should be in keeping with my GPR... Probably make a good 'neck knife'. And it'd give me a good use for the chewed up Elk and Mule deer sheds I have kickin' around out in the garage, too....

[Altjaeger]

There are a lot of really good functional knives out there for well below a C note. Beyond that what you are buying is bragging rights and a vanity piece. If the owner is pleased with them and the piece brings them pleasure then they have scored a great value, but they have not gained much in relation to the cost in terms of functionality.

[Sabre]

There are a lot of really good functional knives out there for well below a C note. Beyond that what you are buying is bragging rights and a vanity piece. If the owner is pleased with them and the piece brings them pleasure then they have scored a great value, but they have not gained much in relation to the cost in terms of functionality.

That's the situation exactly.

[DancesWithKnives]

Many items of gear suffer from substantial diminishing marginal returns in performance as the price goes up. I have several Old Hickory knives that cost from $5-12 new (no yard sale necessary) that could perform all the knife chores I'll need. So anything more expensive will do only somewhat better for a large percentage increase in cost. In other words, 20-50% better performance might cost 200-500% more money. At ten-to-one, that isn't a play you would get most poker players to make. However, the same can be said for much other gear.

My father hunted deer with an unmodified 03-A3 we got from the NRA in pristine condition for $40. Beaters were available for less. Within reasonable range and with decent hunting skills, it would kill anything you wanted to. In the last year I've seen functionally accurate Mosin Nagant rifles for $90-100. The Russian cartridge is pretty close to what the 03-A3 fires and will perform almost as well. Heck, I personally bought an un-issued, arsenal-stored SKS for $60 that will certainly kill deer/pigs at under 200 yds. Do I regularly hunt with any of those rifles? No---I typically use a Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker. Not an expensive custom rifle, but it certainly costs at least 500-700% more than a Mosin Nagant---even if you got the Browning used. Why did I buy the Browning? Because I wanted it, could afford it, and around 1990 it was the only factory stainless/synthetic offering commonly available. Did it kill my last 4 pigs/deer (20-150 yd. shots) any better than a Mosin Nagant would have? Probably not.

The bottom line is that all of us surely understand that there are good, cheap knives that will adequately perform our cutting chores. When we discuss more costly knives in a knife subforum, we usually do so because we are willing to pay much more than necessary for something we simply want or like.

DWK

[Bill Gunn]

DWK...

I always say...

"I looked under my bed, and behind my dresser, and couldn't find one".

That's why I bought it !!

[swamp]

I don't know what the reeves waiting list is but the ingram waiting list is about 2 yrs

[Sabre]

As far as a practical, hard use hunting knife for dressing/quartering game, I can't think of anything that will significantly outperform one of those 10.00, plastic handled, carbon steel Swedish Mora's for 10 times the price.

[swamp]

Yes there are tens of thousands of sportsmen and knife enthusiasts who want more than your typical hardware store knife... they keep the american knife makers in business

..... bradley vs sebenza...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n42vsBdXunY

[Bushman]

The author of that video missed talking about the best feature IMO of both folders... The open back design of the handle which makes for the easiest clean up of any folder that I've ever seen. I've got the Small Sebenza myself, but opted for the standard drop point version without the inlays. The first thing that I took off was that lanyard and the second thing removed was that pocket clip. I found a small Nylon pouch with a Velcro top closure that fits the knife perfectly so the leather pouch isn't used either. The blade is a little wider than I'm used to, but it is the sharpest knife in the house and holds that edge beautifully.

[GF.]

DWK...

I always say...

"I looked under my bed, and behind my dresser, and couldn't find one".



That's why I bought it !!

I think more than once I've said the same thing.... And that's why we have garages to keep things in :rofl:

[Bill Gunn]

Well..... kinda...

I had to build a barn...

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2250/777751/2236628/27026257.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2250/777751/2236628/379313247.jpg

http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2250/777751/2236628/66237527.jpg

[swamp]

The author of that video missed talking about the best feature IMO of both folders... The open back design of the handle which makes for the easiest clean up of any folder that I've ever seen. I've got the Small Sebenza myself, but opted for the standard drop point version without the inlays. The first thing that I took off was that lanyard and the second thing removed was that pocket clip. I found a small Nylon pouch with a Velcro top closure that fits the knife perfectly so the leather pouch isn't used either. The blade is a little wider than I'm used to, but it is the sharpest knife in the house and holds that edge beautifully.

Bushman, some of the earilier sabenza knives used BG 42 blade steel which in my opinion was pretty poor steel... Moving up to s30v was a major improvement.. Have you had any experience with D2 steel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQNZpPS4IY

[Twanger]

I've got a 35 year old Buck 110 that will gut and butcher a 100lb deer with only a few seconds of touch-up on the steel in the middle of the butchering operation to keep it razor sharp. No idea if the newer Buck 110's are made to that level of durability. It has a nice balance of sharpenability and edge durability.

We have a set of Wilkinson Sword knives in the kitchen that hold an edge unbelievably well, but from what I see, sadly they have closed the factory. I would have liked to have bought a fixed-blade hunting knife from them.

Another knife I've got that holds a keen edge is a 8" blade throwing knife made of Solingen steel. It really holds an edge.

[Bushman]

Darned if I know what steel is in my Sebenza because the blade doesn't say anything that I can find. It stays sharp, it doesn't rust, it is easy to clean, I like the one hand opening, I like the blade lock and I like the quality. If I've used D2 I didn't know it at the time. Don Wald always put up pictures of his Ubejane and if memory serves me right, I think that blade was D2 and Don sure wrote good things about it's edge holding ability. I don't cut so much that I could tell one good blade steel from another. I think that most guys are in that same league. My every day pocket knife is ATS-34 and it serves me well, but I didn't even see that in the 10 blade line up in the video so I don't know where it fits in the general scope of things.

[swamp]

Bushman, the currently made sebenza knives as of 5 yrs or so ago now use S30v blade steel... the ubejane skinner uses A2 blade steel... www.chrisreeve.com

[DancesWithKnives]

The last 'Benza I used was a BG-42 model and the steel performed superbly. Haven't tried the S30v version but I expect it's nice.

As for Moras, I've had a number of them and never been overly impressed. Nothing wrong with Moras but in that price range I prefer my carbon steel Old Hickory knives. I also like Tramontina carbon steel knives in that cost category. I've had some of each for many years and they still get used. Moras, Trams, and Old Hickory knives are good to have around as utility knives and loaners. You can let friends use them for anything and not worry about damage.

DWK

[Scout]

I think one of the best value hunting knives going right now is your choice from Knives of Alaska. They seem to have an appeal of old world craftsmanship coupled with good D2 steel (or other variations as desired). I have the Magnum hunter series and a Trekker/Elk hunter that both seem to be great little knives for the money.