Thread: Folding Scalpel Knives

I'm looking at getting a folding scalpel knife for getting nice clean butthole cuts. I se they are used in the states quite a bit and I like the idea of having a super sharp knife that takes up bugger all room and weighs not much.

Does anyone use them? Are they any good or am I better off sticking my my mercator?

Cheers

Not long enough.

https://www.blademaster.co.nz/shop/S.../115BLAZE.html

Something like this would be comparable to a mercator in length.

Have done the butt hole of a big kaimai hind yesterday just with my opinel garner number 8.

Yes, Outdoor Edge EDC 3.5 inch blade. Blade dulls after one animal. Easy to resharpen to razor sharp. Light. Quite a unique design with a lot of blade support. Generally just do gutless animal preparation and I'm pretty happy with it. They also do one with a 5 inch blade.

I have a little havalon


I used to take by old skining knife but got feed-up trying to do clean butt holes (It had other issues as well, very soft metal).
Watch a professional guide use one for dressing out a little fallow hind and was impressed.
He probably mostly used it for head skins etc but I did not see that.

Not ideal for braking down a large animal but fine for opening one up, gutting, cleaning skinning etc really good.
Also fine for taking of legs and back steaks etc if it's more than a km to the car.
Z
ps can also get a gut hook for them as well. I would suggest getting the little plastic blade changer tool. I have a fear that damp bloody or cold hands may have an accident trying to change a blade.
Normally you would change out the blade before leaving home.

+1 for the Havalon
Great knives, light and always sharp. All I have carried for the past 3 years

I use regular scalpels and bring a few spare blades with me. Loose sharps are put into a small container in the pack. I bring a small solid plastic container to keep the loose blades in. When one blade gets a bit dull i just replace the blade, no need for sharpening in the field. Im starting to prefer the scalpel over the regular knife for most field-dressing activities, sharp and precise, but the issue is the small blade.

Been looking at one of those folding scalpels with the longer blades.
Something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003204964143.html
Or this
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001478969540.html (razorlite)

Havalon offer clip in blades up to 5" for some models,
They do both hunting and fishing types some with bone saw partial or complete blades and gut hooks.

https://havalon.com/blades

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001478969540.html (razorlite)

That is the Outdoor Edge knife at about half the price! I wonder how it all works? I know a lot of premium products are knocked out in the same factories as the cheap stuff sold on AliExpress. I wonder if it's a blatant fake or surplus stock.

I'd go for it at that price. Oddly, even the spare blades on the genuine product need a tickle up with a strop before using, then they're razor sharp.

Originally Posted by MB

That is the Outdoor Edge knife at about half the price! I wonder how it all works? I know a lot of premium products are knocked out in the same factories as the cheap stuff sold on AliExpress. I wonder if it's a blatant fake or surplus stock.

I'd go for it at that price. Oddly, even the spare blades on the genuine product need a tickle up with a strop before using, then they're razor sharp.

Yeah a lot of stuff is purchased from china, given a new label, and then sold at a higher price.

I like them as a backup/second knife.

I mostly use them for skinning cuts and bum etc. Great to have the second knife for this especially with a pissy/stinky stag. Keeps the meat from getting contaminated

They will do a whole deer well enough but there are better knives for the job. They are a bit short and pretty easy to snap.

Originally Posted by MB

That is the Outdoor Edge knife at about half the price! I wonder how it all works? I know a lot of premium products are knocked out in the same factories as the cheap stuff sold on AliExpress. I wonder if it's a blatant fake or surplus stock.

I'd go for it at that price. Oddly, even the spare blades on the genuine product need a tickle up with a strop before using, then they're razor sharp.

Got one of these recently. Really nice to use and is easily big enough for any field dressing of animals. For the $40 I paid (including replacement blades and carry pouch), well worth it.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

I like them as a backup/second knife.

I mostly use them for skinning cuts and bum etc. Great to have the second knife for this especially with a pissy/stinky stag. Keeps the meat from getting contaminated

They will do a whole deer well enough but there are better knives for the job. They are a bit short and pretty easy to snap.

Yeah they’re awesome for skinning and gutting, but not suited for any kind of work around bone as it doesn’t take much to snap em. I can zip through field dressing quickly with my Havalon & then use a boning knife for breaking down the animal.

Been using the Havalon knives 5 or 6 years now and being an ex butcher and fish filleter I hate sharpening knives so swapping blades is so easy. Not ideal for braking animals down. I mostly bone animals out on the ground before the wasps show up. I’ve had 100 blades last as long as I’ve had the knives and still have 28 blades left.

Havalon’s compared to a 223rem