Thread: Knife Questions

Learn to use a water stone. It's not hard once you understand the fundamentals of raising a burr and removing it. You will always have a sharp knife. Start on a courser stone 400 -600 grit.

For honing a decent strop, ceramic or fine diamond honey are more versatile in the long run than a steel. Steel is only really effective on lower hardness knives. Won't work for shit on any decent modern stainless/tool steel

Havalon Piranta for me. Just need to be really careful with these. Extremely sharp.

Knives are like everything else, very VERY subjective, what works for me may'nt work for you. IMO a drop point makes a good all round knife but it's not great at cutting the arse out but that might be me lacking technique. I've got a really nice stag handled Muela with a 4" blade and a Buffalo River drop point, which is great for skinning but far and away my favourite knife is this Finnish J Marttini with a trailing point, it's not flash but good steel that holds an edge and isn't a mare to sharpen, decent sized handle that fits my big hands and it does everything I need it to.....but the best thing about it is the history, passed from my G'ma to my Father to me, so when I'm hunting they're right there with me.



Also, don't buy a knife just because it has a "gut hook" they are useless (ask me how I know) the knife might be great so buy it for that, not for the gut hook

Sharpening wise, I use waterstones for my chisels and plane irons BUT often for my knives I'll use the lansky system, not because it's better, which it isn't but because it's easier and I can sharpen my knives whilst sitting in a comfy chair with a cuppa and some biccies

Now that you know all about sharpening, your knife will be lethal. So, for your other hand you need a steel mesh glove. You are on the hillside, miles from your tent, and it is getting near dusk, and the cloud layer is significantly lower. To say you are in a hurry is a stupid understatement. But you have your steel glove on and the microbevel skitters across the links instead of leaving you gaping at the blood pouring out of your hand. If the cost of a steel mesh glove seems too high, there are kevlar gloves that do the same and are lighter and cheaper.

Originally Posted by rupert

Now that you know all about sharpening, your knife will be lethal. So, for your other hand you need a steel mesh glove. You are on the hillside, miles from your tent, and it is getting near dusk, and the cloud layer is significantly lower. To say you are in a hurry is a stupid understatement. But you have your steel glove on and the microbevel skitters across the links instead of leaving you gaping at the blood pouring out of your hand. If the cost of a steel mesh glove seems too high, there are kevlar gloves that do the same and are lighter and cheaper.

Good thought! I want a glove, but never found one that fits properly. I'm not expecting it to fit like a glove(!), but they always feel very wrong and I have normal shaped hands.

Couple of events come to mind. Butchering my first pig at night with a head torch, miles from anywhere. Guess what happened on the very last cut? Lots of blood, luckily no real damage. I generally don't cut myself when filleting fish as I do it a lot and have good muscle memory. Recently, I sliced my finger very badly doing an unusual move (punching a hole through the fillet for hanging). Again, no serious damage, but it got infected down the line. Could have been bad, but got away with it again. Don't take these things lightly!

Just heard a bloke skittled a spiker with his Hilux. No knife because he was working. Had a green bottle in the truck. Broke it and gutted and took head off. Accepted the loss of contents.

Originally Posted by TeRei

Just heard a bloke skittled a spiker with his Hilux. No knife because he was working. Had a green bottle in the truck. Broke it and gutted and took head off. Accepted the loss of contents.

Could have drunk the contents to celebrate. This question has come up before. In the bush, a squashed cartridge case or sharp rock were the answers.

Originally Posted by Zedrex

Knives are like everything else, very VERY subjective, what works for me may'nt work for you. IMO a drop point makes a good all round knife but it's not great at cutting the arse out but that might be me lacking technique. I've got a really nice stag handled Muela with a 4" blade and a Buffalo River drop point, which is great for skinning but far and away my favourite knife is this Finnish J Marttini with a trailing point, it's not flash but good steel that holds an edge and isn't a mare to sharpen, decent sized handle that fits my big hands and it does everything I need it to.....but the best thing about it is the history, passed from my G'ma to my Father to me, so when I'm hunting they're right there with me.

Attachment 278802

Also, don't buy a knife just because it has a "gut hook" they are useless (ask me how I know) the knife might be great so buy it for that, not for the gut hook

Sharpening wise, I use waterstones for my chisels and plane irons BUT often for my knives I'll use the lansky system, not because it's better, which it isn't but because it's easier and I can sharpen my knives whilst sitting in a comfy chair with a cuppa and some biccies

enter nice looking knive a little to point at the tip for me for skinning that sharp point would dig in rather than slide

After reading the other knife thread and much deliberation, I just ordered a Mercator. I saw a video of the graf boys boning out a deer with it and seemed to do the job. I have a Leatherman Wave in my fak if I need a back up.

Hunting and a fascination with knives seems to go hand in hand. I have an Opinel No 12 (folding) because it was cheap, light and had a mild steel blade. I prefer a softer blade that's easier to sharpen. I don't mind sharpening after every hunt.

I recently bought a Victorinox "Rabbiter" from Mitre 10 including sheath and short steel for $49. I like the Opinel as a light weight option when I'm likely to walk a lot and shoot 1 deer if I'm lucky.

The Rabbiter however is much easier and safer to use and comes with me on farm hunts when I may need to dress multiple deer.

I was hunting with a mates son the other day and when I pointed out his knife looked a bit blunt he said his mates reckon it's bad luck to sharpen a knife before a hunt.

I told him his mates are f*** wits and if you are that superstitious then sharpen it as soon as you get home.

mercator done dozens of deer with mine whole deer - hindquarters and back steaks - just does the job

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

enter nice looking knive a little to point at the tip for me for skinning that sharp point would dig in rather than slide

It does require care when skinning for sure but I haven't poked any holes yet, I tend to use the forward part of the blade just off the tip, which seems to work well for me whilst pulling the skin with the other hand, one of these days I'll master the art of punching the skin off, I suppose I could take the point off the tip but that would sacrifice the excellent arse and joint separating ability......

Originally Posted by MB

Good thought! I want a glove, but never found one that fits properly. I'm not expecting it to fit like a glove(!), but they always feel very wrong and I have normal shaped hands.

After giving myself a prod the other day I was looking around and this website looks interesting.
https://kentmaster.nz/product-category/ppe/gloves/

with that knife Zedrex no it wont - just take a bit of the back of the tip - smooth it off so that you can turn the knife upside down run the tip down you arm no dig in job done -- make sure blade really sharp right up to point and arse etc will work well - nice knife just needs a little shaping

I love knives. I've watched videos where guys get a blade hair-whittling sharp... then chop through a few logs... and then demonstrate how their knife can still whittle hair. I've never been able to do that. It is easy enough to get a shaving sharp blade, but retaining that shaving edge after cutting through a pig hair or maybe cutting off hocks seems impossible. So while I would like to achieve that level of sharpening mastery, I am happy enough to keep doing what I've done for decades.

A friend let me use her Tri Angle Sharpmaker. I got excellent results. I didn't achieve 'everlasting' shaving sharp, but it created a good edge. However I haven't been able to convince myself to spend money on an expensive system which would be lovely to have, but not essential.

My methods are fairly old-tech. I might use a sanding belt or bench grinder (carefully to avoid overheating) to shape a worn or damaged blade. Then I use a large sharpening stone or two and perhaps follow that with a few wipes along a sharpening steel or ceramic hone. If I don't have either of those, I might use the unglazed underside of a crockery plate or coffee mug for the final stage... swiping the edge forward with a gentle pressure.

The most frustrating time to have a blunt knife is when I haven't finished processing an animal in the field. In my youth I often carried a rabbiter's steel, but seldom bagged enough animals on a hunt to justify carrying it. I sometimes have a small pocket stone or diamond sharpener in my pack or pocket. But in recent times I've gone back to carrying a steel. I have two small steels... a rabbiter with a cross bar, and a miniature steel that Bumblefoot made me aware of. Both are excellent and they will generally restore an edge to virtual perfection in the field.

Here is a photo of some of the gear I use the most. Not shown is a full length steel with a handle that I keep at home and use often. I also have a leather strop glued to a board and the abrasive compound I rub on to the leather. It creates a nice edge, but a steel works well enough so I generally don't bother to strop. When hunting nowadays, I generally carry the blue-handled Victory knife in the white plastic sheath shown above it. I made the sheath from some industrial plastic I was given. Dunno exactly what it is, but it is less than 2mm thick, quite tough, and fairly easy to keep clean. I have slung this sheath on a bit of cord which holds the sheath in a horizontal position. It sits under my (small !) pot belly where I can reach it with either hand and it won't clunk against my rifle. I also have a home-made grey canvas pouch on this cord for carrying odds and ends. The black-handled knife is a Giesser boning knife with a modified tip. A great all-rounder, although I find I do most of my processing with the blue Victory now. There is a set of three diamond honing plates I bought on AliExpress. These seem to be very good quality, but I don't use them much. Below the diamond plates are a small, cheap abrasive stone, and a small diamond honing plate.... both handy to stash in a pocket or pack and better than having nothing to sharpen with. On the top right is a strip of fine wet&dry abrasive paper. I can get knives really sharp using abrasive paper... but I pull the edge backward over the paper rather than push it forward. In the middle is a ceramic hone with a red handle I ordered from Aliexpress. I use this more or less like I use a steel. It works quite well with my Svord folding knives... but these knives also respond well to a conventional steel, even though some say you shouldn't use a steel on them. Works for me. Incidentally, I keep reading that steels don't remove metal from the edge. I say they do remove metal. If I look at an edge before and after using a steel, I can sometimes see the change in the abraded pattern at the edge. Also, some steels are magnetic so that they hold the shavings. The large bench stone in the photo was purchased for about five dollars from 'Hello Banana'. It does the job.



I was not expecting to shoot five pigs on the night that the photo below was taken. The only knife I had was the Svord folder. I managed to field dress them all, but I would have been happier if I'd had a steel with me (and if someone had helped me carry them back to the car).