Thread: Knife Questions

Hey Everyone,

Just keen on recommendations and experience for a knife for skinning a deer. Current use a fold away Spika Bushmaster and it seems to go pretty well (especially in a beginner’s hand) but keen on people’s feedback.

The second question is best tools to use to sharpen a knife, very green at this and after a couple of attempts I think I made the Wife kitchen knives blunter rather than sharper. So back to You Tube.

Cheers Everyone

Different people like different knives, it's an insanely personal thing. I prefer a slimmer blade, more of a general purpose clipped point shape. I have a good mate that has one very slim razor sharp one, almost a boning knife and another that looks like it would do good on oysters. He switches between them all the time and has a belt with two sheathes on it that he carries everywhere... Neither is a knife I would grab by choice, but it works for him.

The one you mentioned looks a bit heavier than what I like, but you won't know what works for you until you try a few out.

As far as sharpening, a good guided stone package like the scary sharp setup or similar is gold standard, or a lansky or a knock off from china will get you started at a pinch. The guided steels are a must to get a consistent smooth polished edge on the blade in my experience, I can do it freehand but it's a fair bit more work and takes longer.

You need a good steel, a Cambrian butchers steel 450mm - the older profile that tapers smoothly not the one with a fairly abrupt step between the body of the steel which is parallel and the part where it tapers to the point. The difference between one of these good steels and a crappy china one is like quality marble compared with clay mixed with dog turds. The Cambrian steel is that much better it's not funny. I used to struggle with keeping an edge on a knife once I got it on there, now it's one or two licks over the good steel and back to shaving sharp.

https://www.savebarn.co.nz/victorino...n-handle-50148

This and buy a ScarySharp or before the man from CNI screams buy the great Aussie sharpener from Kentmaster in Napier.

The biggest things in hunting are firstly recoil[shooting becomes an unpleasant experience]and secondly not having a sharp knife.[ you hack at the deer while your mate peels out the guts , ripped off the back steaks and back legs ]

the $40 diamond laps work but dont overdo them- I stone and then touch up with a few soft strokes of the diamond lap - knives are a personal choice - many are very hard and that means hard to sharpen - and yes scary sharp made in Hawera are the gold standard of sharpeners - bar none-

Originally Posted by Little Loydd

Hey Everyone,

Just keen on recommendations and experience for a knife for skinning a deer. Current use a fold away Spika Bushmaster and it seems to go pretty well (especially in a beginner’s hand) but keen on people’s feedback.

The second question is best tools to use to sharpen a knife, very green at this and after a couple of attempts I think I made the Wife kitchen knives blunter rather than sharper. So back to You Tube.

Cheers Everyone

Buy a good magnifying glass to check your sharpening....I use a wet sandstone grinding wheel to remove the shoulders of the knife and finish it off with oil stone....I carry a skinning knife and a boning knife in my bag, the knife on my belt is for everything else....those two knives in my bag probably weigh less than the turd in my bowels that I have been carrying around looking for a nice place to drop it.

How much is a scary sharp these days?

Quite the investment for a $40 knife I imagine.

With a $40 knife you can afford to learn how to use a stone

As an aside on sharpeners. I just picked up a warthog sharpener. So far im impressed and what I like about it is because it does both sides at once and is guided, My partner can quite happily sharpen kitchen knives etc, without waiting for me to do it.

It's very much a personnel preference so you will try a few before settling on something you like. These are my two I'm pretty happy with. Bigger one is a MJK jack knife made by a forum member and a little Honey Badger. Usually carry both but for a quick light weight trip I'll just take the little one.

As for sharpening I use my dad's old oil stone. Took a lot time and practice to figure it out but now I have pretty sorted. A good sharp knife makes the whole process a lot easier and enjoyable so stick at it.

Cheers Everyone for ideas and suggestions, it is quite an interesting (and could be an expensive) rabbit hole to go down and lots to learn.

As far as knife, I use a pukko or an opinel Gardner with its drop point.
Regarding sharpening, this one is probably the easiest you can get to get a razor out of your knife:

Available from most hunting and fishing

I tried all sorts of guides and lansky type systems with bits and bobs.
In the end I went to the local second hand shop and brought a selection of old chefs knives etc and a couple of good water stones.
I kept trying till I managed to get the "knack" but it took a lot of perseverance.

As far as knives go that depends on your budget but i would not spend "telephone numbers" on a knife until you
a. can sharpen it
and b. know you are not prone to misplacing them often

Originally Posted by whanahuia

As an aside on sharpeners. I just picked up a warthog sharpener. So far im impressed and what I like about it is because it does both sides at once and is guided, My partner can quite happily sharpen kitchen knives etc, without waiting for me to do it.

They are quite a good 80% solution for knife sharpening. I have several daily use knives that come razor sharp with 2 or three passes through the warthog, and some that just will not sharpen well at all. Must be the knife's blade taper dimensions.

Something that helps when learning stone sharpening (wetstone or oilstone or even cheap chinese drystone haha) is a selection of coins. Find one that is the right thickeness (or two stacked - I used to use the old 20c fat coin) and leave on the end of the stone. At the start of each pass place the back of the knife on the same part of the coin and set your sharpening angle again. It does help as a rough and ready guide...

Originally Posted by Little Loydd

Hey Everyone,

Just keen on recommendations and experience for a knife for skinning a deer. Current use a fold away Spika Bushmaster and it seems to go pretty well (especially in a beginner’s hand) but keen on people’s feedback.

The second question is best tools to use to sharpen a knife, very green at this and after a couple of attempts I think I made the Wife kitchen knives blunter rather than sharper. So back to You Tube.

Cheers Everyone

I see you’re Tasman based also.

If you get real stuck, touch base and I can run your kitchen knives over a Tormek to revive them and keep the peace with the Mrs.

When starting out hand sharpening, a skinny carbon steel knife with as straighter edge as possible and no bolster is going to be the most user friendly to ‘hone’ your craft.
Most people use too fine a stone and fail to raise a bur when first starting out. It’s not rocket science a but plenty frustrating til you get the hang of it.
The last thing is stropping to refine the edge.