Thread: Skinning Knives

When I was a young it seemed every hunter and farmer had a curved skinner on his belt (this was down on the west coast and I dont come from a hunting family so my observations may be limited.) now days it seems everyone has moved to boning knives or drop points. What was the reason in popularity of the curved skinner back then? Has something changed in the methods hunters use to recover meat out of the bush?

maybe that was what was available, my dad had one too, green river

ask a butcher what knife he uses, they do it all day, so if it didn't work they wouldn't use them

Possible reasons, less choice available then, the curved skinner was a doo all knife for everything from cutting a sheeps throat to skinning to gutting to slicing ya roast.
Very few people carry a whole animal out these days unless close as you no longer can pay for your house(or anything else for that matter) by selling game meat so a small knife suitable for boneing out or quartering a animal on site is more practicle.

I like victorinox and f.dick knives for meat and in the kitchen but prefer the versatility of a Mora scandi when Im out in about.

I started off with the old 6" curved skinning knife in the 80's and it was the typical knife for my family to use. Never found it that versatile especially when you were gutting etc. When it was stolen I replaced it with a smaller thinner blade that happily did everything. I've never owned one since.

It's not the size it how you use it ha!

I like the Mercator I stole from my dad since my nzhs one I got here snapped on the first animal (me being rough) A knifes a knife as far as I'm concerned try some and you'll find something that suits you.

I wouldn't recommend fencing staples, I hear they make gutting a couple deer a mission and half

Skinning knives always seem to have the swept back curve...and it does help you make longer skinning strokes. I guess they've changed more towards multi-purpose now and haven't sacrificed much.

I fell into the whole "need a bigger knife" trap. Bought a Buck 119, and it is really great. But my small Spyderco Delica does just fine and do I really need it? Nup. Now the Delica is the backup though so I guess it's not a bad thing. It's harder to clean a folder too....stuff gets where you can't really get at.

I remember seeing a youtube vid someone posted of a kiwi guy processing a whole deer in like 5 minutes flat. He was an absolutely machine and the knife he used was tiny. Like a little scalpel basically. Maybe a 2 or 3 inch blade?

It was a tradition thing, the blade shape is very old and allows for long sweeping strokes and reduces the chance of cutting something you don't want to, it's basically a old style butchers knife, and yes every farmer used to have one hanging on his belt or in the shed, and as a bush knife it can also be used to do camp chores, but as time and laws progressed it became less acceptable to be seen with a blade on your hip, and so so smaller knives and folders became more acceptable.

The drop point has similar characteristics in the way of reducing accidental slicing, and with better steels they would hold an edge for the whole of the processing in a smaller package, which means less weight and fatigue.

A four and half inch drop point in a good steel, like O1 (or Elmax if stainless ticks your box), with a quarter to three sixteenth inch blade with a micarta or G10 handle and a good leather sheath, like from HGD (kydex not my thing), should be able to skin and process anything you can bring down in NZ, from reds to snapper, cut your bread, peel your orange and chop through some sticks to start a fire in the wet-and do it forever so that you hand it down.

Of course a great big chopper will look cooler, but like an old polyprop tops, stinks when you are lugging it around in the bush...

They are good old knives in the right hand .
My old man kills,skins and guts a sheep like he is flash Gordan ,but then I would not like to count how many sheep he has done after a life on the land .
But it is what somebody has said already.
Was not a large choice around and it served all purpose,s so they never changed.
Knives are a bit like fishing lures ,easy to have too many.

Bleau Jean was a very popular knife in the day.

Originally Posted by Gapped axe

Bleau Jean was a very popular knife in the day.

Yeah, they were neat little knives.
Have you ever thought of having a go at knife making? You would have the set up I guess.

Saw this thread when searching a different topic.

My grandfather was a butcher during the depression, raising stock on the family farm in the back of Huntly and butchering them for market. My dad was a farmer all his life, moving to Northland at the age of 16. A pocket knife was an essential tool of the trade in those days, as was a Green River skinning knife and a boning knife. Every farmer I have ever known did their own home kill, both sheep and beef for the freezer.

I can still remember the day when feeding out hay as a kid off the back of the tractor, when my dad handed me his pocket knife to cut the bail strings my self rather than have him pre-cut them. Handing over his knife came with a warning that loosing his knife would result in a fate worse than death! No instructions about "don't cut yourself ......." just "don't loose my bloody knife .....". It was a true right of passage to be given dad's knife to complete a task.

Another reason for the use of the old style skinning knife was that at one time, the drench companies were giving them away as part of the enticement to buy their particular brand of drench. I think it was Thiabenzole (or something like that) that did a big run on them. Most farmers were using the product at the time so ended up with a few spares in the shed. I know my old mad did.
I am lucky enough to still have two of my dad's skinning knives, and a couple of his worn out pocket knives, and one of my grandfathers pocket knives as well. They are well cherished due to the memories they bring back.

Yeah I used to notice the same on the farm. I use a combination at VC states not alot carry a whole animal and I am one of them so have 3 diff knifes a give turns with out in the bush. A skinner, a drop point and a pointy one too. Depending on what and where is what dictates knife choice.

Drop point


Skinner


Steve wheeler pointy one


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God damn that top knife is beautiful @HNTMAD. One day I'll buy one off ya


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Originally Posted by sambnz

God damn that top knife is beautiful @HNTMAD. One day I'll buy one off ya


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Yeah one of my favourite ones to use. Seeing so many knives coming accross my bench you get to handle a few. This was a blade shape I liked but not handle so git knifemaker to change. Only thing I made it in high carbon and would prob go ss n690 now

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