Rossi Rifleman

What's your favorite hunting knife and why? No wrong answers. Just curious to see what you all like. It could be an heirloom from your dad, a gift from your wife or just a really good performing knife.

Below is mine. As a hobbyist knife maker and hunter, I get to try a lot of different materials, designs and ideas. After a many knives I finally came up with this in 2013 and I really like it. It is designed for gutting and skinning. After that I switch to a boning knife. I know, it's really simple and I'm sure that there are thousands of others out there like it. So it seems odd that it took me so long to come up with this, but I guess that I'm just a slow learner and had to try all the other things out first.

The blade is hollow ground from 1/ 8" thick D2. Hollow grinding 1/8" thick steel makes for a nice stiff blade that isn't heavy. The blade is only about 3/4" wide which I found to be important for me to keep it maneuverable in tight spots. It's 3.5" to 4" long (depending on where you measure it from). This is long enough to reach what I want to cut while not being awkward. Overall it is 7.75" long. D2 is my favorite all-around hunting material. It's easier to work and sharpen than exotic materials (costs a lot less too), is stain resistant and holds an excellent edge. The integral guard keeps it light, simple and easy to clean. Handle scales are canvas micarta which is water proof and still offers a good grip when wet. They are held on with Loveless style bolt fasteners (with epoxy added for good measure and to keep moisture out). So there is no way that they are coming off or even loose.

The only problem is that after using it on a few deer and a bear, I gave it to a friend of mine who had lost his. Since then he has had the opportunity to use it on 8 deer. So I'm making another one.

Old timer sharpfinger hard to beat for cost. this has been a companion to me for a very long time. since I was very young I polished mine up a bit and am thinking of drilling bolsters and changing the handle to something I like more. Your blade looks nice I like convex edges best but this entry level blade is nice for those on a budget.

akuser47 wrote:Old timer sharpfinger hard to beat for cost. this has been a companion to me for a very long time. since I was very young I polished mine up a bit and am thinking of drilling bolsters and changing the handle to something I like more. Your blade looks nice I like convex edges best but this entry level blade is nice for those on a budget.

That's a classic! I get a lot of requests for Sharpfinger "replicas". Here is one that a friend of mine ordered to commemorate his son's first hunt.

dvw86, you make some fine looking cutlery, Bro!


jd

That looks great

Well those sure make my knives made in high school shop look like junk. It was fun though. Can you imagine schools letting you make knives now days?

rman wrote:Well those sure make my knives made in high school shop look like junk. It was fun though. Can you imagine schools letting you make knives now days?

You probably don't want me to comment.
As an engineer with a BAE and MSAE that required 6 years of advanced math I looked my buddy's daughter's 7th grade homework over and it is a wonder anyone coming out of the public school system can count to twenty with their shoes off. It's no wonder McDonalds uses pictograph cash registers.

I have a 7th grade daughter and although I didn't finish my "scholarshipped" engineering degree, I am more than disgusted with....oops.

Ranting.

Archer wrote:

rman wrote:Well those sure make my knives made in high school shop look like junk. It was fun though. Can you imagine schools letting you make knives now days?

You probably don't want me to comment.
As an engineer with a BAE and MSAE that required 6 years of advanced math I looked my buddy's daughter's 7th grade homework over and it is a wonder anyone coming out of the public school system can count to twenty with their shoes off. It's no wonder McDonalds uses pictograph cash registers.

Add the fact that they are allowed to use calculators to solve their problems and not required to show their work. My grandson is a smart kid, but when it comes to simple math, he asks me questions like "what is 68 plus 113?" He can solve the problem on paper or on the calculator, but can't figure it in his head. Too bad they don't teach fundamentals instead of concepts.

The spring of '79 I found a small Buck pocket knife on the sidewalk. I figured it's short, maybe 2" blade would be great for unzipping a deer without cutting into the guts of a deer. I was correct, BUT I had to cut out the diaphragm wall and reach up inside the rib cavity to cut esophagus and trachea to pull out the heart and lungs. I used this method on over 20 deer (some were deer of friends' who hadn't learn how to field dress a deer) until 1990 when I returned from a hunting trip to find my little knife was no longer in my possession.

I replace that knife with a Buck Lite for the next season. The Buck Lite has field dressed over 70 deer to date. Is it the perfect knife for every field dressing or quartering operation, NO. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it an 8.5. To me it makes it a a good all around knife. It has cleaned combined, thousands of deer, squirrel, rabbit, quail, ducks, groundhog... It's my friend.

Yes, folding knives are a bit of pain to clean. But, it only take about 10 minutes. Given the trade off of a fixed blade hanging on the side of my stand while I'm trying to turn for a shot or getting hooked on a sapling while I'm stalking, I'll spend the extra time cleaning the knife after the game is in the freezer.

In the last 10 years, I've realized that specialty knives for certain task make life easier. So here's the knives I carry to deer camp, top to bottom:

The BenchMade with it's half serrated will cut up the side of the sternum on the biggest buck I've taken (180 lbs. field dressed) using a zig-zag motion with ease all the way through the ribs. It's not a hunting knife, but it works. It rides in my fanny pack.

The Buck Lite is in the middle, It's my all purpose knife for field dressing and quartering a deer. It's always in it's sheath on my belt when I'm afield.

The third knife is hand-made tool made by a friend who is a bowyer and knife maker. I traded him several osage orange staves for the knife. It is AWESOME for caping out a deer.