hunting knife info needed.

[shooter]

hi everybody.

I had posted this question on a hunting knife thread a long time ago but apparently it got overlooked. So i am posting it as a separate thread this time.

my experience of hunting knives is limited to victrinox hunter model and
theoritically to bowie knife (though that is not strictly a hunting knife.).

so a few newbie level questions:
what exactly is a hunting knife. (its not a tool for hunting)
what exactly are the quality that are unique to hunting knife?
as far as i know, the gut hook is not a standard feature.
the blade length, shape etc is not constant.

should it be suitable for quartering or butchering?

i am 100% sure the some knives in the pics posted have too short a blade to be effective for butchering.

i have used 'desi kasai chhura' translated as country made butcher knives. im sure all my indian friends here know what im talking about. it is long and HEAVY.
before anyone of you make fun of this country bumpkin, i would like to add this kind of knives are being used by butchers all over india for centuries and give very good reasults.

i have only butchered goat but many butchers use them on buffalo which is comparable in size to any game. i know of a lot of people firsthand who have used them for game inthe past and swear by them.

now i can understand they havent tried these 'vilayati' knives so one cant compare but shouldnt a knife better than these desi ones be heavier rather than the ones with 2.5 inch blade.?

[Vikram]

now i can understand they havent tried these 'vilayati' knives so one cant compare but shouldnt a knife better than these desi ones be heavier rather than the ones with 2.5 inch blade.?

As I understand, the smaller hunting knives are not for butchering game but to skin,gut and field dress and probably even quarter the game.

As for butchering deer check these videos.The guy uses a small knife to do a very clean job. Any one wanting to learn the skills will find it useful.

Warning: Some may find the butchering not very pleasant to their sensibilities.If you are a vegetarian, do not proceed further.

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Best-
Vikram

[shooter]

what he is doing can be done with a surgical scalpel with a 1" blade too. as he is using the principals of splitting the fascia and opening the joints.
He too is using a fillet knife.
If you see the indian way of cooking game (the way I cook it), it is cut the same way as a goat i.e. "nalli with maas" or bone with meat around it or "chop" etcand not fillet/stake/joint/ diced etc. This can only be achieved with a heavy knife.

Then again even these videos suggest that a "hunting" knife is not necessary or even more convenient to butcher game.

Also ,I wanted to know if there are any features unique to a "hunting" knife
for eg:

bread knife: long, broad serrations.
Fillet knife: 6", backward curve. finely serrated
cheese knife: 6", "j"-shaped ending in a prong
carving knife: long broad blade.
Bowie knife: long, backward edge meets the front edge at an angle- you know what i mean

Rambo knife: big, manly, compass, matches, sewing kit.

Mithun/Rajni knife: can split a FMJ bullet into two

Hunting knife: ?????

[TwoRivers]

Shooter: The Victorinox "Hunter" is not a hunting knife, but a hunter's pocket knife. A hunting knife is used to skin, gut, and quarter game; and do camp chores. It's a sturdy single-bladed knife about 3.5 to 6" long, with a grip shaped to prevent slipping. It can have a gut hook, it can be a folder, in which case it needs a very reliable blade lock.
A fillet knife, used for filletting fish, has a relatively long and slender, (6' would be the mimum "trout" knife), pointed, thin and flexible blade, WITHOUT serrations. Cheers.

[abishaifernandez]

hi to all in this part of the forum, need a lil info. is there any legalities involved to purchase a huting knife from the us of a? was planning to pick up the cold steel Natchez Bowie. is there any one who might know where i could pick up a decent hunting knife fromin mumbai. been coming across a lot of chinese made hunting knives....pure rubbish they are.

look fwd to hear from you'll

cheers

[Kumar.S.S]

Dear freinds,
From My limited knowledge on knives and what I learned from an American The hunting knife is a standard tool for a hunter of old american wild.
This knife was designed to be able to help the american outdoorsman in most of the smaller chores he did like, cutting,shaping,splitting,skinning,
butchering/field dressing and even for digging at times. the same knife served the hunter in the field as a table knife also.

The present days hunting knife comes in all shapes and sizes ( some heavy enough to do the butchering) but the hunting knife this American showed me
was 12" long and weighed 4.2 lbs. It had a slightly curved blade which allowed only a point to come in contact when skinning game.It was heavy enough to crack bones but had no finger guard. He explained to me that not much stabbing was done with the knife which action will require a finger stopper. In many ways it WAS SIMILAR TO THE KNIFE OUR INDIAN BUTCHERS USE BUT IT HAD A WOODEN HANDLE.( our butcher knives are plain strips of steel with a taprered strip serving as handle.

As for Victorinox Hunting knife I do have a Fixed blade(6") "Hunter" knife by Victorinox I will Post a picture of the same with scabbard when I get my camera back.
Hope this answers your questions on the hunting knife.
Thanks
Kumar

[Subal das]

Tactical Knives magazine is excellent source of info on modern trends in knives.

[Mark]

As mentioned, here in the USA a "hunting knife" wears many hats. Perhaps a more accurate title would be "knife carried for a week or two while in hunting camp". In addition to skinning/butchering game it is also required to do woodcraft projects and other camp chores. It is because of this last requirement the blade spine is usually thick. For purely butchering one can look at the knives used by taxidermists, they are all thin bladed. About the only thing a thick spined knife can do better is splitting the pelvis, and not many hunters seem to do that anymore anyway (myself included). If a person does split the pelvis, a saw or a hatchet (I prefer since a saw leaves bone chips) works better anyway.

If one reads old books written by trappers and such, the usual tools were a thin bladed knife, a hatchet, and a pocket knife with an awl and a few blades. I think the thick spined trend was a way to eliminate the hatchet but that is just my opinion.

[deepak.sriram]

Hello,

Please provide me details of where i can procure Ka-bar combat knives in India.
I only looking for high quality ones and would like to buy it in India.
Any leads/ referrals/ contacts are much appreciated.
Note: Pls make to the point comments which are beneficial to all.
Thankyou

[Subal das]

Hello,

Please provide me details of where i can procure Ka-bar combat knives in India.
I only looking for high quality ones and would like to buy it in India.
Any leads/ referrals/ contacts are much appreciated.
Note: Pls make to the point comments which are beneficial to all.
Thankyou

you cant buy it in India, but I recently got kabar Fin fixed D2 blade from http://www.tomarskabars.com/