Bring sharpener for fixed blade or ditch it for a Havalon?

[mtnbound]

I really think the Outdoor Edge is the answer here. Cuts like a Havalon, just a touch heavier, but still robust. I'm not great at the knee joints and the skulls and I tend to pry a bit and I've never broken a blade.

The only downside I see on them is sometimes they gum up and replacing a blade isn't as straight forward as a new or clean knife.

I have one of these, and they do work better than the Havalon style, but cleaning them is a pain.

 

[Legend]

For folks who are saying they get through a whole animal without sharpening their fixed blade, are they talking about quartering or boning out? There's gonna be a dozen miles and at least one mountain pass between me the truck. Thanks y'all

You can de-bone a deer, turn all of it into Jerky strips and still have a sharp knife. Meat doesn't really dull a blade much.

Cutting hair (always cut the skin side not hair side), taking knuckles apart, and removing skull are hard on blades.

Sure you can bring a sharpener but I am always in too much of a hurry to stop and sharpen especially when it's still cutting.

If you are new at this DO NOT bring a havalon type blade....damn things are dangerous to the user.

 

[Mojave]

I do no like exchangeable razor blade knives.

I have absolutely mangled my hands.

 

[Macintosh]

Those moraknives are pretty darn soft steel. They sharpen easily, but they do dull fast if you are new to cutting out backstraps, knuckles, etc, so I might want to touch it up midway if you are cutting out ribs, etc. will you be alone? Your partner might also have a knife. If not, A super light fine stone or one of those credit-card thickness diamond hones might come in handy. Heck, just wear a leather belt and use it as a strop and that’ll probably do it.
I pack a havalon as a backup knife, its light and sharp. Thats more for loss of knife when camping than it is for using it though. Agree with those who dont like them, they are fragile enough they sort of terrify me.

 

[Kurts86]

I used havalon’s for the better part of a decade but with SV30 and SV90 knives I have switched back to fixed blades in the field. I use a havalon for things like cleaning skulls at home. I usually have a Benchmade bugout mini or a Leatherman skeletool as a backup knife when solo. Mora steel as mentioned is soft by modern standards and needs more frequent sharpening.