What blades steels are you serious hunter/butchers using?

[huntsman22]

I am headed to Colorado in September 2018 was going to keep an eye out for any chert, obsidian or flint. Are you aware of any rules regarding picking it up ?

there is no naturally occurring obsidian in CO. If it's here, it was hauled in..... No rules about picking up unworked chunks, but on public land you cannot pick up artifacts per the Antiquities Act. You can save artifacts on private property, tho. I am always on the lookout for arrowheads........

 

[Dinger]

I have owned bunches of knives and butcher dozens of animals a year for the home table or dog food.

By far the most practical and efficient knife I use for this is a 5" butchers boning knife in a home made sheath. I carry this on any meat hunt that is based from the truck and have skinned/caped with it plenty of times.

For strictly backpacking I've used a Havalon for all duties....switching to a Kestrel Caper shortly, mainly because I like buying knives.

The whole lot goes in the dishwasher at home and is easy to field sanitise with boiling water if it gets too funky. Very simple and boring.

Cheers,

Dinger

 

[Darren Best]

I have two Gene Ingram blades in S30V, one Benchmade in S30V and one Benchmade in 154CM.

S30V is currently my favorite steel, highly corrosion resistant, easy to sharpen and the edge lasts a long time, it's just simply a beautiful knife steel. I haven't had the 154CM blade long enough to form an opinion on it.

I have a $25 Victorinox that is my go to knife for butchering animals. Had a custom kydex sheath made for it that cost more than the knife did.

 

[gudspelr]

Cool thread. I've made a handful of knives, all out of carbon steel. I do have some AEB-L (stainless) that I plan to try out down the road. It tends to be regarded as a stainless steel that acts and cuts a lot like the carbon steels. In reference to what someone already posted about a carbon steel core blade with stainless sides, it's called San-Mai. It's a blade made of 3 layers of metal, some custom makers are doing amazing things with it and the results are beautiful. It takes a lot of care to do it correctly, but do a google image search for stainless San-Mai knives and you should see some stuff that'll make you want to pull your wallet out... There are also San-Mai knives with a carbon steel core and wrought iron sides that look great when they're etched to show the cool wrought iron "grain".

Someone also mentioned edge geometry.... The various steels absolutely provide different attributes based on their make up, however there are two things that make or break the knife. It's the heat treat and the edge geometry. Steel is ground into a knife, then it goes through a pretty specific process (which is different for different steels) to make that piece of steel hard and therefore capable of holding an edge. Then it's tempered back, because when it got hardened, it became brittle. Bring the hardness down a bit and now your knife won't want to snap, but will still hold am edge. All of that is great, but if the heat treat is nailed perfectly and the edge geometry sucks (for the given style of knife), it is going to cut lousy. On the other hand, you could have perfect edge geometry to split hairs in half, but if the heat treat isn't any good, it won't cut well for long at all. For a given knife, whatever the steel is, if they nailed the heat treat AND the edge geometry then you'll have a fantastic knife.

Sorry for the long post-probably got a little off track there....

Jeremy

 

[Violent Hippie]

I use 1095 because I am very familiar with it, can get it razor sharp easily and I primarily hunt blacktail so I can field dress and breakdown a deer in the field without having to even resharpen usually. If I need to resharpen its pretty quick. I have no worries about rust as I take care of my steel and the Sierra range were I live and hunt aren't very moist. The harder steels such as the popular s30v I also own as one of my daily pocket knives but I still prefer 1095 .

 

[boom]

0-1 for the ease of field sharpening. i have a custom i could perform surgery with. Adventure Sworn

i dont know what steel my Mora Companion Carbon is, but it is frightening how sharp i can get it..and i suck at sharpening.

i have a ALOX farmer coming to me, since i just lost my Soldier. it is my EDC, and i have cleaned a bunch of rabbits and quail with it.

 

[Darren Best]

The Mora Companion carbon steel is hands down the best bargain in the knife world.

 

[Frito]

I've always liked D2 and have had several Benchmade knives in it that have really served me well. Knives of Alaska really does D2 well. I now use a Busse Meanstreet for skinning and the INFI is phenomenal. I've since quit shopping for the perfect knife. I've used a lot of S30V, A2, O1 and 1095 as well. I've made several knives from D2, O1 and A2 that turned out nice. Most were sold.

I now carry the Meanstreet on my body, a small Benchmade Activator in my pack and sometimes a Granfors Brux Wildlife Hatchet depending on the packout.

 

[Frito]

To answer your posted questions better, INFI performs a lot like D2 in edge retention. A couple of years ago I skinned and butchers and entire longhorn steer that weighed around 2000lbs without sharpening the knife until I was done. I did notice that compared to an elk, the hide did come off of that animal pretty easily though. INFI is also one of the toughest steels so while having great edge retention, it will also take a beating, is easy to sharpen and I have had no problem with corrosion at all. INFI can only be had in Busse knives so there's not much to choose from and they are very expensive. I drank the Busse Koolaid a long time ago, and while some of their designs aren't to my tastes, they have steel down to an science.

 

[Pierrebuiltknives]

Cool thread. I've made a handful of knives, all out of carbon steel. I do have some AEB-L (stainless) that I plan to try out down the road. It tends to be regarded as a stainless steel that acts and cuts a lot like the carbon steels. In reference to what someone already posted about a carbon steel core blade with stainless sides, it's called San-Mai. It's a blade made of 3 layers of metal, some custom makers are doing amazing things with it and the results are beautiful. It takes a lot of care to do it correctly, but do a google image search for stainless San-Mai knives and you should see some stuff that'll make you want to pull your wallet out... There are also San-Mai knives with a carbon steel core and wrought iron sides that look great when they're etched to show the cool wrought iron "grain".

Someone also mentioned edge geometry.... The various steels absolutely provide different attributes based on their make up, however there are two things that make or break the knife. It's the heat treat and the edge geometry. Steel is ground into a knife, then it goes through a pretty specific process (which is different for different steels) to make that piece of steel hard and therefore capable of holding an edge. Then it's tempered back, because when it got hardened, it became brittle. Bring the hardness down a bit and now your knife won't want to snap, but will still hold am edge. All of that is great, but if the heat treat is nailed perfectly and the edge geometry sucks (for the given style of knife), it is going to cut lousy. On the other hand, you could have perfect edge geometry to split hairs in half, but if the heat treat isn't any good, it won't cut well for long at all. For a given knife, whatever the steel is, if they nailed the heat treat AND the edge geometry then you'll have a fantastic knife.

Sorry for the long post-probably got a little off track there....

Jeremy

So far I the knives I have made were zwear, cpm3v or simular high end tough cpm steels.
I think 3V is probably my favorite steel for hard use.
I have been looking for two stainless steels. Basically a budget and high end.
I have liked Elmax in the past and the two knives I made with make me love the steel more. But it is hard to get.
I tried AEB-L and was super impressed especially for the price. It takes a crazy fine edge really easy. Down side is no carbides so not super retention. However get super sharp super fast. I cut some skinnig/caping knives out and got me thinking would the adverage big game hunter want the easy to sharpen fine edge or a steel more like elmax or s30 etc.

 

[gudspelr]

Pierre- Your thoughts on AEB-L echoes what I've heard from others. It isn't the most corrosion resistant stainless out there, but certainly more so than a straight carbon one. I also really like the reports of the sharpness being likened to that of a carbon blade. I don't have any issues with touching up and sharpening it, so that is okay with me. I'm wanting to make a butchering set to process critters along with some kitchen knives...eventually... I'll have to figure something out for the heat treat as I don't have an oven, but may be able to use my salt pot (I'll have to do some testing to see if it'll work). Ive heard some great things about Elmax, but I just don't have the equipment to heat treat the higher end alloys like that (another reason for the AEB-L; pretty simple as far as stainless goes).

The knives I've made so far have been from 1080, 15N20, and the latest was 80crv2 for my son. We used his on his first deer this last fall. I was able to field dress and skin it without stopping to sharpen, but the performance wasn't what I knew it could be. I took the micrometers to the edge and after some talking with a good friend, I plan on taking the edge down thinner on the next one before sharpening. The handle on his is California buckeye burl (stabilized). I used one the previous year on my deer made from 1080 and I was pleasantly surprised that the 80crv2 blade didn't show hardly any patina at all compared to what the 1080 had. This was prior to use:

 

[Darren Best]

 

[KMT]

For field dressing, a Havalon. For cutting up meat at home, the cheapest stainless steel knives (white plastic handle) I can find at sams club. 2 for $13, easy to keep sharp while cutting up meat, and flexible like a filet knife.

 

[Beendare]

I have a couple buddies that are commercial butchers. They don't use the really good steels...more of a med grade as its easy for them to put a steel on them to give them a quick edge regularly.

When I'm in the field, I've had the cheaper steels where you have to give them a quick touch up all the time during processing...its a PITA. Now I use S30v....though there are many good choices for a knife that will hold an edge really well.

 

[406]

For you guys that like higher end knives, check out my buddy over at bushkillblades.com. he's just a regular fella like any of us that started making knives for fun. People wanted to buy them, and eventually his hobby became his job. All hand made by an American. Quality knives.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[sdfuller]

I used to have thousands in custom knives... Now I do most everything with a $20 mora. Pretty much anything will work but I've always liked D2 for skinning knives, just don't try to go through bone with it though


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[Akicita]

there is no naturally occurring obsidian in CO. If it's here, it was hauled in..... No rules about picking up unworked chunks, but on public land you cannot pick up artifacts per the Antiquities Act. You can save artifacts on private property, tho. I am always on the lookout for arrowheads........

PM Sent - When you find the Wankan Inyan (Sacred Rock) at any of the published locations I sent you in the PM let me know and I will show you how to make arrowheads to save you the trouble of looking for them. If you can't find any at the published locations I will send some to you from areas passed down to me from the knowledge of a millennium of ancestors and mentors.

Respecfully,
Akicita - Tsunka Wankan Nu

 

[huntsman22]

I'm purty sure if obsidian was readily available in eastern colorado, this maker would have built his knife outta it instead of using petrified wood......

 

[huntsman22]

I will show you how to make arrowheads to save you the trouble of looking for them.

Thanks for the offer, but I rather like to hunt for arrowheads and such. It is more 'trouble' to MAKE them, than it is to just pick them up.......

 

[BAvila]

i'll add that edge angle and edge profile make a huge difference... And steel get's blamed (both good and bad) for those...

amean!