Winkler Knifes?

[Formidilosus]

If you aren’t the best at sharpening I would recommend AEB-L/14C28N/Nitro-V. They are a more “beginner friendly” steel to sharpen. These steels are basically the same and are all a good choice. They hone well, can be touched up on the bottom of a coffee cup, and most important to me…you don’t need diamonds to sharpen them. You can use grandpas old oil stone. You can seriously sharpen them on anything! Even sandstone out of the creek.

They are tough, moderately corrosion resistant (they are considered stainless, but can exhibit some discoloration if put away wet and dirty and not cleaned within a day or so), these steels have more than enough edge retention to skin and quarter an elk.

That sounds like a good steel.

 

[S-3 ranch]

It seems you have moved beyond Winkler- which in general is a good thing. I have, or have had several Winkler Hawks and knives, never bought one- but they are not optimum for taking animals apart.
In that, most of the suggestions given make it clear that most are knife nerds (that’s ok), and not making suggestions on what actually takes animals apart the cleanest and easiest.

HalfFace Blades- they make about 1-2 knives with blade shapes that are decent, but the awfulness of their handles should obvious the moment someone who knows what they are doing grabs it. This goes for the vast majority of knives made regardless of price or reputation. There is a reason that butcher knives have largely reminded unchanged for hundreds of years, with the smooth, rounded handles and certain blade shapes without guards…


I worked in a butcher shop for a couple of seasons to learn, my average time to gut a deer start to finish is sub 20 seconds, and I field dress on average 30-40 bag game animals a year. I have used most of the super steels until about 5-10 years ago. I say that for an understanding of what I’m about to write….

I want nothing to do with any super steels. I want good basic carbon steel blades that are easy to sharpen in the field and last decently. A smooth, curved blade. Smooth handles, no finger grooves, no sharp edges, no guard- nothing to catch on inside an animal.
Simple, clean, purpose built.

The best overall knife I have used for breaking animals down in the field is the Canadian Belt Knife from Grohmann or other copies with no modifications to the blade or handle angle. Whereas a true butchers knife is phenomenal for skinning and slicing, utterly useless for anything pokie. The CBK’s unique blade shape and blade angle reticle to the handle makes it slice and skin excellently, and stab and poke well.
I would literally rather use the Cold Steel $15 version of the CBK than every “custom” knife thus far mentioned for actual field use on animals. Almost every person I have hunted has switched to the CBK after watching me use them, or using one themselves.

I have to agree a CBK is a awesome design, when CAD metal cutting machines
First came out, a friend of mine asked me if I had some extra steel at work and I got him some damaged saw blades in M2 steel and a cheap CBK as a template and he made me some knives, thin & slicey great design, held a razor to working edge A very long time, great reminder to make some more !

 

[Formidilosus]

I have to agree a CBK is a awesome design, when CAD metal cutting machines
First came out, a friend of mine asked me if I had some extra steel at work and I got him some damaged mill saw blades in M2 steel and a cheap CBK as a template and he made me some knives, thin & slicey great design, held a razor to working edge A very long time, great reminder to make some more !

Sounds like a good deal.

 

[Nicaburns]

The best overall knife I have used for breaking animals down in the field is the Canadian Belt Knife from Grohmann or other copies with no modifications to the blade or handle angle. Whereas a true butchers knife is phenomenal for skinning and slicing, utterly useless for anything pokie. The CBK’s unique blade shape and blade angle reticle to the handle makes it slice and skin excellently, and stab and poke well.
I would literally rather use the Cold Steel $15 version of the CBK than every “custom” knife thus far mentioned for actual field use on animals. Almost every person I have hunted has switched to the CBK after watching me use them, or using one themselves.

While I don’t have the experience you do, I agree wholeheartedly. I made one last season from a scrap of Damascus (the one in my avatar) to try it out and did four animals, including my first elk, and it was awesome! I may try making a Damascus San Mai version with an Abe-l core after this thread to try this year!
I think you are correct that the OP would benefit from the CBK rather than a thick edged field craft/tactical design.

 

[TimberHunter]

If you’re wanting true custom, I would suggest siembida magpie in magnacut. I love my two knives from him. I also have two from Von Gruf knives in New Zealand. I love the Hunter/skinner from Von Gruff but mine is 1040 steel and requires a lot of care.

Thanks all for the advice. After listening to the rokcast podcast with Siembida knifes and talking with him for 45 minutes on the phone, I decided to go with him for a custom Magpie (was a hard decision between magpie and meadowlark).

Because this was essentially free money (gift) I splurged and bought something I normally wouldn’t. The non custom CBK referenced above by Form and others is something I’d be willing to buy with me own money (I know, hard to understand) so I figured I’d buy one of those if I don’t love the Siembida knife.

After talking with him, it sounds like he has put a lot of thought into his knifes from when he was skinning game for a job.

Steel came down to AEBL or magnacut, magnum cut pushed the price beyond what I wanted to spend and he thought AEBL may be a better fit if I want to learn to sharpen

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[Nicaburns]

Glad you found something you like! I’m sure it will Serve you well!

 

[intunegp]

Nice looking knife that I'm sure you will enjoy...but you forgot the big answer that we were all waiting for. What steel?!

 

[TimberHunter]

Nice looking knife that I'm sure you will enjoy...but you forgot the big answer that we were all waiting for. What steel?!

I started off this journey a while ago worrying about steel type. The more I read, the more I understood it more than just type, it how’s its heat treated and shaped.

He uses AEBL and magnucut. Because I was already paying for the tapered tang to reduce weight, I decided against magnucut due to the cost. Went with AEBL


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[intunegp]

I started off this journey a while ago worrying about steel type. The more I read, the more I understood it more than just type, it how’s its heat treated and shaped.

He uses AEBL and magnucut. Because I was already paying for the tapered tang to reduce weight, I decided against magnucut due to the cost. Went with AEBL


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The more you get into custom designs that have geometry tailored for cutting performance, the less the steel type truly matters. I know I may not have come off this way as I argued about edge retention earlier in the thread, but I am not anti AEB-L in any way. It is a good steel and I'm sure it will serve you well on a knife like that.

 

[solarshooter]

It seems you have moved beyond Winkler- which in general is a good thing. I have, or have had several Winkler Hawks and knives, never bought one- but they are not optimum for taking animals apart.
In that, most of the suggestions given make it clear that most are knife nerds (that’s ok), and not making suggestions on what actually takes animals apart the cleanest and easiest.

HalfFace Blades- they make about 1-2 knives with blade shapes that are decent, but the awfulness of their handles should obvious the moment someone who knows what they are doing grabs it. This goes for the vast majority of knives made regardless of price or reputation. There is a reason that butcher knives have largely reminded unchanged for hundreds of years, with the smooth, rounded handles and certain blade shapes without guards…


I worked in a butcher shop for a couple of seasons to learn, my average time to gut a deer start to finish is sub 20 seconds, and I field dress on average 30-40 bag game animals a year. I have used most of the super steels until about 5-10 years ago. I say that for an understanding of what I’m about to write….

I want nothing to do with any super steels. I want good basic carbon steel blades that are easy to sharpen in the field and last decently. A smooth, curved blade. Smooth handles, no finger grooves, no sharp edges, no guard- nothing to catch on inside an animal.
Simple, clean, purpose built.

The best overall knife I have used for breaking animals down in the field is the Canadian Belt Knife from Grohmann or other copies with no modifications to the blade or handle angle. Whereas a true butchers knife is phenomenal for skinning and slicing, utterly useless for anything pokie. The CBK’s unique blade shape and blade angle reticle to the handle makes it slice and skin excellently, and stab and poke well.
I would literally rather use the Cold Steel $15 version of the CBK than every “custom” knife thus far mentioned for actual field use on animals. Almost every person I have hunted has switched to the CBK after watching me use them, or using one themselves.

Can you elaborate on why you want a smooth grip and overall shape? I'm partial to Spyderco spine lock folders because their grip knurling, finger cuts, and choils are so aggressive and secure, even if my hands are covered in blood and I can't see the knife I know exactly where it is and what it's doing. I also like a shorter blade, ~3" max, maybe just because I'm not as skilled and it seems more forgiving/less likely to poke/cut something I don't want.

Thinking more about it, my ideal knife shape for gutting vs skinning vs butchering might not all be the same. I usually use a havalon to get through the hide, since that wrecks the edge the fastest and I only need a shallow cut, then my 3" folder for everything else.

 

[solarshooter]

I started off this journey a while ago worrying about steel type. The more I read, the more I understood it more than just type, it how’s its heat treated and shaped.

He uses AEBL and magnucut. Because I was already paying for the tapered tang to reduce weight, I decided against magnucut due to the cost. Went with AEBL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have some custom steak knives in AEBL. It's a great steel IME.

So much of sharpness is a consistent edge angle, all the way down to the microscopic level. The only real way to achieve this is with lots and lots of skill and usually stones, or using guides and either stones or a powered rotary/belt sharpener. And I think most people are not as good at sharpening as they claim (much like shooting). Any manual handheld unguided sharpening will inevitably have different angles for each pass or along the length of the blade, which leads an inconsistent cutting edge at the microscopic level and a knife that appears to go dull quickly. Super steels are a crutch or bandaid to this, and actually make the problem much worse since it take so many more passes to sharpen and thus there are far more opportunities to make a pass with a bad angle. A PERFECTLY sharpened 20$ Victorinox will outcut and outlast any fancy steel that's been manually mangled.