How To Pick A Good Hunting Knife
If you hunt, you need a knife. At the very least, you need a knife to field dress whatever you kill. In the most extreme situation, you need a knife to save your life.
Homesteading lists 15 ways a knife can save your life. While you are likely not going to win a mano-y-grizzly match with a knife, the knife can certainly cut some wood and help you build a fire both to signal rescuers and stave off hypothermia.
Before buying a knife, look at how and where you hunt and what is practical. Multi-night pack-in hunting trips into the mountains are not the same as parking a few hundred yards from a stand at the edge of a field. For the mountain trip, a good full-survival knife is in order. For hunting where you can drive up to your stand, all you need is a knife to cut rope or field dress the animal as needed. Any good pocket knife will do that.
A good knife does not have to cost hundreds of dollars. At the same time, a $5 knife from the local convenience store is likely to break and leave you without when you need it.
Make sure you read my guide on The Best Budget EDC Knives
Knife purists will now scream “HERETIC” at me. I use a plain tool file to sharpen my knives. It puts on an edge in a hurry. It does wear down the metal, but a knife is a tool. When it wears out, I go get another one. I learned this on a produce farm where we had cheap knives to cut the vegetables. They held an edge for a bit and 3–4 swipes with the file returned the blade to shaving-sharp. I miss those knives.
BLADE
A knife is all about the blade. The shape, thickness, the type of steel and even non-metal material.
Steel
Most blades are made from various grades of steel. Very high dollar knives can be made from steel, titanium and ceramics.
Here is a quick list of steel alloys used in knives. In general, as you trade the ability to get a sharper edge, you lose hardness. As the steel gets harder, it becomes harder to put a good edge on it.
Chromium, the metal used to make stainless steel, gives a knife its ability to resist corrosion. Many critters have blood that will cause rust in a hurry. You have the choice of cleaning and oiling your knife after every use or getting a quality stainless steel finish.
In a general-purpose knife, I look for steel that holds an edge well and has some flex so it won’t shatter. Most common pocket knives do this very well. High carbon blades take a seriously sharp edge very well, but I’ve watched them snap when dropped on the concrete slab where I butcher the critters I kill.
I may spend more time sharpening with a less brittle knife, but I also don’t worry about being fumble-fingered on a super cold day.
Ceramic
Ceramic knives are impervious to corrosion and hold an edge for a long time when used properly. Unfortunately, proper use does not include slicing meat from bones. If you plan to slice down to and scrape bone, a ceramic knife edge will last for one or two deer. Ceramic knives are best used to cut meat already carved off the bone with another knife. Sharpening a ceramic knife requires a diamond wheel.
Ceramic is very brittle. Drop it on a hard surface and it is gone.
Titanium
Titanium also resists corrosion very well and is very lightweight. It does not hold an edge very well. It makes a good spearhead.
SHAPE
The shape of the knife blade matters. When most people think of a very thin, narrow and long knife, they think of a fillet knife. Professional butchers also use long, thin-bladed knives at times. Spyderco has a great list of blade shapes here.
For hunters, the best choices are drop point, leaf, modified clip, spear or Wharncliffe. You do not need serrations, fancy hooks or curved blades. A straight edge on my knife gets the job done for me.
I like 3–4 inches of blade when processing deer-sized game, but I have used two-inch blades and huge Bowie knives. If forced to choose between the extremes, I’ll take the short one for mid-sized animals. Precision is important and I just don’t get that with a long blade on a small carcass. I use bigger knives on bigger animals like elk where reaching deep is needed.
When cutting up the meat for the freezer, a long blade that lets you cut through a roast with one slice reduces time at the cutting table and delivers more uniform cuts.
HANDLE
Handles matter. If you do not think so, talk to a professional knife-wielder, like a butcher, a carpet layer or similar. Spend a few hours holding a knife doing cutting work and you too will appreciate the handle. Before I had carpal tunnel surgery, I could not hold a flat-sided knife. I needed enough grip to fill my hand. Post-surgery, flat-sided knives are not a problem. However, if I am using a knife for a long time, like the time we processed eight wild hogs in the yard (I get tired thinking about it), I need a handle that fills my hand.
I like texture on the handle. When my hand and the knife are covered in blood, knowing I have a secure grip is critical, especially to anyone helping me with the processing job. Not a fan of handles with curves for the fingers. Just give me something I can hang on to.
The handle needs a decent amount of metal, preferably all metal. A wood grip is OK, if the knife has a full metal tang. All plastic handles warp. Thin plastic sides on a folding knife are a recipe for disaster.
FOLDING
Folding knives for hunting and outdoor work need to lock in place. You do not want the knife to collapse on your fingers while your hand is inside a carcass.
The liner lock is inferior to a good, old-fashioned lock back on the spine of the blade. If the lock back is cheaply made or the notch and key not deep enough, it is no better than a liner lock.
You can check out my other article on How To Pick A EDC Knife here.
The liner lock is especially bad on thin-sided plastic handles. If you have one of these knives, I suggest throwing it away before you get hurt, or give it to someone you don’t like. The blade will eventually slip free from the lock. Whether the blade comes forward or back depends on the cut you are making at the time.
Much less common is the axis lock, a spring-loaded bar that slides into a groove in the blade. It is very similar to the lock back and quite stable. It is harder to clean.
A major benefit is a folding knife slips in a pocket.
FIXED
Fixed blades mean you never worry about the blade collapsing. The drawback is must have a sheath or case for carrying. Fixed blades can have thicker spines and will hold up to torture, like chopping a sapling or tree limbs, much better than a folder.
They are also better for stabbing. Yes, some people hunt with hogs with a knife. The hog is bayed up and hunters rush in. They grab the hog and slam a knife into the chest cavity to hit the heart and make the wild bacon bleed out in moments. You need a long blade with a sharp point to do this.
Fixed blades are far better for opening cans than any folding knife, no matter the locking mechanism.
SURVIVAL
Survival knives are almost always a fixed blade and a round handle. Many times the handle is hollow to hold matches, a fishing rig or something else. Some come with a compass for a pommel.
The best survival knives come with a whet rock and a magnesium fire starter kit. The spine usually has serrations or a saw. While 2–3 inches of saw doesn’t sound like much, it is better than using the blade to cut small limbs to help a fire get started.
SPECIAL PURPOSE
I admit to great fondness for the current crop of disposable-blade razor knives. I can quarter out an entire deer with a disposable blade. Then I remove it and toss it. I do keep a longer blade handy for deer to cut away the last few inches of the intestine from the pelvis.
I do not use these knives if I want to save the hide. The razor knife is so sharp if I slip, I’ve messed up the cape or the fur. When the hide matters, I use a 3–4 inch blade and go slower.
Fillet knives are another special purpose knife. The long, thin and super flexible blade bends around bone. The long blade also lets me reach deep into a chest cavity, if needed, to cut away the internal organs without having to dive into the chest.
FILLET
Fillet knives are table and cleaning station knives. Not into-the-woods knives. The thin, long, narrow blade was perfected for knocking boneless slabs off fish. Fillet knives are also pretty good, but not the best, for carving steaks from a ham.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When you buy a knife, hold it. Twist your arm and hand. How does it feel? Is it too heavy or too light? Will it hold an edge long enough for your normal duty? Whatever you get, it needs to fit you because it literally is an extension of your hand and arm.
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