Best Skinning knife for $200

[spurly]

Some very nice knives here.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by Demonical

Watching a pro trapper skinning coyotes and the knife they are using is $7... didn't register a brand name.

I hunt with a professional user of knives. He uses $7-$10 paring knives in the shop, but isn’t packing them hunting.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by jungleboy

Some more made in USA Old Timers. I know they were never what one would consider a premium knife but they were a good quality blade made for the working stiff. Not to be confused with the new Chinese imposters sold in blister pacs today.

[IMG][/IMG]

Absolutely, my knife of choice, quality for a reasonable price. They were carbon steel. I lost the skinner and had to skin my Grizzly out with the Sharpfinger, no problem. The new ones are Old timers in name only, I still have one of those pocket knives somewhere. Some people just have too much money and don't know where to spend it.

Grizz

[graybeard]

Here is a super knife under $200.

Benchmade Puuko 200.....3V steel and a full tang. The rubber is non slip, very resilient, fits great in my hand and very light to carry.

The leather sheath is perfect.

https://www.lamnia.com/en/p/41291/kn...ukko-knife-200

[sns2]

Originally Posted by graybeard

Here is a super knife under $200.

Benchmade Puuko 200.....3V steel and a full tang. The rubber is non slip, very resilient, fits great in my hand and very light to carry.

The leather sheath is perfect.

https://www.lamnia.com/en/p/41291/kn...ukko-knife-200

I handled one and it felt very good.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by graybeard

Here is a super knife under $200.

Benchmade Puuko 200.....3V steel and a full tang. The rubber is non slip, very resilient, fits great in my hand and very light to carry.

The leather sheath is perfect.

https://www.lamnia.com/en/p/41291/kn...ukko-knife-200

That is an excellent blade shape.

[fishnguy]

That knife is ok. Can be had for less: https://www.warriorsandwonders.com/B...r_Sheath_BM200

[graybeard]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

That knife is ok. Can be had for less: https://www.warriorsandwonders.com/B...r_Sheath_BM200

Good find FnG; even better price.....

I have two and only need one....BNIB....

[dogger]

knives are such a personal thing. to me all depends on what you use it for and how you hunt, if you pac hunt and carry your game out . you go as light as possible mine is a benchmade altitude always in the pack.with high visibility handles when working in the dark because you cant wait the next day in bear country and have a long trek back.i cary two knives in my pack.the other a knives of alaska alpha wolf d2 with non slip handle .using good steel and making sure its razor sharp.problem weve hade using a havelon replacable knife is when they get dull and you loose the extra blades your out of luck ,and it does take two or more blades to bone out a moose.
grohmans have hard steel that take a while to get perfect and when dull you need some experiance sharpening.all depends on what you want a knife to do. i got turned onto a buck with there new s30vn steel for a group hunt where we cleaned 5 deer in the barn and i was impressed .i love scandi grinds like moras personaly but there hunting version for 25 bucks not bushcraft ,Moras quick to touch up and if you loose it no biggie. A knife is a tool and folders get all gunked up fast with fat and blood. a caper is good for delicate work and cutting around arese hole.my knife i used were from knives of alaska but i left it dirty coming back and it got a little rust because of the d2 steel.worked good on two moose with just touch ups on the blade ,skinned, gutted, quartered and packed out .Fat and blood gets real hard in the cold fast. if you touch,hair ,hide or bone you can dull the blades so fast you would not beleive.bring also something to touch up a blade or youll get real frustrated fast. ive seen guys come to camp with the big bowies but truth for actual gutting and skinning a smaller knife is best all depends how pretty you want it.ive seen a box cutter to very fast work on deer.im looking know for a benchmade raghorn, i know crasy price,just cool looking and great steel. at the end of the season i send it and they will resharpen for free .

[graybeard]

Originally Posted by graybeard

Good find FnG; even better price.....

Correction...it wasn't meant to be a sale thing.

[Patrickn]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

I believe there were a couple of “editions” of that knife. The second is available at a few outlets in Canada. About $50 last I saw. Some mediocre steel, can’t recall exactly what, but feel like below aus8 grade. I am sure it is fine for chopping deer apart.

Edit:

Don’t know about this place, but it is only $39 there: https://foodzinga.ca/bow-river

This place is legit: https://www.warriorsandwonders.com/S...Leather_Sheath (I think their shipping is reasonable $10, or it was for knives I bought from there in the past)

Has anyone here actually ordered from foodzinga.ca? There prices seem to good to be true.

[DirtShooter]

Not my ad but stumbled upon it

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-fishing-camp...d-3/1603104672

Prices seem reasonable if they have in fact never been used.

[spurly]

Originally Posted by WinFwt

Here's a few that I made for family and friends. Someday I'll make one for myself and try to keep it...!

I mostly use CPM 154, S30V or S35VN bar stock and do my own heat treating. Sent 6 treated blanks away for Rc testing to prove / check my process. They all came back in the Rc60 range +/- .5 point. I don't cryogenically treat but do stick the blanks in the freezer which is giving me another .3 to .6 Rc points and a bit more toughness. After heat treating I do a brass rod test and chop a 2x4 with each knife to prove each blade before I put a handle on it.

1. for my sons girlfriend - S30V, 8" OAL, 3 3/4" blade, spalted maple scales, copper bolster & pins (her request). She's used it on grouse, ducks & geese.


2. for one of my best friends - CPM 154, 8 1/4", 3 3/4" blade, California Buckeye burl scales, stainless bolster & pins. He's never used it on an animal.


3. for my son - S30V, 7 1/4" oal, 3 3/8" blade, Amboyna Burl scales, stainless bolster with nickel silver pins. This one has seen a lot of use on multiple deer & and a moose, plus used as a camp knife. Sent it out for heat treating before I started and it came back at Rc 61.5. Took quite a while to put an edge on, but the edge lasts a long time and he doesn't wait till it's dull to touch up the edge.


4. for a friend and former co-worker - S35VN, 9 1/4" oal, 4 1/4" blade, African Blackwood scales w/ red liners, stainless bolster & pins. He has used it on multiple animals and also uses it as a camp knife.



5. this one I donated to a fundraising raffle - CPM 154, 9 1/2" oal, 4 1/4" blade, hidden tang construction, AAA Franquette Walnut handle, stainless steel guard & pins

Sure some awesome looking knives there. I have never had an expensive knife, but one of these days, it will happen

[spurly]

How much, do these kind of knives shown above usually sell for?

[spurly]

Any idea?

[WinFwt]

The short answer is between $250 to $500.

So much depends on the steel type, the handle material, fit & finish and of course labour.

The five knives that I showed in this thread average $132 in material costs alone, with a low of $114 and a high of $175. With the exception of #5, they average 12 hours of labour. I had 28 hours into #5. These material costs and hours do not include the sheath, which is another 4 to 8 hours depending on tooling and complexity. So at $10/hr the cost easily gets to $250, at $20/hr we're at $375 for the knife alone.

Material costs have risen substantially over the last couple of years and I am getting close to the end of my stainless bar stock supply. What used to cost about $22 / foot is now running $45 to $50. Fortunately I have a decent supply of handle materials, and shouldn't have to buy much, if any before I quit or die.

What a lot of people don't realize or take into account when looking at the cost of a custom knife is the equipment and supplies used.

Some makers choose to use very basic equipment and go the angle grinder and file route to profile and bevel the blade, harden by torch, although not advised for a stainless steel, then temper in their kitchen oven.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are makers who have all the latest and greatest in shop equipment, multiple 2 x 72 grinders, multiple bench mount disc grinders, multiple heat treat ovens, lathes, cryogenic systems, etc. But, in the end, the outcome can very much be the same quality, depending on the makers skill level.

Myself, I sit somewhere in the middle with shop toys, but having started with a 1x30 sander I definitely wouldn't be without my 2 x 72 grinder, 10" disc grinder and the heat treat kiln. This is a hobby for me, so I tend not to amortize the equipment cost into the cost of the knife where others who make knives for a living may have to.

Pardon the long post.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by WinFwt

The short answer is between $250 to $500.

So much depends on the steel type, the handle material, fit & finish and of course labour.

The five knives that I showed in this thread average $132 in material costs alone, with a low of $114 and a high of $175. With the exception of #5, they average 12 hours of labour. I had 28 hours into #5. These material costs and hours do not include the sheath, which is another 4 to 8 hours depending on tooling and complexity. So at $10/hr the cost easily gets to $250, at $20/hr we're at $375 for the knife alone.

Material costs have risen substantially over the last couple of years and I am getting close to the end of my stainless bar stock supply. What used to cost about $22 / foot is now running $45 to $50. Fortunately I have a decent supply of handle materials, and shouldn't have to buy much, if any before I quit or die.

What a lot of people don't realize or take into account when looking at the cost of a custom knife is the equipment and supplies used.

Some makers choose to use very basic equipment and go the angle grinder and file route to profile and bevel the blade, harden by torch, although not advised for a stainless steel, then temper in their kitchen oven.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are makers who have all the latest and greatest in shop equipment, multiple 2 x 72 grinders, multiple bench mount disc grinders, multiple heat treat ovens, lathes, cryogenic systems, etc. But, in the end, the outcome can very much be the same quality, depending on the makers skill level.

Myself, I sit somewhere in the middle with shop toys, but having started with a 1x30 sander I definitely wouldn't be without my 2 x 72 grinder, 10" disc grinder and the heat treat kiln. This is a hobby for me, so I tend not to amortize the equipment cost into the cost of the knife where others who make knives for a living may have to.

Pardon the long post.

Informative post and some beauty knives you build there

[spurly]

Very nice knives, and a great explanation.

[WinFwt]

Thanks and sorry for the bit of a derail. I know they don't fit into the OP's original request for a skinning knife under $200, so thought I would add the following.

I've quite enjoyed this thread and all the comments and opinions.

It's very clear that everyone has their personal preference and opinion as to what they need and like in a knife, what suits their purpose and what they can afford or want to spend on one. It was interesting, but not unexpected to see such a wide variance of choices and opinions.

In the end, a person can spend very little or absolute gobs of money on a knife, but again it boils down to personal preference.

For a general purpose hunting or skinning knife, I like one that feels comfortable in my hand, don't have to fight to hold it in position, is suited to the task at hand, holds an edge till the job is done and doesn't take hours to put an edge back on it. Until you've tried to put an edge on a S30V blade that tests out at Rc 61.5, you won't truly appreciate one that tests out at 59 to 60. Also, so much about a knifes edge retention is about edge geometry and steel toughness, not just hardness alone.

I used to use paring knives for caping deer, moose, elk and bears, skinning bear paws, splitting lips and turning ears. I still have and use them occasionally, but have added a couple of my own caping knives to my kit.

Some of my favorite commercial knives that I carried on my belt for decades, before I started making my own, were a Schrade PH1, and a selection of different handled Grohmann #1's & 3's. These knives all fit nicely into the OP's under $200 criteria and I would strongly recommend either style of the Grohmans or their #103 skinner. I have the complete collection of Grohmann hunting knives, used everyone and have never had an issue with edge retention or durability with any.

[fishnguy]

Thanks for posting, WinFwt. Great contribution. The 5th paragraph is right on point.

On a side note, has anyone received their knife yet? Post pics, guys!

[sns2]

Originally Posted by WinFwt

Thanks and sorry for the bit of a derail. I know they don't fit into the OP's original request for a skinning knife under $200, so thought I would add the following.

I've quite enjoyed this thread and all the comments and opinions.

It's very clear that everyone has their personal preference and opinion as to what they need and like in a knife, what suits their purpose and what they can afford or want to spend on one. It was interesting, but not unexpected to see such a wide variance of choices and opinions.

In the end, a person can spend very little or absolute gobs of money on a knife, but again it boils down to personal preference.

For a general purpose hunting or skinning knife, I like one that feels comfortable in my hand, don't have to fight to hold it in position, is suited to the task at hand, holds an edge till the job is done and doesn't take hours to put an edge back on it. Until you've tried to put an edge on a S30V blade that tests out at Rc 61.5, you won't truly appreciate one that tests out at 59 to 60. Also, so much about a knifes edge retention is about edge geometry and steel toughness, not just hardness alone.

I used to use paring knives for caping deer, moose, elk and bears, skinning bear paws, splitting lips and turning ears. I still have and use them occasionally, but have added a couple of my own caping knives to my kit.

Some of my favorite commercial knives that I carried on my belt for decades, before I started making my own, were a Schrade PH1, and a selection of different handled Grohmann #1's & 3's. These knives all fit nicely into the OP's under $200 criteria and I would strongly recommend either style of the Grohmans or their #103 skinner. I have the complete collection of Grohmann hunting knives, used everyone and have never had an issue with edge retention or durability with any.

Sir, you have taken this thread right over the top with the images of your knives and explanations. This is getting into “sticky” territory for it’s usefulness to people. Thank you.

PS: Are you the Chuck C that people have referred to on CGN?

[sns2]

Originally Posted by Saulo Castro

My current choice as well. If I had $200 if by a Mora and a nice bottle of scotch.

This is a good post!!!

Bessiedog would buy a Mora and waste the rest on chocolate milk and gin.

[DirtShooter]

Originally Posted by sns2

Sir, you have taken this thread right over the top with the images of your knives and explanations. This is getting into “sticky” territory for it’s usefulness to people. Thank you.

PS: Are you the Chuck C that people have referred to on CGN?

Thats Clint C and not sure what his AO name is but it'd be cool if he showed up here

[sns2]

Originally Posted by DirtShooter

Thats Clint C and not sure what his AO name is but it'd be cool if he showed up here

Post his contact info. Not everyone on here is on CGN.

[fishnguy]

^ http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/member.php?u=11687

Think I already posted it a few pages ago. Maybe not.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

^ http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/member.php?u=11687

Think I already posted it a few pages ago. Maybe not.

Sorry. Never saw.

[spurly]

Hope Clint sees this thread so he can chime in, and show some of his work.

[clintc]

This is a great thread, lots of good points and input but some knowledgeable folks. From a knifemaker perspective I believe WinFwt summed things up nicely. His circumstance and summary of costs and process pretty much mirrors my own.

I make knives with a large variety of stainless and tool steels but I also forge a lot of knives from high carbon and damascus/pattern welded steel, just because that's what I enjoy. Materials choices on knives always boils down to performance trade offs, cost and preference, so I don't think there is a solid winner for the majority, a person has to do a bit of research and make those choices for themselves.

As has been noted, you don't have to spend $200 for a good knife, but it seems to me that pride in ownership and having something handmade that can be passed on is worth it to those who want it. I attached some photos of a bit of my work in a variety of blade and handle materials, including CPM3V, CPM154, damascus, G10, micarta, blackwood and antler.

[WinFwt]

Great looking knives Clint. I'm especially liking the damascus/san-mai and the fillet knives. What is the san-mai core steel?

Hey guys, let's keep the knife pictures coming.

[DirtShooter]

Those fillet knives are awesome too