Author Topic: needing suggestions on a good squirrel skinning knife...... (Read 1615 times)

R.W.Dale · « **on:** October 28, 2005, 05:41:50 PM »

I am needing suggestions on a good squirrel skinning knife. perforably a good slender locking blade that will hold a good sharp edge.

Joel · « **Reply #1 on:** October 29, 2005, 02:18:23 PM »

That's both an easy and a tough question. It's made easier by the fact that you seem to prefer folders..so no need to discuss straight knives. I skin squirrels(my favorite game animal) with all sorts of knives, except small ones. Some folks seem to think that if you're hunting small game, you need a small knife...weird. However, any of the classic trapper models will do just great for skinning the critters. I don't know if anyone makes a lockback trapper, when it comes to skinning I'm not sure I see the need for that, but everyone makes them; from excellant ones to junk. I was out hunting squirrel the other day, and skinned them out with my new Case yellow handle trapper with a high carbon chrome/vanadium blade...skinned 6 with no problem. If you're looking for a good edge, stay away from those who advertise their blades as just stainless steel, or surgical stainless steel(no such thing) or some other fanciful name....the steels will probably be 420 which isn't famous for holding an edge. Steels such as any of the 440 series, AUS-6 or 8, A-2, D-2/ATS-34/154CM etc. are all excellent stainless steels. In the high carbon range, most of the steels willl be good, but many will have fairly low Rockwell hardness's; especially the European ones. They aren't as hyped up as we Yanks about having a blade that you only need to sharpen every 30 years or so. The Case chrome/vanadium steel has to be one of the good tool steels, although several carbon tool steels have both those elements so it's hard to say which one they use. Holds an outstanding edge though. Usually I use a big(5" or so) blade since I always skin mine out in the woods, and I like the bigger blade 'cause I can also use it for chopping through the backbone and taking off the legs. I skinned 5 of them today using my new Marble's Hunters Axe, just to see if it would work....no problem, worked a good as any knife I've used. Outside of telling you to pick a knife that is advertised with a good steel, I'd bet that any knife you want to use will work just fine, depending how you skin'em. I cut through the tail of mine, right at the base(without cutting the tail itself off) and run the blade under the skin about halfway up the back. Then I pull out the hind legs, like I'm peeling off a glove. You can then pull the skin all the way back to the shoulders and then the head with no problem. No need for a small knife when you do that.....pretty much anything short of a machete will work that way. Come to think of it, even a machete would work.

Doc Lisenby · « **Reply #2 on:** November 17, 2005, 01:58:27 PM »

Don't kick me off the forum for mentioning this but I learned long ago that a pair of sportsman.s scissors are safer and easier to trim wings and feet off game birds as well as to skin rabbits and squirrels. I still wear my hunting knife on my belt to peel an apple or a turnip I might find in the field. The girls and nimrods obviously think I use it to defend myself from bucks in rut, etc. My hunting knife has mastodon tusk handles and a laminated steel blade and a hand-laced scabbard and costs more than my rifle and scope. My trusty scissors have a scabbard but I keep it in my big hunting coat pocket. Heck, I can even use it to cut a "chaw" of tobacco off my plug.
Doc

Joel · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2005, 06:29:41 AM »

You're right they do work well, but they're soooooooooo tacky. Heh. Sounds like a nice knife. Who made it?

Doc Lisenby · « **Reply #4 on:** November 18, 2005, 07:51:24 AM »

Fiskars made this pair but I could have paid more for a Gerber. They are tacky alright. I trim branches around my blind without shaking the limbs which would be required when cutting them with a knife.
They are handy to open all the gadgets which are wrapped with that armor-proof plastic that I pick up at WallyWorld.
I enjoy your posts and envy your discounts you get on knives, etc .
My knife was made by John Sessons in or near Salisbury, NC. I like it so much I don't use it which irritates John. I use a Naval Pilot's Survival Knife for dressing deer, etc. It has a little pouch for a sharpening stone and as you know, it needs honing before and after any use. I think a strong wind would blow the edge off.
Doc

Joel · « **Reply #5 on:** November 18, 2005, 08:26:04 PM »

I can sympathize with John. Really gets me upset when someone hangs one of mine on the wall, or whatever; and I don't make them near as pretty sounding as he does. That other knife of yours gives me nightmares just thinkin' about it. Back in the mid-60's I flew with a Navy squadron(EA-3B Skywarriors) as an aircrewman. They issued us those miserable things, and I NEVER could get a edge on mine. The steel was/is 1095, which is a good steel, but the heattreat must have been awful. 'Bout the only thing worse than the knives was those 38's (S&W 1917). Couldn't hit a barn at 10 feet with the #$## thing. If I had ever had to jump out of the plane into some forest and try and survive, I'd probably have just tried to cut my throat or shoot myself, and doubt if I coulda done that with those things. Caused me to take up riding submarines.

Doc Lisenby · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2005, 04:06:55 PM »

I know what you mean about the Naval Aviator issued .38 Special, when I was an armorer the ejector rod had a right hand thread and sometimes would loosen and bind the cylinder in the frame. S&W finally corrected it by reversing the thread. My suggestion which I submitted, but of course, they had already thought of it. After producing many thousands for many years. I had trouble teaching pilots to look at the freaking sights rather than at the target. My suggestion was arm them with sawed off shotguns and I heard that some helicopter pilots did just that in Nam. I can see the jet jockeys' point. Not enough room for a ham sandwich in the cockpit.
The K-Bar we Marines had was grossly over rated. It opened C rations fine. I sprung a few coins for a custom knife. The name of the knife has left me but it was big among our ilk during the Korean police action. I bet you know that name. They are collector's items now. I wish I still had it. It was one of the first mass produced combat knives. If I think of the name I will post it. I had a Japanese knife maker try to duplicate it but his measurements were off but he made one for less than 1/4 the price. The steel he made it from just didn't compare. I believe the name was Randall. Is that close?

Joel · « **Reply #7 on:** November 21, 2005, 07:38:36 PM »

Bo Randall was indeed making knives then. Randall knives are still being made down in Florida and are much sought after. I believe the waiting list for some models is years. His first and most famous knife was his #1 Fighting /combat knife. It's the one that made his reputation, and is still in production(if you can get one). Buddy of mine in 'Nam carried one when we were flying Market Time patrols in P-3's. Beautiful knife, he would have sold his sister before he sold that. Then again, his sister wan't near as pretty as that knife was.

Doc Lisenby · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2005, 03:35:51 AM »

Joel, you mentioned previously that you like to put a mirror finish on your knives. A paring knife I got from John Sessons has such a finish and has convinced me that the mirror finish, probably due to the lack of friction, makes the knife cut better. This little knife cuts better than any other paring knife I have ever used. Is this the reason you polish yours? Or is it just for cosmetic reasons?

Joel · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2005, 06:50:31 AM »

I suppose I mirror polish mine because I think it is the ultimate sign of a thoroughly finished custom knife. And it is pretty also. There are more practical reasons, though. A mirror finished blade has the smallest surface pore size which means that moisture, blood, fat etc, have a harder time penetrating into the steel and causing rust/staining. The advantages of a mirror polish are more obvious in a carbon steel blade, although most stainless steels are far from stainless/rustproof.....try beadblasting one and see what happens to those qualities. Since the free chromium that is left in a blade after the rest of it combines with carbon to form carbides(and therefore is not available for rust resistance)rides on the surface of the blade only, beadblasted stainless blades show an annoying ability to rust/stain rather quickly if the "holes" penetrate below the surface of the chromium layer. I started out making knives out of swedish files and still have a couple that I use that have never shown any sign of rust if I clean them as soon as I get home. Similarly, the Case knife I recently bought has a hi carbon blade that is mirror polished, and while it does carry some faint blood stains, there has been no sign of rust. As far as a mirror polish providing a more friction free surface, I'd never thought about it, but technically it would provide a more "slippery" surface; though how much that affects the blade's ability to provide a more effortless cut is not something I've ever heard talked about. The things that affect cutting are blade thickness, combined with blade and edge geometry. Any sharp edges on the knife that the material being cut encounters, such as the edge of a flat edge bevel or any bevels on the blade itself cause an effect known as "wedging" which causes an increase in the amount of force needed to move the knife through that given material. Those bevels tend to force the material away from the blade, rather than allow the material to "flow" along the blade contour. I grind my blades flat with a convex(moran) edge, and normally out of 1/8" or 3/32" steel, and they have a good reputation as cutters. Perhaps your knife has a better overall geometry, plus a lot of kitchen blades are ground with a pretty rough finish, especially the really thin ones, which would make for a "rougher" cut, the more I think about it. Maybe I'll just write a short novella about the whole thing.