Custom knifes ??

[boar & deer]

I'm interested in people's real life experiences with custom knifes the likes of emberleaf, stuart Mitchell, james penny or who ever. Can you really field dress 50+ deer with just a stropping to keep the edge because I just can see it don't get me wrong there are works of art and would love a custom knife my self but are they really that must better I've dressed out 2 boar and and 2 fallow and my current karesuando knife needs a touch up. You here all these stories but are people just trying to justify the price? I appreciate the craftmanship and beauty but just wounder about the claimed functionality of them

 

[Klenchblaize]

I think all knives will need more than a strop if they hit bone, as distinct from cartilage, but I don't own an Emberleaf that legend has it are forged in the fires of Mordor!

K

 

[hw101]

Can’t comment on 50+ deer - but both my emberleaf knives have done around 15 each and are still shaving sharp after a strop.
My Stuart mitchel knives are the same.
We are lucky to have some really talented makers in this county who make excellent products that will last a generation or 2 of use.

 

[Dickie]

It's all down to how you use the knife as Klenchblaize states if your hitting bone all the time then it will need more looking after.
If you only opened a deer up and removed the intestine in the field then did everything else back at the larder I dare say well beyond 50 would be achieved.

 

[Dave_45]

A soft gralloch yes , heads and legs and you’ll soon have a spoon

 

[Mungo]

I'm interested in people's real life experiences with custom knifes the likes of emberleaf, stuart Mitchell, james penny or who ever. Can you really field dress 50+ deer with just a stropping to keep the edge because I just can see it don't get me wrong there are works of art and would love a custom knife my self but are they really that must better I've dressed out 2 boar and and 2 fallow and my current karesuando knife needs a touch up. You here all these stories but are people just trying to justify the price? I appreciate the craftmanship and beauty but just wounder about the claimed functionality of them

No knife will cope with hacking at bone - so if you’re taking heads and legs off with it, or hacking through the sternum, it’s not going to last very long.

I learnt this the hard way a long, long time ago. First expensive knife I got - a Fallkniven F1. Famously tough, and designed for abuse. But I was stupid, and decided this meant I could remove rabbit legs as if it were a cleaver. So I chopped at them, making no effort to go through at the joint. After 2 minutes work I had utterly wrecked the blade. Rolled edge and chips all the way along.

Obviously you’re not going to be actively hacking at bone, but even cutting through the joints inevitably brings the edge into contact with bone, and you can see the dull spots appearing.

So - if all you’re doing is gralloching and you stay away from bone, I imagine the sky’s the limit with how many you can do with just a strop every now and then.

 

[Majki14]

I'm interested in people's real life experiences with custom knifes the likes of emberleaf, stuart Mitchell, james penny or who ever. Can you really field dress 50+ deer with just a stropping to keep the edge because I just can see it don't get me wrong there are works of art and would love a custom knife my self but are they really that must better I've dressed out 2 boar and and 2 fallow and my current karesuando knife needs a touch up. You here all these stories but are people just trying to justify the price? I appreciate the craftmanship and beauty but just wounder about the claimed functionality of them

If you want I can send you a blade for some tests - testing version of a knife, so it isn't perfect, but you'll be able to compare it with the knives you own. It back to me after 8 weeks and 18 deers. If you are interested I will post it to you in same state as I recieved it back. It is sharp and ready to use, but of course you can sharp it the way it suits you. Testing time will be around 6 weeks, then you'll send it back to me.

 

[Taff]

It’s more about how you use them, not bragging but we could do 5 including removing legs ,head and splitting the sternum with a opinel, I remember a stalker asking me how to find the atlas joint, I had never heard of it, but apparently got it first time.

 

[Ronin]

I have a knife with an elmax blade, which I sharpen myself, it’s adequately honed with wet stones and the edge is “sharp”

I don’t think the chap who made it is still working but I estimate I bought it off the forum ten years ago

I’ve sharpened it a handful of times in the years I’ve owned it

I only use it for gralloch ing : bleeding

I use my stabdard victorinox butchery knives for head and legs etc

They obviously contact higher wear areas - dirty legs, contact bone so will dull

 

[Tdes]

If you want I can send you a blade for some tests - testing version of a knife, so it isn't perfect, but you'll be able to compare it with the knives you own. It back to me after 8 weeks and 18 deers. If you are interested I will post it to you in same state as I recieved it back. It is sharp and ready to use, but of course you can sharp it the way it suits you. Testing time will be around 6 weeks, then you'll send it back to me.

Very elegant lines

 

[Utectok]

Im sure my custom knife could gralloch 50 deer without needing a touch up. That’s about a year worth for me. Actually I’ll touch it up every 3-4 months just because…

 

[Jagged77]

I don’t know about how many deer mine could process but I own several custom field knives and a dozen or so kitchen knives. It really boils down to the steel, heat treatment, grind, edge profile and use. I always think a good test is by processing cardboard for the recycling, anything that can still slice an A4 sheet after cutting up some big boxes is doing well. Processing a deer in comparison is pretty easy going and a quick strop or swipe with a steel should definitely restore the edge. I’m always careful to make sure there is no wire or burr when resharpening as this can give a false idea on sharpness and durability.

 

[stubear]

I’ve got a Corey Jenkins blade which I love - it holds a great edge and is razor sharp.

If you don’t hit bone then a quick strop after use is all it needs and it’ll easily do 15-20 deer without needing anything. If you do hit bone then it will start to dull eventually in which case a few swipes on a stone followed by the strop will have you back shaving arm hair again.

It’s a stellar knife; I’m very impressed with it

 

[urban]

I learnt this the hard way a long, long time ago. First expensive knife I got - a Fallkniven F1. Famously tough, and designed for abuse. But I was stupid, and decided this meant I could remove rabbit legs as if it were a cleaver. So I chopped at them, making no effort to go through at the joint. After 2 minutes work I had utterly wrecked the blade. Rolled edge and chips all the way along.

I feel like this is overstating things a bit. I've battoned logs into kindling with a Mora and it's been shaving sharp afterwards. I also split chickens lengthways in the kitchen with a big sabatier kitchen knife - i.e. straight through the breast bone - and it just needs a touch of steel afterwards. I haven't butchered a rabbit for a long time so perhaps I am underestimating the toughness of rabbit bones.

 

[Mungo]

I feel like this is overstating things a bit. I've battoned logs into kindling with a Mora and it's been shaving sharp afterwards. I also split chickens lengthways in the kitchen with a big sabatier kitchen knife - i.e. straight through the breast bone - and it just needs a touch of steel afterwards. I haven't butchered a rabbit for a long time so perhaps I am underestimating the toughness of rabbit bones.

Battoning wood is very different to hacking at bone. Wood is very soft in comparison to bone. And bird bone is a very different structure to mammal bone - it’s softer and more spongy.

Bone is notorious for dulling knife edges. It is very hard. So hacking at a rabbit leg is pretty much the same as hacking at a hollow stone rod.

If you don’t believe me, get hold of a rabbit, get a knife you don’t care about and have a go.

 

[Bowland blades]

Larder knives are for taking heads and slots off , they are cheap and worth buying in bulk for a keen stalker . Far lower hardness more flexible and less wear resistance you simply roll the edge over and correct it on a steel during the full butchering process. Eventually the user will over grind them and they are done. For a good while i contracted on the engineering works of a large commercial slaughterhouse and meat packing facility , all the guys used bulk Victorinox knives often more than one as they didn't have time to mess around stropping it was literally a production line STUN, Stick, Gutting and putting on the hooks and dropping the gut out as the winch lifted the beast, , skins pulled off by mechanical device on the next floor with a man waiting and then a station that had a moving platform for the chainsaw to be run down the spine ( this was just pre- Mad cow disease btw).
Good stalking knives however are made far harder , far less flexible . Used for field gralloching , these will in competent hands run through a 7 day week gralloching say ten Big rutting stags in competent hands . I have not put a stone to such a knife of my own when away , but i have put a stone to many full time pro stalkers knives that have been used day in and day out ( the key word is" competent " though ) When i change things or make a new model prototype these are the folks i send the first ones to to test . Taking heads, slots off is rare and mostly if done it involves a very over laden Argo and " how the heck do we manage to get the last couple on ! "
The average regular recreational stalker i firmly believe should treat themselves to a good knife at some point , get a hand held wood backed leather strop to drop in the glove box of the truck etc . don't try stone sharpening without full understanding and practice on lesser knives ( a good 20%-30% of my sharpening returns involve 1. failing to remove the burr fully this is where the strop works 2. changing the geometry from over aggressive stoning .
The issue the whole industry has at present is very much the servicing support as there is no proper post , parcelforce WMD dept mess up frequently and getting an insurance pay-out is very -very difficult indeed ( ask your RFD yet firearms are treated with more regard to security )

 

[Utectok]

For me it’s dirt and grit on the hide and fur that blunts the knife as I always take off the head and legs in the field…

 

[VSS]

For me it’s dirt and grit on the hide and fur that blunts the knife as I always take off the head and legs in the field…

I always cut through the skin from the inside when removing heads, same as you do when opening the belly and throat. That minimises contact of the blade with grit encrusted hair.

 

[Bowland blades]

For me it’s dirt and grit on the hide and fur that blunts the knife as I always take off the head and legs in the field…

depends on time of year etc . legs and heads both involve contact with bone all year long . what a stalker does depends on equipment and facilities and the land your on - leaving heads and legs are not a big issue on some private estates ( indeed when shot with copper it aids eagles and more ) and always find out what the boss wants first . Its a massive issue if your doing it in the wrong places at the wrong times though . heads off in the field tend to get covered in muck etc , done in the larder then winched up straight off it the carcass is better presented to the game dealer
none the less bone contact will blunt the knife faster by far and even tips can get broken at the very end or chipped (certainly scratching the polished sides of a custom knife while working a joint .
Need to remember always the differences in serious culling and one for the house of course

 

[Utectok]

I always cut through the skin from the inside when removing heads, same as you do when opening the belly and throat. That minimises contact of the blade with grit encrusted hair.

That’s true I do that… but you still have to make the initial cut at the back of the head and or in the belly. In a rutty stag that’s often gritty. I’ve never had an issue with bones though as your usually cutting flesh and tendons round the bone and then simply parting. I mean it would be great to do all that in the larder but it needs to be practical for some fairly brutal abstraction and no quad bike…..