View Full Version : knife for skinning small game
mattw4466
14-10-2006, 03:32
hey i recently have gotten heavily into trapping and i was just wonder wat you all thought were some good knives for skinning small game like squirell and rabbits, thanks alot
Welcome Matt!
I am not sure about what knife is best, i would think a small drop point or spear point would be suitable.
Also there really is no need to post the same question in 4 different forum catagory's!
Take care mate, and im sure some people wiht the answers will be along soon (it's only 6am here)
Also there really is no need to post the same question in 4 different forum catagory's!
Take care mate, and im sure some people wiht the answers will be along soon (it's only 6am here)
Sorted, question has been asked once now :D
Welcome to Bushcraft UK Matt, why don't you take a minute to introduce yourself in the intro forum ;)
As for the knife, a nice sharp one :D Once you've made a cut you can do the rest by hand, there's not a lot of cutting the skin loose on animals that size.
Hunter_zero
14-10-2006, 10:09
hey i recently have gotten heavily into trapping and i was just wonder wat you all thought were some good knives for skinning small game like squirell and rabbits, thanks alot
Do you need a knife for skinning small game?
I've never needed a knife for the purpose as the skin will pull off with ease.
Deer on the other hand, do need some easing off with a wide blade, or you'll end up cutting the meat.
John
Nathan Sturgess
14-10-2006, 11:53
Cold Steel Bird and Trout
A medium sized slip joint pocket knife is ideal.
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images16/mooremaker1c.jpg
Do you need a knife for skinning small game?
I've never needed a knife for the purpose as the skin will pull off with ease.
Deer on the other hand, do need some easing off with a wide blade, or you'll end up cutting the meat.
John
Dunno mate, squirrel can be a right pain and a knife makes life a lot easier.
Matt, one of the others mentioned effectively any knife will do for the initial cut, this is pretty much the best advice, but there are smaller knives which are very good for this kind of work.
If you don't mind paying a bit for it then you could go for a Benchmade Activator model BM210. The blade is a little under 2 inches in length, drop point, 1/8 inch thick, 7/8 inch deep (at its deepest point), overall length 5 1/2 inches and the steel type is S30V.
The sheath is full grain leather that has been dyed black, it was my main gripe about the activator actually as it isn't the prettiest of sheaths, but it is well made and does what it's designed to do.
If you really don't like the sheath you can make your own, that's what I did, but having said that it's beginning to spend more time in its original sheath these days.
British Red
14-10-2006, 12:40
I use a very small "gut hook" knife for working on small game. I'm with Leon on how "fiddly" it can be and use the gut hook for unzipping more than the cutting edge to be honest. I do find that a small but solid blade is best - useful for removing head and lower legs etc. I use this little olive wood joker (click for a larger image)
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/3227/jokerxp2.th.jpg (http://img128.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jokerxp2.jpg)
As said before a wider blade is useful on larger game - I would also add a far greater curve than found on a normal bush knife. The one I like best of all is A Grohman large skinner - simple, unfussy but works really well
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/502/grohmanus8.th.jpg (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grohmanus8.jpg)
Hope that helps a little ( I must confess that for very small or fiddly jobs I have a razor sharp ti-lite that I won't carry as it looks "nasty" but it does hold a great edge and the fine spear point is good for delicate work
Red