# Best skinning knife/tools?



## devil-dog (Jul 15, 2008)

Best skinning knife plus good tools to have on hand?


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## lagrangedave (Jul 15, 2008)

Ronnie Gore makes the best drop point skinning knife.......


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## FX Jenkins (Jul 16, 2008)

this is hard to beat for the price...


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## sharpeblades (Jul 16, 2008)

*skinning knife*

Myself and all my customers think mine are pretty special
       Sharpeblades


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## bighonkinjeep (Aug 23, 2008)

For mass produced knife it's hard to beat a buck. I like the alpha


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## Lead Poison (Aug 28, 2008)

bighonkinjeep said:


> For mass produced knife it's hard to beat a buck. I like the alpha



I love Buck knives.


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## abrannon (Sep 5, 2008)

I like any knife that has a good blade, Aus 8 steel. I carry a Gerber and a Fred Carter.

The tools that I think are good to have on hand are a good knife 3"-4" blade, a box cutter, a serrated edge (saw), a pair of pruning shears (cuts thru ribs easily) and a hatchet.


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## 7Mag Hunter (Sep 5, 2008)

I prefer drop point...Got several, and they will all shave you....
Use a Wyoming knife to open body cavity from the inside....


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## Doyle (Sep 5, 2008)

2 Plain old utility knives.  One with a regular blade and one with a hooked roofing blade.  Do all your skin cutting with those and use a normal (short) skinning knife to separate the skin from the meat.


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## seaweaver (Sep 7, 2008)

I have three buck alphas(gifts) and they are great. I have the "pretty folder" and I use it a lot and I'm amazed at how it stays sharp and powers thru ball joints on a hog.  I love the built in gut hook. It is a bit heavy, but the mass (when it's in your hand) is reassuring.
I had a few Gerbers w/ the Gut hook and they are lighter but always rusted terribly. (i'm in the salt marshes).
cw


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## Jranger (Sep 7, 2008)

For smaller game such as white tail you need nothing more than your own two hands and a small folding knife to make a few precision cuts... Larger game that cannot easily be hung and skinned I think a "skinning" knife is more practical. I've always used a Gerber Gator in that instance, not to knock any custom knives, but I just can't bring myself to use a custom, they are to pretty! I also try to dull the tip or even round it off slightly. Otherwise it's easy to nick the hide when working around the neck of a mount.


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## FX Jenkins (Sep 8, 2008)

Jranger said:


> I've always used a Gerber Gator in that instance, not to knock any custom knives, but I just can't bring myself to use a custom, they are to pretty! I also try to dull the tip or even round it off slightly. Otherwise it's easy to nick the hide when working around the neck of a mount.



I found that the rubber handles on the fixed blade Gerbers hold blood up under where the handle lays on the tang.....squeezed the handle and had some stinky 3 day old blood leak out, ran it through the dishwasher and still didn't get it...drafting a letter to Gerber now...Love their blades but they need to re-design some of these...


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## knifemaker (Sep 8, 2008)

FX Jenkins said:


> I found that the rubber handles on the fixed blade Gerbers hold blood up under where the handle lays on the tang.....squeezed the handle and had some stinky 3 day old blood leak out, ran it through the dishwasher and still didn't get it...drafting a letter to Gerber now...Love their blades but they need to re-design some of these...



Yep, bad design. Haven't used a commercial knife in 35 years.


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## WTM45 (Sep 8, 2008)

Bob Dozier's designs are workhorses.
I either use my PGK, or a combo of a Straight Personal and a fillet knife.
I process my own game, field to freezer.


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## Jranger (Sep 9, 2008)

FX Jenkins said:


> I found that the rubber handles on the fixed blade Gerbers hold blood up under where the handle lays on the tang.....squeezed the handle and had some stinky 3 day old blood leak out, ran it through the dishwasher and still didn't get it...drafting a letter to Gerber now...Love their blades but they need to re-design some of these...



I could see that happening as well. I don't use mine for field dressing though, I use a small old timer for that. I was speaking more of having to skin larger game and using a gerber or something that size. For deer you really don't need much or a knife. For me smaller is better with whitetails.


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