your pocket knife?
Scott FYI:
I've never used drop points much but the last few years I picked up a couple in preparation for what I knew was coming. Anytime a horse lives past 30, you know what's ahead. I was hoping she wouldn't go down in winter because I doubt I could have tackled the job. This is the first large animal I've done by myself (assisted a friend once back in '99).
For sake of tradition, I used my Dad's old bone handle knife (made from a file) for first cut. It actually held an edge pretty well.
Overall I was disappointed in the drop point blades. They are too short. They work fine on the sides of the body but require more frequent touch up on the steel because the cutting edge is so short. Also they were pretty useless for opening the skin and cutting a line up the belly.
I was most disappointed in the Buck folding Omni - and I picked it up specifically for this. The gut hook was useless for cutting a belly line through the skin. It may work fine opening the belly but I didn't want to do that - just wanted to skin her. The Damascus blade definitely held an edge longer than the Buck but again, the drop point's shorter edge needed touch up more often.
The big clip blades on the Rigid's were the best. Once you got a line started between the skin and flesh, you could hold the back of the knife handle against the meat and just run the point forward to open a line in the skin up the belly. The point didn't dig in the meat at all. And they were particularly good around the legs. The back curve of the clip edge would hug the bone and you could follow it around as it cut your line. Plus with the longer cutting edge, I didn't have to touch up as frequent as the drop points.
The Buck 119 clip blade did well also.
She didn't have much fat on her but enough that the job went fairly smooth. Done in 4 1/4 hrs. Did pretty good with only a bit of meat I need to flesh before salting the hide down, and zero cuts through the hide.
More of the story:
https://themustangsource.com/f657/mu...4/#post6595181
Tools of the trade:
Rigid Razorback, Rebel, Cherokee folder, Boot knife; Buck 119, Omni folding Hunter; Damascus drop point.
.
I've never used drop points much but the last few years I picked up a couple in preparation for what I knew was coming. Anytime a horse lives past 30, you know what's ahead. I was hoping she wouldn't go down in winter because I doubt I could have tackled the job. This is the first large animal I've done by myself (assisted a friend once back in '99).
For sake of tradition, I used my Dad's old bone handle knife (made from a file) for first cut. It actually held an edge pretty well.
Overall I was disappointed in the drop point blades. They are too short. They work fine on the sides of the body but require more frequent touch up on the steel because the cutting edge is so short. Also they were pretty useless for opening the skin and cutting a line up the belly.
I was most disappointed in the Buck folding Omni - and I picked it up specifically for this. The gut hook was useless for cutting a belly line through the skin. It may work fine opening the belly but I didn't want to do that - just wanted to skin her. The Damascus blade definitely held an edge longer than the Buck but again, the drop point's shorter edge needed touch up more often.
The big clip blades on the Rigid's were the best. Once you got a line started between the skin and flesh, you could hold the back of the knife handle against the meat and just run the point forward to open a line in the skin up the belly. The point didn't dig in the meat at all. And they were particularly good around the legs. The back curve of the clip edge would hug the bone and you could follow it around as it cut your line. Plus with the longer cutting edge, I didn't have to touch up as frequent as the drop points.
The Buck 119 clip blade did well also.
She didn't have much fat on her but enough that the job went fairly smooth. Done in 4 1/4 hrs. Did pretty good with only a bit of meat I need to flesh before salting the hide down, and zero cuts through the hide.
More of the story:
https://themustangsource.com/f657/mu...4/#post6595181
Tools of the trade:
Rigid Razorback, Rebel, Cherokee folder, Boot knife; Buck 119, Omni folding Hunter; Damascus drop point.
.
Last edited by cdynaco; Apr 5, 2013 at 05:23 PM.
Scott FYI:
I've never used drop points much but that last few years I picked up a couple in preparation for what I knew was coming. Anytime a horse lives past 30, you know what's ahead. I was hoping she wouldn't go down in winter because I doubt I could have tackled the job. This is the first large animal I've done by myself (assisted a friend once back in '99).
For sake of tradition, I used my Dad's old bone handle knife (made from a file) for first cut. It actually held an edge pretty well.
Overall I was disappointed in the drop point blades. They are too short. They work fine on the sides of the body but require more frequent touch up on the steel because the cutting edge is so short. Also they were pretty useless for opening the skin and cutting a line up the belly.
I was most disappointed in the Buck folding Omni - and I picked it up specifically for this. The gut hook was useless for cutting a belly line through the skin. It may work fine opening the belly but I didn't want to do that - just wanted to skin her. The Damascus blade definitely held an edge longer than the Buck but again, the drop point's shorter edge needed touch up more often.
The big clip blades on the Rigid's were the best. Once you got a line started between the skin and flesh, you could hold the back of the knife handle against the meat and just run the point forward to open a line in the skin up the belly. The point didn't dig in the meat at all. And they were particularly good around the legs. The back curve of the clip edge would hug the bone and you could follow it around as it cut your line. Plus with the longer cutting edge, I didn't have to touch up as frequent as the drop points.
The Buck 119 clip blade did well also.
She didn't have much fat on her but enough that the job went fairly smooth. Done in 4 1/4 hrs. Did pretty good with only a bit of meat I need to flesh before salting the hide down, and zero cuts through the hide.
More of the story:
https://themustangsource.com/f657/mu...4/#post6595181
Tools of the trade:
Rigid Razorback, Rebel, Cherokee folder, Boot knife; Buck 119, Omni folding Hunter; Damascus drop point.
.
I've never used drop points much but that last few years I picked up a couple in preparation for what I knew was coming. Anytime a horse lives past 30, you know what's ahead. I was hoping she wouldn't go down in winter because I doubt I could have tackled the job. This is the first large animal I've done by myself (assisted a friend once back in '99).
For sake of tradition, I used my Dad's old bone handle knife (made from a file) for first cut. It actually held an edge pretty well.
Overall I was disappointed in the drop point blades. They are too short. They work fine on the sides of the body but require more frequent touch up on the steel because the cutting edge is so short. Also they were pretty useless for opening the skin and cutting a line up the belly.
I was most disappointed in the Buck folding Omni - and I picked it up specifically for this. The gut hook was useless for cutting a belly line through the skin. It may work fine opening the belly but I didn't want to do that - just wanted to skin her. The Damascus blade definitely held an edge longer than the Buck but again, the drop point's shorter edge needed touch up more often.
The big clip blades on the Rigid's were the best. Once you got a line started between the skin and flesh, you could hold the back of the knife handle against the meat and just run the point forward to open a line in the skin up the belly. The point didn't dig in the meat at all. And they were particularly good around the legs. The back curve of the clip edge would hug the bone and you could follow it around as it cut your line. Plus with the longer cutting edge, I didn't have to touch up as frequent as the drop points.
The Buck 119 clip blade did well also.
She didn't have much fat on her but enough that the job went fairly smooth. Done in 4 1/4 hrs. Did pretty good with only a bit of meat I need to flesh before salting the hide down, and zero cuts through the hide.
More of the story:
https://themustangsource.com/f657/mu...4/#post6595181
Tools of the trade:
Rigid Razorback, Rebel, Cherokee folder, Boot knife; Buck 119, Omni folding Hunter; Damascus drop point.
.
Last edited by Scothew; Apr 5, 2013 at 03:55 PM.
Whatever Joe....
Those farrier rasps really bite your hand without gloves. I'm curious what they did to the spine of the knife so you could handle it without trashing your hands.
Shhhh we are still making the book it hasn't printed yet!





p

