It is important that you choose the right hunting knife. This can be difficult at times given the number of options to choose from. You don’t want to end up with the wrong knife. There are several things to consider when choosing a knife: What size game will you be hunting? How often will you be hunting? Are you going to be dressing meat? What is your price range? How many knives do you want to carry? Do you need to have one knife for every task? The decisions can be overwhelming. Here are some of the questions you may want to explore.

Stainless Steel vs Carbon Steel Blades

Carbon or Stainless steel however are the two main types of knife steel. What is the difference between carbon and stainless steel? Carbon steel blades are typically sharper, easier to re-sharpen, stay sharper under heavy use, but are can be hard to maintain and keep clean. Carbon steel rusts easily so you pretty much have to clean, dry and oil/treat the blade after every use or you will get rust within a day or so. Stainless steel blades can be just as sharp in most cases but are usually a little harder to sharpen. Most of the knives you will see are stainless steel. There are only a few carbon steel folding knives models available. If a knife is carbon steel it will definitely say so in the description or it will have the word “carbon” in the name somehow.

Folding Knife or Fixed Blade Knife

Now we need to choose whether a folding knife or a fixed blade knife will be the best choice. Here are some of the differences. Folding Blade knives (also called Folders or Pocket Knives) are usually more convenient to carry in most situations. One obvious advantage to having a folding knife is the ability to have multiple blades and tools. Some folders have gut hooks and saws and many other useful tools. You can also carry a folding knife in public places for everyday use without causing a ruckus(I have heard several stories of “pedestrian freak outs” over someone with a sheath knife on his belt in the grocery store). Folding knives are good if you don’t need a blade that is large.

Buck Crosslock folding hunting knife for under $60 (click on the image):

You may want a Fixed Blade however if you will need a larger blade and don’t mind carrying a knife on your belt or in your gear bag. Fixed blade knives are usually stronger easier to clean due to their simple construction. Some people just prefer one or the other or would like to have both for different situations. If you want a knife that is dedicated to hunting and if you don’t need the extra blades then you might want a fixed blade knife. 

CHOOSING A BLADE SHAPE

There are a number of blade shapes to choose from. Styles such as the Drop Point, Clip Point, Sheepsfoot, Tanto(Japanese inspired), Spey, Skinner, etc. are all fairly common. The two main styles you will see in a good all around hunting knife are Drop Point and Clip Point. There are also other shapes which don’t fall into these classifications such as a fat curvy skinning blade.

Drop Point Knives

A drop point hunting knife is a great choice for heavy tasks. If you choose this hunting blade it will be slightly stronger due to the shape. The curvature of the drop point blade will allow skinning with more ease than a straighter edged blade. Usually a drop point blade will be thicker and heavier which will aid in heavy cutting of tough bone and cartilage. If you are going to be hunting Moose, Elk, or other large game you will probably be happy with a Drop Point hunting knife blade. This simple blade shape will be easy to sharpen with a stone which is also nice.
Here is a large selection of Drop Point Knives (<-click)

Clip Point Blade

If you choose the clip point hunting knife blade you will get a thinner blade than the drop point. This is a flatter blade with a narrower point. This blade choice is a very versatile design which is great many uses other than hunting. Although the clip point isn’t as ideal for just hunting it will perform all of the same tasks almost as well as the drop point. This simple blade shape will be easy to sharpen with a stone which is also nice.
Here is a large selection of Clip Point Knives (<-click)

Skinning Blade

A Skinning blade is designed to aid in the removal of the skin of big game animals. They tend to have highly sweeping blades without a sharp point to aid in effortlessly separating the flesh from skin of the animal. One of the reasons that there isn’t a sharp point on a skinning blade is to keep you from puncturing and spilling the insides of the animal which will affect the quality of the meat.
Take a look at these Skinning Knives (Skinners) (<-click)

Gut Hook

Some people prefer to use a gut hook for skinning. This is a hook shaped groove on the back of the blade for which is slid under the skin for skinning. It is simple and easy to use. You will need to have a gut hook sharpener to sharpen the hook. Sharpening a gut hook is similar to sharpening the serrations on a serrated knife blade.
Here are some knives that have a Gut Hook (<-click)

Knife Handle

The handle of the knife can also be important. You may be faced with a situation where you have to use your knife to stab an animal (like Crocodile Dundee). You may consider a finger guard or good gripping synthetic handle materials to help eliminate slippage when wet. There are lots of great materials to choose from. Wood and synthetics are the most common. You may want to even consider handle color for visibility reasons. I once talked to a man who would repeatedly lose good hunting knives when dressing elk at dusk. He finally stopped losing them by having a bright colored handle (red plastic for this particular gentleman). Just food for thought.

A good hunting knife will make a big difference your hunting experience. You should enjoy using the knife you choose! If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at info@bladecrazy.com.