Recommended deer skinner

1100LT20

Active Member
My buddy broke the tip of his skinning knife Saturday while removing a leg on a deer. I’d like to get him a new skinner that’s easy to sharpen and holds an edge. What are you using or what do you want for a deer skinner. Thanks in advance.
 
Not really a traditional option but I’ve skinned well over 100 critters with a Havalon. They have lots of options now but the original Piranta is the one I use. They work great for skinning and getting the meat off the carcass initially.


For all the indoor butchering work I prefer a boning knife. Victorinox are excellent.



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We use the cheap pearing knives when skinning at the butcher shop and makes great caping.They run about 6.00 and sharpen quick.Theres a difference between a knife that sharpens quick or a knife that will hold longer but take longer to sharpen.I personally only carry the havalon type as a backup in the mountains as I have been known to cut myself and don't want to do with a scalpel.Buck makes a good knife and lots of knife makers.When skinning 100 deer a day you want something that sharpens quick.Sorry about buddy breaking tip but you shouldn't have to use the tip to take a leg off.
 
I bought one of George’s knives a few years ago. Has served me very well!


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I would recommend a Buck 192, 692, or 113 for skinning and a Buck 105 for quartering and deboning. All of these are 420HC steel that will keep an edge for a long time and are fairly easy to sharpen.
 
I used an Outdoor edge with a Tee handle and gut hook as my primary skinning knife. Over time, I found it was too difficult sharpening the gut hook (or any gut hook). Someone cued me in on a roofer or carpet utility knife for gutting. They have a blade similar to a gut hook and are easily replaced so there i no need to sharpen. So, once I started using this for gutting, I bought one of these Spyderco knives: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TIHCAS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1. I really like it. It holds an edge very well.
 
We use the cheap pearing knives when skinning at the butcher shop and makes great caping.They run about 6.00 and sharpen quick.Theres a difference between a knife that sharpens quick or a knife that will hold longer but take longer to sharpen.I personally only carry the havalon type as a backup in the mountains as I have been known to cut myself and don't want to do with a scalpel.Buck makes a good knife and lots of knife makers.When skinning 100 deer a day you want something that sharpens quick.Sorry about buddy breaking tip but you shouldn't have to use the tip to take a leg off.
Buckdeer has it right, you want a good knife that sharpens quickly rather than a fancy knife. This is the $6.59 Dexter knife that most deer butchering shops around here use;
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I would recommend a Buck 192, 692, or 113 for skinning and a Buck 105 for quartering and deboning. All of these are 420HC steel that will keep an edge for a long time and are fairly easy to sharpen.
Yep, that’s what he broke, a Buck Vanguard. Not sure what model but it’s about 20 years old.
 
The knives we use for skinning are about a 5 inch blade and look like a carving knife.I use a little bigger knife if I have to cut head off with knife but everything else can be done with a small knife
 
Yep, that’s what he broke, a Buck Vanguard. Not sure what model but it’s about 20 years old.
I am kind of impressed that he was able to break a Vanguard although the last half inch of the Vanguard does narrow at the tip. I imagine he didn't break much off the end. If the knife has sentimental value to him, he can reprofile the blade on a coarse sharpening stone. He can also send it back to Buck for what Buck calls their SPA (sharpen, polish, adjust) service where they will reprofile the blade for $7. There is plenty of length on the Vanguard and Buck could probably make it look like it was never broken although the blade would be shorter.
 
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