Show Us Your Hunting Knife

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Buck 102 Woodsman. A great small field knife. If you know how to run a blade it's pretty much all you need for a hunting knife.
 
Ok, I’m a knife nerd, have hundreds of quality knives because I can’t pass up a great knife! So from Arno Bernard to a Zambezi by Lightfoot with Ruana and Randall’s but the knife I have carried on every single hunt since I was 12 years old is a Weinand Custom from Lolo, MT that my mother took me to his shop and had me look at all of his wonderful knives and had one made. It is no where near the size that my paws now can even recognize as a custom knife made for me but at 12 it fit my hand like a Westley Richards 28 gauge shotgun. I still love this knife and it will last my lifetime as long as my children’s.
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i do now carry a JT Ranger Von Gruff knife on my gun belt also for the time I might need a knife to get me out of a bad situation. But my old knife ma bought me will cut into everything I kill.
Cheers,
Cody
 
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traded some taxidermy for the obsidian blade knife-obviously a decorative piece. The other is a shed antler I picked up-an ER doc friend of mine turned it into a knife for me. It works magic in the field but mostly I keep it behind glass.
 
a fellow bird hunter named don dack gave me this one and it processed an entire black bear earlier this month. It even got to help some in South Africa, mostly as a “dispatcher” right behind the skull. Somehow it has become my favorite belt knife. I love the pyranta knives, serious tools for serious hunters, but a good fixed blade knife is indispensable. For processing birds in the field I use my hands, don’t need a knife for that. . . But in the taxidermy shop I know I have skinned thousands of birds with a good old fashioned exacto #11. You all have some gorgeous and functional tools of our trades!
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Thread drift but what the hey, the covidcrazies cover all transgressions, right? :) We've already broached the subject of the crucible steel Viking Ulfberht. I have watched both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies several times and instantly noticed this sword scene in The Two Towers, Battle of Helm's Deep. Aragorn is encouraging young I'mma to be brave just before the Uruk-hai assault. He inspects I'mma's old battle worn sword and proclaims, "this is a good sword". I believe there's a fair chance the director and/or armorer constructed this sword for a reason, possibly subtle, and entered the scene into the story line in deference to the Viking crucible steel Ulfberht. If not.... an interesting and romantic thought. It's generally accepted many of JRR Tolkien's cultures of Middle Earth were, in some form, purposely patterned after real cultures from history.

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Tight shot of Wootz/crucible steel showing grain pattern of knife in process. Going to use brass liners (spacers to add a little girth), Micarta slabs with steel pins (common nails work great). Mixture of old and new technology. Will post results of effort when finished- just an amateur hack hobby project :)

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Here's another excellent video on forging a crucible steel Ulfberht. Just like the smith featured on the original Nova special, these folks are equally talented in the art. I'm in awe of the skills exhibited by those who can do this! Good grief... :)
 
Finished the Wootz-crucible steel utility/hunter with micarta handle. Also mixed up some dilute ferric chloride etching acid to give some definition to the Wootz grain. It's the chemical many blade smiths use to etch pattern welded (Damascus) blades for contrast.

Pics show progression- "slab sandwich" with pins, rough finish and final shape, grain of the crucible steel after etching, slab and pin detail, finished knife and example of old style Buck sheath... will put a similar style sheath together in next couple days.

The tang and brass liners were skeletoized to reduce weight. Miles Gilbert Stock bedding compound along with 7 steel pins and the steel lanyard hole liner bind the micarta handle slabs and brass liners to the tang. I don't believe the handle will come apart :)

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I tried my hand at making my own a few years ago after watching the 'forged in fire show'. These are the two I use the most. Both are made from 01 tool steel. The top is my first homemade knife and has a giraffe horn handle, scandi grind, and is my primary hunting knife. The smaller is a more discrete knife I carry in the field for work and has a micarta handle and convex grind.
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Like so many others I make a few of my own as well. Some full custom and some semi custom. There is something quite satisfying about making a tool and using it.


This is my personal hunting knife along with the green micarta Loveless style at the bottom….the others have gone to other homes. The loveless is a wonderful design and feels great in the hand but it is a heavy knife.
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These are a couple other designs I’m working on that I’m excited to try out.….I believe the top one will be a new favorite of mine.

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My Schrade Old Timer sharp finger that was my primary hunting knife for 35 years.
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My newest aquisition. Seem to be entering a Damascus phase.
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Now for a plea for information. This knife my Dad gave me for my first hunting season in 1971. When I joined the army he put it in his gun cabinet and forgot about it for 45 years. Just found it and returned it to me last fall.
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This thread has you rethinking how cool knives are & the diverse variety of style + purpose. Afew of my more favorite handcrafted blades…

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