Alrighty then. Here is my question. Is there a knife out there that you could skin say 20 coyotes and still ho;d an edge. I have a couple chicago cutlery knives that you have to sharpen after you skin 1. of course it is a 10.00 knife. Now, I an looking at a Dunn predator.160.00. How about a Gene ingram knife at about 260.00. Any of you guys have any real world experience with a really good knife?

If you find one you let me know, but i dont think said knife exists. I have a few knives with very good steel in them and none of them will last through 20 coyotes without needing a touchup. My best deer skinning knife might skin 3-4 deer before it needs a good touch up, and thats without me missing any tendons and digging into bone.

wt would you consider to be
What would you consider to be good knife with good steel? 20 coyotes is just a hypothetical, however it would be nice to get thru a couple and not have to sharpen.

I have a schrade golden spike from the long long ago, it was my grandfathers. It has pretty good steel in it, it can easily hold a shaving edge through a deer or two. I cut all joints through the tendons, i dont use any saws or hatchets to skin anything. I try to take decent care of that knife, but it is not ideal for skinning fur. The blade is a bit too thick. I also own a boker fighting knife that holds a dangerous edge. I think that dexter russell or chicago knives are my favorite for skinning fur and butchering/deboning meat. I prefer the 7"( i think) curved deboning blade. ADC on here made a post about the white accusharp knife sharpeners working very well, and i found them to easily put a very sharp edge back on the thin knife blades. It takes maybe 3-4 strokes with it to be back to dangerously sharp. As long as its nearby it takes about 15 seconds to resharpen my skinning knife in between animals. SO i kind of figure thats about as good as it gets. Ive looked at the replaceable blade skinning knives and they look like a bit more trouble than i want to mess with, and they arent exactly cheap and have to keep new blades in stock.

I keep the schrade in the truck in my hunting bag. I keep the dexter russell in the kitchen for kitchen use and deboning meat, it is the only kitchen knife i use. I keep a chicago blue handle knife with my trapping stuff, I use it to cut out castors and beaver tails and to skin fur and cut bait/nasty stuff. I have a dexter russell bolen knife in the shed and its my go to skinning knife. I carry a kershaw or benchmade pocket knife, they are the only brands of new production pocket knives that i can get to stay sharp. I use the accusharp on all of them except the schrade, i use a diamond stone on it since the accusharp does remove alot of metal over continued use and i cant replace the schrade.

If i had to choose one knife above them all it would probably be the curved dexter. The bolen knife is pretty useful too for a short blade.

[quote=The Possum Man]I keep the schrade in the truck in my hunting bag. I keep the dexter russell in the kitchen for kitchen use and deboning meat, it is the only kitchen knife i use. I keep a chicago blue handle knife with my trapping stuff, I use it to cut out castors and beaver tails and to skin fur and cut bait/nasty stuff. I have a dexter russell bolen knife in the shed and its my go to skinning knife. I carry a kershaw or benchmade pocket knife, they are the only brands of new production pocket knives that i can get to stay sharp. I use the accusharp on all of them except the schrade, i use a diamond stone on it since the accusharp does remove alot of metal over continued use and i cant replace the schrade.

If i had to choose one knife above them all it would probably be the curved dexter. The bolen knife is pretty useful too for a short blade.[/quot


Thanx possum

IMO ---- For skinning buy a lot of cheap knives (resharpened butcher knives) and an accusharp sharpener. You can resharpen in 3-5 passes or just grab a new knife to use until you're all done then sharpen them all at once. PM me if you need a source for these cheap knives.

If you skin like I do, which is NOT carefully, this is the way to go. If you want to pussyfoot around and never cut hair or cut into the skull, then an expensive knife may suit you.

FWIW those Chicago Blue knives dull FAST!

~ADC~

well just got on amazon and ordered 2 accu-sharps!

Sweet. I find it best to hold the handle of the knife on the edge of the bench with the sharp side of the blade up and facing out off the edge, then you get good pressure on the sharpener. They work great.

Thank you gents.Gonna get a couple more chicago cutlery or similar cheapo as well. However I am having a hard time taking my eyes off the dunn predator

You know I'm right Sniper. lol

I wouldnt spend too much. Make ur opening cuts , get the hide started and put ur knife away. I use a 4" blade rapala filet knife. I use a 2nd knife (same kind) on the head. I mark the handle so i know which is which.

Check the meat trapper web site, he has some knives that are awesome. They will hold an an edge and they are filling really good in your hand. They are a little bit pricy,but they worse it.

I don't take time to worry about cutting into the skull or scraping the blade across the teeth, or cutting from inside out to avoid cutting hair, just get em done and sharpen the knives later. I have a cat litter bucket full of them knives.

~ADC~

there might be that knife out there but say it is 160 dollars and at the end of that 20th hide it needed 20 minutes of sharpening. hard to dull is often hard to sharpen also.


how much further ahead would you be with a Dexter that you sharpened for 20 seconds after every coyote with a diamond steel or accu-sharp.

15 dollar blade
10 dollar accu-sharp
35 dollar diamond steel

I have to admit I was a little Leary about the accusharp but I figured for 9.99 for the bench mount I would give it a try , it does work quite well especially good for the the people who just can't get the angle right with the diamond steel , you don't have to press down and take off so much metal

Just dont try to sharpen a rusty machete or hatchet with an accusharp, It will sharpen it...once. Then it wont ever sharpen anything else lol. I just got my order in for another pair of sharpeners for the ones i ruined. Belt sander is much more betterer for non-knife nonsense.

Get yourself a good quality steel and learn how to use it. It will make using any knife easier. It takes only a few seconds to straighten up the edge with a steel.

I got one of the Jim Shockey Havalon knives to use this season. I used a Havalon that my buddy had last year and I really liked it. If a blade gets dull, just change it out and keep skinning no matter where you are. I skin a lot out on the line so this is really nice for that. It also has a regular knife blade that I will use for deer.

I hit my pelting knife a few licks on a butcher steel every few minutes. Should be doing that with a ten dollar knife or a two hundred dollar knife. The exception is the disposable blade. Butcher steel is faster cheaper and the blade is sharper