The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Knives & Blades => Topic started by: jackplans on March 02, 2021, 03:27:41 AM
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Is it possible to do skinning with a bowie knife?
A better tool for skinning a deer is a skinning knife. A skinning knife has a curved blade about 3 inches long that can be used to cut through the hide of an animal.
The reason why you don't want to use a bowie knife for skinning is because the blade can easily slip and cause injury during the process.
You may also want to consider using an electric fillet knife if you're going to be (https://dottrusty.com/) cutting through tough meat.
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Good Luck.
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It can be done...but I doubt it'll be pretty as far as intricate cuts to save as much meat as possible.
My younger son processes a lot of deer each season and the best knives are small blades like boning knives, a round bellied knife, and one with a gut hook.
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Anything is possible with lots of practice, but a little jackknife in your pocket will be a lot easier to use than a big-@$$ Bowie knife. If you're limited to one knife, bigger is not better in my opinion, unless you're skinning something BIG, like a whale. Not a skinner, just a hold these legs for me guy, so not an expert.
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Watched a guy on a survival show process a moose with a leatherman. Not the ideal thing to process anything with but it can be done. I prefer the old timer sharpfinger for general task of gutting and skinning. As for processing meat. A filet knife is the best.
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A Bowie with an extra grip might work for skinning an elephant...maybe a rhino.
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My field knife. Is an older 4" Randell, I use maybe the last 2 inchs of it when dressing an elk. Lots of guys have gone to the "surgical blae" replacement knives. Which I would switch to in a heart beat if I did not have such a attachment to my field knife. Lots of sentimental value tied too it.
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I've seen more of the "surgical skinning knives" lately. Maybe just because there was more hunting stuff in the online catalogs I was looking at the last few months.
Anyone who hasn't sharpened their knives with a double bevel ought to give it a try. It doesn't matter which angles you prefer to use. I'll just say 15 and 20 degrees because a lot of people use those. First of all, NEVER use oil on a whetstone. The word is WHET as in whet (sharpen) your appetite, not WET. Some people hear the word whet and think a stone has to be wet. Use it dry, and when it get a little bit dusty, blow on it or brush it off with a bench brush, file card or other brush. Using oil traps all the abrasive particles and steel particles where your knife edge will keep running into them. You can get a knife sharper if the edge of blade isn't constantly hitting crap that will dull it. Or use oil, it's your knife.
Anyway, sharpen your knife really sharp on a fine stone to your chosen angle, like 15 degrees. Then use an extra fine stone, or fine if you don't have extra fine, to sharpen it even more to your second angle of maybe 20 degrees. If you do it right you'll have a very sharp edge with very little metal behind the edge at the second angle you sharpened it to. I'm sure there's a better way to explain it. I should see if the book I have on sharpening has any illustrations. The guy who wrote it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for his blade sharpening ability. He took a dull ax that looked like someone tried cutting rocks with, and within a matter of minutes had it shaving sharp. I never tried doing a triple bevel edge because you need some kind of guide to hold the blade and stone at the proper angles, and go through the work of sharpening it 3 times. Twice is enough, and the second time is fast if you do everything by eyeball instead of setting up a jig to hold everything just right.
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I shave with a straight razor. I know what it takes to sharpen and keep something sharp. That being said if I can carry something that is half the weight of a piece of kit that does the exact same job, I am all for it. How much does a sharpening stone weigh? I can assure you its a lot more than 6 replacement blades.
Pretty much my entire group of hunting buddies has changed over. Its pretty easy to understand, lighter, sharper and a fraction of the cost. I bought one to play around with. I like it, it just not have any sentiment value too me.
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My field knife. Is an older 4" Randell, I use maybe the last 2 inchs of it when dressing an elk.
Last time I just used the last 2 inches my wife slapped the crap out of me.
(Well someone had to make the joke) ;^)
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Last time I just used the last 2 inches my wife slapped the crap out of me.
(Well someone had to make the joke) ;^)
it depends, they never complain when you use the last 2" of your tongue...
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it depends, they never complain when you use the last 2" of your tongue...
Now that part is VERY true. ;^)
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Last time I just used the last 2 inches my wife slapped the crap out of me.
(Well someone had to make the joke) ;^)
My ex hated when I used the last 2 inches. She was okay with the first 2 inches, and everything in between, but the last 2 inches was just too much to handle.
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The ideal option is a skinning knife. Externally, this knife is markedly different from the universal hunting models and consists of a short blade with a length of 4 to 12 cm and a convenient handle.This design makes it easy to trim the tendons in the process of sanding the carcasses.