Best skinning knife

I am going to start working at a deer processsing plant this season. I will be mainly skinning and quartering deer. I was wondering what knives you guys use and how they hold an edge. I have tried many types and have yet to find one that I like. Please give me some suggestions. I was looking at the Knives Of Alaska series, the price is high so I was wondering if they were worth it or not? any one have any suggestions?
Thanks
Gene Cole III

[kmassaro]

Helleknives hold an edge well, and you can afford them.
www.helleknives.com

[kac1345]

Knives of Alaska are not bad the steel is very Thick , it holds an edge good and they are thick and heavy enough to use as a meat clever...NO JOKE!
Keith

Can't see the point of gettign anything other than Knives of Alaska!! Yup they are that good!!

[bigsal5353]

dont waste your money on a fancy knife. i work in a slaughter house and we use koche (sp?) knives.. they are around 15 to 20 bucks depending on what catalog we get them from... if you are actually gonna be using the knife at a processor or at a slaughter house like i do it wont matter how good the steel is,, its gonna get dull.. no matter how good someone is the blade gets dull... buy an average knife and dont spend too much and learn how to use some stones and learn how to use a steel to clean up the edge when it gets a lil dull

[Mysticplayer]

I am going to second bigsal's comments. Get a knife with a comfortable handle and shape. Most steels are sufficient. What a softer steel allows is getting a very fine edge quickly. A hard steel like the ATS-34 stuff holds an edge very well but is big work to resharpen.

Odds are you will be sharpening your knives everyday and wanting to steel throughout the day. Really hard steel will be big work.

Many of the people working on processing fish on the coast are switching to these softer steels. Very sharp, and easy to keep sharp. It's not like hunting where 'sharpening' a knife in the field is a pain.

I have used German knifes with success and Japanese knives have solid reputations for their cutting ability. Style, size, and shape to suit your needs.

Also, being a work environment, the knives may gain feet. Having knifes that you can afford to replace is not a bad feature to consider.

Jerry

[larrywillis]

A good friend of mine makes custom knives to your exact specs. If I can get a picture added to this post, you can see what his work looks like. You can read all about this fellow on my website below. Great quality!



- Innovative