New Hunting Knife
- Thread starter Litehiker
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Litehiker
Well-Known Member
WOW! Never realized that:
1. there were so many HELLE knife owners out there
2. that the subject of hunting knives would generate so many comments so fast.
But I should have known because hunting knives are very personal items that are more than tools, much like a very nice car is more than a tool to get from point A to point B.
nmbarta, those Micarta handled knives you made are really beautiful. Sorta like a good wife, beautiful, sharp and very good at what they do. ;o)
SHARPENING:
My method of maintaining the factory cutting angle is to use a Lansky sharpening set. I'm trying to find a diamond imbedded steel sharpener for it. Diamond in plastic sharpeners suck B/C they can't remain flat after even a little use.
Eric B.
1. there were so many HELLE knife owners out there
2. that the subject of hunting knives would generate so many comments so fast.
But I should have known because hunting knives are very personal items that are more than tools, much like a very nice car is more than a tool to get from point A to point B.
nmbarta, those Micarta handled knives you made are really beautiful. Sorta like a good wife, beautiful, sharp and very good at what they do. ;o)
SHARPENING:
My method of maintaining the factory cutting angle is to use a Lansky sharpening set. I'm trying to find a diamond imbedded steel sharpener for it. Diamond in plastic sharpeners suck B/C they can't remain flat after even a little use.
Eric B.
Last edited:
Litehiker
Well-Known Member
Yep OhYtD, been with the old girl since 1968 when I married that beautiful, smart, highly educated Filipina that I worked with in Mindanao in the US Peace Corps. So yeah, 51 years on June 22nd. Two beautiful daughters and 5 wonderful grandchildren.
Eric B.
Eric B.
dougduey
Well-Known Member
I became obsessed with having a really good and sharp knife once I field dressed and skinned my first elk. Thank god I had a bunch of knives with me since everything dulled up so fast.
I've got a good friend that is a knife freak. His nickname is Dagger for a reason. He's starting to make his own knives. I digress, he introduced me to Chris Reeve knives. When he cut through a whitetail pelvis with one firm swipe of his knife I couldn't believe what I saw. He has a couple that you cannot purchase anymore. Those knives are unreal. I'm always afraid I'm going to severe a limb with my Helle or his Chris Reeve if I'm not careful. I love the way my Helle fits my hand. Once you have a high end knife you underwent they cost so much. You truly get what you pay for. Buy once cry once. I learned that mantra when buying high end scopes.
preventec47
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 75
Here is a little twist that worked well for me last year.... I purchased two each of two different style knife blanks and took the sharp edge off the handles with a bench grinder. I found I can get four of these knife blanks into my knife sheath because of no handle. Surprisingly the grip is not too bad as the handles were kind of large and it is sure nice to have some razor sharp blades as standby.
huntsman22
Well-Known Member
A little 1" diamond stone weighs a lot less than 3 extra blade blanks......
Hand Skills
Well-Known Member
That's a good tip. I have a little Fallkniven DC4 I carry around. Don't break it out much - I picked up a tip from Phil Wilson - he suggested rubbing some 220grit SiC lapping compound into the leather of the sheath. Stropping a few passes per side on the sheath keeps an edge keen and weighs virtually nothing.
KyCarl
Well-Known Member
I have made knives for several years. A-2 D-2 M-4 all work well but 52-100 is my favorite! All of these will rust but hold an edge great!
James L Holzhauer
Well-Known Member
my diamond blade with friction forging skinned a brown bear and a moose without dulling. So hard you send it to the factory for sharpening, but, WOW
JimmyCP
Well-Known Member
JimmyCP
Well-Known Member
I put a polished edge on the knifes I build. If the heat treat is right and the apex is at the right angle, it will go through 3-4 elk before the have to be stopped for an average of 15 min backed to a polished edge.
Any knife that was ever so hard it was hell to shapen went in the scrap pile.
Japan and the USA got into a little competition to see who could make the hardest stainless steel with the cheapest alloys since the early days.
Now you have everyone with dull kitchen knifes, pocket knifes, field knifes etc because they can't shapen them. Most knifes come from the factory with one side of the apex off a degree or two. Then the customer can't ever get it sharp because it needs about 3 hours on a stone because it's to hard.
I used to sharpen knifes for side money on top of building them. Stainless that was brought to me that was in the above condition I wouldn't take.
Of course you could run it on a machine and clean it up but most machines leave a foiled edge wich in turn makes it dull quicker. You could use the wicked edge for a 500.00 investment and put a double bevel on it to remove the foiled edge.
I'm more into making sure the geometry is corect, having a convex apex and when looking at the edge after stroping under a microscope or magnifying glass there's no bristles or foiled edge. That's the perfect edge that you can drop a sheat of paper in the air and slice all the way through it.
Here a palm skinner I just finished for guy that you can see the mirror reflection.
