Gut Hook?

Johnny Roberts

Johnny Roberts

Well-Known Member
I have been commisioned to make a skinner which is a slight break away from my normal style.

This one will get a lot of use and I would like to put a gut hook on the blade.

Any tips or lessons learned with the creation of gut hooks?

How did you do it? What tools did you use?

Thanks guys and as always, I appreciate the help.

Lonestar Johnny
 
jrrobertsjr said:
Any tips or lessons learned with the creation of gut hooks?


Lonestar Johnny
Click to expand...

Only thing I have ever learned is they are useless if you have an otherwise well designed knife and know how to use it.:D

You can grind it with a little bitty wheel and finish off with a file. For it to work at all you have to be careful where to sharpen and where not to sharpen. A friend and I have played with some on factory knives getting them to work right. Very few I've seen work very well at all and even those are in the way more than anything else.
 
I have not made a guthook but I do use one but it is a stand alone guthook not on the tip of a knife. It works beatifully.
The problem I see with the gut hooks on knives is they are to small and the angle is wrong because of the shape of the blade. The butt of the knife would almost have to be inside the animal for the hook to work. I'm not sure how the average Joe would go about resharpening the hook also. Round Chainsaw file?
I would say study a design that works then create your own masterpiece.:)
 
I have made probably 200 Guthooks in my career.
The knife has to be designed for the Gut hook to work properly.
I file mine in with a Chainsaw file and clean up with Cratex Bullets in flex grinder
If a person learns how to use one ,you only have to make five small insisions to gut and skin a deer.
#1 Small insision in the ponch to gut. Stik hook in cut and draw the knife up to chest and empty out contents.
The next four are for skinning. Cut a small hole in all legs a nd insert hook and draw over to opening on chest and ponch. The deer hide is ready to come off.
Here's a couple I have made recently
Here's a couple of recent ones
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022-2.jpg

And a Hatchet with a guyhook
014-5.jpg
 
Well, Dave you already know your's will work as well as it should. Small gut hooks are of no use. This one Dave has is optimum in size. Notice he has cut the gut hook to follow the shape of the front of the knife. It is parallel to it. Frank
 
Dave, Man that is one great looking hatchet. I've been wanting to make myself one that matches my hunting knife but never get around to it. What steel did you use?
 
Dave ive been commisioned to make one too ive made 6 so far and they sell as fast as I make them . They are a pain to say the least but are the fastest tool to gut a deer. I pretty much do the same as you but do the hook all by hand and sharpen a little bit before heat treat so its not as hard after. You are right the hook needs lots of room . The last guy I did one for gutted a moose and a elk and its still razor sharp. Cpm 154 hold a edge a long time and you need a steel to hold a edge a long time when making a gut hook as they can be difficult to resharpen.
 
Sorry I did't get back to you guys sooner but I had a modem go out and couldn't get on the net.
Thanks for all the nice comments about the knive and hatchet.
These knives are all being used as well as the Hatchet.
The steel in the knives is 154cm and the Hatchet is fromm 440C at RC58/59
As I said I have made guthooks for 38 years and have never had one returned because it did't work.
Cratex bullets are the key to sharpening as I file to a zero edge and then polish with the cratex.
Thanks again
 
Has anybody made a gut hook using damascus? I had a customer call and wanting one to use. I never made one, but starting to get request for one.

Rick
 
I personally don't think that there is an Ideal blade length.
It all depends on what your customer wants. I have made Guthooks with 2" blades all the way up to 7 1/2" I have even made Minitures
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