Skinner steel type ?

K

knosaj

Active Member
I was talking to someone who wants a skinner and I tried to explain the relationship between durability/difficulty to sharpen, and something like carbon that gets really sharp, but is easyto sharpen.

They wants something that stays sharp throughout cleaning and maybe quartering a deer.

Ive always just used what ever was on hand. Nothing ever fancy.

Would an 01 be good, or is there something better suited? Or plain old carbon, simple ats34?

I'm not familiar with all the different properties of current steels.

Thanks in advance
 
This may open another debate,
It's my experience that while carbon steels may be easier to sharpen than a Quality Stainless, Carbon also go dull faster!

There for, Stainless which is a bit harder to sharpen also stays sharp longer.

The Ats-34 would work, 440C or for a bit more get CPM-154 Stainless steel without going real expensive.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Laurence said it, you could really open a can of worms here. Don't forget that heat treating can be as important as steel selection. There's also an issue with toughness if he wants to do things like cut through joints or to split the pelvis or ribs. The new super steels that seem to stay sharp forever also tend to be a lot more brittle than spring steel or tool steel blades. You might try something like 52100. It's going to be stronger and tougher than many or most of the stainless steels out there and it has plenty of carbides for wear resistance. It is, however, one of those steels that is more reliably heat treated with an oven to get the best performance out of it. I have, however made a couple of test blades with it and one I had to clamp in a vice and beat on it with a 4 lb hammer to get it to break. I have decided to move away from that steel because, even though it is quite possible, it's not the best to heat treat with a gas forge.

My personal feeling about these stay sharp forever knives is that there is no excuse in going out hunting and not carry means to sharpen your knife. We are not talking about something that's going to take a hour to do. A dozen passes on a stone when your knife edge starts to drag with a couple a swipes on the side of your boot to strop the edge and you should be good to go. Even these wonder steel knives will go dull and I would rather have a blade that can be easily sharpened in the field.

Doug
 
I'm biased, but to me one of the best would be 01 with a proper HT. Holds an edge, but sharpens easy enough when needed. After two deer worked down to cooler portions, I touch mine up, but I've done three at a time without touch up being required.
 
I've skinned,gutted and quartered as many as 8 deer with my knife I made from D-2, then it needed touching up. I've processed as many as 14 deer wih my boning knife I made with D-2 before needing touching up. So my recomendation will have to be D-2!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top