My dedicated gutting knife is a Buck 102 fixed blade knife. It has special meaning for me as it was owned by my hunting and fishing mentor, a WWII veteran Marine pilot. It originally had its 4" blade, but his wife broke off the blade tip on frozen hamburgers. He took it to work (US Rubber Company) and had the shop reshape the blade. He then sharpened it at home. The blade is now 3" long and about perfect for field dressing a deer. He had small hands, and mine are extra large, but it works for me. My other gutting knife is also a Buck, the 112 folding knife, also with a 3" blade. I bought the 112 in 1973 and have had the 102 since 1985, when my friend died.
I have all his knives, mostly old Ka-Bars. Another with special meaning is his sandwich knife. It's a Camillus fishing knife which came out of one of the airplanes he flew in the South Pacific. Every survival kit in the plane's life raft had such a knife. It is wicked sharp. We used it to cut Hungarian bacon and onion for our sandwiches. Memories.....
