Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire replaceable blade knives

Havalon, Gerber, Outdoor Edge, other? For dressing big game
What's the best and why?

I see that Gerber's blades are much more expensive. I watched a youtube video comparing the 3 but the guy was so hung up on germs that much of what he said was nonsense. He was very worried about hair, fat, and germs inside every gap. I'm sure he carried alcohol to pour over everything.

Slow morning so here’s my worthless tangent, required in each campfire thread.

Solid non-replaceable blades work fine for me and I prefer them. I don’t even like to change exacto or box cutter blades. I am fortunate in not having any trouble getting a good steel blade shaving sharp, and though I have not done it, have no interest in changing a razor blade in a slippery tool with cold hands in dim or no light.

Having said that, IME Gerber blades have all been a softer steel than my preference as judged by how poorly they hold an edge once sharp. Have no idea if this holds true for replaceables, probably not.

I might could like a replaceable system for cutting meat on a clean table while watching college football.

I like-and use- the Outdoor Edge, mainly because blades are easier to change than on the Havalon.

That said they don't last long, skinning and completely boning a large critter ( over 200 lbs) may require more than one blade.

But I travel and hunt a lot, and bring home the meat, and the spare blades are just plain easier and quicker to deal with than sharpening a fixed blade.

I use my old Buck knife, don’t need saws, Jack hammers, sazalls to skin and quarter an animal.
Them old boys in my deer camp would make fun of you if you pulled out something like that.

Thanks for reminding me. The spring steel for the blade lock broke the first time using it a couple of years ago in the field. I forgot I need to send it in. Example of one, and doesn't mean squat. Sharp as hell, and not a bad knife, but I don't know that I'd buy another one. My hunting buds swear by the Outdoor Edge knives. The ability to quickly change a blade is handy.

Of that replaceable blade knives, i like the outdoor edge.

Those knives have a place.

I’ll use it for peeling the hide off hogs. It’ll be full of mid and grit. Good place for a throwaway blade.

What do you do with the old blades?

The Havalon 60A blades are a bit thicker than the 60’s and work pretty well.

I’ll sharpen the outdoor edge blades a couple times with one of those carbide pull thru type sharpeners.

I have both the Outdoor edge and the Gerber. I prefer my fixed blade knives and my folding buck knives to either of the replaceable blade knives. The Outdoor edge knife is pretty sturdy but I had a lot of fat get stuck in the thing that supports the blade. If I had started out with one of them replaceable blades I would probably be fine but I started decades ago with a fixed blade and a sturdy folding knife blade and its hard to get used to them new replaceable blades.

I bet you have 3x the hunting experience than me but I have to disagree that spare blades are quicker and easier than sharpening a fixed blade. I never let my fixed blades get dull so it takes 5 seconds to keep them sharp and continue cutting meat.

Just as fast and easy with a fixed

I’ve used a havalon a lot over the last couple of years. Been able to gut, skin, quarter/debone around 2 deer without changing blades. Took a little practice to get to that point. I won’t let my son use one because he’s new enough that I’d be digging a broken blade from somewhere and that doesn’t sound like a good time to me. I bought a box of 100 of some type of #60 blades. They’re a little thicker than the off the shelf ones. 60X maybe? I throw the knife with 2 extra blades in and there’s nothing I haven’t been able to do in the last several years. It’s taken care of 6-8 deer, an elk, predators, pigs, and several other animals. They aren’t pretty, but they work damned well if you know what you’re doing.

My God! how did we ever gut, skin and process wild game before the "wonderful" invention of replaceable blades.
I guess I'm behind the times, I prefer my fixed blade knives.

I have only used the Havalon Piranta and have been doing so for about 5 years. I have used it on big game and coyotes and once I learned not to torque the blade I haven't broken a single blade. Changing blades is not difficult but I do use my Leatherman which is always in my pack. I always have a scalpel sharp blade no matter how tough/muddy the hide. I learned to buy replacement blades from a surgical supply Co. They are much better. I will continue to use it until someone gives me something better.


mike r

Those change-a-blade knives don't bother me.
There's a whole lot of people that can't sharpen
their own knives that would be better served by
going to such a system
I'm fortunate in that I can sharpen my knives
myself with a stone, and don't require any
jigs or guides or plug in machines.
If I couldn't do that, I'd have a couple of the
change out handles and a lifetime supply of blades
and not look back or give it a second thought.
The thought of not having a sharp knife with me
is a way worse possibility for me. I'd rather have
an exacto blade than nothing

I have been using havalon since they came out originally. The blades got a bit thicker. They are not good for side pressure but it takes one animal to learn and avoid that.

I clean lots of animals a year. Guide parts of the year etc...Typically deer wise I'm involved in about 50 deer a year. Maybe 30 pigs. And moose and bears etc... just kind of depends on the year. I also filet fish every day about 2 months of the year. I'm not sold on the filet knife from Havalon for that simply due to cost of blades. But they do work well. I hate the fact I have to sharpen my filet knives a time or two a day to hit em on ceramic, but just depends on how many salmon we are doing. I may still go over to the havalon filet knife totally in the future too.

Biggest animals are brown bears and moose.

Havalon is the only knife I use for the most part. I might use a fixed blade to help skin a bit, especially a ULU. But I generally take moose apart with 2-3 blades max. Have done it with 1 blade before too.

I hear all the folks about their old knives. Cool and all but sharpening is a waste of valuable time. If I use knives to be sharpened much I have a bag full of them. I'm not about to stop a job to sharpen a knife. And I usually sharpen when I"M back in civilization on paper wheels on a grinder quickly. Knife sharpening is like cleaning guns and loading ammo. It kinda has to be done but I avoid it as much as I can as I have much more enjoyable things to do.

My blade count on 2 mature bull moose last fall for clients was 4 blades and the 4th blade was used up to do 2 whitetails before it was dull enough to chunk.

Gut hooks are another thing. You can buy hook blades for safety knives.. saying you can do without is all macho and all but hooks speed up gutting and skinning at times. Very much so. AND cleaner, they can end up cutting much less hair in the process.

This.

I've quit using "regular" knives for processing, skinning, and field dressing deer.

Three years now, and I don't see me going back.

And, no, sharpening wasn't an issue. Convenience of the change blade is well worth it to me.

I have been using the outdoor edge for a number of years. Have a couple of them and a scalpel style.

I'll be honest, putting an edge on a fix blade was never my strong point.

Both of these posts.

After sharpening on the pull through carbide just pass the blade through the ceramic polishing sticks and it’s ready to shave hair again .

I have the Havalon and smaller Gerber.I use the Havalon when field processing elk.Fine for most of that,but I always have a hard fixed blade knife for removing legs and cutting heavy hide. The blades on those replaceable ones are too flimsy to trust as a survival knfe.
If you are in the packing business you need a study knife to cut pack rope or straps in a wreck.