Never have liked how my skinning knives work, when doing the gutting chore. Too awkward when up to my elbows, feeling my way down the spine, cutting everything loose (deer and elk).

Was wondering if anyone carries a blade that's dedicated to gutting? And if so, what is it....or, what are the dimensions?

I was thinking along the line of a Cold Steel, mini Pendleton fixed blade.....maybe with the higher grade steel (cpm-3v). Smaller and more control.... maybe less likely nicking something that oozes green?

Any suggestions?



Andy3

For deer I liked to hold the knife this way ,with my index finger covering the tip . Turned upright while zipping the the belly ,it gave me confidence not to puncture intestines . This is 6-7/8" OAL drop ,blade 3-1/4" with 3' of edge .










I have field dressed deer with a smaller blade but when it came to the part about cutting around the anus ,the shorter blade wasn't that good .
This is a personal preference of course .

Anything longer than this knife ,it seemed to hold it this way it got kinda dangerous as your hand would be on the blade in front of the handle

The cheap/easy answer is something that uses scapel blades. I prefer the Gerber version to the Havalon, but have used both. Easier/safer to change blades on the Gerber. I'm also a fan of the #70 scapel blade. It has a blunt tip. Keeps me from poking holes in things.

For gutting - cutting the hide and open the belly,

The outdoor edge swingblaze works well.

As does the old Wyoming knife.

IMO a good gutting blade should also be a good skinning blade. 3-3.5" semi skinner design is just about perfect, as is a canadian belt knife design in the same blade length. Why carry two knives into the field when one will do.

I use several different knives when processing a deer or hog. I have different types and sizes and use them because some are better than others for specific tasks. For field dressing, unzipping if you will, I like a smaller knife.

https://www.knivesplus.com/outdoor-edge-whitetail-skinner-oe-wt10.html

Hard to beat this IMHO. The t handle lets you keep secure grip, easy to sharpen, gut hook unzips really easy. Use the heck out of one for a long time till I lost it.

When my god friend's girlfriend started hunting, I picked her up the pink version if the swingblade. Long story short, we used the [bleep] out of 'her' knife for a couple seasons until she made the mistake of leaving it with his hunting schitt and he inevitably lost it.
I haven't found a pink one for her since, and still feel that I owe her a replacement.

Maybe she'd be happier with one of your sets in pink kydex!

Get ahold of Tim Olt (Michigan Roadkill) and ask him for a 4 3/4 inch version of his Michigan Slim. It will come in S35VN steel which is the easiest steel to live with that I have used. I have what amounts to 4 different length version of his Michigan Slim, and the one he made for me with the Buffalo Horn Handle wins the Goldilocks prize for gutting Bambi. I posted a picture of it here, so it's in this forum and in the one for just holding pictures.

S35VN holds its edge as well as S30V, it is stainless, it is easy to sharpen.

One of these is what I would like to get my hands on, fairly scarce though.

Puma gutting knife

There are a lot of reasonably good working knives and different ones work for different users.

I have yet to find anything that works better for me than a standard Bob Loveless drop point pattern with
a 3 1/2" to 4" blade for gutting, bung hole and skinning overall. A semi skinner seems to be pretty versatile also.

Many preferences from many users. Really does not need to be a big knife as MILES358 mentioned above.
And then.
Big, small. Fixed, folder, interchangeable, scales, which of many really good steels...........


My 2 cents.

That's cool.

When we were shooting a lot of deer on damage tags we had a couple poly handled F. Dick knives with similar blades. When quickly gutting a lot of deer they were very handy.

That rounded point Puma makes perfect sense, for internal work, when you are going by feel more than sight.

I'm thinking of taking one of my fixed/drop point blades, and grinding a rounded (butter knife) nose on it, with no edge or point. About 3"-3.5" with lots of belly in it. And, gripping it like Vince pictured, above.

Something like a small buck 684..... https://www.buckknives.com/product/684-bucklite-max-ii-small-knife/?sku=0684BKS-B


Thanks for all the input, guys....great suggestions, all.

Andy3

I use a caping blade a lot still, but have moved to gutless because I mostly am working out of a backpack.

Your huckleberry is probably something like we used trapping. I lost mine but replaced it with a caper, and for me it's tough to decide which is better.
https://www.knivesofalaska.com/Store/muskrat/muskrat---suregrip

The technique that Vince noted is what I do when opening the gut. I prefer a 2.75-3.25" blade for all that I do, 3" being my favorite. A lot of the cutting I do while processing is with my index finger on the back of the blade, though usually farther back than Vince shows (unless I'm opening the gut).

On hunts in an adjoining state, I can't bring bone in, so I use the gutless method there. There's a fair amount of skinning on the tailgate then removing meat. I can handle the skinning with a slim dropped point or a skinner/semi-skinner. The finer work removing meat...I don't like to remove meat with a skinner or semi-skinner. For the way I use a knife, if using a single knife for everything, I prefer a slim drop point like Tim's dropped MI Slim.

Something like this Ingram Slim Hunter will take a deer from field to table...

Outdoor Edge Zip Blade or Outdoor Edge Swing Blade

Maybe it is because of my skinning technique, but never have an issue. I leave all the guts in the chest cavity and only lower and expose just enough to remove the inner loins. I never have an issue cutting the stomach.

You can take the brisket off with a knife. Once that's off and the belly open you can cut the wind pipe and pull most all the insides out by sight, with the help of a knife.

Just curious... If I'm getting what you're saying, you zip open the belly, then leave the guts in the cavity and just push them out of the way to get the loins?

I used a guide with a guy that had a custom set made by a maker in eastern AZ who’s name I can’t remember. One was a skinning knife and the other was a gutting knife. The gutting knife was backwards so to speak. The cutting edge of the blade was on top and the spine was on the bottom with the handle in a regular position. The end of the blade had an unsharpened round “point” He could slit an elk lickety split and never worry about punching a gut. Interesting purpose driven design.

Mornin, I put this on the other Puma thread but no response. Once saw a Puma fixed blade & in the handle it had a gutting blade that opened like a jack knife. Can't understand why someone hasn't tried this before??? If it was done right I don't think it would weaken the handle. No more than a hidden tang knife. Ya would take some special machining but with cnc would just be another line in the cnc program. Now I've only seen the one Puma like this & lm on knife sites a lot. PS that swing blade is a heck of an idea too. Even the double blade folder would work but again ,maybe to weak for other tasks. What ya think. GWPGUY. 🐾👣🇨🇦

"What you think?" I think it's a lot of talk and fuss over nothing. I don't understand the need for a special blade for gutting.

A good gutting knife is a good skinning knife is a good butchering knife is a good steak knife.

Never saw the need for more than one well balanced razor sharp blade.

What's 'need' have to do with it?

I like a sharp point to one for everything. Like to poke into the hide first, the just turn It over and don't pop the stomach. Like at least 5 or 6 inches of blade to free the lungs, heart, and windpipe, then pull all out in one clump. I've gutted a heck of alot of deer sized stuff with an old sharpfinger that is carbon steel.

So many experts on here, who new??? Thanks for your time. GWPGUY. 🐾👣🇨🇦

Huntsman2, ya I've bought chit I just had to & never did use it. Including many, many knives!!! Use some of it for awhile then give it to kids. Used to put 22 rimfire boxes in mail boxes were kids lived on our road. Just the ones I new the parents & got permission. Eventually they clued in, always said from Santa. GWPGUY 🐾👣🇨🇦

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.....

Buck 116. Probably my favorite pure gutting knife although ringing the bung hole isn't the easiest.

Ruana #10, To many deer and elk gutted to remember

Any small stockman