what knife do you like for the fur trade? I am looking for something that has a shorter and thin blade. I have used pocket knives for those small critters but man these schit get in the grooves. so what do you all use?

I use the reground knives that minnesota trapline sells, they are cheap and they work really well. I used my buddies havalon to skin a couple marten and wolverine and it worked really well.

My wife does the lions share of our fur skinning uses a scapel with a #22 blade. I skin most of our beavers and use a Case Trapper or a Havalon. For fleshing a round tip beaver skinner or we frost flesh them with a scraper type.

Russel Green River paring knife is good for fox, bobcat etc.

I use a Havalon knife the small one with a metal grip. I have skinned a couple coons with it and one beaver.

Like poboy, my son and I bought green river paring knife blades from smokey mt. Knife works. We reshaped the tips and grip a little and put lam. wood handles on them. They work well are easy to sharpen and are only $7.99. We also bought a couple of the buffalo skinner blades for beaver. We've been using them as is but i plan on rounding the tip. I think they are only $13. I'll post a pic if you want to see them.
Will

Knives of Alaska "Muskrat". Sweet small knife with the rounded tip. Holds a good edge also.

Victorinox paring knife is a great little small game skinner.
Amazon has em for six bucks shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...ctorinox+paring+knives&condition=new

Havalon's another good one but they're a little spendy.
They're folders too but the skeletonized frame makes clean up a snap.
I skin at home these days but I can see where they'd really shine skinning in the field.
http://www.havalon.com/the-piranta-skinning-knives.html


Or my old favorite Russel Woods Walker but the prices have doubled since I bought my last one.
FWIW, that optional leather sheath fits perfectly in a pair of carpenter jeans if you cut the flap off.
Very handy!
http://www.agrussell.com/ag-russell-woodswalker-in-leather-hip-pocket-sheath/p/AGPRS/

The reconditioned packing house knives from MTP mentioned above are pretty hard to beat too.
Looks like they're on sale right now. Heck, you can get four for the price of one Woods Walker.
http://www.minntrapprod.com/Resharpened-Skinning-Knives/productinfo/RESP-001/

I added this Knives of Alaska Caper to my rotation this year.
I like the rubberized grip and blade design ALLOT but it's softer than my other D2 knives. Course soft steel sharpens easy so it's not a big deal. It's definitely a keeper.


There's lots of skinners out there and they all get the job done.
Just depends on what ya like but the ones I've listed above are good starting points.
Luck

A friend gave us one of the vixtorinox paring knives like fieldgrade posted a link to. My son used it on the last couple coons and said it worked well. The blade point could easily be reshaped too If you thought it was necessary. Hard to beat for the price.

Yea,,, those little knives have allot better steel than the price would suggest and being so thin they'll take an edge like a scalpel. I'm not sure I'd try reshaping it an ruining the heat treat being as thin as it is though unless you do it with a file.
A friend told me there was a guy at one time making kydex keck sheaths for them and marketing them as a bird and trout knife.
Allot better than all the Chinaland junk out there for allot less money IMO.

You have to really take your time reshaping and keep dipping in cold water or like you said, or you'll over heat and ruin the temper of the blade.

I think I'll leave mine alone.
It's fine for my needs just the way it is.

FWIW,,,, for those that like a rounded or even dull tip, Havalon has replacement blades in various configurations.

picked up a 12 ga from menefee.





have a pair of customs ordered from Dale Howe, too. They should be ready in a month.....

That one looks like it will get the job done! My wife gave me a Dunn minker for Christmas a couple years ago that I really like, holds an edge forever but it takes diamond stones to sharpen. I'd post some pics but it's been so long I've forgotten how to link them to photobucket....I'll see if I can figure it out.

menefee certainly understands requirements for fur knives.he is employed as a goverment trapper. cranky72

menefee certainly understands requirements for fur knives.he is employed as a goverment trapper. cranky72

Nice!

I slum a vicki parer

Here are our favorites. The top one is the Dunn minker, the next 2 down are the russells green river that my son and I reshaped and put scales on. We made the sheaths patterned after the Dunn as you can tell. He was 12 when he did his and pretty much did it by himself. The bottom is the vix. paring.

I put Axis scales on my Green River parer.

Back when I did a little of it, I used my EDC knife which was a OLD Schrade Walden Trapper (60s Schrade).
Some years ago my then landlady's thieving son stole it and a Buck pocket knife) and I use other knives now.

Don't miss the Buck except for the $s spent, BUT I sure liked the Trapper.

huntsman,

that menefee knife you have on this post, is this the same menefee that posts knifes on tis forum? what is his website if he is not associated with 24HR. looks to be a nice knife but probably more tan $6 lol

$6 bucks might just cover the postage...... Rick Menefeee is the maker. He hangs out here,posts knives on this forum AND has a website.....good guy.

I am not in the fur trade but I do process a number of pelts a year, including a lot of raccoon and rabbits. I have come to use a Mora Craftline Q and I really like. It is becoming my go to knife.

http://www.amazon.com/Morakniv-Craftline-Allround-Utility-3-8-Inch/dp/B004GAVOUU