I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but I think the Crotts Semi Skinner in the original post is about as good as a hunting knife gets. I, like any other outdoor enthusiast, like knives. In particular, hunting knives. The problem is, that knife design in many many cases leave a lot to be desired. They look nice, but in use the shine wears off rather quickly.

A hunting knife really has four major functions. It needs to split well, it needs to skin, it needs to slice, and it needs a point for finer work. Caping comes to mind. We will not go into butchering or skinning a locker full of cows. Size of a hunting knife is a personal thing, but a 3-3.5” blade is plenty for most field work in a hunting knife.

Splitting is where most knives fall a bit short. A lot of hunting knives traditionally were clip points. They will have a tendency to dive and will soon fatigue your hand. Slice through your meat. Dull when diving into bone etc. Too much drop and your wrist will tire. Bob Loveless had to be considering splitting when he designed his Dropped Hunter and Semi Skinner.

When skinning you need enough belly sweep to work well. But in my mind, an excessively abrupt transition from belly to point also requires too much lift at the wrist. One aspect of the Dropped Hunter that I do not care for. It also “blunts” the point making it less than ideal for fine work. Keep in mind that I’m thinking of skinning game in the field on the ground. It’s hard enough kneeling or leaning over your work without having to fight your knife at unnatural angles.

Slicing requires a nice thin grind (I like mine hollow), enough flat length, and moderate upsweep to the belly of the blade. Fine work needs a “V” shaped steep angled tip.

So no, I don’t think there is much better than a Dan Crotts Semi Skinner. As another big proponent of this design says. There are a lot of knives that perform these individual functions well. I haven’t found one that does them better.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]