Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Knife design for boned out meat?

Thought I'd throw this out there. Might not be the right forum but you all outa know as well as anyone.

What's your favorite blade design (shape,lenght) for working on boneing out a critter in the middle of la-la land. I pretty much know any kill I'm gonna be involved with the next couple seasons is gonna require a lot of meat cutting.

I have a friend that can build me anything I think will be the tool for the job. The more pic's and suggestion's the better.

Thanks for the help guys

CD

As far as I'm concerned the knife you're describing was perfected in 1957 as the #1 DH Russell Canadian Belt Knife mfg'd by Grohmann. I've been using one for going on twenty years... I've tried to like other knives but always come back to the Grohmann.

Brad think you can come up with a pic in the next couple weeks? I'll try to find a link. Thanks for the reply.

CD

Brad pretty much think this is the link?

http://www.grohmannknives.com/

Thanks Brad

My 3-bladed folding stockman's knife does everything I want a knife to do...

Just for you!

This is my newer one... old one looks like a dog chewed it (grin):

wyoming knife. plastic, very light for packing in. guts, skins and carves. I will admit it's not the best choice for the carving but for all purpose and keeping down the weight it's my choice. I always pack in a spare blade. Just watch those fingers with the gut hook on one side and that blade on the other. A little off topic and perhaps needs a new thread, but what saw are you guys packing in?

I use a number 70 scalpel for skinning and boning. As for a saw I have a cheap super light Gerber. I tried liking a Wyoming saw but it just weighs to much.

Thank's. That looks like the "tool" for the job!

I like the #1 Russell as well. Reasonably light but strong. Time-tested product. I also use a Wyoming saw, the small version, not perfect but better than most I have tried.

Butchers use a knife specifically called a boning knife. A neighbor was the head butcher for a large chain of grocery/meat stores and he brought his knives over and boned out a buck for me once. I learned a ton. Much of the time he held the boning knife in a stabbing position, sharp edge down, holding a bone up with his left hand and pulling the blade down it with his right. He kept the tip in touch with bone much of the time, using the belly of the blade less.

I have a couple of boning knives and use them when at home. Any good knife shop or knife set should have one. The blade looks like a shorter fish fillet knife and they work exceptionally well. Here is a photo of one http://www.askthemeatman.com/knives.htm

For backpack work however, the main knife is my little Bucklite with a four inch locking folding blade. If it is not too far a backpack, or a day hunt with pack, I sometimes carry a fish fillet knife as well. The long skinny fillet blade, if razor sharp, is superb for filleting out the long section of steaks along both sides of the backbone, neck to pelvis in one piece. It is also superb for filleting all of the meat off of the ribs in one sheet because the blade is long enough to lie flat across at least two ribs, guiding the cut. Let the blade follow the bone, sliding along. It makes a super clean cut, without pressure or much effort. The fine tip on the fillet knife also does a good job getting the strip of meat between ribs, especially the little curved section near the spine, with thicker meat. On thin small bucks, there isn't enough meat between the ribs to make it worth it, only membrane.

When I gut the animal and carry out a chunk, then sometimes I bring the fillet knife or a real boning blade back with me on the second trip and do the boning then. I usually have a complete knife set at my vehicle. But often I bone without gutting, on the spot to let the meat start cooling.

If you gut, the fish fillet knife does a good job cutting the rectum area inside the pelvis bone.

I don't backpack but I cut a lot of meat and I second the motion of using a butchers boning knife. There are a lot of good brands and blade lengths out there but I like a Victorinox five inch boning knife. It seem as if the handle (some type of rubber) is a little larger and fits my hand better. They come in an angled or straight blade. I made a sheath for mine and carry it instead of the typical hunting knife. Sorry I don't have a digital camera. You can get them reasonable on E-bay sometimes. miles

It seems that there are as many knife designs as rifle calibers and every one claims theirs is the best. I spent a couple of years in the meat lab while in college and had my share of time skinning and boning and had the luxury of a skinning knife and a boning knife.

If you are just breaking a large animal down in indian quarters (2 shoulders, 2 loins,2 tenderloins and 2 hams plus neck and rib meat) a 4-5" fixed blade general skinning knife serves the task well. It is when you go to bone out the shoulder that a flexible fillet style knife earns its pack space.

My father has a knife that was a gift from his mother in law that I think is almost a perfect design. Its 5" blade is narrower than the traditional fixed blade Maybe even only 3/4" or 1" deep. If I can get a photo of it I would love to find out it's trade name. All I know is that it was made by Gerber in the 60's. Despite it's thinner blade, I have watched my father split the brisket on a blacktail buck year after year with that very blade.

I prefer an extra inch of blade length and modest blade thickness especially when disjointing the hinds.....last year I used a Knives of Alaska Alpha Wolf for that purpose and really liked it.

We usually completely bone out 1-4 bull moose every fall....it's a lot of meat and I like to keep the meat as intact as possible and the longer blade allows me to reach in along femur and seperate meat from bone....

Swiss Army "Fireman" as a general purpose tool and one of the little cheapy "fillet" knives that are sold blister packed at K-Mart type stores. They are fairly soft and flexible and sharp-up well with a stroke or two on a diamond stick.

Worthless for general purpose work but great for boning.

Oh yeah...........they are also very light.........

JimF

Hey, looks who's back!

Nice to see ya Jim!

Ski selling season is winding down so I'm back for the summer backpacking season.

JimF

If you want to travel light, using just one knife for all gutting, skinning, quartering, and boning, I'd suggest the Grohmann/D.H. Russell #2 RCF. (R=Rosewood, C=Carbon steel, F=Flat grind)



I just got my first one of these last January, and haven't had a chance to use it on any big game, yet, but it is very similar to my old stand-by, the Grohmann/D.H. Russell #1 RCF. The slimmer blade on the #2 will make boning a bit easier, I expect. They are available direct from the factory via KnivesDirect.com

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If you're looking for a "dedicated" boning knife, then I will just say that I am very partial to my wife's 5" Wusthof "Classic" #4602). (Probably best if she doesn't know.) Anyway, here's a picture of it:



If this knife had one of those nice, warm, grippy Forschner "fibrox" handles, it would be my ideal boning knife for cold weather field use. The handle is very comfortable, otherwise, and the blade length, shape and flex is about perfect, IMO. I guess a little hockey tape on the handle would make it grippier and warmer.

I would pair this one up with my old Grohmann #1 RCF, pack weight permitting.

Hey guys,

I've always liked the look of the Russell #1 but I've never used one. What makes it such a great knife?

Thanks,

TBP

It fills the hand just right and the blade is set at a comfortable angle so the knife just seems to do the work.Something to do with ergonomics. The blades are good quality as well. I have several Ghromann knives. Having said all this, I am also very partial to the Knives of Alaska series. Particularly the Alpha Wolf and the Jaeger boning knife. In a backpacking scenario with only one one knife, I would be hard pressed to choose between my Russell knife or the Alpha Wolf.