Does anyone have a Hibben Custom Hunting Knife?

What is your opinion of the quality of the steel and ability to hold an edge?

I think the Alaskan Small Guide Hunter is a very good design. Since they are hand made in China I was wanting to know if they were using good steel.

If you want the sparkiest looking Klingon Batleth for the next Trek Convention, Hibben is probably just the man.
If you want a serious hunting knife I would look somewhere else like Bob Dozier, Gene Ingram and others.................DJ

No,No, not the Dragons and Dungeon stuff.

This is a hunting knife with classic conservative design.

"Made in China" and good knife steel properly tempered are rarely found together. I think there are far better options out there...............DJ

Here we go, Alaskan Small Pro http://www.knivesplus.com/gil-hibben-knives.html Guide

420j is basically the low end of knife steels. It's stainless and hard to break but doesn't have very good edge retention. They are inexensive however so I guess you get what you pay for. I still think you could find a better knife for near the same price..............DJ

Djpaintles

Thanks, that's the answer I was searching for, someone who knew something about the quality of the metal.

These are only $35.00 wholesale. Too bad they did not use a good steel as the design and workmanship is good.

I know it isn't a fixed blade, but for just a few bucks more you can get a Spyderco Native in S30V which is a helluva lot better steel, the knife is handy to carry, etc. I skin and quarter lots of deer and hogs with mine.

Design is nice, but good steel, well tempered is the first part of having a good knife, within reason.

Craftsman, Here is a Knife steel chart that you might find interesting:

http://www.agrussell.com/knife_information/steel_guide/index.html


Of specific interest you might notice the typical Hardness of 420HC and 420J2................DJ

Thanks