How many buffalo (cape, water, or bison) can your favorite knife skin and still hold a shaving edge? Also what steel is it made of.

Please no comments about deer. The reason is that I find deer extremely easy to skin and they do not begin to test a knife's mettle like a buffalo hide.

Thanks

Don,

Thanks for the link, but I do not see any reference to the number of buffalo (any species) that the knife can skin and still retain a shaving edge.

It took 5 to skin a bull Giraffe

quote:

Originally posted by ScottS:
Don,

Thanks for the link, but I do not see any reference to the number of buffalo (any species) that the knife can skin and still retain a shaving edge.

Ed Fowler knives are supposed to be the absolute best at skinning and retaining an edge. At
least that's what is reported in BLADE magazine.

They have been written up there for african use
several times.

But, damn, over three grand for a knife?

For that kind of money, it had better skin the animal all by itself!

Don,

I have heard all that before (not specific to any individual custom knife maker). My issue is that the sales pitch says the knife stays sharp. The edge failure mode suggests that the premium steels may provide some benefit. The field experience says that the high end steels dull, for all practical purposes, as quickly in buffalo hide as the cheap ol' 1095 or 420 HC. The insult to injury is that both 1095 and 420HC are f$*@ing easy to sharpen compared to D2, ATS34, S30V, etc, etc.

So I am asking for field experience, hopefully not biased by ego/pride due to the large outlay of cash for these exquisite (works of art not necessarily function) custom knives.

In my experience nothing dulls a knife as quickly as buffalo hide (deer and elk do not even begin to compare).

Thanks again for your links and comments.

If it is Cape Buffalo you are referring to, that's why God made black trackers. They can use whatever knife they want and don't bother me about it. On our buffalo, I only skinned one, and the knife that worked the best was an old Ruana - carbon blade.

Bill,

I have skinned at least one of all (cape, water, and bison). I used premium steel knives on each of them and they held their edge no better than the "cheap" steel knives (1095 or 420HC etc)

quote:

Originally posted by ScottS:
Bill,

I have skinned at least one of all (cape, water, and bison). I used premium steel knives on each of them and they held their edge no better than the "cheap" steel knives (1095 or 420HC etc)

Perhaps you seek a knife made from: UNOBTANIUM ! Hope you find it! Keep us posted.

Scott,

Have you ever used a knife made from 52100? If so, how does it hold up?

I have a blade that was made for me a few years ago, and I'm just now putting a handle on it. I was wondering what to expect?

Regards,

Don

I find it takes less time to keep a knife sharp by touching it up after each use vs letting it get really dull.

I have also seen some guy's continue to use a knife that was so dull it would hardly cut butter.

Don,

Never used 52100. I am familiar with that alloy in it's more traditional role ie bearings.

I have used:
D2
ATS34
S30V
0170-6 (51100)
1095
440C
420HC
400 series from Gerber (now that SUCKS)

I really wouldn't expect 52100 to hold up in buffalo, anyway, any better than than the other steels I listed (except that cheap Gerber crap, I think wood would work better than that stuff).

I have been talking to a few guys and their experience is leading me toward ceramics and even obsidian.

MHC,
Believe me I don't let them go too far, but the premium steels aren't as easy to touch up as the so-called lesser steels.

We don't have buffalo of any type on our ranch, but the feral hogs with their dried-mud coats are really tough on blades. I keep a steel nearby, and it gets used frequently, as soon as I feel the cutting resistance start to increase.

dustoffer,

Try one of those steels on properly heat treated premium blade steels (D2, ATS34, S30V, etc). Those steels work pretty good on 420HC and 1095, though.

ScottS,

I use knifes with the following steel: D2, S30V and ATS34.

I think S30V holds the edge the longest, but I really like the D2, because it also holds a good edge (not as long as the S30V), but the D2 is much easier to touch up and bring back to razor sharp. I let our trackers use a Gene Ingram knife with D2 steel to skin a hippo. A hippo's hide is about 1" thick. When they were finished the knife was still sharp, but not shaving sharp. I ran it over a set of crock sticks (little pocket model that costs about $2) and brought the blade back to shaving sharp with little effort.

Whatever knife I am using I touch up the blade several times with a steel or a diamond stone when working on an animal.
That way my knife is always lazer sharp.

PS I used to be a butcher.