I'm looking to buy a friend of mine a knife for Christmas and I might pick one up for my wife as well since she did great this year and bagged a nice fat doe for the freezer.

I know the Grohmann Original is the original and KoA Yukon copied the design but what I'm more interested in is which of the two has the better steel that will do what I need it to.

I live in Manitoba, Canada and it does get cold here during hunting season. I was out on Saturday and it was -15F and it will get colder still. I need a knife that won't get brittle (if that can even happen with knife steel), hold an edge and I can get sharp again in the field if I need to.

I know nothing of metalurgy. The Yukon has D2 steel and I'm not sure what the Grohmann uses but they do offer carbon and high carbon steel blades. Which of those 3 would be best for what the knife would be used for, namely skinning deer and maybe a moose now and then and also de-boning if needed to pack stuff out of the field. Which of the 3 steels will hold an edge, not chip in the cold and can be re-sharpened without to much effort in field conditions? As in freezing cold with gloves on so oil stones etc. won't really work. Which of the 3 won't rust?

Basically I want a knife that will last forever and do the job. I really like the design of those knives but the person I spoke to at a store really didn't know much about anything (more and more the case these days it seems) so I came to ask the experts.

Also the Yukon is a plastic handle is this correct? Will it hold up in the cold? Does it chip?

If you know your stuff I'd love to hear your recommendations on which knife I should get for less than $100 (I think they both are) that will last a life time and will be something that my friend and wife will cherish as a piece of quality workmanship and utility.

Also the Grohmann knives are available in a flat grind version. Is this an advantage for the proposed uses? I didn't see this option on the Yukon.

Lastly both knives are either made in USA or Canada is this correct? I do NOT want to buy anything made in China or elsewhere other than perhaps Germany (I have a nice Puma knife from there).

Cheers

Well, there's a whole pile of different factors that come into play to properly answer your question. First of all, most modern CUSTOM (and some factory) knives will skin a moose or two without needing to be resharpened unless he's covered in mud.

Personally I find the knives that are large enough to be good at deboning to be large than I PREFER to use for skinning and field dressing. Obviously others have a different opinion and it can be done with a 15 inch bowie but I prefer something on the order or 2 1/2 to 4 inches for my field knives. The 4 inch knives de-bone okay but are a bit short. Want a good deboner cheap, buy a Forschner 6 inch boning knive for less than $20. All that said, of the choices you mention, I'd go with D2. If you have to resharpen in field often and fast, I'd use a diamond stone.

Finally, I'd like to point out that for just a few bucks more you can buy very fine CUSTOM knives from Jason Winston that are true customs. He makes most of his using blades from D2. For the money there are few better blades available. His site. There are also some very fine Canadian makers that I can name but most of them seem to be more expensive.

One more thought, you can buy a Buck 110 Alaskan Guide knife (there are other models as well but the folding feature makes for a good backup) from Cabela's for $80 which has an S30V blade. While there are certainly other steels in the running, S30V is enough better than D2 to be what most people call a step up. D2 is cheaper and easier to work with while still performing extremely well is why it is still used by so many makers. The Buck used to be $70 and was one of the great bargains of knifedom if you didn't mind the heft of the 110. It is still a very fine knife that will outperform most others and almost ALL others for less than $100.

Thank you for the reply. I emailed him and will see if he emails me back.

Jason is the son, but a mature man in his own right, of the well known knifemaker, David Winston, who is having health problems (back)at this time. Not surprisingly his knives are very similar to his Dad's, but he is developing individual touches as he goes along. Let me know if you don't hear back from him. Good luck.

I really like that design to. I have the Grohmann #1 flat grind in stainless steel and the KOA Yukon. The Yukon stays sharp longer and generally I think it's a better knife. That's what I usually carry.

The handle on the Yukon is a rubber material. It seems to hold up very well. D2 tool steel is easy to sharpen with a diamond stone.

Two of my friends have the Yukon knife also and we've used them a lot on elk and deer. It's a nice knife for field dressing. There are better knives for boning, like the "6 Forschner boning knife Gatogordo mentioned.

I don't know where KOA knives are made. The company is in Texas. You could call them up and ask.

KOA has a website. On it you will see that they offer their knives w/ different types of steel. Personally I like D2 tempered hard as used by Bob Dozier. D2 IS NOT stainless and will rust if not cared for.
I also have the Grohman trout/bird model. Neat, usable knife. I use it mainly to clean deer & hogs. Grohman steel is stainless, but softer than I prefer. Good luck on you quest.