A knife is a piercing and cutting tool that people use not only in everyday life, but also when hunting. It has a different shape, blade sharpening and design. Any man can make a hunting knife with his own hands, as this is easy to do. The material and manufacturing technology are selected depending on the purpose of the tool.

Design features

To prevent the hunter's hand from getting tired while working with a knife, the center of gravity of the tool is shifted closer to the handle. This reduces the stress on the brush and increases cutting efficiency. The tool becomes easier to use. Features of hunting knives:

Since hunting homemade knives are used in any weather, making them take into account the climatic zone in which they will be used. A tool with a massive wooden handle is used in conditions of high humidity and severe frost. The handle, made of wood material, does not freeze to the hand in frosty weather and does not slip out of the palm during wet weather. There are no patterns on the grip and no notches for the fingers. Without them, the tool is more convenient to use.

In order not to lose or injure the knife during carrying, it is stored in a sheath. In addition, the case protects the instrument from harmful atmospheric influences. The scabbard is made of wood and leather with straps for attaching to a belt.

Purpose of the tool

Cutting is the main purpose of the knife, but hunters use the tool for many other functions depending on the circumstances.

With a knife:

1. They skinned the caught prey.
2. Cut the carcass into pieces.
3. They finish off the wounded animal.
4. Defend against the attack of an angry beast.
5. Set up the camp.
6. They chop up branches and open cans.

In rare cases, the tool is used as a weapon.

Self-made knife

Sometimes the products sold in the store are substandard or expensive. Therefore, you can make a hunting knife at home. To make a tool, you need special tools and skill in working with metal. The work consists of several stages:

Life-size drawings of hunting knives can be made with your own hands or you can use ready-made schemes. Of the tools, you will need a mounting table with a vise, a drill, files, diamond files, a current rectifier and other small tools.

Step-by-step instruction

Before you start making a knife for hunting and fishing with your own hands, prepare a drawing. The finished parts, the handle and the blade, will be riveted together and fixed with a rivet.

Crafting and sharpening the blade

The steel for the blade must have special hardness, ductility and anti-corrosion properties. These properties are possessed by steel under the P6M5 brand. The material is commercially available, it is often used to create pendulum saws.

Carbon steel of 65 G grade has good resistance to corrosion. It keeps sharpening quality due to its hardness. If such materials are not available, you can use a metal hacksaw or any other tool.

The blade is done like this:

Installing the handle

Wood is the most suitable raw material for the handle. Apple, maple, ash and other dense varieties of trees make good blanks. But the ideal raw material is birch bark. The material is placed in a container with water and boiled for 2 hours. After heat treatment, it softens. It is thoroughly dried, then a blank is made.

Conifers are not used for the handle. As a blank, you can use a leg from an old chair or other furniture. The manufacturing and installation scheme is as follows:

Sheath for protection

Various materials at hand are suitable for the manufacture of the scabbard. These can be planks from old boxes and leather. Manufacturing process:

After making a simple model of a hunting knife, you can start creating more complex products.

In everyday life, a knife is an indispensable tool. You cannot do without it in any household. The models on sale do not always meet the requirements for reliable and functional samples. To get a blade that combines the best characteristics, you will have to make it yourself. Recently, information on how to make a knife with your own hands has become very popular.

The advantages of homemade models

A huge assortment of knives is now on sale. You can get confused in it, but with some effort you can always find a ready-made model suitable for specific purposes. However, there is always a chance to face a poor-quality blade or an incomplete match of the finished model to expectations.

If the required model is not available for sale, you can ask for help from a blacksmith who will make a custom-made blade.

But such work, performed in accordance with the wishes of the customer, is quite expensive. Usually, in such a situation, the idea comes up to make a knife with your own hands from start to finish.

If you make a blade yourself, you can achieve a number of advantages:

Assortment in stores

Any quality product is always expensive. In addition, the selection of truly reliable and functional models is not as wide as we would like. More often, models are on sale for which there are no increased requirements for mechanical characteristics and functionality. These fairly common products are often:

• do not have sufficient strength, therefore they break easily;
• are made of the cheapest steel, therefore they do not have the necessary hardness for cutting hard materials, they do not keep sharpening well and quickly become blunt, which makes it impossible to perform the necessary functions;
• do not differ in high durability due to low-quality assembly, which cannot cost more than the materials used.

These common knives are usually inexpensive. When they become unusable, they are simply thrown away and replaced with new ones. But this approach cannot be called rational, because it is not always possible to go to the store for a new purchase. The knife is often used by tourists and hunters far from civilization. He must not only brilliantly cope with the responsibilities assigned to him, but also be reliable enough so as not to let down his owner at a crucial moment.

To buy a quality blade at an affordable price, you need to carefully study the market and all the offers presented on it. It is imperative to have a minimum technical knowledge of knife steels, their characteristics and the mechanical properties of the finished blade. However, you can go the other way, applying this knowledge in practice on your own. So many do when deciding to make a knife on their own.

Purpose and characteristics

The manufacture of any knife is always preceded by the choice of the required type. Not only the characteristics of the future product, but also the conditions for its manufacture depend on the purpose and operating conditions.

Most often, knives of the following types are independently made:

There is often a misconception in which the purpose of a hiking and hunting knife is confused. Among newcomers to the field of tourism and hunting, there is an opinion that it is possible to make one universal blade that will cope with all the necessary tasks with equal success. However, this is not the case.

Touring models are designed primarily for rough work. For them, high hardness is also important, but fragility when working on a fracture is categorically unacceptable. For hunting models, hardness always comes first, because their most important characteristic is the sharpness of the blade. Butchering prey with a tourist knife is quite problematic due to the relatively soft blade, and a hunting blade can simply be broken if you try to use it instead of a camping one.

It is impossible to create a universal blade for all conditions. You always have to improve some qualities at the expense of reducing other characteristics. If you plan to solve a wide range of tasks, it makes sense to make several knives, each of which will perform its own function.

When the first stage is passed and the type of future knife is selected, the preparatory work has not yet been completed. Before you start manufacturing, you still need to select the necessary materials. The most important element of any knife is the blade. The next stage begins with the selection of the steel required for its manufacture.

Choice of steel

The type of knife dictates the operating conditions. According to these conditions, it is necessary to choose the steel that will best meet the tasks assigned to the blade.

The most important blade characteristics that should be considered when choosing a steel grade are:

• hardness obtained as a result of heat treatment according to the required mode;
• toughness, which is responsible for resistance to chipping and brittle fracture;
• corrosion resistance required for work in special conditions and in contact with liquids;
• wear resistance required under conditions of increased blade loads.

Damascus and damascus deserve great popularity as a material for blades. But to obtain such blanks, you need the knowledge and experience of a professional blacksmith. Even with the ability to use forging equipment, making them is quite difficult. Not every experienced blacksmith is capable of this. You can buy a ready-made blank, but it will be quite expensive.

More often, more affordable alloy steels are used, which are much easier to work with. In our country, the following steel grades are most often used for the production of knives:

Other brands are less commonly used because they are less common or lack the required characteristics.

The process of making a knife yourself contains a large number of stages. Each of them deserves a detailed description, including all the nuances and advice of experienced craftsmen. Simplistically, all actions can be divided into the following operations:

If you have experience with metal, it is not so difficult to make knives with your own hands at home. Videos on this topic, shot by experienced craftsmen, will always help you understand the intricacies of all stages of production. With each new self-made blade, the skill level will grow, which will allow you to create excellent designs with high technological properties and decorative characteristics.

Hunting knives are an indispensable attribute of a real hunter. Although some believe that this weapon serves only to finish off the beast, good hunting knives are capable of solving many problems that a hunter faces.

The best hunting knives can be used for the following operations:

• Finishing off the beast;
• Skinning;
• Butchering of an animal caught on a hunt;
• Helps to equip the camp;
• It can be used for cooking and cutting food.

Some hunters have several good knives of excellent quality, each of which is used for its own purposes:

• Carving knives are used only for cutting prey and skinning (although some hunters also use a special skinning knife);
• The "camp" knife is used only for setting up the camp. As a rule, this is a massive leucco knife or cleaver;
• Food knives. These can be both ordinary kitchen knives and Finnish type utility knives.

Many hunters use a folding hunting knife for cutting products, which does not take up much space in a backpack, and in extreme cases can be used as a backup knife.

The history of the appearance of the first hunting knives

The first knives appeared at the dawn of human development and were stones with a sharp edge, which helped to cut the prey. Soon, flint knives appeared, which were attached to the handle, due to which a comfortable holding of the knife in the hand was ensured. Even then, the knife was a personal weapon, and each person tried to have his own knife. Among primitive hunters, stone knives were distinguished by their large size and mass. In addition, they were much more reliable than conventional knives, which were used for cutting prey, since a knife was often required to perform protective functions on a hunt.

It was at that time that knives were conditionally divided into 3 groups:

• Household knives, most commonly used by women;
• Combat knives, the main task of which was to serve as an additional weapon for a warrior;
• Hunter knives.

After the discovery of metal processing technologies, the differences between knives of these types became more and more obvious, combat and hunting knives began to be decorated with carvings and precious stones. The knife served as an indicator of the owner's status. The dimensions of a hunting knife often exceeded even the dimensions of combat knives, since the length of the blade must be appropriate to kill a large animal.

Richly decorated hunting knives, along with military weapons, served as an excellent gift for leaders and various rulers. The handles of such hunting knives were often inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Even in our time, damask knives or hunting knives made of Damascus steel will be an excellent gift for any man. Handmade knives are considered the most valuable.

Fixed blade hunting knives

Fixed blade knives are most popular with hunters. This design is traditional for a hunting knife, and this knife is ready for use as soon as it is removed from its scabbard. In order to understand why it is better for a hunter to have a knife with a fixed blade, you need to consider the advantages of knives of this design:

• The knife does not need to be opened before use, which means it is immediately ready to work;
• When working, do not be afraid that the blade will fold over your fingers;
• The blade of a hunting knife with a fixed blade can be much longer than that of a folding one, so it is more suitable for protecting against a sudden attack of an animal;
• It is rare to find high-quality steel on the blades on folding knives, as this significantly increases the cost of the knife.

A knife with a fixed blade has only one drawback, it takes up too much space and is practically not suitable for hidden carrying.

Knives with a fixed blade are of 3 main types, which differ from each other in the options for attaching the blades of hunting knives to the handles:

• The most popular is rider mounting, when the blade shank enters the handle by 2/3 of its length. When buying such a knife, it makes sense to ask for a drawing that will schematically show the depth of the shank in the handle. You can, of course, try to check it with a magnet, but this is not a reliable way. Such a shank may not withstand the load, and the knife will break at the most inopportune moment;
• Blade through is when the shank goes through the entire handle. In this case, the knife is quite difficult to break, although it is possible;
• The most reliable option is an all-metal hunting knife, which has lining on both sides of the handle. Such knives are rarely found among hunters, as their appearance is rather plain.

Most of the historical hunting knives were mounted on a rider mount. This is not due to the fact that I liked it that way, but because the metal was quite expensive, and they tried not to waste it in vain.

Folding hunting knives

Folding hunting knives do not formally belong to the category of "hunting". However, some well-known knife companies make folding knives for hunters. Many hunters of the older generation remember the USSR folding knife "Belka", which was intended for hunters, and knives with an extractor produced by the PC "Moscow Society of Hunters". Since these knives were not particularly suitable for hunting, in those days they preferred to use numbered hunting knives, which were sold in special stores, or various homemade knives.

Of the modern folding knives that claim to be "hunting" knives, one can note fairly high-quality multifunctional products from the firms "Wenger" and "Victorinox". These knives will be an excellent addition to the main hunting knife, the main thing is to choose the "right" model.

"National" hunting knives

National hunting knives are very popular among modern hunters. Naturally, these are not all models, but only a few that have proven their effectiveness in different climatic conditions. Finnish, Yakut and Scandinavian knives are the most popular among Russian hunters:

• Finnish knives "puukko" have gained immense popularity not only in the CIS, but all over the world. These knives outwardly do not look like formidable hunting knives, however, their effectiveness has been proven for centuries. This knife is suitable both for cutting production and for various household tasks. Differs in a barrel-type handle and the presence of a shackle in front of the blade. The effectiveness of "puukko" as a weapon was repeatedly proved by the Finns during the Soviet-Finnish war. If you use "puukko" to protect yourself from the beast, you must definitely rest the end of the handle in the palm of your hand, otherwise you can seriously cut your hand. A knife of this type is not recommended for novice hunters who do not know how to handle knives;
• Finnish leuku knives can be used to set up a camp. Knives of this type are more like cleavers. They represent a practically unchanged form of an ancient combat knife. Perfect for felling poles and brushwood, will help clear the way in the taiga. In case of danger, it will become a formidable weapon;
• Yakut knives are the most ancient type of knives. Their shape is reminiscent of Stone Age knives, which were made from half a large bone. The special shape of the blade is perfect for slicing frozen meat and woodwork, it does not allow you to get stuck in the material. Can be performed for right-handers and left-handers;
• Hunting knives of the Scandinavian type have also gained immense popularity around the world. Their main feature is the special "Scandinavian" descents, where the cutting edge of the knife is formed directly by the descents, without supplies. Allows more efficient work on wood and frozen meat than traditional knives.

Hunting knife steel and handle materials

If you don't even want to make a DIY hunting knife, knowing the knife steels and materials used for the knife handles will help you with your hunting knife purchase. The list of the most popular knife steels is as follows:

• The cheapest stainless steel used for hunting knives is 45x13. Kitchen knives are often made from it, as it is easy to sharpen and does not rust. Factory hunting knives from this steel are made extremely rarely, but homemade hunting knives are often found. This steel is easy to process, but also easy to blunt. It is not recommended to buy hunting knives made of this steel;
• The next stainless steel that is often used in the manufacture of inexpensive hunting knives is 65x13. It is suitable for a tourist, but for a real hunter who often butts up large prey, it is poorly suited. Since it quickly loses its sharpening;
• Steel 95x18 is the best option in terms of price / quality. Cuts well enough during 2-3 hunting trips;
• Various tool steels, such as ShKh-15 or "diamond", are also excellent for knives, but require constant maintenance, as they are subject to corrosion;
• Damascus steel on knives, in addition to having a good cut, also looks very original. Hunting knives made of Damascus steel are a real work of art;
• Damask steel has a very "floating" quality. Throughout Russia, only a few blacksmiths know how to cook high-quality damask steel;
• Modern powder steels have outstanding characteristics that surpass even the legendary damask steel. Knives made from these steels are usually very expensive.

Many different materials are used to make knife handles, from plastic to mammoth tusk. As a rule, natural materials are chosen for the handles of hunting knives. This is a tree of various breeds, horn, bone, type-setting leather. For spacers and bolsters, brass, copper or titanium are used. The handle made of natural materials fits perfectly in the hand, although it requires systematic maintenance.

How to make a hunting knife with your own hands

If you do not know how to make a hunting knife with your own hands, then a drawing of a knife, which can be found on the Internet, will help you. Having chosen the drawing that you like best, you can start making a knife. The hardest part is making a blade. It can be forged or machined from a suitable strip of metal.

If you can't cut the blade yourself, you can buy it ready-made and make a handle for it yourself. For the handle, you need to pick up a block of dry wood, which can also be purchased at specialized knife stores. You will also definitely need a bolster, which will have to be cut from a plate of brass or copper.

A through hole is drilled in the future handle, into which you will need to insert the blade shank. On the reverse side, the shank is riveted or clamped with a nut. After that, the handle is given a shape that suits you. Then the handle is sanded and impregnated with special oil. After the impregnation process is over, the handle can be polished with wax.

Sharpening hunting knives

A hunting knife must always be sharp. To do this, you need to learn how to sharpen it correctly. The sharpening process is bringing the cutting edge to a razor sharpness through the interaction of a sharpening stone and a knife blade. The better and harder the steel on the hunting knife, the longer it will take to sharpen it.

First, a cutting edge must be formed on a rough water stone. Then, gradually passing to stones with a smaller grain size, this edge is sanded. After sanding, the edge needs to be polished using leather with GOI paste applied to it. When sharpening a hunting knife, the main thing is to observe the sharpening angle.

The choice of hunting knives is extremely large, so you should be very responsible when buying a hunting knife. You should not buy the largest and most menacing knife, it will not even be able to perform work on cutting the carcass. It is better to opt for a universal hunting knife that will fit in your hand just for you.

This is how I make my knives. Yes, this lesson is no different from the rest. Am I worried about this? No. And it looks like you too. After all, you are reading it.
I've only posted a few posts, but that doesn't mean I haven't done a lot of things.
Knife design
As the name suggests, this is a hunting knife. I could have come up with the design myself, but I decided to print the template from the Internet.
Transferring the outlines to steel






This stage comes after you get the right material. I used grade 85 carbon steel. It has excellent properties and is easy to heat treat.
We outline the contour of the knife with a permanent marker. It can be sweaty, but you can do it. You were taught this even in kindergarten.
Cut out the workpiece



It's time to make the piece of metal look like a knife, but not a hunting knife yet. For this job I use an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel. So far, perfect accuracy is not important, it is always easier to achieve it with a grinder. Therefore, leave difficult places for him.
Working on a grinding machine and grinding the contour of the blade




Now the workpiece can be shaped like a real knife. Bring everything to perfection. Make the knife look better than you might imagine.
Or not. I'm not too worried about this.
More to the point: let its shape repeat the line that you have drawn with a marker.
Then you need to line up the edges. I made the blade look like a Scandinavian one. I did not take photographs, but for this procedure you just need to hold the blade at the right angle and grind it.
We drill holes for rivets





This is my least favorite part of the knife making process. For some reason, drilling holes in metal scares me. Perhaps because everything ends up with broken drills.
However, drill a few holes in the shank, depending on the location you want. I also cut a hole for the lanyard, but you can stick with the design you choose.
For the handle, I used 5mm silver nickel rivets. You can also use bronze rods, which are sold at major hardware stores.
Heat treatment








Heat treatment is my favorite part. What it is? I will tell. The piece of steel you are working on is very soft. So it is easier to cut, grind and give it the desired shape. The downside is that metal is too soft to be a knife. Therefore, it needs to be made more solid. The best way would be to heat the metal to red in a furnace, and then dip it in oil. The oil cools it down very quickly. The only drawback is that the metal becomes very fragile, like glass, and can break, for example, if you drop it. Therefore, it must be kept in the oven for several hours at a temperature of 200 ° C. The metal, moderately heated in this way, becomes a little softer until it becomes ideal for the knife blade.
And so I did. I warmed it up to 800 ° C and then dipped it in vegetable oil (the process caused a spectacular burning), and after that I placed the knife in the oven.
When in doubt, there is an easy way to make sure the knife is warmed up to the correct temperature.
If in doubt about the temperature, you can easily check it with a magnet. If the metal stops magnetising, then the blade has heated up to 750 ° C. Let it sit in the furnace for a few more seconds and then refrigerate.
Handle pads


First you need to find a suitable tree. I used black walnut because it looks good and I had it close at hand. But you can use any kind of hardwood, as long as it is well dried. Why dry? Because wet will deform and dry out over time, and completely ruin your knife.
So, cut off the overlays a little larger than the shank of the knife.
We drill holes in the linings


I have not yet found a way to do this properly because it is difficult to securely attach the pads in relation to the shank. Every time something goes wrong with me. In general, try and be wrong.
Punch holes in them somehow so that they line up with the holes in the shank.
Epoxy bonding


This is one of the stages that annoys me. I do not know why.
You will need a two-component epoxy (adhesive), preferably one with a long drying time. I find it difficult to work with resin that hardens in five minutes, it adds stress. I used JB Weld, but any two part glue should work. Sorry that there are no more photos with the gluing process, but I was in a hurry and completely forgot about it. It's pretty simple. Mix the ingredients together on something like a piece of cardboard. Then, using an ice cream stick or something similar, apply glue to the pads, shank, rivets. Next, clamp the handles with a clamp, make sure that no glue gets on the blade and wait for the time indicated in the instructions. In my case, it is 24 hours.
Shaping the handle






Our pads and rivets are now firmly glued. Now is the time to shape the handle. I started with a radial flap angle grinder. He shoots the material pretty quickly, so you need to be more careful, but at this stage the circle is doing great. Basically, you need to work on the pads as long as the glue is visible on the handle.
Rounding the handle and fine sanding










I was not fond of photographing this process, but everything is pretty clear with it. Using the flap disc angle grinder, carefully round the overlays. Then move on to belt sander for finer work. If the shape suits you, you can continue to sand by hand using fine-grain sandpaper, do it until you get bored.
Handle polishing
It is a pity that there are no photos of this stage, but there is nothing to show here either.
Apply a wood finish of your choice. I used beeswax with melted linseed oil.
Here comes the knife!


















Congratulations, you just made a knife. Now a few cool pictures and you can use it.
This knife is cool, stays sharp for a long time and is easy to sharpen. In terms of its functionality, it is no different from the purchased one.
As you can see in the last photo, I made a Kydex scabbard for it.
Just in case, sorry for the quality of the images, the lighting in my workshop is not very good.
Thank you for the attention!
Original article in English

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Easily cuts prey, removes the skin, helps with the arrangement of the camp, and at the same time will keep the razor sharpened. There are special cutting, skinning and universal. What qualities are inherent in the best hunting knives? To do this, you need to consider the history of the appearance of knives of this type.

The appearance of the first hunting knives

The first hunting knives date back to the Stone Age. Unlike daggers, which were made of horns and were not suitable for cutting prey, the first hunting knives were made of flint and had a sharp cutting edge. Over the centuries, hunting tools have evolved along with military weapons. Their main difference has always been their versatility. Knives were used for cutting and sanding prey, for cooking. If necessary, the knife became a formidable weapon in skillful hands.

Over time, hunting knives began to differ from household knives. They began to be beautifully decorated, although even then the dimensions of a hunting knife far exceeded the dimensions of household ones. Richly decorated hunting weapons were presented to leaders and rulers as a sign of respect and reverence.

Fixed blade hunting knives

The best hunting knives are fixed blade knives. The choice of such a design is not accidental, the hunter's knife must be ready for work in any circumstances. Folding knives do not have this function. In addition to the fact that the folding knife needs to be opened, it can easily fold over your fingers upon impact. In addition, due to the small size of the blade, such knives are not suitable for protection from the beast. Now there are all-metal hunting knives, with overlays on the handle. This design is very reliable and it is almost impossible to break it. However, hunters prefer classic models with mounted or through blade mounting. A good hunter will choose a more reliable through-blade fastening.

Folding hunting knife

Folding models of hunting knives were widespread in the USSR. Almost every hunter had a model equipped with a case extractor. This product was completely unsuitable for cutting, as the steel on the blade was of terrible quality. Gradually, these knives migrated to the sons of hunters, and the fathers returned to using traditional fixed knives.

There is now an excellent folding hunting knife - the Wenger, represented by the New Ranger Hunter model. This model is equipped with a bottle opener, corkscrew, saw and awl. The blade of the Wenger hunting knife is made of high quality stainless steel. This knife is useful for cooking and doing small jobs in the camp. Only in pair with it you need a reliable classic hunting knife with a fixed blade.

Hunting knife blade shapes

Hunting knife blades have different shapes, but the most common are:

Blades of the classic type. It was once the most common type of blade. For centuries, all knives, from north to east, had this shape (in the east, however, it was quickly replaced by a curved shape); Blades upswept point (raised blade). Such blades are found on hiding hunting knives, it cuts well, but is completely unsuitable for stabbing; A spear point type blade. Great for stabbing, but inconvenient to cut; Drop point blade. One of the most comfortable and versatile blade shapes; Сlip point. This form occupies an intermediate position between the third and second options; Favorite by most hunters form "Pike". She's Bowie. Despite its formidable appearance, such a knife is only suitable for finishing off big game and for intimidating hooligans.

For hunting, the best knife will be with a classic blade or drop point. He is able to perform most of the tasks on the hunt.

National hunting knives

Each nation had its own national hunting knives. Some models are still popular and are used by hunters all over the world.

Finnish puukko knives. It is a small knife suitable for cutting and chores. Differs in the absence of a guard and a barrel-shaped birch handle. Not recommended for beginners due to traumatic handle; Large Finnish leuku knives. This knife is used as a cleaver. They can cut brushwood and poles for a hut. If necessary, it turns into a formidable weapon; The Yakut knife is the most unusual knife, leading its pedigree from the Stone Age. The shape is similar to a half of a large bone. Probably made from bone in the Stone Age; Scandinavian knives. They differ from Finnish knives in the shape of the handle.

There are many more varieties of national knives, but they are not widespread.

Steel for hunting knives

The steel used for hunting knives is different. Starting from brand 45x13, to expensive powder and damask steel. There are two positions when choosing a steel for a knife blade. It should be sharp and easy to edit.

Steel 45x13 is not recommended for a hunting knife, it is too soft, although it does not rust; 65x13 is often used for inexpensive blades. Usually enough for one hunting trip, after which it requires sharpening; 95x18 are put on the blades of knives of an average price category. With good heat treatment, such a blade will cut two or three cuts without dressing; Tool steels allow excellent cutting properties. Unfortunately, they corrode and require maintenance; Hunting knives made of Damascus steel show excellent results; Damask knives cut even better than Damascus knives. Only in both variants, the properties depend on the composition of the package of steels used in boiling bulat and forging damascus; Powdered steels (the modern equivalent of bulat) have the best characteristics. Unfortunately, they are very expensive.

Hunting knife handles

Traditionally, natural materials are used for hunting knife handles. Wood, type-setting leather, horn, brass, copper. Handmade knives are made with exotic wood handles (zebrano, amaranth, paduk, etc.) using titanium plates. Natural materials fit perfectly in the hand, and the leather typesetting handle does not freeze hands in winter.

DIY hunting knife

If you are interested in how to make a hunting knife with your own hands, first you need to decide on the shape and download your favorite drawing of the knife. The drawing must be carefully studied, and the blade must be cut out of the blank. You can try to forge it, but the first forging experience is unlikely to please you. Having cut the blade, you need to carve the descents. The drawing will help to make the desired geometry of the descents.

You can buy a ready-made blade and just "dress" it. A hole is drilled in the handle, where the blade shank is inserted. Don't forget the bolster. Without it, the blade will quickly loosen in the handle. The handle is given a shape that is comfortable for your hand, after which it must be impregnated with Danish Oil. After the oil is dry, the knife handle can be polished with carnauba or beeswax. Now you know how to make a hunting knife.

Sharpening hunting knives

Every hunter wants to see his hunting knife in full combat readiness. Unfortunately, many do not know how to sharpen blades correctly. To sharpen high-quality steel of a hunting knife, it may take about an hour and a set of water stones of different grain sizes. To sharpen a knife with high quality, you need to strictly maintain the sharpening angle. Sharpening should be started with coarse-grained sharpening stones, gradually moving to a finer grain.

If you want to achieve a razor sharp blade so that it shaves the hair on your arm, you need to sand the edge. To do this, a piece of skin is attached to a wooden block, with the flesh outward. Rub the skin with GOI paste and grind the blade on this device.

If you find this sharpening process very difficult, you can purchase a knife sharpener. Just don't buy a cheap kitchen or electric sharpener. Only the Lansky or Apex Pro system can sharpen a knife to razor sharpness. If you feel sorry for money, you can buy a Chinese clone several times cheaper. Using such a system is as easy as shelling pears. The knife is clamped into a special device that maintains the desired angle of sharpening of the blade, and a set of bars of different grain sizes will help you sharpen your hunting knife perfectly.

One of the best hunting knife models is Roselli Hunting.

This is one of the most popular knife models of the Finnish company, founded by the blacksmith Heimo Roselli in 1974. This knife is marketed as a knife for harsh conditions, capable of withstanding rough use. This knife costs about 7000 rubles and is perfect for hunting. You shouldn't go to the bear with this knife, but he is quite capable of solving other problems.

If you want to buy an inexpensive Swedish classic knife, there is nothing better than the classic series from Mora. These knives cost from 900 to 2000 rubles. For such a modest price, you get quality carbon steel and a birch handle. The cut quality is incredible for the money. Shaves her hair out of the box. The only drawback is its risk of injury.

There are a great variety of hunting knives. Novice hunters usually buy the most menacing blade, which is absolutely unsuitable for cutting and skinning jobs. After several trips, this knife settles on a shelf at home, and its place is taken by a convenient and multifunctional hunting blade.