What is a hunting knife?

What is a hunting knife? Many will find this question strange, because the answer to it, it would seem, is obvious. However, it is enough for a novice hunter to seek advice on the Internet, as in his view the hunting knife will appear as a kind of super weapon that, with one stroke, cuts off the head of a moose or cuts silk in the air and simultaneously can chop a nail on even rings. This, of course, is a joke, but, nevertheless, advice to buy a knife from damask, damask or other super-steel simply hypnotize the inexperienced person. Therefore, before making a choice of a hunting knife, one must firmly understand that it is, in fact, such and for what it is needed.

If the knife is not an ornament and not a valuable gift, but is purchased for real hunting, then this is not a weapon in the narrow sense of the word. This is a tool. And, naturally, as to the instrument, absolutely different requirements are imposed on him, rather than on weapons. Of course, they can be slaughtered, but you can also kill a sewing machine. Choosing a hunting knife, you should pay attention to its performance, not to "killer" opportunities and the presence of blood.

So, what general requirements must the hunting knife meet. Firstly, the overall size and shape of the knife is selected at the hunter's hand, it should be equally comfortable with its knife: cut bread, open cans, prune branches or freshly carcass the beast. Of course, the concept of "equally convenient" is very conditional and, of course, narrowly specialized knives will cope with the listed tasks much better, however, do not carry the "table set" with you. Precisely because the hunter's knife is his only tool, he must be universal and allow to do everything. Let it not be easy and convenient, the main thing is that it was possible.

Proceeding from the foregoing, it is logical to raise the question of which steel for the hunting knife suits best? And here many people are deluded, believing that they have become highly rigid. Yes, such steel better grinds, but it rusts and, most importantly, no matter how good the blade is, it will still be blunt, and it will be very difficult to sharpen such a knife in the field. In addition, knives with blades of great hardness, as a rule, are much more expensive than their "soft" brethren, and this is an important detail for a hunting knife. Agree, opening a can or repairing a stone with a knife costing 300-500 dollars is just blasphemy. Experience shows that a stainless steel blade with a hardness of 52 to 58 HRC fully meets all requirements.

Not much less important than the blade, are the material and shape of the knife handle. As already mentioned, the hunting knife is a universal tool, which means that the correct shape of the handle is even, without any undercutting under the fingers, necessarily with a guard that protects the hand from being torn to the blade and, of course, it should not slide in the palm of your hand (under any circumstances ). The traditional material can be considered a tree, however, modern plastic or rubber-plastic does not yield anything to a tree, but it outperforms it in terms of cheapness, durability and mechanical strength. Of course, the handle of the hunting knife should be complete, without any pencil boxes and kits for survival.

In the end I would like to say a few words about the scabbard. Despite the appearance of new excellent materials, many prefer skin. Based on aesthetics and traditions, maybe it's right, but from a practical point of view it's probably better to use a sheath of synthetic materials. The skin, with all its virtues, becomes wet and dries very long, which, of course, is not good for the knife, but synthetics, on the contrary, do not let moisture pass.