Ceramic Knives

woody

New member
Ha anyone tried one of the new ceramic knives? Do they really stay sharp enough to skin and gut more than one deer? When you do have to sharpen them, what do you use, a diamond hone? Looking for a present for my son-in-law. He kills 9 deer a year on his property on depredation permits, and is tired of sharpening his knife before finishing even one deer.

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Bill
 
I'd steer clear of the ceramic knives. They don't enjoy the best of reputation in the knife world. The blades are extremely brittle and the edges are prone to chipping. Resharpen? Don't think so.
There are many good knives which will field dress and skin more than one buck before dulling. Take a look at Bob Doziers D2 steel hunting series of knives. With Bob's famous heat treat and cryo stress relief, high hollow grinds, comfortable handle designs, these are working knives with class. They will handle several deer with competant knife handling skills. They also touch up fairly easily on a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Neil Blackwood makes a great blade also of D2. Scott Cook uses several different blade steels, I like his BG-42 and have a new custom ordered from as we speak. I tend to favor smallish fixed blades for this job. They're strong, easily accesible in a nice horizontal hip sheath, and clean up quickly. A few other good steels to consider would be ATS-34, VG-10, 154CM, CPM440V, the Marbles line of knives utilize 52100 and it's a great steel at a good price point.

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"Doing the Right thing isn't always easy, but it's always RIGHT!"
 
Thanks GC, never thought about the chipping factor. If I used one of those knives it would probably end up looking like an old flint knife.

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Bill
 
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