Backcountry knives- Argali vs Goat knives vs others

[sp6x6]

I pack a Strider gunnergrip tit Other knife I did handle and hilt plus design,planer blade

 

[sp6x6]

Love knifes This was a Track Knife my father gave me Pictures are my sons and he use as I passed to him, l made a caper to match for his kit

 

[Old Rooster]

nmbarta since that is the case is there a book that describes all attributes and weak spots of each steel?

 

[Old Rooster]

sp6x6 I love the shape of the blade,kinda upswept and I bet it's a great skinner.
There are many folks on this forum that make knives.I may have to just give it a try.
What steel is your knife made from sp6x6?

 

[nmbarta]

nmbarta since that is the case is there a book that describes all attributes and weak spots of each steel?

Not that I'm aware of, but I'm sure there is.
I like bladeforums.com it's the longrangehunting.com of the knife world. Lots of good guys with a ton of info they are willing to share. Also there are a lot of custom knife makers that sell their knives on there, you can get a good custom for a pretty decent price from some of those guys....or you can spend what you normally would on a good rifle. The maker will matter more than the steel imo. You'll find all kinds of opinions on which steel is best....there isn't an answer to that question. It's like asking "What is the best cartridge for hunting?" or "which bullet is best for big game?" Just like this world, that world has problems with consistent batches of steel which leads to problems with heat treatment. It's similar to lots of powder having some variations that require tweaking a load. Deep rabbit holes to go down......careful not to fall into one of those.....they're all expensive to get out of.

 

[sp6x6]

Rick Shmidt made my knife,he got large old planer blades from Plumb Creek.Also old grinding wells from them too that where probably 15'' diax 3''.His stuff all hand made,I worked on his house and built a few knifes with him ,it was fun,he has all tooling,hes done alot of forge work also.Bear is from last week

 

[steel2]

Rick Shmidt made my knife,he got large old planer blades from Plumb Creek.Also old grinding wells from them too that where probably 15'' diax 3''.His stuff all hand made,I worked on his house and built a few knifes with him ,it was fun,he has all tooling,hes done alot of forge work also.Bear is from last week

I never thought about planer knives because I have multiple old chipper knives from my inwoods chipper n I wonder how hard and what kind of metal they would be.....have to see what I can find out

 

[nmbarta]

Planer blades are usually D2 or M2. They make decent knives.....but are too hard...they'll hold an edge pretty good, but if you take them to a reasonable edge angle( not like a planer blade) the edge becomes pretty easy to chip. They are tool steel, not ideal for knives but will work if its all you got. Just be ready spend a lot of time and money on abrasives to shape it. I don't shape hardened steel....it's
10 times the work.
You can't aneal and ht those steels without very expensive tools. So.....you have to take extreme care the entire time your working with it so you don't ruin the heat treat that's already on it.
Bottom line....
The juice ain't worth the squeeze.

 

[sp6x6]

My guy second gen knife maker for life,hes burly hes got the juice to squeeze.Like I said you should see the grinder he blows blanks out of free hand,Uses marker on blade from pattern,hand grind.Most of his exposed tang work,taper,more work again and liners and thing like bighorn ram scales.Hes tooled up.I run knife all season an many animals with just light touch up. That big skinner Ive probably popped a 100 heads off at joint,bet 30 bulls,dont baby it.

 

[dusty218]

I carry a Randall model 5-25 for a fixed blade and an outdoor edge for all my gutting and skinning needs its gets dull and just swap out blades super handy!!!

 

[GREATSCOTT!]

Anyone have experience using these? I have a Tyto that is nice but I would like something that has a bit more grip and heft.

I own the Argali, best knife Ive had. Comfy in the hand.

 

[brcfo_outdoors]

Havalon Prianta is similar to the Goat but has a wider plastic handle if you like interchangeable blades.

ESEE is a personal favorite for anything outdoors. Good value for the money.

 

[.50CAL]

Chris reeves nyala.

 

[tx338]

Benchmade Bugout, ESEE 3, Havalon Piranta; all 3 taken even when weight counts.