Lets see what features do I like in a hunting knife ?!
You asked about uses. I don't use a knife to "hunt" with per say, I use it strictly to clean and process any animal I may harvest. I also usually use my hunting knife as a camp knife, that is to do normal cooking knife duties. You know boring stuff like peel potatoes, slice onions, etc.
For features it has to have a drop pointed blade. The blade should be about 4-6" long and without a doubt be full tang.. I know the trade off's of stainless vs carbon steel. I'd love to see a blade that will hold an edge like a carbon steel blade but be stainless - I guess that will never happen though. Spyderco I think comes pretty close with their H1 steel however. Cold Steel has San Mai and Carbon 5. But I think those are just "their" trade names for other steels.
Next it has to have a loop/lanyard hole. I know this is something of a personal preference issue - but then again aren't all knife choices about personal preference. Then I like to see some kind of a non-slip handle material. I don't particularly like rubber handles but they are about as non-slip as you can get. If someone were to make a set of G10 handles with fairly aggressive, but not abrasive grooves in the handle slabs I'd look hard at that knife.
Lastly and I am partial here, it’s got to have a good sheath. Good knives should not be put in $2 sheaths. Whether its leather or Kydex is not that important to me. Clearly my personal preference is Kydex, but I love quality made heavy duty leather sheaths as well.
A sharpening stone/steel pouch attached to the sheath is a very nice option but not a necessity to me. On a side note if a leather sheath, I really like those sheaths that fully enclose the knife. Not sure what the technical name is but those sheaths that have a leather piece that snaps over the top of the knife thereby covering the entire knife.
Regards,
Rob
Last edited by Rob62; 09-19-2010 at 01:41 AM.