Haven't tried a havalon. I have more knives than carter has pills, and prefer to sharpen my own. I prefer a short blade for skinning, and use one of my boning knives for the rest of the work. For cutting, I have 4 knife blocks with blades from 24" down for that purpose. You can shave with any one of them. Once you establish your edge, it only takes a couple passes across a steel and a strop to get them back in shape if needed.