which knife? (field dressing tool knives)
 

Ive been looking for a compact, lightweight, and fair priced knife. I use a climbing stand and would like a folding blade. Ive been looking at the buck 183 cross lock, blade/gut hook/saw. But also noticed browning makes a nice one called the 828 featherweight same set up. Does anyone else make a similar knife? I could pass on the saw, but would like a blade with gut hook, or a seperate blade/ gut hook combo.. at a fair price

Allot of people use regular hunting knives for skinning or gutting. When i killed my elk this year, my buddy laughed at me when i pulled my knife out. He grabbed a new knife he started using this year, havalon knives, and started hacking away at my elk. It was unbelievable how sharp the blade stayed and that if it got dull, he carried replacement blades in his pack. They worked like razor blades (havalon are basically surgical scalpels that are a little thicker than razors), and one blade did (skinned and deboned) my whole elk and skinned the skull.

This is why we started carrying them, it might not be something you are interested in but they are fair priced, blades are cheap for as long as they can be used and it is really nice not to be able to not have to spend a whole night sharpening it. Needless to say, i replaced my heavy knife with one of the new lightweight havalon.

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http://www.bugsnbullets.com/Havalon_...g_mid_102.html

i have the triple bladed browning and really like it. The saw is actually really good, it will go thru a deers breastbone like butter.....id rather have the saw and forget the guthook.

Those Havalons are nice. My boss runs an outfitting service on his ranch and he uses them. I went hunting up there this year and took my SwingBlade. He ended up buying one of them and I ended up with a Havalon too, those two are the best combo ever.

Alaska Knives
 

The typical gut hook blades tend to build up with hair, making function rough. I have seen a new style that the nose is rounded and you push it under the skin rather than pull. I watched a guy do a hog with one, it worked well. I don't remember brand or model, might be Browning. I do remember it switched from straight blade to the other.

Did a little research, the knife I talked about earlier might have been Outdoor Edge swingblade sb-10n