Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

Hunting, Fishing, Game, and Field Knives

This page is dedicated to knives used for hunting and fishing. Hunting knives are used to cut, slice, gut, pierce, skin game, field dress, dress out, cape, trim, quarter, manage, clean game, de-bone, and process game animals. Fishing knives are used to dress, gut, fillet, trim, chop, skin, scale, and process fish. This page also features bird and trout knives, multi-function knives, and utility knives that may be used in survival, expedition, and outdoor tasks and chores. Every knife you see on this page was made by me, and I've included some of my early knives for illustration. There are 117 pictures of hunting, fishing, and related field knives on this page.

Hunting knives have probably the most recognizable shapes in the cutlery industry. The blades are usually curved, and often feature fine and accurately ground thin points. This is because they are used for specific chores like skinning and piercing skin with a high degree of control. Any hunter knows the cost of bad knife work when field dressing game or caping a trophy buck. After what a good hunt may cost, a poor knife or bad job here can leave a sad memory. On this page are some of the uses, descriptions, and details about hunting knives specifically, their limitations and uses, methods of carry, storage, and sharpening. You'll also see quite a few thumbnail images of hunting knives I've made over the decades. Though some of them are not only for hunting and can be applied to other uses, such as survival and typical work that a knife blade may see, I've inlcuded them here if they have a design that is applicable for hunting, fishing, or game handling tasks.

A fine knife is a pleasure to use. Unsheathing your fine custom knife after a successful kill is more than history, it honors the entire hunting process. It isn't hard to imagine the men of the past, all feeling the same kind of thrill as we do today: planning for the hunt, embarking to territories unknown, enduring the hardships and fascination of the land, detecting and stalking the prey, and the satisfaction of supplying the family or tribe with fresh game. The moment continues as the game is then gutted, cooled, dressed, and quartered for the trip home. True, the tool of the kill is essential. But so is a fine hunting knife, or the kill is just target practice.

The Trophy Game Set

In my life, I've seen many styles and grades of knife used for hunting. I grew up using a fairly straight, simple light trailing point my father gave me (as many fathers do). It was a decent piece of steel, and I still have it around in a box somewhere. Why do I keep this old plain knife? It's not because it has any monetary value, it's because my father gave it to me, and I carried it on our hunts together, and on camping trips, and in the Boy Scouts. It evokes special memories of our times together, unique to only a father and son. So there is more than just the good use of a fine tool for the hunting sport or game. If you have children, your hunting knife may well be destined to become an heirloom.

I've seen a lot of bad knives in my time; all of us have. We've heard stories about having to carry a sharpening stone to the field. We've heard of knife blades bending, rolling over, dulling, or chipping. We've heard about knives unsuited to the task, with the wrong shape or profile, with a blade too thick, too dull, too soft, or too uncomfortable to use. It's my desire to try to clarify some points from a professional knifemaker about hunting and fishing knives on this page.

Hunting Knife Considerations

Hunting Knife Blade Steels

Modern tool steels are a wonder. They can be hard, wear resisting, and tough at the same time. They can also be stainless and corrosion resistant. There is no super steel (see these topics on my FAQ page and Blades page for details about steel hype), and your fine hunting, fishing or field knife must be selected carefully. Let's look at the steels from a hunter's and fisher's standpoint individually.

• Plain Carbon Steels: These are the traditional long-time hunting steel types and are classified in the Machinists' Guide as Standard Carbon Steels. Before stainless steels, these high carbon steels had achieved a reputation for edge holding, sharpness, and wear resistance. Steels like 5160, 1095, and 1025 are low in alloys, easy to work with, and cheap. They are used because they can be hand-forged and have a relatively low critical temperature and are easy and forgiving to work with. I rarely use them because there are so much better alloy steels on the market that will offer increased wear resistance, increased corrosion resistance, and higher toughness at a higher hardness than plain carbon standard steels. While in the past these were worthwhile steels, they can not hold a candle to modern, high alloy tool steels, chromium steels, tool steels, and high technology steels available today. In the hunting realm, most knives made of plain carbon steels today are used in plain, simple, hand-forged, inexpensive, and primitive knives. While there is still a following for this type of knife, this is not a type I make.
• High alloy cold work tool steels: In this steel type, I mostly use O-1, an oil hardening high tungsten-vanadium alloy tool steel which is classified as a "cold work" tool steel. Please remember that not all O-1 is the same; some versions from some suppliers contain little tungsten and no vanadium at all. The O-1 I use can be made both hard and tough, ground very thin, is tough, and yet can be sharpened in the field with ease. It is able to achieve and hold an incredibly sharp edge with very little stonework, and you don't have to be an expert to sharpen it. It's drawbacks are that it is not stainless and will rust if not cared for, and is not as wear resistant as the high chromium stainless tool steels. It's the least expensive of the tool steels I use, though it is not cheap. It blues well for a subdued look, and some hunters prefer the mottled, dark, seasoned patina it achieves after several years of use. Because it is moderately easy to sharpen, bringing up the fine edge in the field is no big deal. O-1 is NOT a plain carbon or high carbon steel, it is a true high alloy tool steel, with significant amounts of alloying elements like tungsten and vanadium, so this strong steel holds a very good edge, much better than plain carbon or high carbon steels.
• High chromium martensitic stainless tool steels: Predominately, I use 440C. Actually classified as SAE 51440C, This is a great steel, and I use it for most of my knives. It is often used in industry for corrosion resistant ball bearings, wear, and valve parts. It has universal appeal, being capable of both hardness and toughness, has the highest corrosion and stain resistance at the highest level of finish, and is very wear resistant. It is tougher than O-1, so can be ground in a thinner cross-section and thus is capable of a stronger edge when ground thinner. It is more wear resistant, consequentially, it is not easy to field sharpen. The idea here is that your knife is sharp and wear resistant for several hunts, and should not need sharpening in the field. The high chromium content of this steel allows a very fine mirror finish, which is easy to clean, and is highly corrosion resistant. Of course, even stainless tool steels can rust if not cared for, or if stored with blood, tissue, or wetness in a leather sheath. Read more about corrosion and stainless steels on my knife care pages here and here. Care is minimal though, since 440C has up to 18% chromium. This is the only way to go for a fishing knife, as it has the highest corrosion resistance of any of the custom knife tool steels when mirror finished. 
• High molybdenum martensitic stainless tool steels: What I'm talking about here is ATS-34 (or 154CM). It's essentially the same as 440C, but three percentage points of chromium have been replaced by molybdenum. This makes this a very tough tool steel, that is, resistant to breakage at higher hardness and thinner cross sectional dimensions. It's still stainless, though not as stain resisting as 440C, but it can be made a lot tougher. I emphasize can be made, because it's up to the knifemaker to set the final hardness and temper depending upon the blade geometry and intended use. See my "Blades" page for more details. ATS-34 is hard to field sharpen, so your ATS-34 knife must be thin and sharp enough for your field use and hunt. It can be used for fishing knives, and perform quite well, as the cross section of the knife blade can be made thinner than 440C and still be more fracture-resistant. But the trade-off here is stain resistance, as blood, orange juice, tomato juice, or other acidic fluids can corrode it over time. ATS-34 takes a beautiful polish, which makes for a fine looking knife that is easy to clean.
• Crucible Powder Technology high molybdenum martensitic stainless tool steel: This is a newcomer on the market, specifically CPM154CM. This is a powder metal version, made by sintering together at high heat and pressure powdered components of the alloy for a more even distribution of alloy components. This is a great steel, with the same properties of ATS-34 above, but with greater uniformity and capable of a better finish, higher corrosion resistance, and improved performance. This steel is capable of a breathtaking mirror finish with no visible grain structure. The drawbacks to this steel are the higher cost and the limited sizes for projects.
• Cold work high carbon, high chromium die steel: The steel here is D2. D2 is an older steel, originally used for dies to press and stamp and cut out other metals, and is also used in ball bearings as the load surface. It can be made to be one of the hardest, toughest, most wear-resistant tool steel blades. It has so much carbon and enough chromium that in the crystalline structure of the steel, in addition to iron carbides forming, forms chromium carbides, creating a structure of extremely hard particles, leading to very high wear resistance. This wear resistance is so hard that the knife cannot usually be field sharpened, which may be a drawback. The steel is also not a true stainless, only stain resistant as it has only 12% chromium. So blood, tissue, acidic fluids will corrode and stain this metal. The crystalline structure is also apparent in a high polish, and the surface displays an "orange peel" type of pattern. It is also expensive and limited in available sizes of stock. It's more expensive to cut, grind, mill, and finish also.
• Crucible Powder Technology high vanadium tool steels: Mainly I use CPMS30V and CPMS90V: Mostly used in industry for plastics injection molding dies, these crucible powder technology tool steels are formed as a powder under tremendous heat and pressure for more uniform and concentrated alloy elements. The advantage of this in both of these steels is high vanadium content, approximately 3% for the CPMS30V and 9% for the CPMS90V. This forms an even distribution of vanadium carbides when properly heat treated, leading to an incredibly wear-resistant cutting edge. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to sharpen in the field, and may take motorized equipment to sharpen. This is fine if you go to the field with a sharp knife, but every knife eventually dulls, so it's important to make sure it's sharp before the excursion. Though CPMS30V has a higher corrosion resistance on paper, it is not so in reality, as it can not be mirror finished to any effective degree, and a rougher surface simply corrodes more easily by having increased surface area and tooth to hold debris and corrosives like blood and moisture. So, in practice, a mirror finish on 440C, ATS-34, and CPM154CM is more corrosion resistant overall.
• Other steels I use in hunting and fishing knives: I've used and will use M2, BG42, A1, CPMS60V, RWL-34, pattern-welded stainless and carbon steel damascus, only by special order and request. Each of these has specific applications, limitations and benefits.

Skinning an American Bison (Buffalo)

You often hear that fine custom and handmade knives are just too pretty to use. Here's an example of how beauty and function work together on one of the most demanding skinning knife chores, skinning an American Bison (Buffalo). This huge beast has one of the thickest, toughest hides of any animal, and the Nunavut skinning knife (440C mirror polished blade, hand-engraved stainless steel bolsters, and gemstone handle) makes short and elegant work of the process. Pretty? Yes, and highly functional!

Thanks, S. H. and P. S.!

Blade Geometry and Knife Examples

Blade geometry is more than important on hunting knives: it's critical. How thin a custom knife is ground depends upon the intended use, the cross-sectional thickness supporting the edge, the profile (shape) of the blade, and the steel type, hardness, and temper. No where is this so apparent as in hunting and fishing knives, as so much is usually asked of them. They must usually be thin and sharp enough to open tough hides and skins without snagging or ripping, and that might mean cutting through dirty and abrasive hair, mud, and scales. These materials are abrasive on a cutting edge, so high hardness and a medium temper is usually required. The blade must be thin enough to have a low sharpening angle for the finest cut. See more about these angles on my Blades page.

The shape of the blade has a lot to do with how a hunting knife is used, carried, and whether or not it's successful and reliable. Below are some of my most popular hunting knives. If you're familiar with hunting or game and field knives, you'll recognize trailing point skinners, drop point skinners, field dressing knives, gut hooks, line cutters, sweeping bellies, capers, and field pairs. Many of these knives double as survival knives, some even serve double duty as tactical knives. There is no rigid classification of a knife by its shape, indeed a kitchen knife could make a hunting tool. What I've included here are knives that are generally used in hunting, field dressing, survival, game preparation, and fishing, to give a broad perspective of what is a useful and valuable tool.

Many of these knives are of collector's or investment potential. There is no reason a knife carried to the field has to have a plain, flat blade and a simple wood or antler handle. I make those too, but I encourage you to enjoy the same lines, form, finish, and beauty as I do when I look at fine custom and handmade hunting knives. Some of the knives feature gemstone handles and hand-engraving. Even these fine investment grade knives may find their way to the field or in useful chores.

I've included quite a few pictures of my older knives. Please forgive the low quality of the photographs and my early workmanship, they were scanned in from chemical photos from back in the 1980's. I've been making knives a long time!

Thanks

...for being here. Please check back periodically; I'll add new knives as they are completed and information as time allows!