Two Small Skinners - finished pic

Kevin Zito

Kevin Zito

KNIFE MAKER
So these are for my boss’s nephews. The two boys (10 & 12) “helped” me profile these. I figured I would finish them up and give them to the kids. The blades are nitroV. The red handle is Padauk and I think the brown is either coco or diw. I still have a few very light scratches that I will rub with 400 to hopefully get a nice satin finish out of these. The two boys, Jonah and Cohen, are two of the nicest young men I’ve met. Now I have to put them on two does come November so they can use their knives! Some of what looks like scratches is condensation. Bash em... I need to get better. Thanks for looking!96791760-B931-4272-89B2-E00A722847BD.jpegF660ED89-14A4-4D5F-835C-28A40BCFA0FF.jpeg93CD04EC-97E1-4A06-9395-45D0A038C3D6.jpeg
 
I love to hear of youngsters getting involved with hunting or fishing. With two very nice new knives, and you putting them on some game I'd say they are fortunate indeed!
That reminds me, I need to finish a batch of arrows pretty quick, won't be long 'til early fall.
 
While I endorse the other poitive comments made I would add one critique in that when flaying hide there is often a version of the pinch grip used and for that an "eased" front to the handles is a most welcome find on a knife. Lay the knife flat in your hand with the edge of the handle front on your finger and the thumb on the near side or even just onto the blade itself and you will see what I mean as this lays the blade flat for strokes using the belly of the blade when skinning an animal or even legging out an animal on the ground this "flaying" hold is often used.
 
DanF said:
I love to hear of youngsters getting involved with hunting or fishing. With two very nice new knives, and you putting them on some game I'd say they are fortunate indeed!
That reminds me, I need to finish a batch of arrows pretty quick, won't be long 'til early fall.
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Thanks! You have got to post pics of the arrows ... that’s so cool.
 
Von Gruff said:
While I endorse the other poitive comments made I would add one critique in that when flaying hide there is often a version of the pinch grip used and for that an "eased" front to the handles is a most welcome find on a knife. Lay the knife flat in your hand with the edge of the handle front on your finger and the thumb on the near side or even just onto the blade itself and you will see what I mean as this lays the blade flat for strokes using the belly of the blade when skinning an animal or even legging out an animal on the ground this "flaying" hold is often used.
Click to expand...
Wait you gotta break this down for me. I’m confused as to how to lay the knife in my hand. I know what you mean by the pinch grip used, but I got lost after that.
 
Kevin Zito said:
Wait you gotta break this down for me. I’m confused as to how to lay the knife in my hand. I know what you mean by the pinch grip used, but I got lost after that.
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This is what I mean by easing the front of the handle Kevin
mnFrIAIl.jpg


With the knife flat in the hand with the handle edge over the finger and thumb. Shortening up on the handle is often used when flaying the hide off an animal so comfort doing this makes the knife strokes more accurate.
uels5OBl.jpg


And of course when the pinch grip is used any depth in the front of the handle shows up in less comfort which leads to less accuracy. With your two knives intended for hunters where skinning is a part of the use then it seemed to me that I should mention one of the main aspects of this type of knife use.
SCvIpcMl.jpg

Contouring the handlle like this takes nothing away from the full handed use for heavy cutting chores
 
Von Gruff said:
This is what I mean by easing the front of the handle Kevin
mnFrIAIl.jpg


With the knife flat in the hand with the handle edge over the finger and thumb. Shortening up on the handle is often used when flaying the hide off an animal so comfort doing this makes the knife strokes more accurate.
uels5OBl.jpg


And of course when the pinch grip is used any depth in the front of the handle shows up in less comfort which leads to less accuracy. With your two knives intended for hunters where skinning is a part of the use then it seemed to me that I should mention one of the main aspects of this type of knife use.
SCvIpcMl.jpg

Contouring the handlle like this takes nothing away from the full handed use for heavy cutting chores
Click to expand...
Gotcha ... I understand now. That’s a good point. I’ve done something similar, but it didn’t come out as nice as yours lol. Practice practice practice, right? It’s those little things that make a knife look and perform better, but looks REALLY bad when you don’t get it right.
 
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