Blade choice for skinning a black bear?

[acnewman55]

What knife are ya using to skin yer black bear, and why?

Different then yer deer skinning knife? 

[fillthefreezer]

havalon. all i use on any critter.
ive used the piranta edge but recently switched to the bolt as i let my wife use my edge and its hers now...

[CAMPMEAT]

Swiss Army Knife. Easy to sharpen.

[boneaddict]

Same blade, but a bear will dull a knife faster than a deer.  Its good to have some sort of stone handy.

[Eli346]

 My taxi and a couple of others I know use a Victorinox Paring knife. It will usually skin a bear for about $4 or so. I use a Havalon and a Case skinner.

[carlyoungs]

Any sharp knife? I think people over think things sometimes. A good sharp knife should work for any animal.

[boneaddict]

 

[bearpaw]

I'm not sure how many bear I've skinned or how many different brands of knives I've used, but I prefer about a 3 to 4 inch blade with a good point for splitting hide up the legs and that will make it all the way through skinning without needing sharpened. I used to carry a Gerber multi tool that worked pretty well till I lost it. I had skinned everything, even moose with that knife. I could skin and cut everything off at the joints with that thing, plus it had all those other handy tools including scissors for notching tags, I need to buy another one.

This spring, just to try it out, I was using one of those free knives that you get at the SCI banquets, it did surprisingly well for a freeby knife made in China. I only had to resharpen during one bear, all the other bear I made it all the way without sharpening.

[bearpaw]

I should mention, the key to getting through skinning without resharpening is to always cut from the inside outward. Never cut from the outside inward. 

[Wea300mag]

Buy a knife made with s30v steel, this material keeps its edge longer than anything I have used. I have the Kershaw Blur s30v.

The Havalon is good if you don't mind babying it, blades break easily.

[boneaddict]

I bought one of them fancy knives Rainshadow makes.   It does wonders.      Its more about the wood than the steel though.

[acnewman55]

Any sharp knife? I think people over think things sometimes. A good sharp knife should work for any animal.

that may be true but a sharp drop-point style will skin a beast much more effectively than a tanto style blade.  i'm not saying that just to make a point, i'm wondering what knives folks use because i want to know which blade styles are most effective.

[jackelope]

I bought one of them fancy knives Rainshadow makes.   It does wonders.      Its more about the wood than the steel though.

Ive got a couple of those Rainshadow knives. Love them and they work really nicely.  Havalons work incredibly well as long as you're careful. No prying.

[callonetta]

After years of trial and error I got myself a PUUKKO knife, I will never use anything else, you can actually shave with one and does not take more than a few passes to get it back to super sharp. The history of these Finish knives is pretty interesting too.

[liljozie495]

Havalon only way to go lol