Patch knife

Who carries a patch knife? Do you use the same knife for field dressing your deer?

I do and No I Don't use it to field dress deer with. If that was all I had I would however. :thumbsup:

I do carry a patch knife. It is a Huskey folding razor knife. I do not use it to field dress deer



This knife is incredibly sharp and if it isn't just replace the blade. Takes 30 seconds! :thumbsup:

No, not yet but I'll probably get the patch knife that TOW sells next month just because it looks nice. It looks like it would be handy for gutting a deer (easier to get up to the windpipe and cut it) to pull everything out at once.

I wear a neck knife that is used as a patch knife at ronny and other events. On the range I use a dedicated patch knife kept in my box. Hunting, I dress modern and use loading blocks for follow up shots, no patch knife. My skinner is a modern custom made knife.

I cut all my patches "at the muzzle," whether actually the muzzle of the rifle or as I fill a loading block.

As for the patch knives themselves, there's only one rule for me: They have to be the sharpest knife you own, and then some. For best results you want to cut the patch in a single swipe, and that takes a really sharp knife.

It's also moved me away from little dinky knives. Short blades are hard to cut patches completely and easily even when they're sharp enough. I've settle on a couple of patch knives now- one has a 4" blade and is almost too short for my tastes, and the other is just right at 5".

As for carrying them, you name it and I've probably tried it- around the neck, on my belt, in a scabbard sewed onto my bag strap, to the end panel of a bag and on the back of the bag. Backed off all of those for one reason or another. Mostly we hunt in dense brush and anything dangly- whether attached to a bag, belt, neck or strap- Tends to hang on the brush. Hate that! I carry a small day horn inside my bag rather than dangling for the same reason.

The carry that turned out best for me is to keep the knife in a looped belt sheath in case I want it on my belt at some time for some reason, but mostly it gets dropped sheath and all into my bag. I have a lotta bags (one for each gun), but the patch knife is so critical for my tastes it migrates between bags, rather than having a knife for each bag.

I carried what you might consider a patch knife in a neck sheath fo acouple of years, and I did dress out acouple deerwith it. I found that I preferred a longer blade of 5-6 inches, and I nowcarry that on my belt. I do still carry the neck knife when muskrat trapping, it's a dandy little skinner.

I do carry a patch knife occasionally. I have a knife that is a neck knife and I keep it razor sharp and use it only for cutting patches. I have another knife that is only a bit larger that I use for field dressing purposes. The edge of the patch knife is honed at a shallower angle than the edge on the field dressing knife. If I were to use my patch knife for field dressing, it would dull its razor edge and would make cutting patches more difficult. When I cut a patch at the muzzle, I want the knife to slice smoothly and easily through the patch material with no snagging or pulling. Ergo, the necessity of having a razor edge on it.

I use a Lansky Sharpener so I can set the exact angle of the edge that I want on a knife according to its purposes.

I use this one for cutting at the muzzle; http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/453/2/BLADE-SPEAR-03

I tried this one and many use it, while it works it's just, I don't know, funny, It's very thin. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/453/1/BLADE-PAT-03
Folks seem to like them, I always get a few to finish off for the trade blanket and they sell/trade.

As far as field dressing, well you can do that with a sharp rock. I dressed a buck one year with a single blade from a broad head, I'd forgotten my knife.

Yep, I wear a neck knife....and I cut at the barrel...I haven't use it to gut a deer yet, but I do use it for small game, like tree rats and rabbits

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Ranger quick,,,,, turn around!!!!!!!!!

Try this,, check out a leather workers knife,,,R.Murphy,,, Ayer,Mass #4 Thin, hard steel, perfect size 4"x 7/8" just alittle reworking and new handle you rready to cut patches.

When I used to carry a "patch knife" ( 4-5" blade, a really small one is not needed IMHO).I also used it for field dressing and eating, when I started using only pre cut square patches, as not cutting at the muzzle seems to be a better choice for historic accuracy in the 18th century from what evidence we have or don't have.I still carried the knife for general purpose

Watch out behind you!! there's an evil Britisher fixin' to take a swipe at you with his saber!!

Yes I carry one even though I use pre cut patches quite often! I am trying to break that habbit though! I carry a folding hunter to gut and process game! Geo. T.

Ranger, Are you going to New Frontier's shoot this Sunday? :idunno: Ramrod

Nope. No dedicated patch knife. Whatever is my belt knife will be as sharp. I also keep a folder in my shooting bag that serves. Usually I load up a ball block and cut the patches as I fill the block.

Stumpkiller said:

Nope. No dedicated patch knife. Whatever is my belt knife will be as sharp. I also keep a folder in my shooting bag that serves. Usually I load up a ball block and cut the patches as I fill the block.

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I use a patch/ball block as well. However, like Stumpkiller mentioned,If need be I use what is on my belt and kept sharp!

NO patch knife. I carry 2-3 other knives at all times used for various tasks.

My patches are pre-cut and pre-greased. I stopped using a ball block as there was no historical evidence of their use in my period.

armakiller said:

Watch out behind you!! there's an evil Britisher fixin' to take a swipe at you with his saber!!

Click to expand...

I think the blue regimental makes that a colonist. And that's not a sword, just an overly long patch knife!