got my havalon knife

[pseshooter300]

Got my knife in the mail yesterday for the renewal of the magazine's subscription. That thing is sharp and i got 12 blades to replace. Gonna order some books from eastmans here shortly.

[Old Hunter]

You bet it's sharp. They use scalpel blades. Be careful, or they'll be calling you 4 fingers

[Drhorsepower]

They sure are awesome aren't they? I am a little worried about durability of the knife itself, mine already is sporting a hairline crack around one side of the handle. It took 2 blades to skin and quarter a California bighorn sheep this year, I'm not sure i couldn't get the job done with 1 but I snapped the first one. I'm not real good about changing the blades yet, maybe I'm just a little nervous with my phalanges in tight quarters with surgical steel .

[Old Hunter]

The blades will snap easy if you pry or twist them. I still use my time tested buck knife for any heavy work, and the Havalon for the rest.

Changing blades is another matter. I can do it by hand when everything is dry. I don't even like to do it then. A small pair of needle nose pliers is in my pack now. I like my fingers the way they are.

[Whisky]

I snapped two blades on an antelope last weekend. Not sure I'm too fond of my Havalon knives anymore for bigger game, will be giving them another go of course, as I got my second in the mail from Eastmans too. They still work great for cleaning birds, and work REALLY well for cleaning up meat once back at camp/house.

[pseshooter300]

I was thinking more of using the knife for cutting the meat up definatly got to be carefull and i will get me some needle nose to keep in my pack

[dying to kill]

they make a more durable thicker blade u can order supposed to b better

[Vanish]

I used the Havalon knife on my bull elk this year. My wife and father also got to try it. Wow, so awesome for skinning and cleaning up meat. Just like OH said though, do NOT twist the knife, you'll snap the blade. Unfortunately, this means I will have to carry two knives.

For those of us who are knife sharpening challenged, these things are amazing. Not only did I use the knife for field butchering, I used it at home for processing, just because it made things that much easier. Probably going to order the fillet knife as well.

[Old Hunter]

I've heard of guys doing two bulls on one blade. Not sure if it's true. Seems like a lot of cutting.

[mcseal2]

I just got back from Wyoming and we caped 1 and quartered 4 antelope with my Havalon Barracuta. We used one blade to quarter all 4, and put on a fresh one for the one we caped, it still has a real good edge on it. The other guys using it didn't break the first blade but did abuse it pretty good on bone joints. It did the job but isn't ideal for that work. We had a bone saw and hatchet available that worked much easier for that, I used them on my antelope. All in all it worked great, once I loaned it to the guy who shot the first goat everyone wanted to use it. It isn't clumsy as I was afraid a knife this large would be. I think I'll keep using the baracutta for butchering and get a piranta for caping. The fillet blades work great for fish and boning also. Clean-up is extremely easy too.
I think the baracutta will stay in my pack with a spare skinning and boning blade for future hunts, and I'll keep my Buck Crosslock with the S30V blade and saw on my belt for tougher jobs and non-game use.