How to Care for a Skinning Knife

A skinning knife is an essential tool for a hunter or trapper. The shape of the blade and point make these knives suited to skinning. Skinning knives are fairly useless if people don't take care of the properly. Be consistent in your care for these knives in order to get the best results from them.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Keep your skinning knife clean when not in use. You'll be making a mess with this knife, but once you're done, it's essential you keep it clean. Any animal remains or debris left on the blade hinder the knife from functioning properly.
2. Sharpen the blade regularly. The blades of skinning knives must stay sharp. Hunters and trappers use these knives to delicately remove the skins of animals, not for haphazard chopping and cutting. This requires a precision which you can only achieve with a properly sharpened blade. You'll want to use a fine sharpening stone which can be found at any sporting goods, hunting or Army Surplus store.
3. Hand wash the knife. Don't put skinning knives in the dishwasher. This could lead to the knife being covered in moisture for too long, causes rust.
4. Check the knife often for trouble spots. These are reddish brown markings which eventually become rust if you don't take care of them quickly.
5. Check the point of the knife regularly to make sure it's sharp enough to make an initial puncture to the animal's coat.

Tips & Warnings

• People consider some survival knives as skinning knives when they have the distinctive curved blade of a typical skinning knife.