Small game knife

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petersonfishon

Joined
Oct 21, 2023
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Hi all, I am looking to purchase a relatively nice knife for all kinds of small game, upland birds, and water fowl. I am looking to spend under 120 but right around 110. Two knifes I was considering were the white river small game knife and the case mini finn with the water buffalo horn handle. Any suggestions or comments on these knifes would be more than welcome! This is my first post here.
 
Have you looked into anything from Buck Knives? They do a great job with thin grinds that work well for hunting applications.

If you're open to handmade knives, there are many options out there. A couple of mine run right around your price range, as a reference point, so you should be able to journey down that path as well. But, it can get a little murky given the overwhelming amount of options.

Regarding the mini finn, I would recommend against it as it has a really small handle. For me, even if a blade is small, I still like a larger handle.

I did a quick look on BladeHQ to see what's currently available as I havne't kept up on smaller blades recently as I've been working on the opposite end of the spectrum the past two years. Here are some that would "speak to me" of looking for a small game and bird knife and is around your price range, that wasn't one of my designs.

Grohmann Canadian belt knife
Esee Xandcudo (A little over your budget, maybe it will be discounted during Black Friday or the holiday season?)
Cold steel mini Pendleton hunter (several options in blade steel at different price points)
Tops bird and trout (kind of a modern take on the Grohmann above)
Buck small pursuit (regular or pro, different color and different blade steel)
Brisa (enzo) necker 70

These are my preferences and not necessarily yours. What I'm looking for, for such a use is a thin and slicey edge (so, not a thick blade), enough handle to stay grippy when wet or bloody, something with a good point for piercing and a little belly but not a lot, and something easy to carry.
 
bikerector said:
Have you looked into anything from Buck Knives? They do a great job with thin grinds that work well for hunting applications.

If you're open to handmade knives, there are many options out there. A couple of mine run right around your price range, as a reference point, so you should be able to journey down that path as well. But, it can get a little murky given the overwhelming amount of options.

Regarding the mini finn, I would recommend against it as it has a really small handle. For me, even if a blade is small, I still like a larger handle.

I did a quick look on BladeHQ to see what's currently available as I havne't kept up on smaller blades recently as I've been working on the opposite end of the spectrum the past two years. Here are some that would "speak to me" of looking for a small game and bird knife and is around your price range, that wasn't one of my designs.

Grohmann Canadian belt knife
Esee Xandcudo (A little over your budget, maybe it will be discounted during Black Friday or the holiday season?)
Cold steel mini Pendleton hunter (several options in blade steel at different price points)
Tops bird and trout (kind of a modern take on the Grohmann above)
Buck small pursuit (regular or pro, different color and different blade steel)
Brisa (enzo) necker 70

These are my preferences and not necessarily yours. What I'm looking for, for such a use is a thin and slicey edge (so, not a thick blade), enough handle to stay grippy when wet or bloody, something with a good point for piercing and a little belly but not a lot, and something easy to carry.
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Thanks a ton for the response. I have looked into a number of buck knifes, have you ever used a buck 113 for a general gutting knife for deer?

I like the look of that Brisa Enzo 70 you mentioned (and the price). But I am kinda nieve to blade steels, does this have a good one? I also like the size, I also do another of trout fishing and this would be a good size to hang as a neck knife for wadeing.
 
petersonfishon said:
Thanks a ton for the response. I have looked into a number of buck knifes, have you ever used a buck 113 for a general gutting knife for deer?

I like the look of that Brisa Enzo 70 you mentioned (and the price). But I am kinda nieve to blade steels, does this have a good one? I also like the size, I also do another of trout fishing and this would be a good size to hang as a neck knife for wadeing.
Click to expand...

The buck 113 is probably an even better choice than the buck pursuit. I forget all of the models they have. It should work well with deer, my preference is for something a touch longer for deer like the 192 vanguard or 105 pathfinder.

As far as steel on the Brisa Enzo the 12c27 stainless steel will perform quite well. If you're familiar with Buck's 420HC, it should feel comparable for most people. Objectively, there are differences and if you do a lot of testing and are tuned to subtle differences, it would likely be noticeably different but it falls within a similar genre of easy to sharpen, resists corrosion well, doesn't chip easily (high toughness), and has mediocre edge retention (not necessarily a bad thing). The ease of sharpening is the kind of thing where, if you're out on a day's hunt, you can touch up the edge on the edge of your car/truck's glass wind or the bottom of a ceramic cup to hone it some. If you've had a really successful day, maybe a mid-day touch up is a nice thing for the knife to be capable of.

12c27 is a low cost, perfectly useful steel when done well and Brisa is known for doing it well.

For the Brisa necker, make sure you get the full flat grind and not the scandi for your use. The full flat is just a better grind type for cutting what you would intend to cut.

Buck uses a hollow grind; full flat and hollow grinds are the best for slicing, all other qualities being the same.
 
The Classic; Kephart game and fish knife. It was designed by Horace Kephart around 1900. This is the KaBar/Becker BK62. It is an almost exact copy of one of only 2 Kephart. game and Fish knives that exist . The only changes from the original is 1095CV steel HRC58 hardness, hex bolt fasteners not brass rivets. Ethan Becker the designer has one of the 2 originals, his is in almost unused condition. I love mine, it does everything. Purchased mine from Amazon I saved almost $100 bucks.
BKT-62.jpg

    • BLADE LENGTH: 5.125 inches
    • BLADE STEEL: 1095 Cro Van
    • BLADE THICKNESS: 0.158 inches
    • BLADE TYPE: Fixed Blade
    • BLADE WIDTH: 1.1875 inches
    • COLOR: Brown
    • EDGE ANGLE: 20 Degrees
    • GRIND; Flat
    • HANDLE MATERIAL: Walnut
    • KNIFE MANUFACTURED IN: United States
    • OVERALL LENGTH; 9.625 inches
    • ROCKWELL HARDNESS: 56-58
    • SHAPE: Drop Point
    • SHEATH MANUFACTURED IN: United States
    • TANG STAMP: KA-BAR/Becker/Kephart
    • WEIGHT: 0.4 lb
 
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