History Channel: Mountain Men flint knife skinner?

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stog75

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Anyone watch Mountain Men on History Channel? There's a guy on there named Tom who lives off the land, hunts, gathers, etc. One particular episode, he stalks a deer and bags it for winter meat. Scene shows him skinning it using a flint knife skinner. I have no background in flint knives, are flint knives damned good skinners? I know he's living off the land and all, and probably made the knife, but interesting choice. He used a rifle to bag the deer so I know he isn't going Amish and foregoing technology altogether. Not knocking him, just curious about his choice of using a flint knive to skin.
 
Flint, other stones/rocks like obsidian, even bone as well I think makes sharper edges but I find it hard to believe it would work better than a normal modern steel knife just because of edge integrity.

I could be wrong though, I've done very little in the way of skinning and never with natural materials. My gut says it was for good TV.
 
Stone knives are well suited to that type of work. Think "serrated glass" because that's what they are. Very good tools for cutting open animals and cutting up meat and sinew. I once pondered the same question so I asked a friend who made stone knives to make me a user. It works great on organic materials. Now it won't replace steel in machine type cutting such as drilling and milling operations. Outdoors though, it's as serviceable as it was a million years ago!
 
I had a friend that got into flint napping. His blades were scary sharp. I'm sure they work well although I have no experience skinning with them
 
Obsidion [glass] can have a sharper edge than steel .The definition of sharp is the minimum radius of the edge possible. Glass beats steel and glass is used for delicate surgery like eyes .
I.ve seen film of an animal skinned and completely butchered with flint or obsidion.Very fast very efficient !!
 
Tom Oar is his name. I once checked for a website or any reference to his items. As I figured, he didn't have a website or anything. I believe I did find his phone number, but I don't really know enough about flint knives to explain to him what I would be interested in, so I just dropped it.

I don't know I've ever seen any reference to them being "better" on the show. The most recent episodes he was tanning a buffalo hide. He clearly used a steel blade to accomplish this.
 
I saw that episode, I was interested also and found out that he does indeed make them himself and you can actually purchase one from him
 
mete is correct, glass, obsidian and flint can be sharper than steel. I did a search for Tom Oar once. He sells his wares at mountain man rendezvous probably all in Montana. I did find his address and phone number but didn't copy it. I found one woman who bought one of his knives for her husband, it was $250.
 
I believe that he sells his home made wares at shows in the spring. Knives and all kinds of stuff. At least that's what they said on the first season. I'm debating picking up the second season on DVD (no cable, I liked Marty and Tom, the guy in NC not so much).
 
If knapped knives (flint, obsidian, glass, etc.) were better than steel, we'd be using knapped knives. There's many good reasons they have been replaced, first being they have a relatively fragile edge.
 
Those guys are AWESOME!

Tom is one of my favorites, I thought that was so cool watching him tan the buffalo hide- it made me want a Buffalo robe! Funny how I get so enthralled with everything they are doing that I hardly ever even notice their knives! Next week's preview shows Tom stalking a deer with his bow, should be cool.

Marty, Rich and Eustace are pretty cool as well, but that guy Charlie (the guy who fell of his snowmobile last season) is an idiot.

Marty was even on the cover of Field and Stream a few years ago!
 
I was in an experimental archaeology class in college, and was amazed and impressed with the performance of obsidian cutting tools, less so with flint. One of the major caveats of those tools (aside from getting a milion tiny cuts and slivers in ones fingers while the edge is knapped), is the danger of getting fragments into the food. We found a few tiny frags in a cut near a bone, and also in a long filet, but all came clear with washing the steaks. This led to discussions on the evolution on blade shapes, and also the short life spans of our Neolithic (and older) ancestors,
 
Thanks for the input guys.. I love that show- have it on constant DVR record. I like most if the guys on the show...and like above, don't like Charlie... He's an idiot. I like Eustice for his never quit McGuyver style. Rich is a bad ass mountain lion hunter with his dogs, Marty's fun with his snowmobile and planes, & Tom is just one cool dude. If like to see who has one of Tom's bows... those look cool. If anyone knows who has his knives for sale let me know. Would be cool to have a flint knife that he made, and knowing it'll help support & sustain his lifestyle.
 
Hey Stog75,
I just watched an episode of mountain men and Tom was making these flint knives and I believe I have the answer as to why he prefers the stone knives for carving up animals and skinning. You probably have seen the episode by now, but just in case, he claims with the stone knife you have less to zero "accidental" cuts through the hide that would be devistating when skinning an animal to sell the hide. Why you might "poke" through the hide easier with a steel blade as opposed to the stone knife??? I don't know. But that's what he was claiming on the show.
 
stog75 said:
Anyone watch Mountain Men on History Channel? There's a guy on there named Tom who lives off the land, hunts, gathers, etc. One particular episode, he stalks a deer and bags it for winter meat. Scene shows him skinning it using a flint knife skinner. I have no background in flint knives, are flint knives damned good skinners? I know he's living off the land and all, and probably made the knife, but interesting choice. He used a rifle to bag the deer so I know he isn't going Amish and foregoing technology altogether. Not knocking him, just curious about his choice of using a flint knive to skin.
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Flint blades are extremely durable. Obsidian is the sharpest material on the planet , a guy in the 80's made scalple blades out of obsidian for his heart surgery. As for Tom I suspect he used a flint knife as a traditional way of life like many of his other tools and scrapers.
 
He made an account just to reply. Lol

Spam or just that interested in the show? Does this show still come on?
Just promoting the show??
 
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