What do native hunters use to skin thick hided animals like elephants, buffalo etc.?

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monkapotamus

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Where people are life and death serious about using edged tools in the bush is it all just machetes all the time for everything or do smaller knives come into play for any uses?

Where knives are needed and used for serious processing of thick hided big game animals like elephants and water buffalo what kinds of knives do native hunters use in terms of type, size, style etc? Homemade village blacksmith machetes, super cheap Chinese knives, whatever they can get... what?
 
Define "native"...
Are we talking about Eskimos? Native Americans? African Tribes?

I'd imagine they would use whatever is available, but what do I know...
 
Could be any scenario there you are cutting up a large, thick hided game animal. Walrus or seal would be as good as the African examples, maybe even better since they might have access to better tech edges being US or Canadian natives. The main question is when you are down on your knees slicing open the animal that's going to feed your village or your family for a few weeks that's a pretty serious task, what do you have in your hand to do that?
 
Probably very basic, thin carbon steel blades, like the knives of the buffalo hunters and mountain men.
 
I hunted in Africa last year are saw a variety of knives. All of them very low end. Cheap stainless and I remember some old butcher knives. None that I handled were very sharp. The amazing thing is they did a outstanding job on skinning and processing game. Way better than I could do with a sharp knife
 
I have been thinking about this now...

I actually remember seeing something about a guy that would make machetes out of leaf springs from vehicles for all the local villagers. I think it was in South America somewhere, but I can't quite remember. It was some documentary style video I either watched in college or seen on tv...I can't remember...

I've seen many hunter/gatherers that don't use knives during their hunt. Instead they use bows and arrows, spears, blowguns, throw rocks, set traps, etc... This is pretty obvious, but the reason they don't use knives is because they will cook the entire kill over an open flame and eat the whole animal, skin and all...

Think about it, if you cook an entire animal (monkey, bird, whatever) over a flame long enough, there would be no need to have to skin the animal, or basically no need for knives.
 
Blues Bender said:
Think about it, if you cook an entire animal (monkey, bird, whatever) over a flame long enough, there would be no need to have to skin the animal, or basically no need for knives.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they remove the guts. Nobody likes roasted poop.
 
That's the real thing. For the most part you won't see the knives or steels discussed here.
 
One of my favorite authors is (was) Peter Hathaway Capstick, perhaps the most famous great white hunter. A former hotshot on Wall Street, he quit when he got rich and went to Africa, where he was a professional guide, gov't hunter, etc. for thirty yrs or so. In some of his novels, he writes about the natives and the skinning of elephants. I think he said they used junk knives, like small butcher knives, and that on occasion, he gave them several of his own fixed blades...which they greatly admired.
I'll have to check that out...perhaps tomorrow
 
Generally they use basic low cost knives, it's not like most of those guys have money to blow over there.

But some do have access to other knives also so it would depend.

No 100% answer there.
 
Based on what I've seen watching documentaries and thinking about their "earning potential", etc. I'd guess they'd use whatever came to hand.
As has been stated by others...you use what you got.
These people have very little money and would not spend it on a fancy knife.
 
I worked as a hunting guide for a while, most guys who weren't seriously into knives used butcher knives from Böker or Eskilstuna (a local brand that uses Swedish O1 and 12C27 blades).

Something like this:

Cuchillos_Eskilstuna_y_Mundial.jpg


They are sold at hardware stores, feed stores and so on. There are cheap aftermarket leather sheaths available for most of them.

Edge holding isn't very good on most of them (Böker's 440C is quite soft, at least on their "industrial" line), but geometry is spot on, handles are comfortable and easy to maintain. Most guys I worked with carried a honing steel (sometimes on a loop in the knife sheath) and constantly touched up their knives as they processed the animals.
 
I'd rather leave the hides on the elephants. With them being an endangered species and all...
 
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