Hi all. I'm looking for a design for a gut hook knife for my oldest brother. Don't chuckle but I need to start it now if I have any hope of finishing before Christmas. (I've remarked about my legendary procrastination before) I am not a hunter (I catch/release mice if I can - total wuss bag) and don't really know what makes a good gut hook knife. I know what it's used for but I see so many different styles and sizes that I'm lost. Dan's site has some patterns but I don't know the deal with the different sizes etc. I believe he hunts deer, elk, moose, gooses (duh - geese), ducks etc. Mostly deer/elk i think. I don't know if you use a gut hook for goose or ducks at all. Anybody got a good design for those kinds of game? Like me he's a bigger dude with some large paws. I myself am a fan of neutral knife handles but I don't know if it makes sense on a gut hook knife or not. Any tips, advice, suggestions would be appreciated. Merci beaucoup (I don't know why i said that, i don't speak French at all... feeling weird today)
I am going to be making two general purpose hunters for a guy in Wisconsin. Didn't care a whole lot about the shape. The preference was given to a 3.5" to 4" blade. He don't like gut hooks and don't like the tip too "pokey." Handle around 4" to 4.5". So there are many flavours of "just right" I guess. Customer is always right unless they ask me to use mild steel or compressed beer cans for the blade. I am thinking something like this:
