Last week, I was in Texas on a writers’ hunt and got to use the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife to bone out our game. I boned a whole buck and was still able to shave the hair off of my arm after I was done. Impressive!
But let me back up and give a little history on the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife. Back in 2006, I bet I hit up 7-9 knife companies about producing a boning knife for outdoorsmen. I told them that there were no good boning knives for the outdoorsmen. None took me up on it.
Then, in 2016, I was brown bear hunting and fishing with Charles Allen (the owner of KOA) at his lodge in Alaska. I hit him up on the idea to make us a boning knife. A year or two later, he called me up and told me that he had a prototype to test out.
Long story short, KOA now offers a boning knife with four options. It comes with a flexible or semi-flex blade and offers both a black handle and a hunter’s orange handle. Whether you choose the flexible or the semi-flex model is a matter of opinion. Not a right or a wrong.
Some boners favor a 6-inch boning knife, and some favor a 5-inch blade. It is not right or wrong; it’s a matter of opinion. I favor a 6-inch blade when boning larger 1,500 lb. beef cattle, but on game animals that are smaller, a 5-inch blade is better. And the blade on my knife actually measures out at 5 1/4 inches.
On boning knives, you’ll want an upswept blade the exact shape of the blade as is on the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife. This upswept design is exactly what all of the boners use in the big beef packing plants. They have perfected what works best.
Needless to say, when you’re boning out your game, a lot of the time, you’ll be working in low light conditions and in a wet, bloody, and cold environment, so you’ll want a good grip on your boning knife. The Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife has a full-sized handle with definite finger grooves. It comes with a Sure-Grip handle, which further enhances your grip.
So, with all of the above attributes, I feel like I have a firm grip when boning with the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife. And to top things off, it has a hole in the handle in case you want to tie on a lanyard.
30-40 years ago, I had to make my own sheaths for my boning knives out of scrap leather. Not good. The leather I used was thin and easy for the blade to stick through if I fell while carrying it in my backpack or saddle bag on a horse. So the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife, coming with the nice Boltaron sheath, is a big deal. And it snaps into place and is held firmly.
In addition to wanting a sheath for when carrying it in your backpack, you’d need one anyway to throw in your tackle box or drawer to prevent dinging up the edge or cutting yourself.
The Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife is good for boning any of your big game animals, from antelope up to moose. But don’t forget, it is also good for filleting your fish. When I catch 200+ crappie I use an electric knife to fillet my catch but I use my Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife to remove the rib cage.
The MSRP on the Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife is $69.99 and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
SPECIFICATIONS:
- Blade Steel D2
- Bevel 18-20 degrees
- Blade Length 5.0”
- Weight 4.2 oz.
- Rockwell Hardness 59-61
- Knife Length 9.625”
- Blade Thickness .045-.050”
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About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoor writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening #ad for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
