U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- I recently grabbed an Elk Ridge Outskirt Fixed Blade knife that sports a leather handle and has a 4 ¼-inch clip point blade. Three days later me and my new knife were on a plane to do a Texas hog hunt with the Umarex Air Saber along with Bill Olson, the publisher of Texas Outdoors Journal. I’ll write about the hunt in a later article but today I want to cover one of the great-looking knives that we used to skin a hog and a Nilgai while hunting on the 2Morrow Ranch.
Ok, a little history. I guess I didn’t have a lot of luxuries as a kid. I had the big stuff. The best mom and dad in the world and a great family but not much loose change to buy a lot. With that said, I remember as a kid how cool I thought the old leather-handled knives were. Since those days I’ve always wanted one.
Fast forward 55 years. I have a real job now but for whatever reason never have bought a leather-handled knife yet. I must have been whining some because a buddy finally gave me an old one that he must of picked up at a garage sale or somewhere. But now, I have my own new one! Big moment for little Tommie.
To begin, it is a good looking medium sized clip point hunting knife. I think it looks nice or maybe I should say classy. As stated above, I love leather-handled knives. It also comes with a leather sheath which I favor. Why not carry a good-looking knife if it is also functional?
If I can only carry one knife, then it will be a clip point knife. I can do all of my skinning needs with that design if necessary. You need a clip point to perform all of your stabbing jobs like the initial cut into the hide, stabbing one in the neck (or heart) if it isn’t dead and so forth.
I like that it has a concaved dip on the spine for your thumb that helps stabilize my grip. I wish that the bolster on the heel of the knife protruded further out to ensure that my pointer finger doesn’t slide down on the knife when I have my thumb out on the spine.
Like I say, I like the Elk Ridge Outskirt Fixed Blade Knife but while hunting I had Weston Morrow, the 2Morrow Ranch manager test it out while skinning a hog and Nilgai so I could take some pictures and get his opinion on the knife. After skinning the hog, he said he really liked it. And this comes from a guy that makes his living guiding and skinning animals 7 days/week.
One last little tip. To help your knife and sheath last longer I’d recommend periodically oiling the leather handle and the sheath with either Neatsfoot oil or Lexol. Just put some of either these two oils on a rag and rub on liberally. This will keep them from drying out and cracking. If they get wet while out hunting let them dry off and then re-oil before storing.
I could not find the MSRP but I did find it online for $39.99 and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
- WEIGHT: .8 lbs.
- RETAIL PACKAGING: Box
- TYPE: Fixed Blade
- STYLE: Game Knife
- THEME: Hunting
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.”
