The Bottom Line
Pros
- Very sharp and easy to use.
- They work great for splitting the hide for skinning.
- Also works well as a gut hook.
- Each blade has two hooks, so you get double-duty from one blade.
- Never needs sharpening - when both sides are dull, throw it away and grab another.
Cons
- Mine kept coming slightly loose in my Rhino knife (but that may not be the blade's fault).
- Cuts the hair along with the hide, unlike when you slide a knife under the skin and cut outward.
- Pointed hooks tend to cut deeper than standard gut hooks, so more care is required.
Description
- Disposable throwaway blades for utility knives, with an internally-sharpened hook at each end.
- These blades come in a package of five.
- Can be used for many things, including slitting deer hide for skinning, and opening up the abdomen for gutting.
- Cuts the hair along with the hide, so I had to rinse things often to keep most of the hair off of the meat.
- Worked very well for cutting the hide around the tendons on the rear legs, by which the deer were hanging.
- Unlike most gut hooks, they are sharpened right to the point, so be careful not to cut into the meat or entrails.
Guide Review - Sheffield Utility Knife Hook Blades for Skinning/Dressing Deer & Other Big Game
What can I say about something as simple as a hooked blade for a utility knife? Well, it worked even better than expected when I used it on a couple whitetail deer. It was nice to easily slit the hide on and around the legs without cutting the meat and the tendons by which the deer was hanging. If you've ever sliced that tendon on a hanging deer, you know what I mean.These blades do require more care than a regular gut hook. Standard gut hooks are usually blunt on the end, to avoid cutting he meat and/or entrails. Not so with these - they are sharpened to the ends of the hooks, which creates a point.
This point helps make the blades more useful than a standard gut hook, though. I used it for a number of meat-separation duties. It's no replacement for a traditional hunting knife, but it makes a good companion.
The hooks are very sharp and cut easily, and each blade has two hooks. I used one hook on two deer and it was still sharp, so you should get good mileage out of these blades. When the hooks get dull, forget about sharpening - throw it away and replace it.
The blade I used stayed in the knife, but twice I noticed that it was slightly out of place in the Rhino knife. I don't think it would have come out, but it wasn't seated just right, and after re-setting it, it did the same thing again. I won't blame the blade, though - it could easily be the knife's fault.
The only things not to like are that you might cut deeper than you want to due to the pointed hooks, and that it easily cuts hair along with the hide. (When you slide a hunting knife under the hide and cut outward, you don't get cut hairs everywhere.) I kept a water hose handy to rinse off the loose hairs.
Neither of these things is enough to prevent me from recommending these blades to anyone who does their own dressing & skinning of big game.
- Russ Chastain
