Everyone who owns one knife likely owns many knives, but many hunters may not realize that the different knife styles also have very different applications. Yes, any piece of sharpened steel will cut and do general tasks, but did you know that knife blades come in different styles/shapes all intended for different purposes? When we talk specifically about hunting knives, they can be broken down into different blade styles. While the name of the blade type can vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, the shapes are often very similar or identical. Buck Knives, for example, breaks down hunting knives into multiple different blade styles, with the 10 most common including drop-point, skinner, clip, spear point, guthook, serrated, caping, cleaver, spey, and boning. 

Drop-Point Blades

Drop-point-style blades are the most common. As the name implies, the top of the blade has a convex radius that drops down from the top of the knife blade gradually to the tip/point. The bottom of the blade has a long upsweeping radius that meets the top, forming a robust tip that is great for heavy tasks. Drop-point is a common style, and this style is often the basis of slight variations due to its proven effectiveness. 

General uses include gutting or skinning, cutting rope, or even butchering deer. If a buyer is looking for a do-all knife, this style is a great choice.

Skinner Blade

Buck’s skinner blade style is also sometimes referred to as a modified blade by different manufacturers. This style of blade was designed for skinning and features a more drastically swept bottom that has a drastic upsweep near the tip, creating a more angular intersection with the top blade. It also has a thinner and narrower tip to help get into tight crevices while skinning.

As the name implies, skinner-style blades are best used for skinning and other intricate work. You don’t want to be prying into a bone with a skinner blade to separate a joint, but it does well at most skinning and butchering tasks.

Clip or Clip-Point Blade

A clip blade is designed with a concave or straight top blade, rather than a convex design like the drop point. The bottom of the blade has a gradual upsweep that comes to a very sharp intersection/point. This style of blade is thin to allow for piercing hide/flesh while remaining moderately strong.

A clip-point blade is a great choice for detail working like caping or skinning small game. This style of blade can be found on many pocketknives for general uses like opening boxes.

Spear-Point Blade

Unlike previous blade styles, spear-point blades have a sharp top and bottom edge. In some cases, the top edge is only sharpened for a short length near the tip, while in other cases, the entire blade consists of two sharp edges like a sword. This style of blade is very strong and used mainly as a survival-style knife.

This blade style can be used for a variety of purposes, from spearing fish to killing game in a survival situation. The robustness of the blade style makes it a good choice for general-purpose applications. If you could only take one knife on a camping trip, this would be a great blade choice. 

Guthook

As the name implies, a guthook has one important task. Guthooks are sold either as a stand-alone blade in a knife set or incorporated into the top of a drop-point-style blade. The sharp section of the guthook is found inside the “hook,” which makes it more difficult to sharpen.

Guthooks are designed for cutting straight lines while skinning or gutting without piercing the flesh for a cleaner cut. The main intent is for hunting use, as it has little to no utility elsewhere, except maybe cutting rope in a pinch.

Serrated Blade

Think of a serrated blade as half knife and half saw. Usually, serrated blades are drop-point blades with serrations on the rear bottom of the blade, but serrations can be found on many knife styles in different locations. These serrations are useful when cutting heavy tissue or even cartilage, as they do not dull as quickly as a standard blade and can handle heavier work. 

Serrations have many uses and don’t often interfere with a knife’s utility but instead add value/purpose. Serrations are tough to sharpen compared to the rest of the blade, but when you need to cut something thick and don’t want to dull the rest of the blade, serrations are especially handy. They can even cut through moderate bone in a pinch.

Caping Blade

Thin and often made for light duty, a caping blade has a very sharp edge made for delicate use. The blade style is often a modified version of a drop-point or skinner blade, but much thinner and less robust. The tip of these knives can be easily broken. Many companies sell this style of blade in a quick-change blade system, including companies like Havalon, Gerber and Outdoor Edge. They are generally very thin, like a scalpel, and very sharp.

Caping blades are perfect for very delicate work on small game and, as the name implies, caping of big game. They dull quickly when they encounter bone, hence why companies are offering them on knife models with an easy, quick-change design as a disposable blade. They are perfect for caping out a deer head and great at getting into the tear ducts and around other tight spaces.

Cleaver Blades

Cleavers are a heavy-duty blade that is thicker than most other blade styles and has a flat top and upswept, curved bottom. The top and bottom of the blade generally don’t meet like a conventional blade, and instead form a more blunted end surface lacking a sharp point or tip.

Cleavers are commonly used during butchering. They are great for cutting thick sections of meat and don’t dull as quickly as other blades due to their generally thicker blade and edge surface. They can even chop through bone. 

Spey Blades

Spey blades are often found on pocketknives and intended for general purpose duties. Like a pen knife, spey blades aren’t very tall and generally have a flat top and curved bottom. They are thin, but not as thin as a skinning blade, and are fairly robust for their overall size.

These blades got their name from their common use: neutering animals. They create a very clean cut. They are not generally great at any one thing specifically but excel at being handy in a pinch for any task.

Boning Knife Blades

Boning knife blades are slender, thin and generally flexible. They are most like a fillet knife for all intense purposes. Different manufacturers have different versions that include different sweeps, etc. They all have blades about five to seven inches long, have a straight blade top, and include a sweeping bottom edge that intersects at a sharp point.

Used for boning out meat, they are great for getting around joints and in between ribs. The long blade is easy to sharpen on a handheld steel, allowing these knives to be easily re-sharpened during the butchering process. 

In addition to the knife blade styles covered in this article, there are other styles of knife blades that either hybridize the blade types above or have uses outside of hunting, for instance, the tanto blade. Understanding the different types of knife blades and their use cases will make speaking the language, and making the sale, simple. Stay sharp and remember: Dull knives cut the deepest!

Five Great Knives

Buck Knives 103 Skinner

A great blade for skinning and butchering game. The 103 Skinner features, you guessed it, a 420HC steel skinner blade. It has an 8.25-inch overall length and is available with a black phenolic, cocobolo, or micarta handle. It comes standard with a leather sheath. 

Knives of Alaska Magnum Wolverine SureGrip

This is a good general carry blade style for everyday camp chores. The sharp, fine, upswept clip-point is efficient for skinning under and around game animals’ legs and other close-quarters situations. At the same time, the blade’s long radius is ideal for skinning and field-dressing the larger areas of the animal. This knife comes with a vegetable-tanned, oiled split-grained cowhide sheath.

Ontario Knife Company RAT3 Serrated

Designed for versatility and durability, the RAT series features a 1075 carbon steel blade, tough micarta handles, and MOLLE-compatible sheathes. It is great for general-purpose work, including a drop-point blade style with serrations on the rear bottom of the blade. If you want a knife to do it all, this is a great one to start with.

Havalon Piranta-Edge

One of the original quick-change knives that uses surgical-style blades that are wicked sharp and great for detail work. It’s perfect for skinning and caping, but it won’t handle bone, as it will dulls quickly. Blade styles available include a skinner, guthook, and other modified versions of common blade types. Just be careful when changing blades, and don’t ask how I know! (Use a pair of needle-nose pliers, not your bare hands.)

Outdoor Edge Cutlery RazorMax 5.0" Replaceable Blade Boning Knife

A replaceable-blade knife that interchanges between a five-inch boning knife blade and a conventional drop-point. Low-cost replacement blades make sharpening a thing of the past. This is a great dual-purpose knife for traveling hunters who need to do multiple tasks but don’t want to carry multiple knives in their pack. Like other replaceable blade-knives, these are very sharp but tend to dull more quickly than a conventional knife blade.