Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner Assessment

It lastly occurred. After a decade of telling folks I might “simply fill my tag on opening day of archery and be completed with it,” the bull screamed into my bugles an hour into the opener. It dropped 75 yards away after my arrow hit the mark.

However as any hunter price their quiver will let you know, placing an elk on the bottom is only the start, particularly in case you absolutely course of the meat your self. So I set my 13-year-old bow apart and pulled out a model new Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner from my kill package. Certainly, it was time to get to work.

For a lot of the subsequent week, it was me and the Saddle Mountain Skinner, together with my dad and mom, a couple of different knives, and a few pals, who turned that five-by-five bull into sufficient steaks, burgers, and brats to feed me and my household for the following 12 months. And in spite of everything that work, it’s develop into one among my favourite knives of all time. Right here’s why.

In brief: The Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner ($280 for the S90V mannequin examined right here) is the platonic very best of a looking knife. The 8.7-inch fixed-blade knife has a deep-bellied drop-point S90V blade. The blade form is right for area dressing, skinning, and processing massive recreation. The Richlite deal with feels superb within the hand, even after hours of laborious use. Steel ridging alongside the again of the deal with, an ergonomic palm swell, and aggressive jimping make the blade each protected and comfy to make use of for lengthy hours of meat processing.

Evaluate the Saddle Mountain Skinner with my number of one of the best looking knives.

Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner Assessment

A mature bull elk is a giant job to interrupt down and course of. It’s one of many few occasions once I’d inform somebody to anticipate to make use of a knife — laborious and nonstop — for 8 hours plus straight. And that is what I did with the Saddle Mountain Skinner. It was essentially the most brutal, exacting take a look at of a looking knife I’ve skilled in my practically 4 many years of elk looking.

To start, a accomplice and I started by quartering and breaking down the bull on the facet of a mountain. In fact, it died in a small ditch, making the complete course of tougher. However with teamwork and sluggish, regular work, we broke the meat into manageable quarters over the course of a bit over an hour. We eliminated backstraps and neck meat, and cracked rib bones to take away meat from contained in the cavity with the gutless methodology.

Within the area, the factory-keen Saddle Mountain Skinner proved extremely sharp. It took little or no stress to pierce the conceal and comply with the muscle teams, splitting the primary rear quarter all the way down to the hip joint in a matter of seconds. I took my time, cautious to not break into the intestines as I adopted the joint round, the knife slicing like a laser.

The Saddle Mountain Skinner is accessible in S90V metal with Richlite and G10 handles, or S30V metal with a stabilized wooden deal with. I examined the premium S90V model, and was blown away by how nicely it held an edge.

A buddy and I labored on slicing down the bull for most likely 2 hours in complete, from eradicating quarters all the way in which to choosing off the final bits of neck meat and batoning the blade via the neck (extra on this later) to take away the pinnacle.

And that was simply day one. By the point we hauled the final of 5 hundreds off the mountain, the Saddle Mountain Skinner was nonetheless very sharp.

The Solely Searching Knife You Want?

The passage of time might harm, nevertheless it additionally presents data if we concentrate. As I strategy my fourth decade as a hunter, my opinions about one of the best looking knives have developed. This 12 months, the Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner taught this previous canine a couple of new methods.

For the primary time in a number of years, I by no means reached for a scalpel. Detachable-blade knives like Havalon are a go-to for a lot of hunters for good cause. A contemporary blade simply works. I’ve used them many occasions, and I’m certain I’ll once more. However with the unreal sharp and sturdy S90V metal of the Saddle Mountain Skinner, I by no means wanted a contemporary blade.

That reality continued for days as I moved from the sphere to a storage. There, my crew and I skinned the quarters and broke them down into muscle teams. We turned them into steaks, burgers, and brats. Then we packaged every part into freezer paper and saved it away.

It’s an enormous job. We labored for shut to a few full days to finish the complete job.

The Saddle Mountain Skinner stayed in my hand for a lot of it. Sure, we had 4 or 5 knives working at any given time. However I commonly went again to the Benchmade for one particular cause — the deal with.

Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner Deal with

I like, severely love, the deal with of the Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner. At 4.5 inches lengthy, it has a refined palm swell that offers strategy to a thumb groove subsequent to the heel of the blade. Mixed with the grippy nature of the Richlite scale materials, the knife felt safe even when moist and bloody. It instilled confidence that I wouldn’t slip or minimize myself.

Transferring again, the backbone of the deal with could be very distinctive. It permits the metal tang to point out via the scales, and even protrude previous the scales in an undulating nature. This enhances the grip much more, giving the rear of the knife traction in your hand in a spot that wants it most throughout laborious cuts. It’s a genius design that I’ve hardly ever seen (if ever) on one other knife.

I liked the added safety and grip, particularly when slicing frozen chunks of meat for the grinder after a number of hours of laborious slicing.

For transparency, I’ve fairly average-sized arms and normally put on medium gloves. These with bigger arms would possibly discover this deal with on the smaller dimension, however the suggestions I’ve gotten from different hunters can also be very optimistic.

Blade Form and Metal: Glorious, With Downsides

The Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner has superior metal and an almost good blade form.

Form

The knife has a deep stomach on a drop-point blade. There’s nothing dangerous right here. This knife is a time-tested form, confirmed via many years to be just about good for cleansing massive recreation.

The tip itself just isn’t tremendous aggressive, however lots sharp sufficient for poking via conceal or making wonderful cuts in shut quarters. It’s a pleasant compromise as a result of, whereas not a really acute angle, it’s sufficient to get the job completed. And by not being tremendous pointy, as one might discover in a clip level, it’s a lot harder than a wonderful level.

From there, you get again into the core of the knife, its stomach. That is the place a lot of the work will get completed when making massive lengthy cuts. I like a knife with a deep, pronounced stomach just like the Saddle Mountain Skinner, as a result of it offers you a lot of edge to work with and extra size to get the job completed.

In use, the form proved to work nice. It minimize, poked, and even batoned. After beating the heck out of the knife for 3 days, it had a couple of small chips however was nonetheless serviceably sharp.

Sheath

For such a beautiful knife, the Saddle Mountain Skinner’s black and orange “Boltron” plastic sheath is meh. It does a great job of defending the knife, sure, and it’s nice for throwing the knife in a pack or kill package. That’s the particular aim of the knife, and it is smart.

However for an almost $300 knife, it might be good if it had at the very least a technique of attaching it to a belt. Because it ships, the slots are a lot too slender to suit a normal belt. For $20 extra, you should buy a Teclock Belt Clip from Benchmade for a safe carry system. Or, for $35, Benchmade sells a pleasant leather-based sheath for the Saddle Mountain Skinner.

Each are viable choices if you wish to carry it on a belt. Personally, I depart my looking knife in my pack whereas within the area and maintain a small EDC knife in my pocket for non-hunting use. But it surely’s price noting these limitations.

Metal: S90V and S30V Choices

S90V metal is epic. It’s actually, actually laborious and holds an edge unbelievably nicely. However like all metal, it can finally uninteresting. S30V can also be wonderful metal. It’s older, inexpensive (the S30V possibility retails for about $60 much less), and doesn’t maintain an edge fairly as lengthy. But it surely’s nonetheless superb.

I selected S90V for testing. And that’s the compromise. In contrast to tender steels which can be straightforward to place an edge on shortly, S90V is a bit more difficult to sharpen, though I discovered it fully doable with a guided sharpener.

It additionally tends to chip extra simply than tender metal. I put a number of small chips into the blade whereas batoning the knife via bone. Looking back, I wouldn’t do it once more. However impressively, the knife held as much as the beating with just some small chips. And I used to be in a position to take them out via sharpening.

So, what should you contemplate when buying a Saddle Mountain Skinner: S30V (barely softer, extra sharpenable) or S90V (very laborious, holds edge ceaselessly, barely tougher to resharpen)? I’m personally keen on very laborious, long-wearing metal. I solely wish to pull out the sharpener when it’s actually wanted on the finish of a hunt. So S90V it’s. And that’s what I examined.

Reporting again, the knife was nonetheless depraved sharp after area processing an elk, though it had misplaced its hair-popping edge. By the top of three days of processing, it must go on the sharpener. So now I’m going to go sharpen this factor and see how I can do with the S90V.

Sharpening

I slapped the blade of the Saddle Mountain Skinner right into a Depraved Edge sharpening system. As a result of I had chipped the blade, I opted to sharpen it aggressively and take away a modest quantity of metal. That may eliminate the chips and get the knife again to razor sharp in a single go.

I used to be stunned how shortly the 600-grit sharpening stone wore via the S90V metal. Whereas laborious, the metal proved actually fairly straightforward to sharpen. After about 5 minutes of honing each side and a slight reprofile of the sting, the chips have been gone. It took me longer, most likely quarter-hour, to work via the higher-grit stones and construct successive burrs.

However after lower than half an hour, I had a super-sharp edge — sharp sufficient that I minimize myself once I barely brushed the blade whereas washing off the Sharpie that I’d used to mark the sting for angle-finding. I assume I’ll by no means be taught, which is why I maintain Band-Aids round.

So closing evaluation? Sure, S90V is tough, however as an beginner sharpener, I had no downside bringing it again to an excellent sharp edge.

For individuals who don’t wish to undergo the hassle or don’t personal a great sharpener, Benchmade will sharpen it for you for all times, however it’s essential to spend $35 for delivery to get it there and again. I did it myself and am pleased with the outcomes.

Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner Assessment: Who Ought to Purchase It

In the end, the Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner might be the one and solely looking knife you personal. In fact, I personally would add a pair extra and a Havalon with contemporary blades to your package. You by no means wish to be left with a uninteresting blade, and by no means know in case you’ll get known as in by buddies to scrub a number of animals in a day.

But when I had to decide on a single knife for all my looking and recreation processing for the remainder of my life, I might strongly contemplate the Saddle Mountain Skinner. I’ve dozens of knives. It’s my job to check them, so I’m a bit spoiled.

However darn it if the Saddle Mountain Skinner doesn’t test off nearly each field. Its solely actual draw back is being a bit on the heavier facet. However after utilizing it for days on finish, I recognize that modest heft. It doesn’t really feel fragile. And if I would like to make use of it in a survival state of affairs, splitting wooden or constructing a shelter, I’ve little question it’ll be as much as the job.

The Saddle Mountain Skinner is a superb knife. If you happen to’re a severe hunter or outdoorsman who needs one knife that may do most every part, that is it. Nevertheless, in case you want a knife you’ll be able to sharpen within the area, I’d move and search for one thing with carbon metal.

However for individuals who need a looking knife that may deal with a complete elk in a single go, look no additional. This looking knife will deal with something you’ll be able to throw at it. And if you lastly put on that edge uninteresting, hop within the bathe earlier than throwing it on the shapener. As a result of I’m certain you’ll be as toast as I used to be after an enormous, profitable week within the woods and on the butcher desk.