Kershaw Deschutes Skinner Fixed Blade Hunting Knife

Kershaw makes functional knives that are not necessarily pretty. This knife is no exception. Another reviewer said the handle is cheap, I say the handle has a “grippy” feel and fits the hand nicely. The blade finish is not shiny, and is perfect for a skinner. Made from D2 steel, the blade should hold its edge longer than other blades in its price range. D2 will rust a little quicker than other metals, but any owner who takes regular care of his/her knives can avoid rust. The blade is wickedly sharp right out of the box. The sharpness is consistent throughout the length of the blade. The knife comes with simple and very light weight sheath that I really like. For less than 60 bucks, Kershaw invested in quality and function more than appearances. Thank you Kershaw, keep up the good work.

Great knife for the money. I wear this knife on my boot and it does tarnish a bit due to moisture and such getting in the sheath, but this knife stays sharp, and is always ready to go. I am thoroughly impressed.

Made in China. Nothing special. If it was anything more than $40 I would’ve returned it. I’ll give it to my boys for a first hunting knife. That’s about the quality it is. Little dissatisfied but what do you expect nowadays.

I found very little info on this knife before purchasing in any of the forums so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve photographed it next to my Ontario rat 3 that’s been my EDC for 5 years. I wouldn’t compare the two other than in terms of size reference, but I will say the Kershaw has a much nicer factory edge and less metal behind it, I never liked the factory edge on the rat.

This is technically a full tang knife but the rubber handle wraps around it rather than slab handles, so the tang is slightly thinner because of that, though I don’t feel it’s any weaker. The handle is really comfortable and I have huge hands, though it may be a bit thin for some (I liked the thin slabs on the rat as well.) My only complaint is that the lanyard hole on the back of the knife is the same hard rubber material, I was hoping it was part of the tang.

The blade appears to be CNC machined, judging by the way the blade to handle transition is done. I wasn’t sure what to think of jimping at the tip in addition to by the handle, but it actually is really handy. The choil is a good size and my finger naturally places itself when I choke up on the knife. I’m not a fan of the stonewash finish or whatever they call it, I’d prefer satin, but I could fix that myself if I cared enough. The spine is rounded slightly along its entirety, which might matter for some people who use their spine with a ferro rod, I’ll either use a scraper with my rod or flatten the area between the two jimping spots on my belt grinder. It holds an edge fine, and earlier I mentioned the factory edge is good, it’s consistent, fine, though required a little work to get it shaving sharp. So far I’ve only used it for whittling but it would be a great skinning knife. I don’t know a lot about d2 so I don’t know how brittle or not it may be, but at least so far it’s held up fine through knots in the oak I was playing with.

The sheath is what I expected. Retention is fine but it’s ugly, and I moved the retention snap to behind the sheath because it’s not necessary and is in the way and an extra step. It rides fine on a belt but I’ll switch to leather just because I don’t like plastic sheaths. The sheath is ambidextrous by removing two screws

This is exactly what I expected for a $45-50 knife from Kershaw. I really like the overall design and I think it’s well made for the price, it’s not beautiful, but is absolutely functional and well thought out for it’s intended use.

I have removed one star because for whatever reason, looking at the spine, the taper on the tip is off on one side. It is centered on the blade edge and doesn’t affect function, but it bugs me.