I'm looking at buying a new fleshing knife for a good friend that introduced me to trapping and has guided me in the field and the shed. I thought it would be a nice gesture to show that I appreciate all the knowledge that he passed onto me.

The knife he has now is a inexpensive one and he's been talking about upgrading. We've visited about neckers and sheffieds, but I would like some of your opinions or first hand experiences using these knives or any other brand of knife for that matter. I'm sure they all have pros and cons, but I would like to hear what you have to say prior to making a purchase.

the nrcker is a good knife i own and use both. i also like the mb-cutting edge. use it on coon but it only edge.

I use an el chepo fleshing knife and i love it. i bought a necker and don;t use it. I guess my beam just works very well with the less expensive knives.

Fleshing is not so much the knife per-se as it is experience doing it!

A good bladed knife for sure makes it much easier, however a person can learn to work an inexpensive knife and do fine work.

Now that being said your pocket book will pretty much dictate what type and quality of blade you want to give, which by the way is a very nice gesture and thought.

I started out with the inexpensive one's thinking I could work my learning curve if I was patient enough, worked fine enough as long as I had enough thread and time to sew holes, LOL

Now being past that patient curve and had enough money to upgrade I've got both of the Sheffields, 12 inch and the 16 I believe it is. I now use the old one's as pushers and not cutters.

I've been very happy with them both and keep them very sharp to work with. Which I think is the key to using a fleshing knife.

I also fitted my fleshing beam to the knifes which makes a tremendous amount of diffrence in speed for me. I've learned in doing lots of fur that getting in a hurry with a knife is an excersise in frustration LOL!!

Thanks for the info so far, any one else with some opinions? I know he likes his inexpensive knife, but he was thinking life would be easier with a better quality knife when it comes to fleshing coon and beaver.

Post,Caribou and Zeph.Can't go wrong with any of these.

In my opinion you can't go wrong with the Grizzle Getter. (I think that's what it's called anyways.) I bought it for beaver but it works excellent on coons. I have a MB Cutting Edge and it hasn't been used since I bought the Griz. I absolutely love it.

I have both the necker and the larger sheffield. I use both, the sheffield for pushing fat and the necker for shaving the necks on coon. I used the necker for years before I got the sheffield. The sheffield is stiffer and heavier and pushes fat easier than the necker. The necker is lighter and flexible and I find it easier to control for shaving the necks on coon. I'm sure if I practiced witht he sheffield it would shave just as nice as the necker. The necker handles are smaller which makes my hands hurt and I like the feel of the larger sheffield handles. I've looked at the Zeph knives too and they look real good as well. Depends on what you want to pay as well as mentioned above.