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Pros: Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, Finish, Handle Material, Materials, Overall Quality, Sheath/Scabbard, Weight
Cons: None
For deer gutting & skinning
Did a lot of looking and considering for a new, replacement of my decade old Case Ridgeline (I think?) caping model knife, which has been a fine deer knife, vbut the steel is generic, the handle is just hard plastic and doesn't mate-up with the full tang, so it accumulates junk from the deer while working with it. The ESEE Ashley game knife has been on my radar for a year or so. It's at a good price so I went for it. After 2 white tailed deer gutted and skined, It has my full throated recommendation. It's good in that I didn't even think about it while using it except for that I kept thinking "Nice". The handle is well sculpted. It is a bit long, by about 1/2 inch. Whatever. The finger guard is nice with cold, slippery, wet, greasy hands and working in restricted spaces like a carcas. I didn't knick the guts but my older brother did with his deer using a big pocket knife with a clip blade. So I got some psychological bragging rights. The Nessmuk blade does what it was designed to do. The spine of the blade was surprisingly thick. I wasn't so psyched about that, but I used a long (soft)-steel bolt to baton the knife throught the top of the sternum. And the knife spine was completely un-blemished from such abuse. (I wouldn't recommend it, but it's what was at hand. ) Yes, it works very well, better than other types would, American made and doesn't cost $200+. (Throwing some shade, but Montana knife company knife blades have very pointy-looking tips, purpose made for knicking the guts and cutting the hide while skinning. Nessmuks are MUCH better)