Maintaining the GIN 5 blade of the TigerSharp TS150 Hunter isn't a consideration - the edge is replaceable.  TigerSharp's Replacement Edge System makes swapping blades as easy as sliding a small access door on the handle to the side, taking out a dull blade and replacing it with a new one.  The TS150 is a standard drop-point hunter that sports a Zytel® handle with Kraton® insets and a nylon sheath with a molded-plastic insert.  The MSRP is $99.99 (updated price. Ed)

     A proprietary steel from Hitachi of Japan, GIN 5 was developed for surgical tools, according to TigerSharp's Will Mellon, and the cutting edges are cryogenically heat treated.  "We can use a harder steel than just about anyone else in the market," Mellon claims.  "the problem with blade steel is that, if you temper it too high, it gets brittle.  It's a problem that makers of original Japanese Samurai sword blades were trying to solve when they folded different steels together, laminating hard cores with outer layers of soft steels (and using differential tempering, Ed.)."

Steel Supports

    "Our blades reach 61-62 Rc [on the Rockwell hardness scale];" Mellon adds.  "That type of blade would snap if you put pressure on it, but the replaceable blades of TigerSharp knives are sandwiched between softer  420 J2 stainless steel supports.  A gentleman named Chip Stamper, who teaches a taxidermy class at the Missouri Taxidermy Institute, called us and said he cleaned and skinned 28 whitetail deer for a class without replacing the edge."

     Another advantage to the Replacement Edge System, according to Mellon, is that it eliminates the need for carrying sharpeners or multiple knives.  "The guys who do remote hunting like the replaceable blades because they can carry 10 of them without adding the weight of extra knives or sharpeners," he remarks.  "Plus, they don't have to stop gutting and skinning to use a sharpening stone."

     The only serious disadvantage to replaceable edges, Mellon says, is when people try to use TigerSharp knives as prying tools.  Because the replaceable edges are inserted into steel holders, they are not a s strong, laterally, as one-piece blades.  "Our fixed-blade Hunter is a lightweight hunting knife not meant for pounding tent stakes," Mellon stresses.

     Cleaning the Hunter is as easy as taking the blade insert out of its housing, washing all the parts and replacing the edge.  The components are all stainless steel, Mellon points out, so unless you leave the knife in a wet or corrosive environment, it should not rust.

-Joe Kertzman