Let me first say that I am not a knife person and do not know alot about them. I have always gotten by with the standard Buck, Spyderco, etc. My main use of a knife is to gut, skin, and process deer, antelope and the occasional elk.

I have decided that its time to buy a nice knife. I think I either want a Ingrams light hunter or Winston (I can't make my mind up which model).

So my questions are. Is the Ingrams worth the addtional money and wait over the Winston? Is one better than the other or just personal preference?

I know the correct answer is to buy both but I am not a knife collector. I keep thinking that I will buy one and be done.

Opinions?

Dink

Like Lays potatoe chips, you CAN'T have just one !!!!!!!

Very subjective - there is no wrong answer. I vote Winston - a ridiculous value and very little wait. If you are never going to re-sell the knife it makes Winston look even better. I bought one of David's web specials over the holidays for an embarrassing price and it is now in my elk hunting partners gear waiting for fall. RP

It's a real joy to pull out a custom and do the field work you mentioned. Between the two you mentioned, I'd advise you to go ahead and get a David Winston knife...you'll get it much quicker and you can start gutting, skinning, and processing the game you mentioned this Fall!

As a "user" I would go with the Winston. You will get great quality, a good price and shorter wait time. If you were a collector, I would advise the Ingram as it would hold more resale value, but it doesn't sound like that is what you are looking for.

Choose the model, the steel and the scale material and gut away.

donsm70

P.S. You should check out the Winstons in orange G10 scales, with your steel of choice.

I have both and they both make a great knife. Honestly, there's no question in my mind. Gene makes a fantastic knife but David's are every bit as good and possibly better. They cost half as much and you can get one in a reasonable amount of time. You might also wanna take a look at some of the other folks that post here. Not sure you'll be able to get your hands on one of Rick Menefee's knives as he has a pretty good wait list as well, but they are first class. You might want to check out Mike Miller's stuff as well. His blades are a lot of value for the money. Lot's of options with some of the folks who post right here on the fire.

If you can't buy two then buy one up to price level where you can still stand to sharpen it and sleep at night...:)

Two Winstons just came up in the classifieds!

donsm70

Buy one from everybody! Everybody has diff prices for reasons. Dan burke who is among the top slip-joint makers in the world told me one time i charge 5 times the money as you do for the same knife because it takes me that much longer to make the same knife. His fine motor skills have lots of age. I assure you we are all getting rich. Get on guys list sooner or later you will get one. If you dont like it sell it more than likely you may get more than you paid for it.

David Winston has a nice model 60 listed right now on his webpage with elk scales, this is his largest skinner but not too large for deer. Excellent value.
http://winstonknives.blademakers.com/

If u can pick one up, another super choice is one Al Alexander's Bartahatchie Skinners which he has available from time to time, a great solid skinning blade and also a bargain! He has comments above, look him up-
http://aablades.blademakers.com/

Good luck, lots of great choices out there.
Steve