Recently I was doing some shopping in my local outdoor store, Andy Thornal Company. I was picking up a few last minute items for a weekend camping trip. Slowly I made my way to the cash register, like a kid being forced to come inside by his parents as the street lights came on. I causally lingered past the glass cases where knives and various coveted outdoor paraphernalia resided. The man behind the counter like always asked if there was anything in particular i would like to see. I gently replied no when almost suddenly something caught my eye. It was a small blaze orange knife. I quickly remembered seeing something similar on an outdoor television program and asked, “Is that one of those surgical type skinning knives?” The salesman piped up and informed that what I was describing was the Havalon Piranta! He then went on to pull it out of the display and to my surprise I was instantly impressed with the knife as I began to handle it.
The Piranta was very lightweight, immediately I thought of the backcountry. It had a very nice feel, even for a guy with a larger hand it was easy to maneuver. It was razor sharp, actually surgical steel sharp and it came with 12 replacement blades. Again I thought of the back country and how I wasn’t going to need to pack a heavy sharpening stone up the mountain anymore. Lastly and to my surprise was the reasonable price tag. It was retailing at Thornal’s for $39.99. This value made it even easier to stomach for if I lost it during any excursion it wouldn’t be near as heart breaking as fumbling my $150.00 Benchmade. Needless to say it didn’t take much convincing for me to throw it onto the pile of other items at the check out. As I left the store I couldn’t stop thinking about the first animal I could try my new Havalon on!
Like to be expected the Havalon performed remarkable during its first outing. I was fortunate to be able to use it to skin a decent Florida boar hog. It was super sharp and zipped through the hide with remarkable ease. My next initial thought was that it wouldn’t be able to hold its edge for very long, definitely not through this entire hog. As I kept cutting I actually forgot that the blade was replaceable and or that it needed to be replaced. Quickly the job was finished…Wow, a whole hog on one blade, that is awesome! As I began to clean up, I decided to replace the blade before packing the Piranta away…and thats where I hit a speed bump. I figured it would be easy to figure out how to remove the old blade but as I pulled and pushed I was stumped. Cautiously I proceeded because the blade was still mildly sharp and I didn’t want to lose a digit in the process. Then I remembered I had the original box in the truck. It had a very simple diagram explaining blade removal and installation and voila, off with the old and in with the new. I should have read through the directions initially thats for sure but I was way to excited and skipped that step.
Since that outing Team Southern Draw has teamed up with Havalon exclusively. All of us team members are equipped with these knives and plan to use them in all game cleaning and processing not only because of the relationship but more importantly these knives and this company rock. They have a great product of high quality and the customer service is second to none. Do yourself a favor and pick up a Havalon, for the value you will not be disappointed. Just be sure to breeze through the instructions.
Pictures to come!
Adam | TSD |
Southern Draw Field Journal 