I had a SAR 5 and sent it out to have it skeletonized. It was a great knife, with a full convex grind. It does have a 5 inch blade, which is a bit longer than what I think Gary has in mind.

It is about an inch longer than he wants Spidy, but I thin that with a file or a dremel tool and working SLOWLY he could reprofile the blade to just the specs he wants (or have Busse Combat do the customizing for him}.

Generally I like SR101 for knives 5" and under and INFI for knives 6" and up. The 5" to 6" range is "no man's land" where I have to decide what I'm going to do with the knife before I choose a material. As a knife that is more geared toward "light duty" (it'll be supplemented with a larger fixed blade in the field and I don't need a pry bar strength EDC) I'd prefer the cost and slicing ability of SR101.

I'd hate to be $500 in a skeleton necker when Dan could certainly make them for under $100.

Yeah, I'm with you on that Arch. Not to mention it's a good bit thicker than you would prefer at .20".

I might have found a solution...

The Becker BK16 "Short Becker Drop Point" has a 4-3/8" x 0.165" blade and removable (screwed on) scales.

The blade profile is similar to what I want (a little less belly than I'd prefer, but it has a good up-sweep for skinning).

Someone else recommended the ESSE-4 which having just looked that up would make a better choice. I didn't care for Beckers when they were made by Camillus and wouldn't want to own one made by KaBar.

I just wish the Yard would make these....

I was thinking that yesturday actually..easy to pop those scales right off. I have the 15 (trailing point) and love it! One of my better knife buys this year...

Could always take the scales off one of the esse's too...I kinda figure rowen's heat trt is likley better than kabars...add- ooops didn't see that next post...my bad.

Just curious. Why not?

I've got a yard keeper that I used last year on an elk
It worked pretty good, but it is definitely a belt knife

Different strokes for different folks!

Hmmmmm. If the "Boys" would just enlarge the Swamp Rat I think it would fit the bill. How about it Dan, could the yard make up a SKELLY DOG?

I think what we all have seen knives similar to this concept. Problem is that we have become spoiled to Dan's wares and often don't consider anything else. I mean after all, once you have tasted Kobe Beef you will never want a flank stake again.