Havalon Knives Review: The BEST Setup 2019
After using my set of Havalon knives, blades, and accessories for over a couple years now, here is my Havalon knives review for 2019.
The Reason for Choosing Havalon
When I first started doing my research, there where three main companies in the “removable blade knives” category: Havalon, Outdoor Edge, and Gerber. That was also how I seemed to rank them.
- My Top Choice: Havalon – same price as Outdoor Edge, a more compact folding knife with a pocket clip, and many different blade types.
- Second Choice: Outdoor Edge – Seemed more like a regular knife, one style blade, same price as Havalon
- Third: Gerber. They were not popular and I didn’t like the design compared to the Havalon.
So onto the Havalon knives review!
Havalon Removable Blade Positives
- Variety of different blade choices to fit the knife
- Many different handle choices to fit the blades
- Easy to clean [if you get the right one (keep reading)]. Not too many crevasses for blood and tissue to get stuck in
- The price is low, and the quality is great
- Removable blades can be resharpened if you need to save money (I do it)
Havalon Removable Blade Negatives
- Difficult to remove blades without the blade removal tool
- Hard to clean if you get a certain style of a knife handle
- The possibility of the blade coming out or breaking if used improperly due to excessive force or twisting
Not too many negatives for this Havalon knife review if you know how to handle a knife.
The Best Setup
- The Scalpel Handle – Easy to clean, stainless, well balanced, and low price
- Blade Remover – A necessity. A way to store the blades and remove them.
- 70A Blades (12-pack) – (rounded tip) – Rounded tip for skinning and prepping hide.
- 60A Blades (50-pack) – (pointy tip) – Regular thickness and a pointy tip
- 60XT Blades (100-count) – (pointy tip & thinner) – Thinner than the 60A.
- Folding Knife Set – If you need the pocket clip and the safest means of carrying. (Harder to clean)
With everything listed above, for around $75 or as little as $30, you will never have to sharpen a blade in many, MANY years. Two blades lasted through the processing of three alligators from the boat to the dinner table. Yeah, even through that alligator hide. You haven’t read that in a Havalon knives review have you??
Havalon Knives Review: The BEST Setup 2019
So the best setup I have come up with is the scalpel handle, paired with any blade of your choice; 70A blades for caping and getting hides off carcasses and the 60A blades for cutting joints and taking meat away from bones, and then the blade remover to store your open blades in while on or off the knife handle.
I’ll have a 60A blade in one blade remover and a 70A blade in another blade remover. When I need to use the 70A blade, I put the 60A in its blade remover, take the handle off the 60A blade, and move it to the 70A in the other blade remover and vise-a-versa. At the end, I wash everything with ease and put it back in service.
I like the idea of the Havalon Piranta folding knife, but there are places where meat and blood can collect and become unsanitary and hard to clean if you let it dry there, but its great for a pocket knife or carrying when you don’t have room or storage for your scalpel handle and blade removers.
