Help and FAQs

For one knife that covers field dressing, camp cooking and everyday jobs outdoors, take a 10 inch model with a 5 inch blade. Five knives share that size and differ in the blade shape and the handle: the Predator Hunter, which is the patented shape and our best seller, the Beast Hunter, the Deer Hunter, the Bear Hunter and the Wild Tiger. They run 6.2 to 7.1 oz.

Go up a size for bigger animals. The Leopard Hunter is 12 inches with a 7 inch blade, the Raptor is 13 inches, and the Patriot is the largest at 14 inches with a 9 inch blade.

Three are built differently. The Tracker and the Tracker D2 carry saw serrations along the spine, Micarta handles and a full tang, and the Tracker D2 at 13.8 oz is the heaviest knife we make. The Karambit Desert Fox is the compact one, 8 inches with a 3.5 inch hawkbill blade and a finger ring.

If you cannot choose, buy the Predator Hunter. It outsells everything else here by a distance.

Overall length, blade length and weight, for every knife we currently sell.

8 inches

• Karambit Desert Fox: 3.5 in blade, 5.5 oz

10 inches

• Predator Hunter, in walnut, olive wood or D2: 5 in blade, 6.2 oz
• Beast Hunter: 5 in blade, 6.2 oz
• Deer Hunter: 5 in blade, 6.2 oz
• Bear Hunter: 5 in blade, 7.1 oz
• Wild Tiger: 5 in blade, 7.1 oz
• Tracker: 5.3 in blade, 8.8 oz

12 inches

• Leopard Hunter: 7 in blade, 8.1 oz
• Tracker D2: 7 in blade, 13.8 oz

13 and 14 inches

• Raptor: 13 in overall, 7.7 in blade, 9.5 oz
• Patriot: 14 in overall, 9 in blade, 12.3 oz

Every knife is a fixed blade, so none of them fold. Each product page carries the handle length as well.

The steel, not the shape.

• Damascus blades are 288 layers of 15N20 and 1080 steel, forge-welded and folded. The pattern runs through the steel, and no two blades come out the same.
• D2 blades are one bar of D2 tool steel with an even satin finish and no pattern.

The Predator Hunter D2 and the Tracker D2 are the two D2 knives. Everything else on the site is Damascus.

The Patriot, the Karambit Desert Fox, the Tracker and the Tracker D2. On those the steel runs the whole length of the handle.

The rest are partial tang. Every knife we sell is a fixed blade, so none of them fold.

Same patented shape, same 10 inch size, same 5 inch blade, same leather sheath. They differ in the blade steel and the handle.

• Walnut handle. 288-layer Damascus blade, walnut wood handle.
• Olive wood handle. The same Damascus blade with an olive wood handle, which is lighter in colour and more figured.
• D2 Steel. A D2 tool steel blade with a walnut handle, finished to an even satin grey and no Damascus pattern. It is the least expensive way into the shape.

Each one has its own page, and the cards under the price take you between them.

Yes, one. The Karambit Desert Fox has a 3.5 inch blade, the shortest we make. Every other knife starts at 5 inches.

Blade length limits are set by state, and sometimes by city or county, and the rule for carrying a knife is often not the rule for owning one. Connecticut, for example, caps a carried blade at 4 inches. We cannot advise you on the law where you are, so check it before you order, and check the rule that fits how you plan to carry it.

At least the age of majority where you live, which is what our terms of service say. Some states and cities set their own rules on selling a knife to a minor, and those apply on top.

We ship to the address on the order, and we do not gift wrap or hide what is in the parcel.

Every Bigcat is designed in the USA and handmade in Wazirabad, Pakistan, a city known for its knife makers for centuries. The craftsmen who make them have generations of experience behind them.

None of our knives come off a factory line, which is why small differences show up from one knife to the next.

It is most of what we sell. Every knife arrives with its leather sheath, boxed and oiled, and the Damascus pattern on the blade is unique to that knife.

If you are buying for someone who already owns knives, the Karambit Desert Fox and the Tracker tend to be the ones they do not have.

To send one straight to someone else, put their address in as the shipping address at checkout. We do not gift wrap, and the knife ships in its own box.

Modern Damascus is pattern-welded steel. The smith stacks two steels, forge-welds them into one bar, then folds and draws it out again and again until the layers number in the hundreds. Acid etching at the end darkens one steel and leaves the other bright, which is what brings the pattern up.

Real. Our Damascus blades are 288 layers of 15N20 and 1080 steel.

In pattern-welded steel the layers go all the way through the blade, so the pattern shows on the spine and carries into the edge bevel. On Damascus-look knives the pattern is laser-etched or printed onto a plain blade and stops at the surface.

They behave differently in acid, which is the point. 15N20 carries a little nickel and stays bright. 1080 is a plain high-carbon steel that etches dark. Folded together and etched, they read as silver and grey lines through the blade.

The shape, the size, the handle and the sheath will. The Damascus pattern will not.

Every blade is folded and ground by hand, so the pattern lands differently on each one. Yours will not match the photos line for line, and no other knife will carry the same one.

D2 is a named tool steel, high in carbon and chromium. It takes a satin finish rather than a pattern, and it is the steel in the Predator Hunter D2 and the Tracker D2.

Like our Damascus, it is high-carbon steel, so it wants the same care: dry it, and keep a light coat of oil on it.

Damascus and D2 are high-carbon steels, so they can rust if they sit wet.

• Clean and dry the blade after every use.
• Wipe on a thin coat of mineral oil. Wax works too.
• Let the knife and the leather sheath dry before you put the knife away, and never store it wet.
• For long storage, keep the knife out of the sheath, or wrap the blade first. Leather holds moisture.

Rust and staining are not covered by the warranty, so this is the ten seconds that matters most.

Yes. Every knife ships under a coat of oil so it reaches you bright, and that coat is what protects it in transit and in storage.

Wipe it off before you use the knife, then put a fresh coat back on after each use.

For carrying, yes, that is what the sheath is for. For months in a drawer, no.

Leather draws moisture, and a blade left in a damp sheath can spot. If you have to store it sheathed, wrap the blade in plastic first.

Keep it dry and let it dry on its own if it gets wet, away from a radiator or a fire. Heat shrinks and hardens leather, and a shrunken sheath stops fitting the knife.

A leather conditioner once or twice a year keeps it supple. Do not soak it, and do not put it away damp with the knife inside.

We recommend somewhere between 22 and 30 degrees for our Damascus hunting knives. Keep to the angle the bevel already has and you will not go far wrong.

Our maker recommends a 1000/6000 grit water stone, which you can find at any hardware store or online. The 1000 side sets the edge, the 6000 side finishes it.

D2 is harder going than the Damascus blades. Use a diamond sharpener or ceramic crock sticks rather than a soft stone.

Yes, every knife ships with its own hand-stitched leather sheath, cut and formed for that blade. Most carry a crocodile-texture leather inlay and a snap strap, and they wear on your belt.

The Tracker and Tracker D2 sheaths are black leather with a front pouch and two snap straps.

A lanyard, or any cord you like, so the knife can hang or stay on your wrist while you work. Most models have one.

Walnut wood on most of the range. The Karambit Desert Fox has a black wood handle, the two Trackers have Micarta, and the Predator Hunter Olive has olive wood.

Every handle sits against a steel guard or bolster where it meets the blade.

They are hunting knives: skinning, field dressing and the jobs that follow, plus camp cooking and everyday cutting outdoors.

They are not pry bars or hammers. Using a knife for anything other than cutting is what voids a warranty claim.

We would rather you did not, and the warranty is written the same way. These are hunting knives, not axes: the warranty covers cutting, and prying, hammering, throwing and batoning count as misuse.

A bent tip or a chipped edge from chopping is the most common claim we have to turn down, so if you want a camp chopper, use one.

Standard shipping is free anywhere in the United States, with no minimum order.

We process orders within 2 to 3 business days, weekends and holidays aside, and delivery takes another 3 to 7 business days after that. You get a confirmation within a few hours of ordering and a tracking number when it ships. Tracking can take up to 72 hours to start moving.

Depending on the address and the size of the order we ship with USPS, UPS, FedEx or Amazon Logistics, or one of their economy services.

Yes. Alongside the free Standard option, checkout offers a paid Expedited one. Pick it at the shipping step and you will see the cost before you pay.

It speeds up the carrier, not us: orders still leave within 2 to 3 business days. If you need a knife for a date, say so when you order and we will tell you honestly whether it will make it.

Not from this store, and that includes Canada.

Our knives are on Amazon in Canada, Spain, Germany and Italy, so that is the way to buy one from any of those.

Give it 72 hours from the shipping email before worrying, since that is how long carriers can take to scan a parcel in.

If 14 days pass from your shipping confirmation and the parcel has not arrived, email customerservice@bigcatroar.com with your name and order number and we will chase it.

Email customerservice@bigcatroar.com with your order number as soon as you can. Orders are processed within 2 to 3 business days, so there is usually time to change the address, swap the knife or cancel it before it is packed.

Once it has shipped it becomes a return, and the 30 day window covers that.

All major credit and debit cards, processed by Shopify Payments, plus PayPal, Venmo, Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Every payment is handled by Shopify's secure checkout and the payment provider. We never see or store your card details.

Yes, through Faire.

If what you need does not fit that, email customerservice@bigcatroar.com and tell us roughly what you are after and when.

Yes. You have 30 days from delivery to ask for a return.

The knife has to come back unused and in its original packaging, with the receipt or proof of purchase. Email customerservice@bigcatroar.com to start one, and wait for our reply before you post anything: parcels sent back without a return request are not accepted.

If we accept the return we send you a prepaid label and tell you where to send it. The cost of that label comes out of your refund, so a change of mind costs you the return postage. A knife that arrived faulty is a warranty claim instead, and that one is on us.

We tell you as soon as the knife arrives and has been inspected. If the return is approved the refund goes back automatically to the card or wallet you paid with, and banks usually take a few more days to post it.

Every Bigcat knife carries a 12-month warranty against defects in workmanship and materials. An approved claim is repaired or replaced.

It does not cover normal wear, a dull or chipped edge, rust and staining, scratches, a bent tip, or damage from misuse. Using the knife for anything other than cutting counts as misuse: prying, hammering, throwing or taking it apart.

Just your order number, or the receipt if somebody gave you the knife. We can look an order up from either.

You do not need the packaging for a warranty claim, though you do for a 30 day return.

Email customerservice@bigcatroar.com with your order number and photos of the fault, and wait for our reply before you send anything back.

Warranty claims are inspected, so we will tell you whether the knife needs to come to us, where to send it and what to include. Clean the blade before you pack it, and pack it so it cannot shift or work its way out of the box.

No. Send us the photos anyway and we will look.

If it turns out to be something we cannot repair or replace under the warranty, we will offer you 50% off the list price of any knife in the store. It is not a warranty replacement, and we would rather do that than leave you with a knife you cannot use.