As the title states, I’m looking for a quality pass down knife that I can give my son in years to come (he is two now). I have both my dads and one of my grandfathers knives and want to continue the tradition.  

This will need to be a fixed blade and will be used mainly for deer hunting and fishing. On average, I quarter one deer a year and probably 50 plus bream, crappie etc per year.

Besides skinning purposes, it’ll be used while scouting and general woods use. I have a Case fixed blade now, I love the knife but the edge retention sucks.

The buck 124 catches my eye but the grips get very slick when wet.

What would you all suggest? My only requirements are sub $200, fixed blade and a leather sheath.

I was going to suggest Randall #5 until I saw your price limit. randallknives.com

If you like Buck, they do custom orders. I don't see #124 but #119 is customizable. buckknives.com/custom-knife/customizable-119-special-knife

How about one of the Esee HM knives? They're in your budget and can be had with leather sheaths.

You can get an Architect Field Buddy configured in a bunch of ways, might be a bit large for a skinning knife.

Blackjack knives is a possibility

EDIT_NVM  i see prices are about $100 too high

Uncle Henry Schrade or an Ag Russel for a bit more

A Kailash Bowie is the knife you seek.

See the last few pages of this thread for further discussion:
Epic book thread that also discusses knives

Casstrom has some nice knives the Lars Falt or Woodsman might be worth trying out.  



https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CASSKS11804/casstrom-sweden-lars-falt-bushcraft-fixed-sleipner-plain-blade-curly-birch-wood-handles-leather-sheath


The #10 SFK is nice too and offered in full flat grind or scandi.


https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CASSKS13118/casstrom-sweden-no10-sfk-fixed-14c28n-full-flat-ground-blade-stabilized-curly-birch-wood-handles-leather-sheath


Helle has some nice knives in that price range too. Check Ragweed Forge.


https://ragweedforgestore.com/products/helle-arv?_pos=52&_sid=4a1709c34&_ss=r

ESSE 3 or 4 Stainless

I like the RB3 the best but the stainless 4 is a solid long term choice. The RB3 comes with a leather sheath that I use for the 4 and I got a custom kydex for the 3 it fits nicely in my left pocket.

Another solid choice to consider is:

VINAU Tops Knives B.O.B. The Brothers of Bushcraft Fieldcraft B.O.B. Hunter - 154 cm Steel

You could do worse than a Randall 28.

Randall 28 by FredMan, on Flickr

Depending on how handy you are you could buy a good blade and finish the knife yourself.  I've got a couple knives my grandfather and father made and to me they're a more important heirloom than any production knife ever would have been.  Anyone can spend $100 or $500 on a nice knife but having one you finished yourself just adds a personal touch that they are devoid of.

A Randall won’t be $200, but you can peruse their catalog and pick out one that you can customize. It could really have the wow factor.

And since you will have a six year wait, you can put however much down and send in a little something towards it every birthday, or Christmas.

I did that for my nieces but sent in $10 for every “A” on their report card. They got paid off quick that way. They should receive them as graduation presents.

Now there is a little boy that should be born this winter. I’ll do the same for him.