it's done to "justify" charging you $300 for a "handmade" item...
What's done; the scandi grind? The krut is an unnecessary expense, but the same could be said of television, upholstered furniture, and dress shoes. Much like guys who buy unnecessary sports cars or lake houses (of which I have neither), it's an enjoyment thing as much as a functional thing.
..And you'll be a lot better able to skin/cut meat...
Don't know what would make someone think that, unless they thought the krut was over-thick or something. I looked it up and the krut is a whopping 0.06" thicker than my old buck 119. It's thicker than a kitchen knife, but not anywhere near some of the 5/16" behemoths out there.
Fact is, while the krut isn't my favorite woods knife, it's absolutely the best-cutting woods knife I have. For hunting & skinning, I mostly use a gerber freeman, but that's because I prefer the finger-grooves and guthook on the freeman. But other than not having a guthook (which an old hickory also doesn't), it can do everything my preferred freeman skinner can do, and much more.
Only thing I don't like about the krut is the handle. Main reason that it's not my favorite woods knife is that the handle on my old marbles ideal is somewhat larger and just fits my hand better. Main reason I use the freeman for hunting, is the guthook. The krut is "between" the marbles and the freeman in size, weight, and blade thickness; so it would objectively be the best of the three if having to make an "only one" choice.
As far as being less able to skin or cut meat than with an old hickory or most other knives, that makes no sense at all. It also makes it obvious that you've never used one, and that's ok; I'd never used one either until three or four years ago. The krut cuts like a light saber. It not only shaves paper, it shaves
designs in paper. It's by far the best edge-retaining, best edge-taking knife I have. It's crazy sharp and crazy strong both; it's cobalt steel for goodness' sake.
...and you wont have to worry about breaking your blade when you're batoning the chisel.
Never said I baton with it. I've only baton'ed wood twice in my life, and that was just to see what all the fuss was about. In our area, the woods are much more scrub and brush than big trees; I've never once wished I could baton a piece of wood when camping, and certainly never HAD to.
Also, the chisel can make slots, etc, much more easily and much more safely than can be done with the knife,
...I don't think I've ever made slots in things while wandering around in the woods.

and it can be used to cut mild steel, like a padlock hasp.
Again, this is a woods-walking and camp knife, not some mad max, behind-enemy-lines, SERE tool. In my GHB gear in the truck, I do have other things (small two-ended prybar, good multitool with hardened cutters, lockpicks, bumpkeys, water purifier, NVD's, nested camp stove with fuel, all manner of 'stuff'); in addition to the normal tools in the toolbox. But I don't carry all those things when woods walking or camping; and that's all this knife is about. For that matter, a couple of open-end wrenches from the toolbox will break open most typical padlocks, and even some 'high-security' ones.
(Security and "bad thing prevention" is what I do for a living, John. Just because someone doesn't fixate on crisis after crisis in every internet post, doesn't mean that they're unaware of them or unable to deal with them. It's my job. This post got interrupted by a phone call from a guy who needed help (yes, on a saturday) retrieving video from a DVR on some sony 1080P night-vision cameras we installed for him. A guy who has govt helicopters land on his property. A guy who - as big as I am and as strong as I am - could pound me into a bag of pudding. Security stuff, emergency stuff, life-safety stuff; it's the core of my working life. I just don't let it permeate and shape my every thought as you seem to.)
Life does have its "holy crap" subjects, but those are by FAR the minority. Life is mostly made up of hum-drum daily-life stuff that must be walked through, and may as well be enjoyed along the way.
A hand chain saw, used as a bow saw, is many, many times safer and more efficient than any chopping tool, on anything thicker than your thumb (vs machete) and it's a lot lighter, more compact, and quiet, too.
On this we agree. In my GHB gear I carry a folding, locking fiskars limb saw rather than a bow saw or chain saw, but same principle.
Take the $200 saved with this info, buy yourself some cheap beef, a vacumn packer, some dessicant packs and teriaki sauce and make yourself a BIG pile of jerky.
I already have a vacuum packer and two dehydrators, but thanks. I do find this odd and inconsistent advice though. $200 pounds of cheap beef would be around 65 lbs of meat which would typically yield around 15-16 lbs of jerky.
Thing is, you can buy 15 lbs of commercially-made jerky for just $100-$150 or so more than the cost of the raw meat in your approach. And not have to mess with processing (trimming, slicing, salting, drying) 65 pounds of raw meat in my kitchen.
When I mentioned spending something like 9 hours smelting enough lead for several
years worth of handgun bullets, you repeatedly gave me grief about how my time should be worth more than that. I don't know off-hand how much time would be involved in trimming, slicing, salting and drying 65 pounds of meat; but it would certainly be more than that.
So now you're saying that our time
shouldn't be worth more than that.