A big knife for survival? Really?

I carry a 1" bladed knife in some office environments, but my collection includes swords and miscellany such as the CS magnum kukri. My normal pocket carry is a Gerber Fatty. I have gutted deer with it and I describe it as so-so for such work. However it does fairly well on boxes and string. I suspect the mid PA environment is a lot like the environment of WV or North Western VA. In the woods and fields I always wear a belt knife. I personally find the 3 and 4 inch knives such as my Active Duty or the 4" Swam Rat just a little too small. Call them overbuilt for their size. They do the jobs okay, but don't promote high confidence in me when beginning the job. If I have another 50 years maybe I will consider them for survival knife work. My personal advice to Lone Gunman is that you ignore the new products and instead select a woods knife of the past. Something from the pre- or during WW2 era. Not new in box, but used. Not a bar of rust, but well maintained. They have stood the test of time and will be very good knives. You might have to buy a new sheath, but so what? A genuine Marbles Ideal, a Cattaraugus 225, a Case 337 and on the light end, one of the 5 or 6" WW2 Ka-bar or Pal hunting knives. A Navy Mk1 5.25" should serve you very well. So will a 6" Ka-bar Commando (which will be on my hip today). A 3" .357 and a canteen will complete the ensemble. In truth water, fire and food are often more immediately important than weaponry. Get a magnesium fire stick, some halozene tablets, a survival blanket and one or two MREs for your kit.
 
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I'm not gonna try and tell anyone what they need to carry and use. To each their own and choose what works best for you.
Here in northeast Kansas I find a blade from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches in length works well for me.
I had two different 6 inch bladed knives in the past and was never very comfortable using them. I have a friend here who uses a 6 inch bladed Buck knife very effectively.
 
I would never correlate knife size with skill, that's just ignorant. I will admit that there are several novice outdoors types that are unskilled and carry a large blade; they are most likely ignorant. Ron Hood is no novice and he has routinely proven the skill to use a large knife. It takes a lot of skill to safely wield a large knife and use it for small-knife chores. Conversely, it takes a lot of skill and practiced techniques to use a smaller knife to do large-knife chores. Your personal use and opinions will drive your decisions, just don't be quick to condemn or judge those that choose something different. A big knife does have advantages for many different tasks...it's much more efficient if you need to chop a lot of wood...either for shelter making or firewood; if you don't need to, than a large knife is just a lot of extra weight. I personally think a mid-sized knife is enough for me and if I did plan to carry a larger blade I would most certainly pair it with a small fixed blade, SAK or quality folder. You can easily state your requirements and having no need for a small or big knife, but to justify that for everybody else is ludicrous. "Need" is a very relevant term and it's a slippery slope to say that your needs are no different than the next person. Once you determine your needs and requirements, than you decide on the tool you wish to develop your skills with; you’ve done that and it works for you but it may not work for the next person.

ROCK6
 
Well,if I knew I was heading into trouble I'd stay home to begin with. I generally like a khukuri for a number of reasons.To me it serves as knife,hatchet,machete,adze,hammer,club,short-sword,etc,etc. If I find great versatility in something I'm likely to carry it with me. Mors Kochanski has proven you can do a great many with a small to moderate knife,which leads a lot of people in to thinking that a small/moderate knife is best. This very much depends on your situation, the environment you are in,and what time you have. There are some things you can do with a big knife so much faster than with a little one (poles for shelter for instance) that you kind of reach the point of 'diminishing returns'. The more time you spend on something,the more calories you use,and the less energy you have to use.
I think having the skills to 'make do' with a smaller knife is important,but for me I'll lug the extra weight. :)
 
Alex p. Schorsc said:
. Imagine cutting down a tree to meke a bridge to cross a stream with a small knife. Imagine if a tree has blocked off the road for you to get out of someplace and you only have a small knife.
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That's what axes are for. And if you're in that kind of environment, a cruiser axe is as necessary, or perhaps even more necessary, than a knife.
 
Deja vue all over again.

This has been debated XXX times at the WIlderness and Survival Forum.

As a habitual carrier of a 4"knife, I just note that some of the world's leading authorities on wilderness survival suggest the utility of a long knife IN A GIVEN SITUATION. Is Wiseman really ignorant about survival? Is Hood? Are the indigs in the tropics or in Nepal?

Let your words be soft and sweet 'cause you may end up eating 'em.
 
I do not really have the years of outdoor experience som of you might have, however here is my suggestion for a survival knife.
Take a knife that you feel comfortable with, do not think of it as a super duper survival knife. If you usually go camping with a Mora 2000 or something similar and you like it, then it will most likely be your survival knife as well.

I usually choose the Fallkniven F1, but recently I have become even more fascinated by the H1. To accompany the H1 I also bring a LM Fuse and a Bahco folding saw.
http://hem.passagen.se/nodh/trio2.jpg I feel the combo solves job from really fine cutting to felling quite big trees.
If I only could choose one knife, it would be the F1 or the S1. Not any of the bigger knives like the LMF II or RAT6.
I saw a picture of the RAT5, it might be interesting though.

It really depends on what kind of "survival" situation you might end up in.
A "combat survival" situation might require different features on a knife compared to "outdoor survival". The "survival" might also be because of something else, a broken car, a snow storm or any other thing that you can not solve because you have a special size knife.

It is better to have a small folder or multitool that you always bring along, than a dedicated "survival" knife that you have left somewhere.
 
True words, nodh!

I have enjoyed the trip to 'survival/bushcraft knife nirvana' over the last few years, and spent the GNP of Tchad on my fine examples. I have come full circle. The old WWII KaBar of my Dad's So. Pacific time was my childhood woods accompaniment. Oh, I had a BSA knife - and a hunter fb my Mom got with Green Stamps. Only the KaBar survived... and my first SAK. I've added a myriad of other pocketable wonders... then someone, here or another forum, suggested the Vic 'Farmer' - an SAK without the tweezers & toothpick!

So, it's an EDC in a back pocket. MacGyver would love it. Sure, I will take a larger one, size dependent on application, ie, day-hike vs camping, but that 'Farmer' can save my bacon. And... what better knife for an Auburn Alum to have, than one named 'Farmer'??

Stainz

PS In reality, as I'll hit sixty in a few days, a pen that writes - to sign that motel/CC receipt - is more typically 'survival' for me!
 
"That's what axes are for. And if you're in that kind of environment, a cruiser axe is as necessary, or perhaps even more necessary, than a knife"

We opt for a big knife so we don't have to lug an axe around.
 
one big knife is many small knives

after melting it and forging all the small knives :p

so get a big knife for survival! :D
 
What I meant was If I planned on survival ,sure I would bring a bigger knife.My 40 some yr. old camillus or my buck 119, maybe my voyager 6 inch x2. But I am not going to carry those daily. Just meant that if the unexpected happen and all I had was my Chive,I think it would serve well. Thanks Guys...LG
 
In Baghdad I picked up a variety of knives for daily use, but there was one that really came into its own over the two and a half years I lived there. It was a great big cheap assed kukri shaped POS from Pakistan that was made out of a piece of 1.8" thick cheap stainless. It was about 2' long, had a couple of wooden scales for a handle and a fake leather sheath. I paid $10 for it at the hadji store on Camp Victory.

I know what you're thinking, and it probably starts with "WTF!?!?".

Well, the thing turned into an axe, a BBQ everything utensil, a butcher knife (we got lamb and beef in BIG chunks from the locals) and while it was easy to mess up the edge it was equally easy to repair it. Since we didn't have charcoal available for some of the time I was there, we did most of our grilling over fires of scrapwood or old dried out hardwood trees that had croaked once we blew up the irrigation systems. To say the least, firewood for BBQing was tough to come by and tougher to cut up.

"BBQing ?!? " I hear you cry. Well, eat at an army chow hall for a few months without a break and a good grilled steak or leg of lamb becomes a matter of survival. :-)

It also killed butloads of rats, scorpions, and split a LOT of fish spines for roasting fish with the locals. They roast fish whole but split them flat so a couple of sticks can hold the fish at an angle over/beside the fire.

That cheap, oversized, pot-metal goofy looking knife made a bigger difference in my quality of life than any other knife I had the whole time I was there. It also gave me a bit of confidence that I could defend myself if it ever (and it didn't) came to that. As a non-security contractor, I was supposed to be unarmed. No worries if there are plenty of soldiers around, but at night when incoming happens and you're in a building close to the wire, you can start to get nervous. Having a big assed knife close to hand, I was pretty sure I'd at least take out the first one through the door if anyone got through.

What's a survival knife? Depends on a lot of things.
These days it's my Leatherman Wave, my Kershaw Leek with half serrations and the 4" Buck DP FB with the big brass pommel that lives in the trunk.

None of them are expensive, and all their functions could be provided by knives a lot cheaper. It's the software that counts more than the hardware.
Stick me out in the woods for a while without a decent kitchen/house etc though, and I'll really miss that big old cheap blade if I don't have it with me.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Deja vue all over again.

This has been debated XXX times at the WIlderness and Survival Forum.
Click to expand...

Tom, with the greatest of respect, I ask you: should we then just shut down the forums and not discuss these things anymore? or just archive everything for future readers?

Redundancies will happen, but new information, perspectives, and progress often are borne of the same discussions...learning never stops. :D
 
In the woods I carry:
1- RC3 from rat cutlery
2- Victorinox Camper
3- Byrd Cara Cara
I need nothing else.
 
There are a lot of "big vs. medium vs. small" survival knife threads and posts that overlook "details" such as the environment and what the knife will be used for (this thread is not one of them, for the most part).

There are several different kinds of wilderness environments, such as mountain, forest, desert, ocean, plains, savannah, jungle, and arctic. The knife that may be best for one might not be for another.

I mostly camp and hike in a mountain/forest environment so my choice is simple. In a true survival situation probably the most important and immediate need I will have is for warmth. Shelter and fire will almost certainly be a priority, if not the priority. I will need wood for both. Some people say a chopping tool is not necessary because they can obtain downed branches or ones that can be broken by hand. That is certainly a good option even when a chopping tool is carried, but we are talking survival. If I, or someone in my group, is severely injured and/or hypothermic, is it really always the best option to limit wood-gathering to what I might find on the ground or be able to break by hand? If chopping wood a few yards away saves more calories than searching for it and dragging it back to camp then that would be my choice.

If I carry a hatchet, tomahawk, or other chopping tool then I can easily get by with a medium or small knife. However, I usually pack a large chopping knife instead because it's less weight and bulk, easier to pack, and more reliable and versatile. A big knife can usually be used much more effectively as a smaller knife than most specialized chopping tools.

For me, it's much easier and much more energy-efficient to do small chores with a big knife than big chores (such as chopping) with a small knife. (I most often carry both because I like to have backup and redundancy with potentially life-saving tools and equipment.) In a survival situation, the calories I save doing big chores with a big knife will be much better used for generating warmth and activities that help to keep me alive.

Ben Dover said:
There's usually a direct relationship between an outdoorsman's experience level and the size of his knife.

The bigger the knife, the less experience! :p
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Is the opposite also true? The smaller the knife, the more experience?
 
Brian Jones said:
Tom, with the greatest of respect, I ask you: should we then just shut down the forums and not discuss these things anymore? or just archive everything for future readers?

Redundancies will happen, but new information, perspectives, and progress often are borne of the same discussions...learning never stops. :D
Click to expand...
Didn't say that. Right?

It's not the discussion of the same topic that gets old.

It's not the inevitable differences of opinion. Such differences make the world go 'round. Free country an' all that.

And you are right, thrash enough acreage and something new pops up.

Nor is it the failure to read the posts in a thread before posting - or even to read the post that is being reponded to. That's life.

It's the smug, superior, "You're an idiot," stuff from the few. THAT discourages the very participation we should want.

Although there is less of that since you returned.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Didn't say that. Right?

It's not the discussion of the same topic that gets old.

It's not the inevitable differences of opinion. Such differences make the world go 'round. Free country an' all that.

And you are right, thrash enough acreage and something new pops up.

Nor is it the failure to read the posts in a thread before posting - or even to read the post that is being reponded to. That's life.

It's the smug, superior, "You're an idiot," stuff from the few. THAT discourages the very participation we should want.

Although there is less of that since you returned.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tom. I try to filter the noise out as much as possible. I wasn;t being confronttational asking you that question, BTW, just raising the discussion. I agree 100% with your views here.
 
I think you have to look at it like this eventually in survival you would either set up camp indefinitely or you would be trying to hike out in either or senario would make me choose what to have. To be mobile small knife indefinite camping big camp knife like akukri or something to process material or hell a big axe.just depends on your situation.
 
Big works.
Small can work too.
People who get all superior toned about their preference generally aren't looking at facts, and are rather looking to feel superior to others.
 
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