alittle rant of mine

nick-nack said:
Thats the problem your knife is based on your experiences... not everyone lives the same, in the same area, same physical build, same up bringing or same thoughts.
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You are hitting the nail on the head.

I'm not the poster you were replying to but I have only camped and trekked
in woodland areas. (I did camp once not far from Albuquerque but that was
just a short overnighter with no bushcraft involved.)

  • All my experience is in woodlands.
  • I am of so-so physique.
  • I am the "anti" ultralighter. (People who emphasize miles per day worry me. :p )

I'm guessing any of my hatchets or axes would be out of place in desert
camping. I don't know for sure because I have no experience in that
environment. Ditto for artic conditions. I am a product of my Ozarks
upbringing.
 
This thread is getting so big I had to chip in or feel left out.
Just practice your flint knapping and bone sharpening. Then when you lose all your stuff in a "survival situation" you can go stone age.
 
YeeeHaaa Hillbillies unite. Us Hillbillies would take over the world
except it's too much work...

My ancestors were Brits and Scots who settled in North Carolina,
migrated to Tennessee, and then Arkansas. They stopped here
because Oklahoma looked like too much of a wasteland. :p :D

(Have I wandered far enough off topic yet?)
 
How did mankind ever survive before 8” pryknives?

As far as ‘chopping wood” for fires and shelter, I have NEVER had to do that in a practice survival situation. There has always been enough sticks and dead branches to harvest by hand or by batoning. Animal dens, rock overhangs and hollow trees provide great shelter without the use of a knife.

People have this new mindset that they will need to build a Fort Ticonderoga in order to survive. They believe the only way to make a fire is with split wood. To do that, you need a BIG thick knife. This is bull.

I have small mora type knives as well as a top of the line, 5.5” ‘sharpened prybar’.

I am not so deluded as to think that I must have the ‘big’ knife with me in order to survive. If anything, I am more likely to have a smaller knife with me just because it is unobtrusive.

There is nothing wrong with the larger knives. But to imply that anything smaller is no good because, “You can’t chop with it”, is naive and misleading. A boat anchor is still a boat anchor. And if a person can’t survive with a 4” Mora, a big chopper isn’t going to help him either.
 
macgregor22 said:
I think the whole camp, survival, bush craft knife thing is silly.
First of all when you go into the woods weight is a concern, a axe and small knife is just to much weight.
You usually fall into or get forced in to a survival situation often losing most of your stuff like backpack etc.
You dont walk into survival situations. That is why small blades are not practical survival knives, you most likely will be stuck with that one knife.
Pilots are perfect examples, they can not carry an axe with them.
Bushcraft, many bushcrafters recommend small pretty finely crafted blades for survival. They often chose this over durability and function.
I always hear about bushcrafters stressing whittling being an important task in survival, whittling(yes because I need to make a spoon to survive). I can make a figure 4 trap with a very large blade like a kershaw outcast or Dog Father plus unlike bushcraft blades I can chop wood for shelter and fire.

Luckly I found my perfect survival knife, the Scrap Yard Yard Hook. Light enough to carry but big enough to preform large tasks, you can open beers to. :D

end rant
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Others have made a lot of good points in this thread, so I won't rehash them. Instead, I'll just make a rant of my own. :D

First, I strongly encourage and advise anyone who feels that an axe (let alone a mere hatchet!) is honestly too much weight to carry in the woods to stay home, and not go into the woods and risk their enfeebled body collapsing under the physical stress one may encounter when moving about in the woods without motorized vehicles. If an axe is too heavy, please, for your own good, stay home - otherwise, if things go sour, you may be much too weak to make it out alive, unless you're just going car camping two miles from the city. Another option - start working out until the axe isn't too heavy. Then, you'll have a far better chance of surviving no matter what exactly hits the fan.

Second, it's not the size of the blade, it's the man using it that makes all the difference. Small blades work just fine for a whole lot of things, and indeed the survival situations that absolutely require having any kind of knife are few. Having an axe or a big chopping knife is a convenience, not a necessity - unless you're planning to lumberjack yourself a cottage in the woods, in which case you might as well bring a chainsaw (don't forget the fuel).

I say, use what you will, and if it works for you, nice. Just don't assume that something you happen to dislike doesn't work for other people.
 
Look, guys can use what they like.
But some of us prefer to have a chopper (this to run the gamut of a large knife, kukri or hatchet), than to beat on the back of a small knife.
I don't know about others, butyes, I carry a monster 20" kukri into the woods with me -- always. Now, I don't go chopping down trees for the fun of it (although I did take down two birch recently, but they were becoming a danger to power lines running through that are of my property. But in general, I cut up deadfall (of which there is a LOT). I don't see where carrying a chopper = cutting down live trees. Myself, and everyone I camp with use deadfall the most. Three reasons: it's already felled, it's int he way of setting up camp anyway, and it beats nature's way of clearing it up: forest fire..
 
I live in Ohio so a blade that can chop is useful. Now those that live in deserts may not need a big blade of those who live in the Taiga may need an axe.
 
I don't know if anyone has addressed this, but as a mechanic, and a pilot, I have never flown an aircraft that didn't have an axe in the cockpit (other than rentals). In Canada, an axe is required equipment in EVERY cockpit, and in Alaska, you'd be hard pressed to find a pilot flying without an axe AND a firearm (ATP's excluded).
The other points are up for debate, but this one is not.
 
macgregor22 said:
I live in Ohio so a blade that can chop is useful. Now those that live in deserts may not need a big blade of those who live in the Taiga may need an axe.
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I dunno about a BIG blade, but it's nice to have a LONG blade in the desert -- for harvesting all those spiny things, which seems like just about everything.
BBQ tongs are nice, too.
 
Lorien said:
I avoid this whole discussion by ensuring that I have too many knives to use at once. That way, for any given outing, I'll have a good three or four of varying types to take care of various tasks. Lose one? (god forbid!) It's great to have backup. And it's fun to use knives, no matter the type:thumbup:
Categorizing usage is :jerkit: to me. Lots of bushcrafting survivalists and survivaling bushcraftists in here. No need to define oneself as this or that.
We're all knife lovers primarily.
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AYUP! i'll often pack ALL my knives (about 50) into my pack, with my other gear, just so i can go USE them i the woods, for bushcraft , camping etc. I even stuff some in Nalgene bottles with a silica moisture absorber and stash them in the woods way off the trail, so if i'm ever without i have a backup or ten, along with supplies cached everywhere.

BUSHCRAFT is the cats ass. Building shelters in the woods is a great skill, FUN and well, just plain old FUN to do or teach!

someone said the DogFather is really big and heavy....i dont get it? is this really an issue? it feels pretty lightweight and really small to me., almost EDC (every day carry) to me. I guess i'm just used to big 30" bushcutter machetes and double bit axes.
 
Never handled the dogfather but I DO edc my yard guard. It's handly to have a brute work knife at the jobsite that will sort-of chop and sort-of slice. It would be better to have a puukko and an axe (which I used to carry when I always had a bag or vehicle handy) but I can't do that anymore as I am down in the tunnels half the day and up and down (on foot only) a four or five mile long site all day and it's not worth the extra effort for the minimal chopping I now need to do.

Anyway edcing a guard is easy, never notice the weight in my pocket at all. And I don't care if I beat it up!
 
bushman14 said:
I don't know if anyone has addressed this, but as a mechanic, and a pilot, I have never flown an aircraft that didn't have an axe in the cockpit (other than rentals). In Canada, an axe is required equipment in EVERY cockpit, and in Alaska, you'd be hard pressed to find a pilot flying without an axe AND a firearm (ATP's excluded).
The other points are up for debate, but this one is not.
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i was mainly talking about military pilots
 
Cpl Punishment said:
I dunno about a BIG blade, but it's nice to have a LONG blade in the desert -- for harvesting all those spiny things, which seems like just about everything.
BBQ tongs are nice, too.
Click to expand...

I have never done desert survival, heck I have never even been camping in the desert. Sounds like I need to put that on top of my to-do list.

btw, are you the same Cpl Punishment from the ECVM
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Look, guys can use what they like.
But some of us prefer to have a chopper (this to run the gamut of a large knife, kukri or hatchet), than to beat on the back of a small knife.
I don't know about others, butyes, I carry a monster 20" kukri into the woods with me -- always. Now, I don't go chopping down trees for the fun of it (although I did take down two birch recently, but they were becoming a danger to power lines running through that are of my property. But in general, I cut up deadfall (of which there is a LOT). I don't see where carrying a chopper = cutting down live trees. Myself, and everyone I camp with use deadfall the most. Three reasons: it's already felled, it's int he way of setting up camp anyway, and it beats nature's way of clearing it up: forest fire..
Click to expand...

In my neck of the woods it is illegal to cut down a live tree on crown land without a permit.
Standing dead trees or deadfall is generally alright.
I like to fall em (standing dead) when using them for campfires. Usually easy to get going and smoke less then wet wood
But to be truthfull when cutting these trees down and bucking them up IT'S CHAINSAW TIME
 
Couldn't have put it better myself :thumbup:

bearcut said:
How did mankind ever survive before 8” pryknives?

As far as ‘chopping wood” for fires and shelter, I have NEVER had to do that in a practice survival situation. There has always been enough sticks and dead branches to harvest by hand or by batoning. Animal dens, rock overhangs and hollow trees provide great shelter without the use of a knife.

People have this new mindset that they will need to build a Fort Ticonderoga in order to survive. They believe the only way to make a fire is with split wood. To do that, you need a BIG thick knife. This is bull.

I have small mora type knives as well as a top of the line, 5.5” ‘sharpened prybar’.

I am not so deluded as to think that I must have the ‘big’ knife with me in order to survive. If anything, I am more likely to have a smaller knife with me just because it is unobtrusive.

There is nothing wrong with the larger knives. But to imply that anything smaller is no good because, “You can’t chop with it”, is naive and misleading. A boat anchor is still a boat anchor. And if a person can’t survive with a 4” Mora, a big chopper isn’t going to help him either.
Click to expand...
 
macgregor22 said:
I have never done desert survival, heck I have never even been camping in the desert. Sounds like I need to put that on top of my to-do list.

btw, are you the same Cpl Punishment from the ECVM
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mac, please stay out of the desert. the desert doesn't need you, doesn't want you. in fact, stay out of the western half of the united states. you can have the whole east coast! I mean, when you're old enough to drive. I guess for the time being you can take the bus.
that reminds me of a joke I heard the other day:
q: what does everyone else in ohio have in common?

a: they wish you were in scotland, too.
 
95% of the thread content has been good - 5% has been scat stirring. Congratulations to the 95% for not succumbing to the goading of the 5%, who come from all sides of the argument. :thumbup:

There are a variety of ways to get any job done. Some faster. Some with more reliable results. Some requiring more skills than others. Find a tool that works every time for you in the conditions you typically encounter and develop the skills to reliably repeat the experience. Branch out and experiment after that - variety is the spice of life!



Thanks, Bushman! This may be the funniest comment I've read in some time! :p

Bushman5 said:
I'm a Canadian, i was born with a Husqvarna 395XP in my hands.
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BTW -

"Oh, however did we survive before insert your favorite**." :jerkit:


**Scandi, chopper, steel ax, 'hawk, semi-auto, gore-tex, prybar, sak, blah, blah. :yawn:
 
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