Anyone else have trouble desiding which Blade(s) to take camping?

wildmanh

wildmanh

Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
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As some of you know, I'm going to be backpacking Mount Nebo in Central Utah next weekend with a friend. We will be leaving Friday around noon and coming back Saturday evening. Dinner will be Buffalo Tinfoil dinners with smores for desert. So I need a blade to chop fire wood and for fun. It took me a few weeks to settle on my Great River Forge hawk but then I thought "what about a Khukri?" Today I pulled Lisa out of storage (20" Sirupati) and my Hawk is on the pack already. So I'm still up in the air with those two.

I alwasy have a folder and multi-tool on me and rotate the folder every few days. No biggy there, I'll just take which ever folder is in the rotation on Friday next week. So the problem is: Do I take a Medium fixed blade? And if I take a medium blade, which one do I take? I have probably 10 blades between 4" and 7" long. But I desided that if I take a medium blade, 5" will be the minimum. That still leaves around 7 blades. Mom says I have to many, I say I need a better way to choose which one to bring.

By the way, my Black Kraton handled Kabar, EK Night Fighter and Western L36 are the top contenders. So, how do you guys do it? Got any recommendations for me? Hoping this thread will also help others with a good sized collection. LOL!!

Heber
 
Depends on what mood I'm in.

Usually, almost always, down to two choices:

- custom Ft Turner Iroquois tomahawk and either my beloved Camillus "KaBar" type knife which I've had for over 20 years or one of my Beckers.

- khukri, finding myself using the Super CAK more and more, or one of my numerous Chitlangi's
 
when backpacking every tool I carried had to do at least two things or I wouldn't carry it.
A khuk can split and chop wood plus it is a great field knife making it my choice over an axe or hawk.
When I was able to carry a lot on my back, I was using an 18" CAK as my carry piece and a belt knife.
Today it would more likely be my 18" ASTK-V because I like the way it chops and the way it performs over all better.
The belt knife is something you choose. I also usually had a small folder with me because I just always had one on me and still do.

not gonna carry a fighting knife as a belt knife for camping though. More likely a clip point for me.
 
For camping (what little of it I get to do these days :(), I usually pack a chopping blade, a belt knife, and a multitool.

I camp out of a vehicle. The days of being able to throw a few days worth of supplies on my back and hit the trail have been put on hold for a bit. Actually, it'll be a couple more years before I can probably even get out the door to camp out of my truck with my daughter and all :D

Anyway, if you were going to pin me down to three blades/tools right this minute:
Probably my Farm Knife or big ol GRS for splitting campfire wood.
For my belt knife I would be tempted to bring the new HSK. However, I think I would have to defer to my Fiddleback Woodsman (damn fine job, Andy!)
I'd probably just stick with my Fuse as my multitool. I generally don't need a saw, but if it looked like I might then I guess I would stick a SOG powerlock in my pack.....the most I usually use a MT for is opening beer;)
 
Of the 3 khuks I own, only 1 is a "user": my M43. The only debate is whether to back it up with a Rusty SD or my R6. I've had it recommended to me that the R6 would make a good deer knife, but I haven't really used either one enough to tell yet.
 
Kinda, sorta, but not.

Whenever I gear up and get ready to go with something new, I feel Ereshkigal (20" CAK) behind me, looking at me. You know that sort of arms folded, foot tapping, Glare Of Death that your wife gives you when you tell her that you're going someplace she's been pestering you that she really wants to go, but you're going with the guys instead? Yeah, that one. So she goes.

My R-10 is a bit nicer about it, I just hear a little whine and I see it sitting there like when I'm just running to the convenience store, and just as I'm closing the front door, I see my dog staring longingly with those big brown sad puppydog eyes asking "Why aren't you taking me?". Sigh. So it goes.

Thinking I'm free, just as I'm about to hit the door I hear an "Ahem." Yep, there's The Morrigan (Vec Hawk) staring with an arched eyebrow. "Oh for the love of Pete! Fine!"

Women.

Needless to say, I look like a one-man Viking raid when I go camping.

So, WildmanH: Like I've said before, just take the hawk and Lisa. And for crying out loud, get that hawk a proper name!

Nicholas: The R-6 is a much better game knife than the Sgian Dubh.
 
warty said:
when backpacking every tool I carried had to do at least two things or I wouldn't carry it.
A khuk can split and chop wood plus it is a great field knife making it my choice over an axe or hawk.
Click to expand...

Absolutely spot on. If it can't do atleast two different things decently...it stays home...and a khuk is so verstile...only problem is "to find the right one" the first time.:D
 
I will normally take a medium sized/weight khuk (18" Pen, or 16" GRS), a belt knife of some kind, normally with a 1/8th" blade, as a slicer, and a folder of some kind, perhaps a large Stockman.

Andy
 
Sounds like I could do it Andrew's way, more or less: I've got a khuk, and a Leatherman Juice Xe6, and simly need to work out what comes in between.

CPL: okay, so we've got the R6 leading in the game-dressing category I guess that now I need to test them in other areas (cooking, whittling, TARDIS repair, etc.)... unless someone would also like to add a comment.
 
Yer not squeezing enough into the wound. . .:cool:


OK, it was actually the only comeback I could think of at the time.
 
Well I finally made up my mind, will be taking Lisa on the trip. Might throw my Hawk on too at the last minute. Will either have my EK Night fighter or Western L36 on my hip.

The only other blade's I could think of to bring would be my Cold Steel Bushman (locked up in storage at mom's) and Godzilla. I dought anyone would mess with a 6'5" tall guy weilding a Spear (Bushman attaches to my walking stick nicely) and a 25" AK. :D

Heber
 
PayetteRucker said:
I almost always take both a machete and a hawk, but my pack is set up so as carrying both is a cinch.
Click to expand...

My pack has 2 loops on each side to stablize pouches, I use them to hold blades. Also there are 6 straps on the back (4 are adjustible) and I normally use the adjustible ones to hold a hawk. My pack can comfortably handle at least 2 long blades and 2 hawks if I wanted it to.
 
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