Are hollow-handled survival knives obsolete?

Hello, Zius! Welcome to Bladeforums! Glad to see you here. :D

I don't sew stuff into my clothes, but I find that my field jacket pockets tend to load up with certain standard equipment: upper left: Zeiss Mini Quick monocular & Surefire E2, upper right: reading glasses & sunglasses, each in a hardcase; lower left: digital voice recorder & gloves, lower right: small notebook in a cover with pen slots & a magnifier, a Comtech Stinger & Spyderco Massad Ayoob.

It's easier to leave them all in there than decide which I need in the daytime and which I need at night. Putting them in a backpack or waistbelt would add a piece of "should I bother?" equipment, and would tend to get left behind.

Can you imagine the hollow handle of a survival knife big enough to carry all that? :eek:
 
Is it worth it?

not2sharp hit the nail on the head but no one acknowledged the merit. I travel quite a bit. My Randall M 18 goes in my bag always. I will post pics later. It works, it has much merit, and I "have been there"!!!! It has never failed in the 20 some years and I did use the matches and fish hooks. All the best. :)

Sam
 
Since I'm a big fan of the hollow-handle survival knives, I've just got to get in on this one.

To address some earlier questions, the knives that golok pictured in the beginning were indeed reproductions produced by United Cutlery. I know this for a fact, as I have the exact same knives stored away in my collection. The real Lile and Hibben knives from these films look slightly different, and the sheaths that came with them are very different from the ones pictured, which came with the United Cutlery repros.

I'll also comment that these reproduction knives are very cheaply made, and I certainly would not take them with me for anything remotely resembling real use. I mainly bought them because they were cool looking replicas, and the prices were just great for that.

I've owned, and still own, a wide variety of hollow-handled survival knives. I've even had a few of the $2.95 ones that n2s pictured earlier. I still remember the first time I chopped something with one of those 3-dollar monsters....the blade fell out! :eek:

There are some very good examples of hollow-handled knives to be found these days, and many of them are also very good quality. I will venture further to say that the custom models are of superior quality. Of course, Chris Reeve's one-piece line comes immediately to mind, and I admit to having my first one on order from him (Shadow I, with added serrations). I've also got another project in that respect that is being worked on currently, but that's all top-secret until the unvieling.

Here's a photo of the handmade knife that not2sharp was referring to, from Robert Parrish, that I currenly own and use all the time:

rp_16_small.jpg


This is just one example of a quality hollow-handled knife, and believe me, I've found many more available today. I'm sure if you ever want advice in traking down a decent one, you'll find more than a few members here that can help you out. As for me, hollow-handled knives are my real collecting passion. I enjoy finding the best examples of them, and then putting them through some real-world paces. I've yet to be disappointed.

The whole discussion about whether or not the hollow-handle is useful or not is entirely up to the user. If you find that it helps to augment your existing kit that you carry, is just a 'cool' feature that you like, or you just plain like the looks of it, it's all good. It simply goes without saying; If you like a particular knife because of how it looks, feels, and works for you, how can it be a bad choice? After all, that's the beauty of dealing in a hobby that has such a wide variety of choice. There's something for everyone. :D

Just go with what you like, seek advice on making a solid purchase, and enjoy your knife!

Oh, and this last link is for gundy up there; It's some further information on the Jack Crain Life Support System 1, which was the hollow-handled survival knife that Arnold used in his Rambo-like flick, Commando. There were a couple of hollow-handled knives used in Predator, but they were in the same line of knives as the one from Commando. Have a read!

Jack Crain Movie Knives
 
Then there's the Cold Steel Bushmaster - inexpensive truck or pack knife, or even primary belt knife. One piece of steel, with room in the handle for items or to be mounted as a spear.

Ash
 
I doubt that there are many knives that are significantly stronger than my CR Project 1. Is it obsolete? It's a big strong knife, how could that be obsolete?
 
I'm a big fan of Chris Reeve's "one Piece Range" knives... I've just completed my collection of his clip points and won't go into the woods without at least one of them. It's nice to have some extra stuff for emergencies. I keep firestarting stuff in mine... I find that a sparklite and 6 tinders fit very well and that gives me great comfort.
 
His Aviator, in an inverted kydex sheath by Tim Wegner, strapped to my backpack left shoulderstrap... matches, line, hooks and sinkers; the 9" Tanto, in another Tim Wegner kydex rig, that is either strapped to my backpack, inverted, or slung from my belt in the traditional Samurai-style - blade edge up... with matches, tinder and money; and I used to have his 4" tanto... but I gave that one to a friend to keep in his truck.
I won't be using these blades as prybars, so my concern over handle/tang/blade interface isn't going to be as much of a problem as the 'Test to Destruction' crowd would have me worry about. And with either blade, I can start a fire and handle all my food gathering/preperation duties.

But... I will still also carry my version of the Altoid-survival kit hung around my neck with a small neckknife... just in case! :eek: :D

:cool:

Yes, I have a lot of other knives to choose from, but at least one of the two CRK's ALWAYS goes on my bag when I head out of town...
 
I am also a big fan of the CRK One-piece range knives, and my favorite one is the Project I. I don't think you can get a Stronger hollow handled knife than one of these.
thanks
 
Hi Esav! You're right to say that most people (myself included ;) ) would not sew their survival equipment in their clothes. I also tend to keep all things I need in my jacket. It's somewhat the same idea too, I don't expect to get captured while on holiday anyway :D .

Knives can be lost (no! can they? Yes they can... I know...), in fact, they have a tendency to get lost. They can fall out of your sheat, you can forget to pick them up after you used them etc. Losing a knife is bad enough, and were would you be if you lost all you need with it?

This is enough for me not to rely on stuff I keep in my knife, so why would I bother to work with a hollow handled knife? Apart from the space in the handle (which I wouldn't use) it does not have any other benefits, while it does have some shortcomings.

Of course, when just collecting those all this is of little consequence.

BTW, Esav, that is one nice monocular! Wish I had the money for one...
 
I'm pretty happy with the MiniQuick but I think Brunton makes a very similar model for less than half the price. One nice thing about the MiniQuick is that it doesn't focus properly right up against your eye. You have to hold it out slightly. This means it does work right held against eyeglasses, or in my case, sunglasses. The image is very sharp, which makes up somewhat for the low magnification.

The hollow handle does have one other advantage, which someone here mentioned: it lightens the handle, shifting the balance forward.
 
Knives can be lost (no! can they? Yes they can... I know...), in fact, they have a tendency to get lost.
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How many knives have you lost? To me losing your knife is like losing your pants; it can happen but it is unlikely. Especially when you are in a survival situation.

I am not too big on the hollow handled concept, but if I have a watertight compartment on me I'll tend to use it. Fishing hooks, flashlights, and other garbage aside, the hollow handles are great for storing tinder, or medication, or other things that must absolutely be dry to work.

n2s
 
Let me get this straight.

The Rambo movie was 20 years ago??? :eek:

Oh my GOD, i just realized how old I am and how quickly 20 years flew by. :)

That being said, obviously these types of knives gained widespread popularity in no small part due to First Blood, problem was/is, most of the knives made and bought after the movie were crap, and thus, this type of knife has always had a stigma attached to it. Im sure there are any number of well made hollow handle survival knives avilable, but because of the truly horrendous ones made and sold in the past, many knife nuts won't own one, too easy to get teased. :)
 
While I own few hollow handled knives, and in my dry climate see little purpose in this feature, all three I own are of high quality. They are a Chris Reeve Project II and two A.G. Russell bowies with a compartment in the Zytel handle.

All three of these knives are top quality. As for the Project II and knives designed like it, a hollow handle is almost a neccessity to keep the handle light.

I agree that some hollow handled knives are poop but not all are.
 
I like these knives myself.

I've handled the Lile ones, I've owned the Crain ones, I've handled the Randalls...

I sincerely doubt that the custom pieces would fail many people.

Personally, i'd not limit myself to one knife. <grin>

Just my opinion. I like 'em!

respects, Guro Jeff
 
I have some CRK one-pieces and a marto survival knife, which I purchased in the early 80's. That one endet up in the car, just for emergencies. My CRK's contain just nothing. If on tour, I may put a small steel, a tuf cloth or a back-up lanyard into. All that survival things like bandaid, wire, sewing equipment, aspirine etc. goes in a plastik box into my pocket, backpack or to the belt.
I like the round handles because they always give the same grip feeling, however I hold the blade, edge up, down, crosspalm etc. On the other side I also feel well pleased with the handles of my busse blades, especially when working hard on wood. arno
 
The united rambo knives should be obselete (junk). I use to have the ranbo 3 knife, was a real piece of junk. I had bought it in the late 80's when it came out. I remember when I bought it I tried to cut a sapling down (1") with bad results. The blade came loose from the handle turning it into a "flail".

There are decent ones made by chris reeve, and a few others. You can find many in smokys catalog (junk though).
 
rev_jch,

That is true of most of the stuff sold through United Cutlery. Whether it has a hollow handle like the Lile style Rambo knife, or a hidden tang like the Hibbens Style knife that fell apart on you. United produces wall hangers.

BTW, how did the Rambo III fail? It sounds like the blade and tang held up ok, but the handle may have only been glued on.

n2s
 
The handle had a rat tang that was attached by a locknut that was peened on. The peen was'nt very strong and gave way making the nut, and the handle loose turning it into a pretty flimsy piece of junk!!!


.. bought this around 1987? around that time frame give or take year. It was the same year the #3 movie came out. I have to say thats probably my most embarassing purchase!!!


I really would have been embarassed to hang it on my wall!~:rolleyes: ~!!!
 
Sergiusz Mitin :

... what exactly I should put into knife s hollow handle what I couldn t carry in my pockets, backpack or on the belt
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It provides you with an extra pocket, it doesn't mean that you have to ignore every other one. While I was using a Project from Reeve I tended to keep a fire starter (ferro rod or whatever), and a sharpener in the handle. This meant that the blade could always be used to start a fire and had a means to stay sharp. This isn't a bad ability at all. or course a decent sheath has the same ability. The downside to the design is that the handles are usually not very ergonomic or temperature friendly, being commonly metallic and round. This doesn't have to be the case, but it usually is the way they are made.

-Cliff
 
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