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Are there any Fans of Hollow Handle / Rambo Knives?
- Thread starter kodiak-bear
- Start date
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
- Messages
- 4,290
Pretty much a fan of anything Rambo
-RB
-RB
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
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- 5,944
Not me, Sorry, But if you like 'em than rock on.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
- Messages
- 4,215
Hollow handled knives are inherently weaker in design...there are a few exceptions (Chris Reeve, single piece designs and some high-end customs), but there aren't too many. The concept is sound, but the execution is not. The only one I would bet my life on (in my collection) is my Chris Reeve Project 1.
ROCK6
ROCK6
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,124
Nope, can't say I'm a fan.
As kgd and Elen have mentioned, a good sheath pouch is a better place to store small PSK items. This allows you to have a stronger knife handle, which, in a real survival situation, is very important. It also means that you can access your other survival items while leaving your knife in its sheath, which makes sense.
I have made an exception with my Becker BK-9, which has a skeletonized (though still full-tang) handle, and hollow scales. This design doesn't detract from the knife's strength, which is important, as it sees regular use for chopping. Inside the scales, I keep a few fire-starting items and some cordage. The allen key used to access this stuff is stowed in my sheath pouch.
All this being said, if Rambo-style hollow handles are your thing, more power to you.
All the best,
- Mike
As kgd and Elen have mentioned, a good sheath pouch is a better place to store small PSK items. This allows you to have a stronger knife handle, which, in a real survival situation, is very important. It also means that you can access your other survival items while leaving your knife in its sheath, which makes sense.
I have made an exception with my Becker BK-9, which has a skeletonized (though still full-tang) handle, and hollow scales. This design doesn't detract from the knife's strength, which is important, as it sees regular use for chopping. Inside the scales, I keep a few fire-starting items and some cordage. The allen key used to access this stuff is stowed in my sheath pouch.
All this being said, if Rambo-style hollow handles are your thing, more power to you.
All the best,
- Mike
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2006
- Messages
- 823
I've got a Randall #18 I trust.never heard of one failing.only thing that might fail is my ticker if I ever lost the thing
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,021
Hey k, I agree with you on this, but I carry it one step further - for me, I think a sheath should focus on its function - safely storing your knife, not as a repository for all manner of this and that.
Just my opinion, of course, and certainly no critique of people who like sheath pouches. I just find them way too bulky and awkward.
As to the now-deceased OP
, I would have no problems with a Chris Reeve hollow handle knife, or a Randall, for that matter.Doc
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2005
- Messages
- 412
Rambo got me into survival preparedness. The Randall 18 got me into knives. I love them both. I will get a Randall again. I had a 15 Airman. I want an 18. I am going to watch Rambo again tonight. Thanks for the motivation. I use a KaBar however. I also favor a Buck 119 and a 110.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2005
- Messages
- 3,516
I was just using the bushman today, a very tough knife. Check out the destruction tests on youtube. It's not a waterproof handle, but it is tough as heck.
Agreed. I put the handle contents in two layers of little zip loc bags. Closed the front of the opening with a fitted piece of candle and the back with a couple layers of heavy gaffer's tape. Paracord wrapped the outside of the handle.
I gave a Bushman to one of my hunting buddies and he kept it in his old truck. He ordered a new steel camper shell to replace the aluminum one that was falling apart. He drove to a recycling place to dispose of the aluminum top and they told him they wouldn't take it unless it was in pieces no bigger than 2 ft X 2 ft. He didn't want to drive all the way home for tools so he found something to use as a baton and tore the shell completely to pieces using the Bushman. Relatively little edge damage (nothing that couldn't be fixed fairly easily). The recycling center guys kept asking where he got that knife!
DancesWithKnives
I gave a Bushman to one of my hunting buddies and he kept it in his old truck. He ordered a new steel camper shell to replace the aluminum one that was falling apart. He drove to a recycling place to dispose of the aluminum top and they told him they wouldn't take it unless it was in pieces no bigger than 2 ft X 2 ft. He didn't want to drive all the way home for tools so he found something to use as a baton and tore the shell completely to pieces using the Bushman. Relatively little edge damage (nothing that couldn't be fixed fairly easily). The recycling center guys kept asking where he got that knife!
DancesWithKnives
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 2,984
I have owned some of the greats...Lile First Blood and Rambo...a Robert Parrish....a South African early Chris Reeves Jereboam....a later U.S. Project 1....an Eikhorn Survival ....back in the 80's they were the "survival" design.
Never used one of them properly! They were far too expensive.....particularly the Lile knives....I bought them as a collector and the first three above made enough profit on re-sale to buy some knives that did work well. I got a Blackjack Maurader and a Benchmade Walter Brend lock knife.
I did try the C.R. Jereboam and like my present Project 1 the chequering on the grip was too sharp for comfort. After seeing the Noss test on a Project 1 I will probably move this knife on.
The Lile knives were very well balanced and light for their size....I think they could have done well....although I heard that in the Rambo films a number were broken in the making of them.
The Robert Parrish knife has a "proven" pedigree with a number being used by Sec Ops guys back in the 80's but it has a very long spine insert into the handle with smaller space available than the Lile or C.R. knives. Leroy Thompson was using a Parrish back then from memory. He worked as a B.G. and gun writer back then and praised this knife.
I liked the Kukri and used one for years then after it went missing I got a Maurader. I have had a lot of knives since but never really worked with a hollow handle knife.
The best I have heard of presently made ......is by a custom maker Farid over here in the U.K......very similar to a Lile design....but if you want something in this size I think the Bussekin knives are the world class leaders. Like everyone says....would you chop on something which has an inherently weak design? Noss did but not for long......
Never used one of them properly! They were far too expensive.....particularly the Lile knives....I bought them as a collector and the first three above made enough profit on re-sale to buy some knives that did work well. I got a Blackjack Maurader and a Benchmade Walter Brend lock knife.
I did try the C.R. Jereboam and like my present Project 1 the chequering on the grip was too sharp for comfort. After seeing the Noss test on a Project 1 I will probably move this knife on.
The Lile knives were very well balanced and light for their size....I think they could have done well....although I heard that in the Rambo films a number were broken in the making of them.
The Robert Parrish knife has a "proven" pedigree with a number being used by Sec Ops guys back in the 80's but it has a very long spine insert into the handle with smaller space available than the Lile or C.R. knives. Leroy Thompson was using a Parrish back then from memory. He worked as a B.G. and gun writer back then and praised this knife.
I liked the Kukri and used one for years then after it went missing I got a Maurader. I have had a lot of knives since but never really worked with a hollow handle knife.
The best I have heard of presently made ......is by a custom maker Farid over here in the U.K......very similar to a Lile design....but if you want something in this size I think the Bussekin knives are the world class leaders. Like everyone says....would you chop on something which has an inherently weak design? Noss did but not for long......
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2004
- Messages
- 1,460
I used a Parrish in Panama . They are very tough. I lived in the town he was in before I went into the service. Wish he was still around and making. I would however trust a CR knife and have many times and they have never failed. But it was just a phase for me. I carry far too much to put in any knife handle 
. Somewhere in the knife drawer is an old Explorer brand hollow handle, made in Seki,Japan. I think it has like a 9 in blade so it doesn't see any use, blade is too light to chop with and the handle is too heavy. Might work as a combat knife, but not for what I would expect a survival knife to do.
That being said, they are cool looking I will admit.
. Somewhere in the knife drawer is an old Explorer brand hollow handle, made in Seki,Japan. I think it has like a 9 in blade so it doesn't see any use, blade is too light to chop with and the handle is too heavy. Might work as a combat knife, but not for what I would expect a survival knife to do. That being said, they are cool looking I will admit.