Are thick knives really practical?

getridone said:
I'm on CrescentWrenchForums all the time bro. I've been known to play with my adjustable spanners for hours and hours and even show some off to my buds. They are really impressed with some of my really big ones.
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None of my buds would ever want to see me playing with my spanner, no matter which was it was adjusting...
 
Personally, I prefer my BK2 to an axe, and I've carried and used both extensively. As far as weight, savings, it isn't really there. You can get durable, sturdy axes with plastic (polypropylene) handles that don't weigh much more than the head would alone. The main reason I prefer my BK2 (or RTAKII or BK9 or Kershaw Outcast), is that I can reasonably use it for a multitude of tasks, where I only see an axe as a chopping/hammering tool. That said, axes are incredible choppers, because that's all they are made to do. I threw in hammering, because for a single blade axe, the backside is often flat and makes a great hammer. I always have trouble finding nails in the bush though...
Basically, if I'm car camping, I'll take it all. If I decide to wander away from base camp for a nice day hike, or I want to go lightweight camping and pack everything on me, I take my BK2. The utility of a 'sharpened pry bar' is enormous and limited by what you're willing to do with it. So far, I've batoned miles of wood with mine, used it as a shovel once, a tarp stake, a camp knife for preparing food, a self-defense measure, and a torch once (don't ask, please). I'm quite certain that you could do all those things with an axe as well, it would just be a lot harder.
 
getridone said:
I'm on CrescentWrenchForums all the time bro. I've been known to play with my adjustable spanners for hours and hours and even show some off to my buds. They are really impressed with some of my really big ones.
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I actually used to carry 12-inch Stanley FatMax around just for that purpose... :D

No, really! No jokes!

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Many people, many choices.

Until you try everything, you can not really claim to know everything. (I have a ways to go)

Thick knives have their place. They make compromises in some areas to add utility in other areas.
 
I agree, no use to me, especially on a knife under 8-9 inches, but then I would use a machete or axe. I tried the large knife thing and always fell back on an axe or machete. A 4in blade and forest axe does it for me. I think some people think they are eventually going to have to fight a bear or a wild boar or something and feel safer with a large knife. Often it feels there are two schools of outdoorsmen, the more naturalist/bushcrafter types and the LEO ex military-tactical type with the latter preferring a large knife such as beckers and whatnot. Just an observation.
 
roninelh said:
I agree, no use to me, especially on a knife under 8-9 inches, but then I would use a machete or axe. I tried the large knife thing and always fell back on an axe or machete. A 4in blade and forest axe does it for me. I think some people think they are eventually going to have to fight a bear or a wild boar or something and feel safer with a large knife. Often it feels there are two schools of outdoorsmen, the more naturalist/bushcrafter types and the LEO ex military-tactical type with the latter preferring a large knife such as beckers and whatnot. Just an observation.
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I am not sure that is true.

The well known ex-professor bushcraft type Ron Hood likes his massive 10" blade Buck/Hoodlum and is an advocate for big knives. I see very few folks on the Becker Knife Forum that fit the LEO ex military-tactical type and all are big knife Beckerheads types. I am not sure that Ethan Becker a bushcraft type who designs his knives is a LEO ex military-tactical type.

Most LEO ex military-tactical types that I know carry small to medium tactical folding knifes that are almost useless in the bush. The true animal hunter's among them do tend to carry 1-3 Buck type skinner knives and the such.
 
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MEJ said:
What do you guys need thicker knives? Thick knives like the BK2 and the Esee 5 dont seem all that practical IMO
An axe and smaller knife seems a lot more useful.
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BK2 (and ESEE 5, I suspect) is an outstanding all-around camp knife if you know what you're doing. Here, have a look at this:

It whittles tiny spoons and forks and things...
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It prepares the most flamable object in the known universe...
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It chops seasoned oak for no good reason...
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It cleans fish...
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It batons...
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It takes a beating and comes back for more...
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It poses majestically...
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It survives nuclear blasts...
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What's not to love?


---

Beckerhead #42
 
Depends on what needs or is going to be doing.

Personally I would carry 2 knives in the field, one large 10" or better and the other a 4" to 5" thin fixed blade.
 
The TOPS Steel Eagle 107E knife looks like a usefull thick knife, but I have yet to physically see one in person. 1095 Steel of 1/4" thickness and 7" blade. It does weigh more at 22oz. The upgraded Rocky Mountain Tread handles are neat (I have the Rocky Mountain Tread on the TOPS/Buck CSAR-T made knife and it has a great fit):thumbup:.

http://www.topsknives.com/product_info.php?products_id=138

It's on my future maybe list.:D
 
The 107E is undoubtedly a good looking knife, but with that half-height saber grind on 1/4" stock, it's hugely thick at the edge shoulder and really doesn't do much of anything well without reprofiling it. I saw one on here a while back which had been convexed from the primary grind down to give it a more useful cutting geometry. Still, a full-height or 3/4 height grind whether flat or convex such as is usually offered by Busse, Fehrman, Siegle, Gossman, ESEE, Becker, etc. is going to perform far better.

AfghanWarrior said:
The TOPS Steel Eagle 107E knife looks like a usefull thick knife, but I have yet to physically see one in person. 1095 Steel of 1/4" thickness and 7" blade. It does weigh more at 22oz. The upgraded Rocky Mountain Tread handles are neat (I have the Rocky Mountain Tread on the TOPS/Buck CSAR-T made knife and it has a great fit):thumbup:.

http://www.topsknives.com/product_info.php?products_id=138

It's on my future maybe list.:D
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Yes they are. They do multiple jobs pretty good and serve as backups to dedicated tools like hatchets, prybars, or even a step. The only limit is one's imagination. YMMV

Unklfranco
 
Thick knives are more suited to survival than an axe. In fact if i were being dropped into some remote area id take a good kukri over the axe.
 
t1mpani said:
For a "one-off" piece of gear, thick knives have some appeal. Whole lot lighter to tote around than an axe, and when sharpened correctly, can do anything you really need to do with a knife, though not with as much precision as a small knife or speed of an axe. Much like a Swiss Army Knife can never match a real screwdriver and a large saw---the difference is I'll have the SAK with me.

Basically, it comes down to preference. I've said it before (many times) and I'll say it again, knives are more than just tools to most of us here; many like to deny it and will vehemently claim that knives are nothing but tools to them, but I really doubt they'd ever put up hundreds of posts on CrescentWrenchForums even if it existed.
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Yup. And I like a little bit of everything so that I have a choice for the location, to bring more or less, etc. And because my ''bush skills'' need improvement. I am also very aware that if a northern Indian saw what I have he would laugh and wonder why I have all that crap. I have been in the far north and they do a lot with very little, whereas, I do little with a lot. I feel that I've covered enough bases say with a BK-2 for most farting around but I'm experimenting with an ESEE 4 and Becker BK-16 now. If I'm going into deep isolated bush extra gear comes along. Do whatever makes you comfortable.
 
upnorth said:
Yup. And I like a little bit of everything so that I have a choice for the location, to bring more or less, etc. And because my ''bush skills'' need improvement. I am also very aware that if a northern Indian saw what I have he would laugh and wonder why I have all that crap. I have been in the far north and they do a lot with very little, whereas, I do little with a lot. I feel that I've covered enough bases say with a BK-2 for most farting around but I'm experimenting with an ESEE 4 and Becker BK-16 now. If I'm going into deep isolated bush extra gear comes along. Do whatever makes you comfortable.
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Personally I've had a bad experience with the BK-16 but I'm still not giving up on it. I was taking out a Junglas, a necker, a saw and a SAK. Now I'm opting for the SAK and saw, a Mora, pipe hawk, and probably a 6-7" heavier blade. Maybe even the Junglas. My reasoning being that the folding saw and SAK weight almost nothing, ditto for the hawk, so the knife/hawk ends up being less than the weight of a small axe and I more than have my bases covered. Why bring less if you aren't adding more weight than normal?

"When we talk of an outdoorsman’s knife, we are generally referring to a fixed-blade knife, although it is clear that this was not the only edged tool the outdoorsmen of yesteryear carried. Most outdoorsmen–often referred to as woodsmen–also carried some kind of a jack knife, an axe and a saw. Many also carried something called a “crooked knife,” which is a knife with a curve in it that is used for woodcarving. Additionally, a firearm–usually a rifle–and some fishing gear were essential elements of their kit. With these sophisticated tools of the trade, food, shelter, and comfort were easily obtained by the experienced woodsman. Note that most of these individuals likely could have survived with much less and many were well-schooled in the so-called “primitive” technology of indigenous peoples. But they were practical in their habits and valued what technology was available at the time to enhance their comforts in the wild. This was also a day and age of Abercrombie and Fitch, which, for the greater part of the 20th century, specialized in providing professional outdoorsmen with the finest outdoor gear available, from tents to double-barreled rifles. Theodore Roosevelt, Robert Peary, Ernest Hemingway, and many other famous sportsmen bought hunting, fishing, and camping equipment from Abercrombie and Fitch, and outdoor sportsmen in general usually had access to well-made equipment, including edged tools." -Dr. Terry M. Trier
 
I'd rather take the mass of the BK-2 and convert it into a machete for better chopping and slicing ability as well as longer reach. If I wasn't able to carry a long blade, though, I wouldn't feel under-gunned with a BK-2
 
RemyKaze said:
Personally I've had a bad experience with the BK-16 but I'm still not giving up on it.
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Wow, now this is interesting. I haven't been on the forum much because I've been busy finding old coins and such. Can you please tell me about your 16 experience ? I was going to go pop some frogs with a pellet gun and use it to get some legs, but that hasn't happened yet. Sure looks and feels nice to me.
 
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