Jackrabbit and Page are correct, however, I think that they sorta missed the point. Indeed, whatever knife you happen to have on you is what you are going to be using. However, to the same effect, those of us who make swords don't do so with the intent that they will actually be used as a weapon to kill, maim, or injure a human being. Nonetheless, the swords we produce are given geometry and heat treating that make them as capable of such purposes as we possibly can. Why? because for some reason or another it tickles our fancy to make such an anachronism as functionable as we are capable. Taking cues from actual period pieces for geometry and using our best understanding of modern industrial materials science to make the blade as perfect at something it will never actually do as we can. Nowadays the job of a sword is to look cool, and maybe, if it's something really special, to be used in martial arts demonstration, or for cutting pool noodles and bamboo. With the exception of actual tameshigiri competition, a well made sword is rediculously overkill for those purposes, and there's a lot of wasted effort for those end purposes, yet we do it anyway.
The survival knife is much the same way. It should be as capable at all of the various "survibal" type scenarios as the end customer desires. Not because there's any sort of high degree of likelieness that the owner will ever need to rely on it in a life threatening survival emergency, but because it tickles his fancy for one reason or another.
I would go back to the tough camp knife suggestion. Something that can cut, and cut, and chop, and cut, and chop, and then cut some more. A frighteningly sharp edge isn't necessary, but a high degree of toughness and a boat load of edge retention are. Ease of resharpening isn't a primary concern, because if you are using it for a long enough period of time that resharpening becomes necessary, you are beginning to stretch the limits of the survival scenario and enter the longer term backpacking / camping scenario.
Jay Fisher has a great design here:
http://www.jayfisher.com/knife_anat...mponents,_with_illustrations_and_descriptions
Knife anatomy 4 is the design I am referring to. It looks like a great inspirational piece to start with, but I wouldn't ape it directly. I would make a few changes, mostly by lengthening the section labeled "chisel edge" to be about twice as long as it is in that diagram. The serrated section of the blade really is too long for my tastes anyway, and I want the thick heavy part to be long enough to split some decent wood. I might even add a gut hook to the back of the blade. Speaking of the back, I doubt I would back sweep the point as much, but only the minimum for the gut hook, and make the point stick straight away from the handle. Then, a ring in the back of the pommel, and a back on the guard would facilitate inserting a hand carved treebranch pole through the ring, and hitting the back of the guard for a makeshift spear. A cord wrapped handle is a very versatile addition, giving you several feet of paracord to tie, lash, etc. I don't think I would hollow grind the bevels though. A clamshell convex grind would help provide extra meat behind the edge to keep the strength up. It may not come out as pretty, but from a purely mechanics point of view, I like the idea.
Inasmuch as it is like a sword, in that it's function is very unlikely to ever need to be tested, it would be distinctly mall ninjaesque as an end result, and as much a fantasy knife as it is anything else, but if we're going all out to the nines, why the heck not?
but a reality that not just knifemaking but the entire world has too much of anymore
. But all in all you are doing just fine:thumbup: if everybody decides they need to forget my name for me to be happy it would be rather bad for my livelihood, and that would make me very unhappy:thumbdn:
