Backpacking fixed blade

[BRL]

I use an Izula based largely on the same reasons as you state. I bought a red one to improve visibility. I think they are really fine users to begin with, and I also feel they are very sturdy and dependable.

 

[miltmaldo]

I have a fallkniven f1 and it's great for backpacking its light weight and a great size . The only thing with the f1 is that the edge can chip and for me it's hard to get the edge back . It's a nice knife and I carry it but I don't abuse it for my hard work I use the ESEE 4 I like this knife a lot . The Tip of this knife is very strong I use it hard because if I break the tip they will send me a new one . ESEE is my recommendation . Or get both .
Hard use

Light use

 

[billygoat162]

These all great options thanks guys! I'm hoping to visit a store so I can get a feel for the different ones.

To take this in a slightly different direction, I am curious about the drop point and clip point difference b/w the Becker 16 and 17. I know it depends on how one intends to use the knife and how much abuse the tip will take, but I don't know much else than that. Any tips or links you could point me towards?

Drop points are stronger and are easier to baton with (clip points tend to chew up batons faster). Drop points are almost universally chosen as the ideal survival knife blade shape. I'm also going to have to respectfully disagree with the other poster who replied about drop vs clip points. Clip points are designed for piercing (they are best for use as combat knives), and most skinning knives I've seen are either drop points or a strange blade shape I've never heard of. I don't have much experience skinning animals, so I can't comment much on that aspect, but drop points are definitely superior for wood processing which is what a survival knife is primarily used for.

If you go the route of a 4" blade, the BK16 and Fallkniven F1 would be my top recommendations. I own both, and both are knives I would trust my life to in a survival scenario. I just usually go with something smaller to save weight and to be able to carry it in my pocket so I always have it on me. As for the ESEE 4, it's a solid knife on par with the BK16 (perhaps even tougher), but I can't comfortably hold one. I would choose a BK16 over an ESEE 4 every time just because of the handle shape, but that's just me.

 

[ClimbinMonkey]

So right now after a good deal of comparing, I think its between the BK16 and Izula II. They are quite different choices which i'll explain but any thoughts on helping me decide would be great. The main advantage of the BK16 over the Izula is the size which makes its main drawback weight. Izula is small, but too small? I don't know, no local stores in the Portland area have both blades...arrrg. I wondered if there are opinions on the coating of the Izula, I heard it can really show down cuts?

I also looked at the Fallkniven F1 and the Bark River Bushcrafter/Bravo but two things turn me off about these otherwise awesome blades: $100 more than the other two options, and convex grind (don't get mad at me, I know that grind is like the ideal edge for you guys) but I don't have the tools and experience to keep that edge. The basic 20 bevel of the BK would be a lot easier for me.

Thanks for aiding in my decision making and future knife acquisition! Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

[dynamicmoves]

I own a bk15, 2, and 14, so my opinion might be a little biased. But, the 14 has the izula handle, and the 15 has the 16 handle.
So Id go with the bk16 over the izula. I find the handle more comfortable to use over long periods of time.

As far as coating, you should be able to strip both blades if you want to.

 

[22-rimfire]

Regardless of what you might get in a small to medium fixed blade, having a SAK in your pack or pocket is a very good combination for cutting tasks. My bet is that you will use the SAK for 90% of your cutting. So in that sense, the Mora is just fine.

If you want something bigger, take a look at the Kabar Becker BK-7. But it is probably overkill, but still a fun knife.

Lots of good suggestions here in this thread. I have the SOGs mentioned early in the thread and they would do just fine. I like the BK-16 the best for this purpose. The Fallkniven F1 is a great knife. Mine was way over $200.

 

[Mannlicher]

I'd go with a three inch blade, four at the most. ESEE makes some good knives, as to a number of custom blade smiths that sell here on Blade Forums.
This one, by Mark Hill in the UK, is just about perfect. O1 steel, Bocote wood handle. Right size, right materials, right knife.

 

[billygoat162]

Regular Izula vs BK16, so just add 1/2" to handle length:

[/URL][/IMG]

And with an F1 thrown in:


And with what I consider an IDEAL one-knife survival knife:


What I have come to realize is that just about any knife can be a survival knife, but some are better at it than others. It really comes down to how much performance you are willing to sacrifice to cut weight, and what environment you hike in. A skilled survivalist can make-do with almost anything, even without a knife in many scenarios, but some environments make this very hard (cold and rainy/snowy come to mind). I am confident that an Izula is all I need where I hike, but if I were to go on an extended backpacking trip in Alaska (a place I have never been to), I might carry the top knife in the bottom picture.

Another important factor is how you will carry the knife--it is always a good idea to carry the knife on your person instead of in your pack in case you become separated from your pack. Hip belts make this tough, and an easy solution is to carry a knife that fits in your pocket.

As for the coating, I don't think the Izula coating will slow you down any more than the BK16 coating. The BK16 coating grips the wood a bit at first too, but it smooths out after some use. You can always strip it, but if you hike where moisture is a problem (the Pacific Northwest), I would suggest going stainless if you want a bare blade. The F1 is offered in two steels, and the cheaper one can be had for $120 shipped if you shop around.

 

[GDCruz]

I'd you're looking for a backpacking knife I really recommend a bushcraft knife. An F1 is nice but the handle is a little slim to be honest. You want a blade you can really grab onto and at times rest your thumb on the scale. Some good knives to look at are made by timberwolf knives and jack lore. I want to say they are right around your price range. Also Timber wolf knives sells a kit with a blade and handle material you can put together. This option is half the price and makes it a much more personal knife to carry for years to come!

 

[Revival29]

And I can't tell the difference between Izula and Izula II?QUOTE]

Izula 2 blade length is slightly longer and also has a longer handle. I would recommend the Esee 3 or 4 but so many great options.

 

[fielder]

Just saw this thread. I think you should take a look at the Fallkniven F1 as well. Similar size to your Mora, with a full tang and great vg10 steel. You can have a choice of a zytel or leather sheath and you'll be well within your $200 budget.

This. It is light, compact and strong.

 

[Thomas Linton]

As a rule of thumb, drop point for piercing and a clip point for skinning.

Bob Loveless said his drop point was developed for opening up dear without piercing the intestines and for some skinning, a true skinner with a trailing (upswept) being best for the second.

Cm, you got it! It's a "hand tool." See how it feels in your hand. In that regard a handle on the knife is a Good Thing vs a thin steel frame.

 

[Raymond1000]

My jacket-pocket knife is a Busse Game Warden. I don’t recommend it; it’s outside your price range. I do recommend the size. After carrying the Busse for a year I realized a 3” blade and a substantial 4” grip is just right for a small EDC/emergency knife.

Handles matter. If you do have to shelter in the bush you'll be using that knife a lot. You want a good grip, big enough to make long sessions of hard work comfortable.

That blade size will handle almost anything you'd have to do. Learn to split wood with a saw and you won’t need much batoning for shelter building and dry firewood.

If I had to replace the Game Warden I’d look at an Izula II.

Pair it with a Vic Farmer for a great combo with a great saw.

 

[Greykilt]

Condor Bushlore!

Benchmade 162, big enough for ANY task, small and light enough to pack efficiently

I own both and both are good woodsmen knives. If when we say S H T F we're talking about natural disaster or an egress or escape, these 2 would do it.
If you have the money Falkniven is a great knife brand to consider.
For raw meat and potatoes the unbelievably thick and heavy Tops line is a good choice too.
KaBar's Becker series are fine lift and pry types and of course everybody wants to Baton as terms such as 'Baton' and 'Bushcraft' are the new thing in critique for a quality 'Hunting' knife and 'Hunting' knife is what we used to call it. Prior to that it was a 'Bowie' knife as that term blanketed a whole plethora of knife styles far removed from the Randall description. Every hunting knife offered up from 1890 through the Sears catalog days of the 1930's was a 'Bowie' knife. The term was popular and popular meant increased product sales much like the term 'Baton' does now. Count the times it's already been in this thread?
I like the thought that one is taking the time to prepare to 'Baton" by actually pre-choosing a knife that can take being hit by a branch. I'm thinking with that much forethought Why not toss a good quality hatchet in your sack? Note that in all the You Tube videos I've seen that the small diameter timber usually presented as the Batoning test branch has been neatly sawn off with smooth perpendicular ends. How convenient?
When knife shopping get a good mental picture of the knife your interested in. Can you strike it's edge against flint? Will it cut a lamp cord in two? Can you pry a hubcap off with it? Can you break a car windshield or door window out with it? Will it cut through a dense woven nylon seat belt? Can you push the blade between a door and frame and pry your way out of a burning house? Can you cut off a length of 3/4" manila rope with it? Would you dare use it to pry open a can of paint? (Paint Can style lids are the type of lids one encounters in UN distributed food rations for disaster relief) And all this should be accomplished without the proverbial foot long 2" diameter branch firmly grasped in your other hand.
Now I realize that there are Batoning afficianados out there grittin' their teeth and this is the new "it" in knife technology but honestly, you can buy an Ace hardware replacement lawn mower blade and get the same results, can't you?
Judge the performance of a good quality fixed blade knife with the tasks any sheath knife is supposed to be, what it was designed to be, able to do. Condor makes a multitude of knives that will fit the bill and may possibly even save your life, all under $40.

 

[red mag]

You may want to take a look at the S1 Fallkniven.
Have you considered Boeker Plus line --> Dozier design?
hope this helps
red mag
BTW: with your budget you run into the custom market.
Try a search for KLH knives.

 

[billygoat162]

One point that I think should be emphasized is that you should be able to field-sharpen any survival knife. As much as I like D2 and S30V, I wouldn't choose them for survival purposes. 1095 is very easy to sharpen in comparison, and VG10 isn't bad. You can sharpen 1095 on a smooth rock, but S30V and D2 typically require diamond stones and can still take a while. I've carried a D2 blade backpacking on several occasions (BK24, terrific knife and decent compromise between the F1 and Izula except for ease of sharpening), but I always had a diamond sharpener and even then knew it wasn't an ideal steel to have with me.

I agree with the comments about handles--buying scales is a good way to go with the Izula, and fortunately the Izula II comes with them. The last thing you want is to slip and cut yourself in the wilderness or develop blisters (I've done both, and both suck). The F1 has a somewhat slim handle, but not slim enough for me to consider it a drawback (I have medium/medium-large hands).

As for batoning, unless you want to carry a saw or hatchet, you should expect to baton with your knife. It works very well, saves weight, and is something I do almost every time I have a fire backpacking. I usually notch a branch or small log, break it at the notch, then baton lengthwise if I need to. If there are passing trends in survival knives, I would say they are lashing the knife to a stick to make a spear (don't ever throw your survival knife, seriously), thinking you will use the knife to pry open a car or cut your way out of a helicopter (prying and using your knife against steel is almost as bad of an idea as throwing it, and when will a backpacker ever have to do this?), and striking the knife against flint (this one is actually useful, but over-hyped). Ferro rods come with strikers that weigh almost nothing, and using an actual piece of flint or chert against the spine of the knife is an even more difficult skill to acquire than using a ferro rod--you won't get a fire going that way without lots of practice, especially somewhere wet. I've been practicing with a traditional Viking-style steel striker and pieces of chert, and I'm laughing at how hard I thought it was to learn to use a simple ferro rod when I was a Boy Scout (what people usually call "flint" even though it has no flint in it whatsoever). Just FYI though, if you do use the knife with a ferro rod or flint/chert, strike the spine, not the edge (unless you absolutely need a fire that instant, because it will destroy the edge).

Threads like this are fun...it's like I'm buying the knives I already have all over again without spending any money They do tend to go farther than the OP's probably care to read typically, but it's still fun.

 

[Shotgun]

I highly recommend a GSO 4.1 by survive knives. It has top shelf steel, good HT, an edge that actually works(others have an edge that you will have to fix to make useable), the best factory sheath that I've tried, and it's pretty ergonomic. I can't find anything I don't like about that knife. Forget the cheaper knives. If you have the 200 then spend it on one of these.

 

[Shotgun]

One point that I think should be emphasized is that you should be able to field-sharpen any survival knife. As much as I like D2 and S30V, I wouldn't choose them for survival purposes. 1095 is very easy to sharpen in comparison, and VG10 isn't bad. You can sharpen 1095 on a smooth rock, but S30V and D2 typically require diamond stones and can still take a while. I've carried a D2 blade backpacking on several occasions (BK24, terrific knife and decent compromise between the F1 and Izula except for ease of sharpening), but I always had a diamond sharpener and even then knew it wasn't an ideal steel to have with me.

I get this point but for 99% of the people out there, a top tier steel won't get so dull that you can't use it anymore over the course of a normal camping trip. For the other 01% a simple small piece of leather loaded with polishing compound is enough to keep a knife sharp. That's all I use to keep my knives sharp and that includes s30v and d2. I haven't broken out the sand paper in over a year. Keep it sharp and you won't have to worry about how long it takes to bring it back from dull.

 

[billygoat162]

I highly recommend a GSO 4.1 by survive knives. It has top shelf steel, good HT, an edge that actually works(others have an edge that you will have to fix to make useable), the best factory sheath that I've tried, and is pretty ergonomic. I can't find anything I don't like about that knife. Forget the cheaper knives. If you have the 200 then spend it on one of these.

How hard is it to sharpen? I've never used 3V, but I've heard it's a pain to bring back a dull edge. Just something for the OP to consider. I'm thinking in terms of survival use, not just camping.

As for the edges, ESEE and Fallkniven put terrific edges on their knives. My F1's factory edge was actually sharper than I can reproduce. It shaved better than my Schick Quattro.

 

[ClimbinMonkey]

One point that I think should be emphasized is that you should be able to field-sharpen any survival knife. As much as I like D2 and S30V, I wouldn't choose them for survival purposes. 1095 is very easy to sharpen in comparison, and VG10 isn't bad. You can sharpen 1095 on a smooth rock, but S30V and D2 typically require diamond stones and can still take a while. I've carried a D2 blade backpacking on several occasions (BK24, terrific knife and decent compromise between the F1 and Izula except for ease of sharpening), but I always had a diamond sharpener and even then knew it wasn't an ideal steel to have with me.

I agree with the comments about handles--buying scales is a good way to go with the Izula, and fortunately the Izula II comes with them. The last thing you want is to slip and cut yourself in the wilderness or develop blisters (I've done both, and both suck). The F1 has a somewhat slim handle, but not slim enough for me to consider it a drawback (I have medium/medium-large hands).

As for batoning, unless you want to carry a saw or hatchet, you should expect to baton with your knife. It works very well, saves weight, and is something I do almost every time I have a fire backpacking. I usually notch a branch or small log, break it at the notch, then baton lengthwise if I need to. If there are passing trends in survival knives, I would say they are lashing the knife to a stick to make a spear (don't ever throw your survival knife, seriously), thinking you will use the knife to pry open a car or cut your way out of a helicopter (prying and using your knife against steel is almost as bad of an idea as throwing it, and when will a backpacker ever have to do this?), and striking the knife against flint (this one is actually useful, but over-hyped). Ferro rods come with strikers that weigh almost nothing, and using an actual piece of flint or chert against the spine of the knife is an even more difficult skill to acquire than using a ferro rod--you won't get a fire going that way without lots of practice, especially somewhere wet. I've been practicing with a traditional Viking-style steel striker and pieces of chert, and I'm laughing at how hard I thought it was to learn to use a simple ferro rod when I was a Boy Scout (what people usually call "flint" even though it has no flint in it whatsoever). Just FYI though, if you do use the knife with a ferro rod or flint/chert, strike the spine, not the edge (unless you absolutely need a fire that instant, because it will destroy the edge).

Threads like this are fun...it's like I'm buying the knives I already have all over again without spending any money They do tend to go farther than the OP's probably care to read typically, but it's still fun.

Nah OP is following thread with baited breath haha . It is really interesting and informative to hear others opinions of a knife they would use in this situation. BTW your pictures comparing the knives was very helpful, thanks! knivesshipfree.com store is actually somewhat close to me, so i'll get my hands on some of the options in the next day or two.