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Backpacking Knife Specs

Agreed with all the thoughts on keeping a backpacking knife lightweight. There's a big difference between taking a knife on a day hike, and carrying everything on your back for multiple days. I live @ 6200' and every hike in my area is uphill from there, so keeping my pack as light as possible is a priority, and it's the little things that add up.

Unfortunately, as much as I like making fires, it's become common for the public lands around where I live to have backcountry fire bans for much of the summer season. And if I can't make a fire, then I really don't have much of a need for a bigger blade. If I'm hiking into an area that has fire bans, a 3-3.5" blade is plenty.
 
I would consider it a camp knife and not a back pack knife, to me the back pack knife is a general fixed blade between 3.5 to 5 inches and used for basic cutting like rope, food, notches, or just opening packages. The camp knife for heavier and more brush clearing and wood splitting.
 
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I can tell you that *camping* I have taken a Mora Companion and a Case Stockman. Usually I take a folding saw. Mine is so beat up I can't even find the brand name. The saw is a Bacho. One time I processed two days of our fire wood batoning with my Mora. I wouldn't consider taking anything heavier than a Mora. It just isn't needed. For backpacking especially with fire bans in the back country I would take a Mora and some pocket knife.
 
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Seems to me that the backpacking knife is about the same as the bushcraft knife. It is what you make it.
As for light, a halfway decent size Marttiini Ilves with sheath doesn't weigh any more than 3 ounces maybe......
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This one from Jelio is a bit under 4 oz
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I go light when backpacking. Something like a Delica, Native LW, Manix LW.
In the event I’ll be making a fire, I’ll take a Silky; my preference is the Gomboy 240.

If I’m paddling into the backcountry (or more like mid-country) weight doesn’t matter. I’ll throw in a 4” fixed blade a Gransforth hatchet, and sometime the Silky Big Boy.
 
lambertiana said:
Where I go backpacking (the high country of Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park) I have no use for serious wood processing tools. The forest is open, making cross country travel easy and deadfalls are easy to get around. I spend a lot of time near or above timberline, so no trees to cut anyway. Fires are not allowed above 10,000', which means I am not allowed to have fires at half of the places I camp. As a result, I only need a small folder for cutting chores. For example, on a six day trip I did last month, I carried a Spyderco Delica with PD#1 blade. I usually have a Victorinox with a saw in my pack in case I need to cut small pieces of wood.

Like @knarfeng I believe firmly in leave no trace philosophy. Fire pits with leftover charcoal are an eyesore (I regularly see the remains of fires in places where fires are banned, and, due to conditions in those locations, the fire remnants might remain intact and very visible for many years). I don't appreciate that at all. I don't like to see tree stumps that are the result of people cutting them down for the wood, which is also seen in high country locations with sparse trees and little dead wood on the ground.

Additionally, weight is a big consideration. The routes that I take are challenging enough with a light pack, so I'm not interested in adding a few pounds of wood processing tools. If you want to see the type of terrain I visit, I just did a trip report for the six day loop in the wilderness and survival subforum.
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Those are fantastic NPs I wish I could get down there as much as you can buddy!
 
As with many above, I tend to carry smaller knives when backpacking, along with a Silky F-180 if I intend to make fires, but often without even that.

I always have a lightweight folder and at least one small fixed blade backpacking.

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About 10 oz is my limit for a backpacker.

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My “survival knives” and choppers come out when I’m on a back-country hike with minimal gear (<5lbs) and are carried for emergency shelter and fire making.

If I actually plan to chop wood, then a boys axe is hard to beat.

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I think by most people a backpacking (very loose definition of anyway) knife can be anything that is no longer considered EDC (which is another very loose definition by itself). For me it would be any 3.75/4" fixie that can go with a small to medium size saw (170mm to 240mm Silky saw for example) coupled with something like a Wenger MSK. Of course if one plans on making huge shelters and make a huge camp fire and such (but who does that regularly anyway) maybe one could throw in a compact, hunting sized hatchet.
 

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I was watching a you tube video and the guy mentioned how Kephart would be traveling light with the essentials to camp or or hike, but would not be heavy laden.
 
IMO, this term is a lot like the bushcraft or tactical knife. Very loose term than can mean different things for different people. So it’s difficult to define a particular list of specs.

I think any blade that can significantly help you survive or have fun in the wilderness is a legit backpack knife. From a SAK to a huge honking chopper.
 
I did some backpacking in the Smokies and a few other places back in the 1970s. Backpacking was just beginning to blow up as a distinct recreational activity back then. The life I packed was a Carbon steel, wooden handled kitchen knife ife I b ought at Kroger. A boning knife I think they called it, 33 1/2 inches and not heavy. As a B oy Scout in the 1960s all we really had was Korean War surplus stuff. Out gear was heavy canvass not space age synthetic. My knife was an Airfare survival knife. .. .talk about heavy!

We all might check out videos from "Through Trekkers" on the Pacific Crest Trail or those on the Appalachian Trail. There is a spread in the opinions, but for the most part, they are knife minimalists. In backpacking, weight is everything. For some, an SAK is enough. Others even avoid a multitool for something little and light.

Re-tired now and sitting fat and lazy at home, I kinda like the Chris Reeve "Backpacker". It is four inches of Magnicut with removable Micarta scales in a little Kydex sheath.
 
cbach8tw said:
I would consider it a camp knife and not a back pack knife, to me the back pack knife is a general fixed blade between 3.5 to 5 inches and used for basic cutting like rope, food, notches, or just opening packages. The camp knife for heavier and more brush clearing and wood splitting.
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That's a good way to look at it. From everyone's great comments, I see that a lot of people consider a small belt knife to be an ideal backpacking knife.

I just did a short hike the order day with only my BHK Forest Trail and felt so under knifed haha.
 
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