Bare minimum "blade-setup" for back-country?

For me a nice rounded out setup, would be along these lines:
Leatherman wave- 8 oz., plain blade, serrated blade, saw, file, + more
Byrd Cara Cara FRN- 3.8 oz. plain blade, 3 7/8"
Frosts Clipper, or 760- 4 oz.?, plain blade 3 7/8" - 4 1/8"
Gerber pack axe- 17 oz., 8.8" OA, 2.63" edge
The whole setup is about 2 lbs., 1 lb. if you drop the axe. This arrangement will allow you to do plenty of work with no problem, and some redundancy as well.
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Great thread! Lots of good, field-tested rigs here. I like photos of knives that have some good honest use on them.

Most of the time I carry a smallish fixed-blade and a SAK Classic (yes, the little one, mostly for scissors and tweezers).

My go-to rig is pretty simple:
3.5 oz with sheath.
7.25 inches.
3000 miles.
 
My SETUPS:

1. Mora clipper w/ folding saw, bk9, leatherman blast
2. mora classic w/ ontario machete (not my fav machete but will do) and folding saw, leatherman blast
3.kabar usmc, mora clipper, folding saw, leatherman blast
4. Becker bk2, mora clipper, folding saw, machete, leatherman blast
Day HIKE BLADE setup: mora classic w/ leatherman.

MOST USED SETUP: Kabar USMC, mora clipper, Folding saw, leatherman blast.

My FAV setup is: Number 2 and 4
 
In the Pacific Northwest, you are dealing with a lot of wet conditions.

If you want to start a fire out there, even with awesome tinder and a lighter you will have to work hard to keep it going, and split a lot of wood.

I'd recommend taking something for utility like a SAK, a larger blade like a Fallkniven F1, S1, A1, A2 etc, or a BR Bravo 1 or 2, and a nice long handled convex ground axe. Hatchets are light and are ok for chipping wood, but IMO they suck for actually splitting it when you need to make a fire. Beyond that Id take some awesome tinder, a good ferro rod, and a windproof lighter.

That's just my two cents, because I've never found it easy to make fire with wet wood, even with all the above tools.

-Freq
 
I've backpacked and hiked for years and never needed anything more than a midsize Opinel. In fact I rarely encounter anything at all in the outdoors that needs cutting (I'm not a hunter).

Recently though, for the sake of practicality and hygene, I've switched to a small fixed blade.

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Happy Trails!
 
ESEE/RAT knives are fantastic. My preferred setup is:

ESEE-6 - large enough to handle wood, not too big, not too heavy, top-notch f&f
SOG PowerAssist multi-tool - love it, especially when it gets grimey.
Endura FFG G10 - for food prep, lighter cutting, and the G10 works great wet or dry.

Let us know what you pick, mmm'k?
 
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