Basic outdoors knife

M

mooman99

Joined
Jun 19, 2012
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I have been looking for a good general purpose outdoors knife for around $60-$120. Any suggestions?
 
*What kinds of activities do you include under "General Outdoors"?
--Batonning wood?
--Carving wood
--Skinning critters?
--Or just cutting rope and having a blade handy when you camp?

*Are you partial to stainless or non-stainless?
 
Becker and Esee are at the two ends of your price range, and both make some excellent blades for outdoor rough use. If you want the ultimate hard use blade, try to find a used Esee-5. Five inch long drop point blade made of 1095, and it's a 1/4 inch thick. You'd have to get pretty creative to hurt one of those. If you're lucky you can probably find one used for 100-120.
 
Grease said:
Becker and Esee are at the two ends of your price range, and both make some excellent blades for outdoor rough use. If you want the ultimate hard use blade, try to find a used Esee-5. Five inch long drop point blade made of 1095, and it's a 1/4 inch thick. You'd have to get pretty creative to hurt one of those. If you're lucky you can probably find one used for 100-120.
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A Becker bk2 would be a similar, yet decent amount cheaper, option.

You could get an Enzo, or Anza within that range...actually I think there are quite a few options in that price point.
 
The Queen Cutlery Bear Head Hunter in D2 is a great little knife with a really nice fit and finish. Runs $60 - $70 bucks.

qu_73ambercsb.jpg
 
I have to say... Fallkniven F1. Laminated steel, stainless, synthetic sheath impervius to whatever... and affordable. If you have big paws you may want to go with the S1. A bit bigger, a bit more expensive (still withing price range) and saber convex grind instead of full convex... which makes it a not so great slicer.

Also I would consider (because I own them and I like them all in a way): RC4 (ESSE 4) and BRKT Aurora (or Fox river).

There are soooooooo many choices to choose from...

Mikel
 
Another vote for the Becker BK16.

You also might look at the Kabar MK1, or the Condor Bushlore.
 
mooman99 said:
I have been looking for a good general purpose outdoors knife for around $60-$120. Any suggestions?
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While you are inundated with suggestions/recommendations, I must second the initial response query: What tasks do you anticipate/desire use of the knife for?

As a side query, why do you have a minimum value in your range? Is a "good general purpose outdoors knife" <$60 unacceptable??
 
Price has little to do with true usefulness of a "woods/bush Knife." I do not question the quality of ESEE or Becker, but I would get a Mora or Green River and IF it failed you or didnt live up to what you want then look for something a little costly/modern.

(I would also look at how I used a knife if one of those failed me BTW.)

The mora or green river would give a great time tested blade that was designed for an outdoorsmen/hunter and not for youtube battoning vids...plus it would leave some $ for things like beer/wine, some new books, a pair of nice slippers, something nice for the woman, bills, etc etc.
 
mooman99 said:
I have been looking for a good general purpose outdoors knife for around $60-$120. Any suggestions?
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This isn't enough to go on. In particular, does it have to limb and chop wood? If so you'll want a 7-9 inch knife. If you don't, then smaller will be fine. (And a Mora would be a good place to start.) If you do, then google the MTECH 151. As long as you are strict on sending any knives with obvious problems back to the seller, they're pretty much as good as the $150 Coldsteel Trailmaster they homage - and you can find them online for $30.
 
RDog said:
The mora or green river would give a great time tested blade that was designed for an outdoorsmen/hunter and not for youtube battoning vids...plus it would leave some $ for things like beer/wine, some new books, a pair of nice slippers, something nice for the woman, bills, etc etc.
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Thick short knives leave me a little puzzled. They're heavy enough to be annoying to carry, they're often clumsy to use compared to knives like the Clipper, and they can't chop worth a damn. They make sense for soldiers because they work as pry bars, but as outdoor knives they seem to have most of the faults of the small knives like the Moras, and of the long knives, like the 7-9 inch Bowies.
 
General purpose outdoor knife.... Kabar Becker B-2, ESEE -3 or -4, SOG Seal Pup Elite plain edge, Queen mentioned above (or similar Queen in D2), or Buck 110 folder. There are so many, but I have experience with these and they are all pretty good for the money.
 
I don't have any experience with the green river knives, but I have a mora and it is a great little knife. It is for sure worth the $12 entry price for one. I got one at the same time as my BK2, and after using both for a few months, have determined that my ideal belt knife lies somewhere in the middle (personally).

After comparing three knives of approximately the same size (Kabar MK1, Becker Bk17, and Condor Bushlore. HERE is the review I did) I found that for me the BK16 looks to be just about ideal. I hope to be picking one up sometime soon.

Starting with a Mora is not bad idea. You may find you love them and you don't want to move on from there. Or you might find that they fail miserably at what it is that you want to do with a knife, and will use that info to move forward in choosing the one that is right for you.
 
meanwhile said:
Thick short knives leave me a little puzzled. They're heavy enough to be annoying to carry, they're often clumsy to use compared to knives like the Clipper, and they can't chop worth a damn. They make sense for soldiers because they work as pry bars, but as outdoor knives they seem to have most of the faults of the small knives like the Moras, and of the long knives, like the 7-9 inch Bowies.
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That's exactly my opinion. The becker and esee knives tend to be much thicker than I like. The esee-3 is nice (a little thick) but the handle is just so dang uncomfortable for me.

For me, a mora and green river or even a SAK is much more suited to my needs, which are mostly cutting.
 
I've found that if I'm going out with the purpose of doing some serious bushcraft, I carry my $12 Mora Clipper on my belt and my Becker BK7 in my pack. I think it's obvious what role each one of those plays. Knives like the ESEE 5 and BK2 (I own both) are more for fun than function. Of course, they would be nice to have around in a SHTF scenario because they can technically do anything....they just don't do anything the best. I will always take a big knife and a little knife over one thick chode knife.
 
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