Bear Grylls VS Les Stroud Knife Deathmatch!

I haven't seen any reviews on the forums about the Camillus/Stroud offering. I'd like to see someone compare the two... not interested in buying one though, only academic. :D
 
Camillius...? Where did that come from? Survivormans knife is made by helle... http://www.helle.no/products/knives/temagami-ca/

Bear grylls knife is crap IMO but the survivorman knife is made by an excellent manufacturer.

Helle gear is excellent quality. I have a Helle knife and I'd definately consider the survivorman termigami..

So out of those two the helle for sure...

The Ray mears woodlore knife would be my all time winner though..

 
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Ohhhhh....

I wondered how you could be comparing them :)

I would not touch either of these.

Mora all the way..
 
JJalenak said:
So, as a relative newbie just getting into knives, and celebrity endorsement aside, who would everyone recommend for a 'survival knife'? Fixed blade, or folder? Why?
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Putting aside the whole "survival knife" thing, because just being alive means you are in a survival situation after all. You don't need to spend big bucks on a good knife. Broken down to simple terms:

Fixed blade beats a folder.

A medium size blade seems to handle a larger variety of tasks vs. a small or large blade alone.

A med. sized sheath knife is not an axe, saw, hammer etc. But with skills and knowledge and practice can mostly accomplish the same outcomes.

So, my personal recomendations...start with a cheap mora (they range from around $10 to your door to something like $50 something) OR a Old hickory/green river Med. size knife (again pretty cheap). Add some sort of folding knife...a SAK, a multitool, something like that and you are pretty good to go.

If you want to cover even more bases, a mora, paired with a large old hickory, plus a small folder/multi tool and you are set for any recreational outdoor situation. These knives will build shelter, and handle any food chores or hunting/cleaning game or fish.

You can get a good mora or old hickory for $10-20 each, both are tough, both are time tested, both are useful.

If you look around, you should be able to get a mora and a large old hickory for about $25 or less...You will likely need to pick up a sheath for the Old hick...they often are sold without...depending on the "pocket knife" or MT you pick you may spend anything from around $15-20 on up to $100.

Don't forget, Anything you buy should actually be used before you decide how good it is btw.
 
I haven't heard much of anything good about the Bear line. Les' stuff, I dunno. It looks about the same in terms of quality, but my gut feeling about the men themselves is that Les is more the kind of guy who could get by rather well with a less than perfect knife. Almost none of his shows require him to go hacking away and prying things with his knife. He's very much about using the minimal amount of energy possible in order to "survive".

In short, watching Bear jump and hack and generally do all kinds of exciting things makes me believe that he SHOULD endorse a robust line of knives that could hold up to his version of "surviving"...but he didn't.

Les' Camillus line is probably still very lack luster and probably not worth putting his name on it, but I honestly think he could use a discarded cat food tin lid as a knife and be fine.

Both shows have a lot of editing and marketing to them, so I guess we should take with a grain of salt how serious each knife collection really is.

But yes, Helle knives would be the way I would go if I had to take an "official" knife out into the wilds.
 
I've got the Large USK folder from the Grylls line, and the folder from the Camillus/Stroud line. The Camillus/Stroud "desert" folder is just not as well put together, and the firesteel thing flat does not work with the as advertised with the notch on the blade that it's intended to.


Goosey said:
I haven't seen any reviews on the forums about the Camillus/Stroud offering. I'd like to see someone compare the two... not interested in buying one though, only academic. :D
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Here's my short review of the folder Camillus/Stroud Desert Folder

Knife is sorta OK, but after using it awhile, I prefer the Gerber/Grylls USK.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I haven't heard much of anything good about the Bear line. Les' stuff, I dunno. It looks about the same in terms of quality, but my gut feeling about the men themselves is that Les is more the kind of guy who could get by rather well with a less than perfect knife. Almost none of his shows require him to go hacking away and prying things with his knife. He's very much about using the minimal amount of energy possible in order to "survive".

In short, watching Bear jump and hack and generally do all kinds of exciting things makes me believe that he SHOULD endorse a robust line of knives that could hold up to his version of "surviving"...but he didn't.

Les' Camillus line is probably still very lack luster and probably not worth putting his name on it, but I honestly think he could use a discarded cat food tin lid as a knife and be fine.

Both shows have a lot of editing and marketing to them, so I guess we should take with a grain of salt how serious each knife collection really is.

But yes, Helle knives would be the way I would go if I had to take an "official" knife out into the wilds.
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I think Stroud's advertising is pretty minimal. In the new episodes of Survivorman, he has the Camilus series on him. A fixed blade and a folder. Winds up making some kind of netting with the folder. Both seemed like they were getting the job done, and the only time you really knew hew endorsed it was when the camera briefly showed his signature on the blade.

Then he was in Norway, reviewing what equipment he had in his car. He took the Hell knife and said, "...a knife. A BEAUTIFUL knife," and then just put it aside and carried on.


So at least he doesn't really shoot for product placement that much.
 
I try to reserve too harsh of judgement or sing really high praises of anything until I actually examine it or better yet use it. I've got among other things, the Bear Grylls fixed blade,Fire starter and sliding saw. I've used the saw and fire starter alot and they've worked fine. The fixed blade I've used for some pretty mundane tasks, garden work, wood work and it's worked fine too. They seem to me to be good values IMO. Not perfect (what is) but very suitable for any type of reasonable use.

With as many people that have bought the Bear Grylls stuff there has to be some people who won't like it and some that do just like any other widely sold product.

As far as I can tell Acme had no hand in the closing of the original Camillus. I haven't seen any evidence to cause me to dislike Acme. It looks like they are bringing back some of the former Camillus knives (like the OVB) and are making an attempt to let the Camillus name live on. They are also bringing out new knives (like the Les Stroud knives) and time and sales will determine if they are a success.

I say spend a lot of time using the search function, watch a lot of video reviews and make up your own mind. If you ever really need your knife to "survive" chances are you'll be alone and no one offering advice will be there to help you. In other words knowledge truly is power and if you decide what is best whether if it be a Gerber,Camillus, Helle, Becker, etc. Knife you will be confident you made the best choice for YOU.

Besides if your'e like most of us you'll have dozens of different knives from many different makers at lots of price ranges. They are an interesting subject to study and fun to work with.
 
JJalenak said:
So, as a relative newbie just getting into knives, and celebrity endorsement aside, who would everyone recommend for a 'survival knife'? Fixed blade, or folder? Why?
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A "survival knife" is the knife you'll have with you, always.
For most of us, that means a folder, because you can carry them more places.
If you die because your knife wasn't a fixed blade, you were going to die anyway.
 
I would call it a tie..Both companies will make millions ($) from these...

A survivial knife is what I take when I go kayaking,hiking,hunting and camping...Basically when I'm on the water or in the woods a survivial knife is with me..On a day to day basis I carry a folder..Its my EDC little chores knife thats nice and light..

The science of hardening steel..Steel goes in a furnace at a controlled temp for a certain amount of time..It achieves a rockwell hardness after this process is done..Gerber and Camilus have been doing this for a long,long time..Just because its mass produced does'nt mean its junk..
 
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Personally as a HUGE Les Stroud fan I am currently praying that the knives turn out well. On the other hand something that you have to remember that while Les states that he is a knife guy I don't really see him as a knife addict. In most of his videos he used very cheap and basic knives ranging from diving knives to the infamous Buck 119. Personally I kind of enjoy this refreshing views on knives. It doesn't need to be made of a wonder steel, have micarta handles, and be able to baton through a small tree. A knife is a knife and if kept sharp it doesn't matter whether it is 440 or S30, and as Les demonstrates a knife is only as good as the person using it.

That said I personally don't like it when a knife breaks in my hands. I really hope that his knives turn out well, but I have to admit that personally I am not really attracted to them. These knives were meant to be relatively tough and inexpensive knife that anyone can afford, and honestly I would rather someone go into a survival situation with a knife rather than no knife.

-MC
 
I doubt that I can offer anything really new, but it does seem that Americans really get wrapped up in "celebrity" endorsements that mean very little. Basically, any of these knives is a standard design + $100. If a presenter is competent, he or she should be able to perform basic tasks with almost any knife.

The Helle Temagami seems to be an outstanding knife (I wish I could afford one) that is really a standard pattern of Nordic knives with the advantage of more strength with a full tang. Amazingly, Scandinavians used similar knives a thousand years ago without the benefit of survival expert endorsement.

I am certainly no "survival expert" but I have had experience living and working with Samoan villagers while a teacher in the Peace Corps. At that time, about the only knife used was the 18 inch bush machete with a wooden handle made by Martindale (Crocodile brand). If the villagers could not perform a task with their "sapelu" (bush knife), then the job could not be done. Without attempting to show disrespect to any of the current signature knives, I am sometimes tempted to contact Martindale to see if we can offer a Faiaoga line of bush knives. Martindale could then export more of their products to impressionable Americans.
Faiaoga ("schoolteacher" in Samoan)
 
KuRUpTD said:
Are you talking about "real" Camillus knives (pre-2007) or the crap put out by the Acme United Corporation ?
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I am talkig about news ones. The 6.75" and 7.25" folders. G10 scales, vg10 steel. The matter of the two has nice thick liners, and is as smooth as my sebenza. The smaller is t as tough, by it's not meant to be an a usable knife. They are not crap by any means. Very well made knives. Fit and finish are good and the TiNi isnt chipping even when toted with change in pocket. The only complaint I have is the big one cant be set up for tip up carry. The small one can. Neither can be set up for lefties, but that don't bother me
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