Best camping knife, but slightly different

E

evert67

Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
222
I have recently seen a lot of threads here about the best camping/survival/... knife. Generally people are looking then for at least 5" blades, quite thick (at least 0.25") and capable to withstand a lot of battoning. Knives that are generally recommended then are the Swamprat Ratmandu (which I own, it is a great knife, but just too large and thick for my purposes) and some of the larger Beckers. People seem to like large and thick :) .

Now I am looking for a REAL camping knife which I will actually use. For this purpose I really like the sizes of the bushcraft knives, which are about 4" long. However, I don't like their grinds.

My camping knife should be suitable for camping, so it should be suitable for:
- food prep
- cutting small branches
- splitting small wood
- general utility stuff

I am thinking of knives like the Fallkniven F1 or the BRKT Fox River. It should be 4-4.5 inches long and not too thick to prevent proper food prep.

I am am willing to consider knives up to 5" and a little thicker (it would be great if it would withstand light battoning), but only if that doesn't go at the expense of my main purposes.

What would you recommend?
 
going in line with what you describe.. I'd go with a Fallkniven s-1 (slightly shorter than the A-1) which is more along the lines of the survival type knives
I like the Fox river also but prefer the Fallkniven
I have owned and used both knives so I am not speaking out of my but, I have since sold both,
and use a mora carbon companion for about 90 percent of my utility camp stuff.
Good luck in your quest.
 
evert67 said:
Now I am looking for a REAL camping knife which I will actually use. For this purpose I really like the sizes of the bushcraft knives, which are about 4" long. However, I don't like their grinds.
Click to expand...

What kind a grind do you like? Do you have a budget?
 
Here are a few, sorry for the pic quality, crap camera and its hard to get good lighting at night without getting glare on the blades.
Hope this helps.
downsized_0213121957-1.jpg
[/IMG]

downsized_0213122001.jpg
[/IMG]

From right to left

Fallkniven S1
Cold steel Masster Hunter
Bark River Bravo1
Busse Anorexic Basic 4
Matt Caldwell 1-4
Busse CABS
Fallkniven F1
 
are any of these like what you are looking for, this is a market that i wood like to provide to. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. as a disclaimer they are my work and I am an apprentice knife maker

1/8" o-1 blade 4.5" blade 9.5" over all length
View attachment 258891

fully ambidextrous can attach belt loop of desired length with a chicago blot, 4" blade made from1/8" o-1 total length out of sheath 8.5" in sheath 10.5. held in sheath with rare earth magnets about
View attachment 258892View attachment 258893

3.75" blade made from 1/8" o-1 8" total length


View attachment 258889View attachment 258890
 
Fallkniven F1! Have owned one for quite a while and it's a pretty perfect all rounder. Maybe a tad small for bear hunting...
 
While I disagree with these allegations (All camps are very well represented here-the thin 3/32nds to 1/8th crowd, the mid ranges crowd and the thicker 1/5th and up crowd -I find most blade thicknesses have their uses, especially with good beveling-check out http://oneyearoneknife.tumblr.com/-this knife starts at .2 inches but contours down to a slicing edge over the 2 inch width), I'll say that designated bushcraft knives come in just about any grind you could want, so it's hard to rule out common bushcraft designs with such a broad statement. If you get a good carbon steel blade you won't have to worry about light batoning-I use .06 inch thick blades for batoning all the time. As far as thickness, the Fallkniven F1, which you suggest, has the same blade thickness as the RatManDu, which you say is too thick. The RMD and its HRLM little brother are about as multipurpose as you can get.

Mora has some great practical choices. It's always hard to not include these little guys when someone needs a general purpose companion knife, and if you really don't like the scandinavian grind it wouldn't be too hard to convex it.

The R Murphy Canadian Belt Knife is made in the USA out of .125 inch thick 1095 high carbon steel that is convexed from the spine down to a flat microbevel. I buffed out the microbevel on mine and now it is one smooth convex curve from spine to edge, which makes for a heck of a slicer. If you're looking for something more 'high end', there are other brands out there with nice handmade carbon Canadian Belt Knife models. The blade was designed specifically for camp cooking-it has an offset handle to keep your knuckles out of the working surface and the blade has one long gradual contour from ricasso to point. The spear point is great for just about everything from cleaning fish to drilling wood. It's plenty sturdy for anything you could ask out of a blade its size. For the 20 dollar street price, this guy's a no brainer.
http://www.rmurphyknives.com/store/...rect)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=-&__utmk=173168419
http://www.grohmannknives.com/pages/r1s.html

The Enzo Trapper can be had with a nice micarta or hardwood handle for around 115 bucks. It comes in O1 or D2 tool steels with a .15 inch spine and a scandinavian grind, which makes a cinch out of carving, cooking and general slicing chores, and is plenty durable for batoning.
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?cPath=119_113&option=com_oscommerce&osMod=index

The Svord Drop Point is another nice full tang companion knife with a convex grind similar to the Fox River or the Canadian Belt Knife made out of L6 steel, which is one of my personal favorites. Price tag is around 50 bucks.
http://www.svord.com/pages/catalog/DP.htm

Forgot to mention ROSARMS-www.russianknives.com-they make some great slicers, but use hollow grinds on most of their stuff, which considering the thickness, probably isn't a great idea to baton with. The Cliff, Stalker, Cadet, Fry, Fry 2, Reef and a handful of other models would be within your requested range.
 
Last edited:
evert67 said:
I am thinking of knives like the Fallkniven F1 or the BRKT Fox River. It should be 4-4.5 inches long and not too thick to prevent proper food prep.

What would you recommend?
Click to expand...

The Fallkniven F1 or the BRKT Fox River.

They are both excellent knives and would serve you very well. Can't miss with either one.
 
I just picked up a Fallkniven F1 recently for survival/camp use and I can't say enough good things about the quality and construction of this thing.

It's built like a tank, very comfortable and grippy in hand and is the perfect size/weight to hang on your belt and not get in the way.
 
If you simple want the best small camping and bushcraft knife , I'd say get the Busse Basic 4 . The magnum is .220 thick and the anorexic is .155 thick . I have at magnum and the cutting edge is still VERY thin and sharp due to it's ful flat grind , but many people like the thinner blade also . They are made of Busse's INFI steel and the lifetime warrantee follows the knife no matter how many times it's sold . They also have a great handle that is very comfortable .


....................................................
HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
I'm not sure I understand. The ratmandu is too big but the F1 isn't? Seems they're about the same size to me.

For what you want I would suggest a knife in 1/8" stock. Maybe have John of JK knives make you a Kephart style. If you look at the passaround forum they have one they're beating on right now. Not the Kephart specifically but one of similar size and thickness. I personally have abandoned the "survival knife" idea though. I opt for a cutting system of slicer knife, utility pocket knife, and wood processor(saw/hatchet).
 
Thanks guys, that is a lot of useful information.

The people pointing out that an RMD and and F1 have approx. the same thickness (45mm or 3/16" or 0.18") are right. I thought that if the blade length were smaller, the knife would also be less thick. But that is not (generally) the case.

What I am looking for is a knife with a blade of around 4-4.25 inch long and with blade thickness of less than 0.18". Those are the dimensions of the bushcraft knives I like. however, I don't like the Scandi grinds of those bushcraft knives. I am looking for a full flat ground blade, with a final edge that is a V or convex.

I guess that is why the BRKT Fox River was on my list, with a blade length of 4.25 inches and a blade thickness of 0.17". The Ritter MK3 with a blade thickness of 0.14" (this would be the minimum width for me, it still should be a strong knife; so Mora's are not really suitable) and a length of 4.5" (slightly too long for me) is also a good candidate.

The Busse knives mentioned also sound very good, but where can they be bought? Busse doesn't offer them anymore.

Any other ideas when we are talking these dimensions?

Thanks a lot!
 
Last edited:
The Becker BK16 (releasing in March-ish) fits those specs to a "T". Its .165in thick 1095CV, 4.3in long with a nice handle, drop point and FFG.

They actually just barely changed the knife to a FFG after SHOT show 2012, and so because of that we don't have any "real" photos of the knife. One of the Beckerheads photoshopped what it will look like though, and you can check it out here.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/925842-BK16-FFG-Mock-Up

Here is the clip point version of the same blade complete with the sheath they will come with.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/925448-BK17-pics

And they are also in the Becker Blade Database. All of the specs are there at the bottom for the BK16.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ker-Blade-Database-!!!-(Knife-Specs-and-Data)

Hopefully you have the time to wait, because these things look like they're going to be excellent. Oh... they will cost ~$60-$65 so they won't break the bank.
 
ESEE-4 all the way. Awesome sheath, awesome warranty, awesome knife. I have the G10 orange handled one. I really wanted orange. But I would get the micarta handles if I had to do it again. I just don't really care for the feel of untextured G10. YMMV
 
Check out Ivan Campos' Scandi blades... 1070, very tough, unbelievably sharp, gorgeous Brazilian hardwood grips, amazingly affordable. This is the knife that lives in my daypack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top