Best Survival knife

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comis said:
I often hear people say the "best survival knife is the knife you have with you", but I am a firm believer in the "right tool for the right job" and I can never bring myself fully agree with that cliche.

If I happen to be carrying a Spyderco Ladybug as my EDC and found myself stranded outdoor for a cold winter night, for sure the Ladybug is "the knife I have with me" but how would that be my "best survival knife"? It sure is better than nothing, just definitely not my best survival knife. (No offense to Ladybug, I like it as a cute knife but just not optimal for outdoor survival)

Of course, there will always be people with mad survival skill and probably could survive anything even butt naked, kudos to that but I surely am not one of them and YMMV.
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I think the concept behind all this is that many people will purchase a “survival” knife and then leave it at home because it’s to big to carry as a practical knife. So their survival knife is of little to no use to them.

My survival knife is a Benchmade 162. It does not get carried much but it is in the trunk of the car instead of at home.

If I had to buy again I would consider Bark River or CPK field knife. Maybe CPK EDC 2. I really like the EDC.
 
I have come to the point, where I won't even consider buying a knife, thicker that 4 mm.
I have a few knives thicker than that, and they do serve a purpose. They are however annoying to use for finer tasks.
I would say, that a 7mm thick blade doesn't offer up any advantages to a 4mm blade. Quite the contrary.

A thick knife is cool, as long as you don't have to actually use it.
 
lbrf2020wimb said:
thank you for your long and in depth reply. Why would the Fallkniven have more flex, considering both knives are 60hrc and both are 7mm thick? The knives would be used as the main blade for general camp/heavy chores, and would be used in the northeast and Pacific Northwest, mostly.
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I misread the spec, I thought the Falkniven was 5mm, not sure how I got there. But as a laminated blade, the edge will be 60, with the rest not being so.
 
I would pick the Bark River Bravo Crusader over Fallkniven due to :
(1) CPM 3V Blade which will outcompete Fallkniven's Laminated CoS (Cobalt Special Steel) OR Laminated VG-10.
(2) 8.5 " blade with 0.28" stock is a beast
(3) Bark River grind is well suited for outdoor use and performance. Great ergonomic handle with tons of handle material choices (vs. Fallkniven's Thermorun handle) and nice finger choil that will allow you to do some fine tasks as well.

What I don't like about the Crusador is its weight. It's 21.7 oz. Also I feel 8.5" blade is a bit impractical; for a large fixed blade knife - my sweet spot is usually between 5 and 6" in blade length. I can always go for a machete if I need a longer blade.

I would recommend you to check out TOPS Tom Brown Tracker (Model 3). I have the 20th Anniversary Edition in my personal collection which has a 5.75 " CPM-S35VN Blade weighing 14.4 oz. The best part about the Tracker is that each area of the blade is made for executing several functions with ease - chopping, carving, saw and pounding. The Tracker Knife can chop, split, carve, score, scrape, saw, notch, and drill wood, bone, and even antler. It can be used to gut and skin an animal, then scrape the hide. It can be lashed to a pole for use as a spear, and it can be thrown much like a tomahawk. It is an extremely versatile and useful knife which is more suitable for a "survival" type scenario in the outdoors than the Bark River Bravo Crusader - in my POV.
 
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Well I don't do any survival stuff, but I did use my Recon Tanto at work, home, backyard and camping quite a lot, and latley I'm using my Boker GoBag as my EDC and for similar stuff, before it I used the Drop Forged Hunter. So I second the reccomendation to get one small knife too.

None of my knives are in 3V, but SK-5 is from my experience very tough and I chopped down lots of stuff with my Recon Tanto despite the the fact it's not really a chopper. I used it to pry some stuff too, SK-5 is tough.
And about other 2 of my knives, 52100 and D2 both have very good edge retention. My knife in D2 is just 3 inch long blade, so D2 is plenty tough for a knife of such size, and corrosion resistance is a bonus since this is an EDC knife, at the other hand Drop Forged Hunter has 4 inches long blade, but it's 5mm thick, and 52100 is very tough (tougher than D2) so I would be pretty confident it won't break even if I used it as a chopper or prybar.

If I had to have only 1 survival knife - I would probably get Cold Steel SRK in 3V or even Recon Tanto in 3V, since Tanto knives have significantly stronger tip which is way more resistant to breakage. And in survival situation I might rather have less than ideal Tanto tip, than being worried all the time about damaging my knife
If I can have more than 1 knife - Gurkha Kukri Plus and Drop Forged Hunter.
 
sabre cat said:
I think the concept behind all this is that many people will purchase a “survival” knife and then leave it at home because it’s to big to carry as a practical knife. So their survival knife is of little to no use to them.....
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Survival begins at home. We like to think of survival as some exotic adventure, but in reality life sometimes sneaks up when we least expect it. A large knife can help you to clean up storm damage, it may give you comfort in the middle of a dark night, it can even be traded for some other essential.

When done right, we shouldn’t be surviving at all, we would rather be thriving in the situation with all of the comforts we have grown to enjoy. Preparation and a little fore thought makes most of the difference. A call to a family member telling them where you are going, how you plan to get there and when you expect to return, can be worth more than 100lbs of gear.

But, play with the gear anyway. It is hard to say what the best tool for the job will be, since the situation by definition would be unexpected, but each item provides additional options and the key thing is to have plenty of options.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
Survival begins at home. We like to think of survival as some exotic adventure, but in reality life sometimes sneaks up when we least expect it. A large knife can help you to clean up storm damage, it may give you comfort in the middle of a dark night, it can even be traded for some other essential.

When done right, we shouldn’t be surviving at all, we would rather be thriving in the situation with all of the comforts we have grown to enjoy. Preparation and a little fore thought makes most of the difference. A call to a family member telling them where you are going, how you plan to get there and when you expect to return, can be worth more than 100lbs of gear.

But, play with the gear anyway. It is hard to say what the best tool for the job will be, since the situation by definition would be unexpected, but each item provides additional options and the key thing is to have plenty of options.

n2s
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Agreed. Communications and an emergency plan is probably more important then most of the gear you would have.

If your area is anything like mine,
you will find “No Weapons” signs at the evacuation shelters. A fixed blade will be considered just that.

My fixed blade can stay in the trunk of the car and a SAK can stay in my pocket or pack.

You would be amazed how many people are stockpiling weapons and ammo over food and water.

I wonder how many here are knife heavy but could use more food or water.
 
sabre cat said:
Agreed. Communications and an emergency plan is probably more important then most of the gear you would have.

If your area is anything like mine,
you will find “No Weapons” signs at the evacuation shelters. A fixed blade will be considered just that.

My fixed blade can stay in the trunk of the car and a SAK can stay in my pocket or pack.

You would be amazed how many people are stockpiling weapons and ammo over food and water.

I wonder how many here are knife heavy but could use more food or water.
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Don't forget the toilet paper! If the current situation has taught us anything, it's that it's impossible to face a SHTF situation without at least 1000 rolls of toilet paper! :D :D :D
 
Pomsbz said:
Don't forget the toilet paper! If the current situation has taught us anything, it's that it's impossible to face a SHTF situation without at least 1000 rolls of toilet paper! :D :D :D
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LOL! So true.

I don’t have a 1000 roles but I do have a twelve pack set aside for when things go south. I need to put it in with my camping gear.

Thanks for the reminder.
 
Pomsbz said:
Don't forget the toilet paper! If the current situation has taught us anything, it's that it's impossible to face a SHTF situation without at least 1000 rolls of toilet paper! :D :D :D
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I got mine! ;) But then I tend to always have a fairly good supply. I have noticed inventories are down in stores. Are folks thinking about heading for the hills because of Covid-19? Better have your survival knife selected, bug out bag packed and everything ready to go.;)
 
A longtime friend once calculated how many rolls of toilet paper he needed for his family for one year. He ended up purchasing 97 rolls for a family of four.
 
not2sharp said:
Survival begins at home. We like to think of survival as some exotic adventure, but in reality life sometimes sneaks up when we least expect it. A large knife can help you to clean up storm damage, it may give you comfort in the middle of a dark night, it can even be traded for some other essential.

When done right, we shouldn’t be surviving at all, we would rather be thriving in the situation with all of the comforts we have grown to enjoy. Preparation and a little fore thought makes most of the difference. A call to a family member telling them where you are going, how you plan to get there and when you expect to return, can be worth more than 100lbs of gear.

But, play with the gear anyway. It is hard to say what the best tool for the job will be, since the situation by definition would be unexpected, but each item provides additional options and the key thing is to have plenty of options.

n2s
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Well said, can't agree more with that.

Telling few different people where you are going and when to start looking for you, and good signaling devices(besides phone) are definitely some of the top priorities for outdoor survival.
 
It's not a ESEE knife. The edge needs sharpening all the time! Fallkniven will always be the best for survival. Especially the A1 Pro! :thumbsup:
 
As said before, I'm really not a fan of very large knives.

But if I absolutely had to select one, I think it would be the Fallkniven "Thor."
 
Piee89 said:
It's not a ESEE knife. The edge needs sharpening all the time! Fallkniven will always be the best for survival. Especially the A1 Pro! :thumbsup:
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I haven’t needed to do much more than touch mine up in the field, but that’s the beauty of their 1095, tough as I’ll ever need a blade to be and can be brought back to hair popping sharp with nothing more than a small ceramic stone. Something to consider when shopping for a “survival knife”
 
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Alberta Ed said:
The best survival knife is usually the one you have on you.
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Well, you have stolen my thunder as this was my take, but you are correct.

We now have CCW in my state, but even in a righteous shooting you're going to run up tens of thousands of dollars of attorney's fees. I'd rather try the knife first before everything does hit the fan.

BTW, the best feature of my Bush Ranger Lite is the horribly loud "thwack" it makes when the blade is rotated into place. Heck, it catches me off-guard sometimes. You can always ratchet up your survival mode, but it's never easy to dial its way back.
 
TheTourist said:
Well, you have stolen my thunder as this was my take, but you are correct.

We now have CCW in my state, but even in a righteous shooting you're going to run up tens of thousands of dollars of attorney's fees. I'd rather try the knife first before everything does hit the fan.

BTW, the best feature of my Bush Ranger Lite is the horribly loud "thwack" it makes when the blade is rotated into place. Heck, it catches me off-guard sometimes. You can always ratchet up your survival mode, but it's never easy to dial its way back.
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Can you explain what you mean?
 
sabre cat said:
You would be amazed how many people are stockpiling weapons and ammo over food and water.

I wonder how many here are knife heavy but could use more food or water.
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That's kinda shocking to me, but they probs plan to use weapons and ammo to steal other people's stuff.

Then there's me - I'm not stockpiling anything :D

When it comes to knives... well I only got 3.
Piee89 said:
It's not a ESEE knife. The edge needs sharpening all the time! Fallkniven will always be the best for survival. Especially the A1 Pro! :thumbsup:
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Way too expensive for a single knife.
For that price you get both, Cold Steel SRK and Recon Tanto in CPM-3V.
Or get a Kukri and smaller knife.
Or get a custom made knife...
 
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