Best Survival Knife?

kenk said:
I find large fixed blades - even my 5.5" BK10 - to be just too heavy to wear comfortably.
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How much do you weigh? 75 lbs? Maybe you need a wider belt to carry all that weight. Suspenders might help as well.

Sorry to be a smart-alec but I find this pretty amusing. My biggest knives weigh barely more than a pound or so. Certainly less than a canteen of water. I've never found myself walking in circles because of the weight of my knife. Suck it up, Nancy.

No offense meant to you personally, kenk. Maybe I'm just too big and dumb to notice the difference.
 
The poster did say SURVIVAL right? So what would you rather have, a 16oz knife and 8oz less emergency water or an 8oz knife and 8oz of extra water? Let's be serious. Survival is serious, but the advice many are giving when they say that they have no problem lugging a 32oz Bowie into the wilderness is survival in the 19th Century not today.Sure,if you're Paul Bunyan, stand at 7' and weigh 250 lbs a 16oz knife is proportionately trivial by comparison.
 
With the possible exception of splitting wet logs to get to the dry inner portion, I really can't see the need for a large fixed-blade in a survival situation.
Maybe it's more of a false "security blanket" than a necessity?
 
You should look for soemthing thats medium sized, and is made from a steel that is durrable and easy to sharpen, with a grind thats easy to sharpen. Everything else is secondary.

Look into a good folding saw. thats just as important, or more important, than a knife for camping. A Gerber sport saw at least, or better yet a Spydersaw.
 
If you want a good blade but will not break your wallet, try looking at the Muela, they make all sorts of sizes of knives and of decent quality. Also, it is hard to beat the old Air Force Pilots knife (now only made by Ontario since Cam went under) or a Ka bar. Ontario makes alot of affordable knives with rubber handles, their Spec-Plus series, it will not cost you much to replace it.
 
Moodino said:
This type of interchange occurs CONSTANTLY on all the forums- Knives, Gadgets, Flashlights, Camping Gear et al
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This is a great looking knife.....how did you hear about it as I can't find it on his website ?:confused:
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GibsonFan said:
How much do you weigh? 75 lbs? Maybe you need a wider belt to carry all that weight. Suspenders might help as well.

Sorry to be a smart-alec but I find this pretty amusing. My biggest knives weigh barely more than a pound or so. Certainly less than a canteen of water. I've never found myself walking in circles because of the weight of my knife. Suck it up, Nancy.

No offense meant to you personally, kenk. Maybe I'm just too big and dumb to notice the difference.
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you are vicious, but absolutely correct:D :thumbup:

Most people can stand to loose some weight off their fat azz, so complaining about a pound is rediculous
 
Most people can stand to loose some weight off their fat azz, so complaining about a pound is rediculous
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I disagree.
When I was a Soldier I carried alot of combat gear, and believe me, every pound counts.
 
A 3 ½ - 5” full tang fixed blade hunting knife and a SAK or multitool with a wood saw is the basic combo that I prefer.

A good sturdy locking blade folder is near essential also, either as a stand in for the fixed blade knife or as a backup.

Some of my current favorites:

Foster Fears Survival Knife – featuring a 4 ½” clip point blade, a full tang, removable G10 scales and an On Scene Tactical sheath, this is a practical easily carried sheath knife that is built for survival without being needlessly heavy or clumsy.

Victorinox Spirit multitool – has the components an outdoorsman’s multitool should have including a wood saw, awl and even a wood chisel, while remaining fairly light weight and compact – again very practical without being cumbersome.

Spyderco D’Allara Drop Point – a very sturdy Ball Lock folding knife with secure hand filling 3-D FRN grips over full stainless steel liners.


If a larger blade is needed for chopping/cutting wood or clearing trails, I will supplement these with a good machete and or a folding pruning saw. My current picks among these are an 18” Ontario molded D guard machete carried in a GI plastic scabbard and the Fiskars/Gerber sliding blade wood saw. I also like the SOG Revolvers for filling the gap between the SAK/multitool saws and the pruning saws and the 12” Ontario is great for when you want something more portable than a full sized machete.


A couple of other supplementary knives that I like are the Camillus ArcLite neck knife and the rust proof Spyderco Salt series.






- Frank
 
RattleSnake Jake said:
Greetings

My first post. This has probably been brought up before but I looking for a survival knife/I'm lost in the mountains type knife.

I was looking at the Gerber Silver Trident Double Serration knife. Any opinions on this knife or can you recommend one that you favor that would be better? Why the recommendation?

Thanks
RSJ
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I use a Glock 78 in the Bush its reasonably cheap, holds an edge ok and can be sharpened in the Bush on a rock.
They are pretty hard to break.
Cutting large tree branches is not that important, if it is take a Saw or an Axe.
 
Moodino said:
Let's be serious.
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Moodino said:
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1) Self-defense in the event of an attack by wild animals --

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The Hollow main grind lightens the blade a bit while providing relief from friction in woodworking tasks. In addition, the hollow acts as a 'blood groove' facilitating a blood channel and mitigating suction or adhesion. --
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Yeah, let's be serious...
 
I do alot of camping and work in the bush. Two knives I can recommend is the Cold Steel, master hunter, Also I like my Ka-Bar, D2 extreme fighting/utility knife. Hope this helps.
 
How lightweight do you want to go? You CAN survive naked with a sharp rock, but do you really want to?

allenC said:
When I was a Soldier I carried alot of combat gear, and believe me, every pound counts.
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I understand that every pound counts. For me, being prepared for survival doesn't include hundreds of rounds of ammo, so I have way more wiggle room than a soldier in many regards. As does pretty much everyone here. I just need to keep myself in one piece, warm/dry, hydrated/fed and either lay low or get back to town. I make a general effort to keep what I carry around 50 pounds maximum; shaving 4 or 8 ounces here or there isn't going to make a difference. In a pair of boots, heck yeah. But not on my belt or in my pack. If you're talking long-term survival, well, then I'd add more weight not less.

Moodino said:
The poster did say SURVIVAL right? So what would you rather have, a 16oz knife and 8oz less emergency water or an 8oz knife and 8oz of extra water? Let's be serious.
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I'm completely serious. Are you? Where I wander, a 2-oz bottle of iodine tabs will get me all the safe water I could ask for*. How long is that "extra" glass of water going to last you? There, I just saved you 6 ounces :) Plus, it's pretty rare to just scavenge-up a blade that will do what I want it to. I'd rather carry the tabs, 32 ounces of fresh water or Gatorade and a 16-ounce knife, is that an option? Allow me that, and the stuff I EDC anyway and I could likely keep myself together just fine.

Blood grooves are dumb. Where'd you read that? A Sgt. Rock comic book?

I'm not raggin' on anyone else's way of doing things, but the whole lightweight thing can quickly turn into a fetish that's just plain silly. On the other hand, I don't roam around with a felling axe, either.

BTW I'm no Paul Bunyan, I'm only 6'4" :D

* I should note, in central/northern WI you're seldom more than MAYBE an hour's walk from clear water, and if you can't find shelter/fire material you're just not looking. If I was in different terrain I'd probably have different priorities.
 
Unfortunately, Gerbers fell inot the "better than" category........25-30 years ago. At some point in the 80's they stopped mking their Mark series and others out of good old fashioned high carbon too steel and things have never beenthe same , IMHO. I would always go for a carbon steel knife because of ease of resharpening. That would include, at a minimum, the KBar USMC knife and the 1095 Swamp Rats. Not sure about other factory offereings.
 
Randall made model 15 or 14 Used my 15 since 1974 extensively in Montana and Alaska. Never failed me
 
I recommend having 2 knives on you for wilderness survival purposes.
1. Have a good Swiss Army Knife (Victorinox or Wenger) with you. I personally go for the Camper or Bundeswehr Mauser Pattern knives for this purpose. Out of those two, I usually pick the camper. I like having the second, small knife blade. It's good for really fine cutting and carving. For a wilderness SAK I think it's cumpolsary to have a saw. Having a lot of features, being a wonder SAK, isn't really necesary. Most of the stuff probably won't be necesary and the bulkier the knife, the less likely it is that you'll keep it handy.
2. Your other knife will be a fixed blade. It would be very convenient to tell you to get a BK-7 and be on your way. Unfortunately, the Camillus closure has caused prices to skyrocket and availability to decrease. The exact specs are largely going to up to you- the steels and grip materials, etc... Some people swear by carbon and others by stainless. Whoever said 4-7" blade- you're right on the mark. A little more or less is ok but You don't need a Rambo knife for this sort of purpose. The Kabar Marine knives will work well and are high quality at an affordable price. Some people really like Ontario's RAT knives. Full tang is definetely the way to go. Despite this, many folks, myself included, find Mora's to be very handy and affordable knives. They will handle most of your camp tasks, however I wouldn't use one for chopping or heavy batoning (though I have used partial tang knives for such in the past). Busse knives are expensive, aqnd the people who have them swear by them. They are designed to survive extreme abuse. I would call them the AK-47 of knives, but they're too expensive and not plentiful enough for that title. You might find that a Buck Pathfinder or Nighthawk will work for you, and it very well may. Either would probably be decent for this sort of role. Another popular knife is Cold Steel's Bushman. I just ordered one that I'm having customized. The deal came to $21 delivered. The Bushman has a pretty good reputation, the main problem being with the sheath. Luckily that's not a biggie- many companies make viable sheathes. There are a lot of other moderately priced knives thast will work too.
 
Well, I'm abashed to admit it but It's my design and the prototype is headed my way any day now. It's a custom but can be ordered. Let me or Ranger Justin know if you're interested in one.

pit man said:
Moodino said:
This type of interchange occurs CONSTANTLY on all the forums- Knives, Gadgets, Flashlights, Camping Gear et al
RKOM.jpg




This is a great looking knife.....how did you hear about it as I can't find it on his website ?:confused:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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