Best Survival knife

B

btfury

Joined
Jul 16, 2008
Messages
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I posted this in the general discussion forum before I realized that there was a whole survival section here (im new here. awesome forum!). Anyway, I'm wanting a "survival knife." something that will, to be frank, help me survive should the situation ever arise. The knife should be fixed blade, and up for shelter building, lashing to a stick for spear use and other survival related tasks. Maybe made out of D2 or something (not sure).

Some knives I've been looking at are the Benchmade CSK and the Kabar Gen II just to name a few. I'd love some recommendations!

Also, I'm a SCUBA diver, and it would be great if this knife could stand up to some diving, as well.
 
First up do a search for survival knives on google using " XXX site:bladeforums.com " and check out the suggestions.
To hep us out you should personal choices like size, price, area of usage, types of usage and so on.
Saying you want it for survival is a bit broad because it is in no ones interest to aim to survive, we go out to enjoy ourselves. So naming what your common use for it is going to help. So for example do all you need it for on a normal trip be just to collect firewood or do you want to whittle and practice bushcraft skills.
Generally scuba knives are quite specialised but there can be times when it can double over. But this is rare - better to get a seperate knife. From my readings most people recommend getting EMT super shears because its much easier to cut nets and such underwater with scissors than a blade.
Scuba knives are also made of highly non corrosive metals so generally have softer steel which will not stand up to well to woods use. They also have blunted tips for prying and safety.
Your choices seem adequate (not my choices) but we are all different. I hope you find what you are looking for.
 
Wellcome to Bladeforums btfury. The survival knife concept is one of the widest out there. The most common answer you will find here is that a survival knife is the one you have on you when you find yourself in a survival situation.

Before we start telling you about certain makers, models, steels, grinds, edges and all that... you better lurk a little bit arround here and figure out for yourself a few things. Here is a quick list:
What do I intend to do with the knife?
Where do I usually hike/camp?
Where am I more likely to be using the knife?
Can I do without a chopper?
Do I want it stainless or good old carbon steel?

Once you have all those things figured out we will be able to recommend you an appropiate tool.

BTW, forget about using the same knife for diving. I am spear fisher myself and I have bent/broken too many diving knives. They are usually made from high alloy stainless steel knives and don't hold an edge at all. Some of them have very step saber grinds and don't cut at all, even when reprofiled. Others are just too think and bent badly while finishing off some big fish. Besides that I wouldn't risk losing a $100+ bushcraft knife while diving.

Mikel
 
You've got a bunch of things going on there which are certain to get you such a range of answers as to be almost useless to you.

1] The concept of a survival knife. To many that means a great big tank of a thing. From others you'd likely get the hackneyed phrase “the one you have with you”. And someone else is bound to advise you that a bucket of Moras is a more cost effective solution.

2] Even if we overcome [1], you've got the diving aspect, and most dedicated dive knives lean toward such a high degree of corrosion resistance they don't make for the best tools on land.

3] Many of the people here lean toward woodcraft and ye olde traditional skills with survival essentially being a subset of that. Accordingly you'll often see simple steels and pretty handles, scandi grinds and tiny knives exalted for survival. The rational being that they are good for woodcraft, and if your field skills are good, you won't be surviving anything. Ergo, problem solved.

Personally I detest scandis and find that outside big choppers steels with a good degree of corrosion resistance work best. And the concept of a survival knife to me means whatever is living under my left arm, and that is usually something simple, ugly, between 4”-6” and starkly practical. I'm not a romantic. Depending on how heavily you are going to load the diving aspect I'd give very strong consideration to the Fällkniven S1. It is in no way a diving knife, but because it is laminated VG-10 and rubber it's pretty darn amphibious. It also happens to be one of the finest knives around for use on land. Given you used an example of a Benchmade CSK I think this has to be your strongest contender for around the same dimensions.

Load up on the diving aspect though and that Fällkniven S1 is going to be as unsuitable as your Benchmade CSK in the dimension stakes, so I'd be looking at a Benchmade Nimravus. I don't own one of these but I've handled them a bunch and they are great. I've recommended them to several people as knives that with a little care can be used for diving, and all bar one has adopted them. Of special note is the sheath that has good lashing points and a thumb lock -

benchmadenimravussheath.jpg


Yeah, the only guy that declined one is a diver I know who is a fanatic. He dives a lot off the coast of Ireland, and said it was just too small and fiddly when he is way down deep, can't see, and has gloves on. He's retained the big soft lump he's been complaining about for ages 'cos it rolls on nylon line rather than cuts it, yet he prefers that lump because he says he is unlikely to drop it, and the sheath has a two part lock that he has greater confidence in when going through kelp beds. I can see his points, he knows more about diving than I ever will, but I still contend that unless you are that hardcore the Nimravus in the right steel [you have choices] is a better tool. As I said, others agree, and on land, despite it's very tactical look that I'm not usually into, it works well and is a very good cutter.

I'm sure others will suggest things very different from these, but these would be mine. I'd be aiming for the S1 first, and if I needed more underwater performance the Nimravus.
 
The scuba part is the wild card. It takes a special knife, imo, to be "good" for scuba diving. Most knives, even carbon, can stand some underwater time if you're good about tuf-clothing them off to prevent rust. To withstand prolonged underwater time, however, and to withstand the abuse that a scuba knife is put through, is another thing. I'm inclined to recommend 1 knife for survival, and a different knife for scuba. I just picked up an Oceanmaster Beta Titanium dive knife, and that is one AWESOME scuba knife. Their proprietary beta titanium formula is light years ahead of regular titanium, which is known to be brittle.

As far as a survival knife goes. To someone who has very little criteria for what they want and what they need, I have a few tried and trues I like to recommend. For a do-it-all type knife, I like a 5-6" blade. Some here like smaller, some like bigger, so YMMV:

These range in price from $50ish to $200ish

Ka-Bar Gen II (I personally don't like these, but they work)
Ranger RD6
Fallkniven S1
Rat RC6

Stick around for a bit, you will get LOTS of options. If you could tell us more about yourself that would help quite a bit:

What's your camping/hiking/survival background? Done much? Just getting started?
What knives have you used in the past? Likes? Dislikes?
Are you prone to military-type tactical knives, or woodsman-type traditional knives?
Price range?
Experience with knives as far as maintenance, sharpening, etc...?
Do you carry any other tools with you when you camp? Swiss army knife? Axe?

Those should get us started :)
 
Great replies especially from baldtaco and noshtero. I too would separate the survival knife from a scuba dedicated knife. For short term under water use, any knife would do okay. Also, I've done the spear thing with a sheath knife and found it's way over rated...again, I would consider something inexpensive such as Cold Steel's Bushman. Of your choices the best in the group would be the CSK...new versions are in 1095. That to me would be a factor of getting a decent carbon steel knife, 5-6" blade.
 
Your dive knife and your belt (survival) knife should be two separate animals. I will not dive with a high quality knife like my BRKT Fox River. Not that the knife couldn't handle it but if I drop the knife, I might compromise my safety if I choose to dive deeper to retrieve it. For this reason, my dive knife is a relatively inexpensive Gerber river shorty that is easily replaceable and not a one of a kind custom. Similarly, I don't want to trust my life in the woods to an inexpensive knife when I live by the idea of using and buying the best that I can afford. My Fox River is a great knife I trust but it is not as affordable as a Mora. Last consideration is your tip. My dive knives are blunted and I would never want a chisel point in the woods when tip drilling and carving are essential skills in bushcraft.
 
I agree with kevin. Features of a good dive knife, are totally differant then you would want on a field knife.

Mcnett makes some good knives or diving, and they are cheap.

As far as field survival knife-

BRKT bravo 1
RC4, 6
RD4,6
Any number of customs from Laconico, Siegle, JK knives, or many others. Check out the makers for sale area.

I could go on and on.............
 
I'll also chime in and recommend a seperate, dedicated dive knife of excellent quality. I had a cheap one let me down once and luckily, it wasn't in a life-threatening situation.

Spend an evening or two on these forums and you'll get a better idea of what you might choose for a "survival" knife. These are some of the knives I have that I would consider:

Fallkniven F1
Busse ASH1 or Skinny ASH
Ontario TAK1 D2
Koster Bushcraft
Blackjack Trailguide
Swamp Rat Camp Tramp
etc.

Have fun choosing,
desmobob
 
I cannot speak to diving but I have been impressed with the quality of the Bark River Aurora I recently received & the Marine Recon knife offers a decent stainless blade and grip similar to the popular Bravo-1. Loss of knife is another kettle. I use paracord tethers when I am in a river but entanglement would be terrible for free swimming/diving.Good for wet areas but maybe not enough for salt. Would a recoiling tether like the ones for handgun retention be useful or would the risk of entanglement still be too high?


2Door
 
I dove 134 ft down the Blue Hole off Belize with my Mission MPK Titanium knife. It is light, and impervious to the saltwater elements. It later got stolen from my Jeep, which pissed me off to no end.

However, I found that the titanium blade edge was soft enough that it never really cut well enough for Bushcraft use. For prying, rope cutting (the serrations improved the cutting perfomance of the blade in rougher strata), and general abuse, I can see it being a good military knife. But not Bushcraft.

Kev's advice is solid as it gets here. 2 different knives for two different purposes is the way to go.
 
I like the Fallkniven F1. BTW, you don't lash your knife onto a stick to make a spear!! You sharpen the stick with it (you don't want to risk losing or damaging your most important survival tool).
 
not to be rude, please excuse me if i come across this way, but it sounds like you are somewhat of a novice at this point. i would suggest picking up a decent quality knife for not alot of money so that you can figure out what will work for you as you learn more skills and find things you don't need on your knife or wish you had on your knife. that way you can spend more money on a knife that you are much more likely to like alot.

i would suggest for starters going with a CS bushman.
http://www.coldsteel.com/fixed-blades-bushman.html

i have an older model that was a gift, so the edge was greatly thinned and very sharp when i got it. not hard to do with a course stone and some sandpaper with soft backing.

about having the same knife for survival and diving-i agree with the general consensus that you should have two different knives because a purpose made knife will do better than a "do it all" knife.
 
Oh, man. survival. Survival where? where I am you really want a hatchet and a general purpose 4-5 inch sheath knife. When I lived in littoral Virginia, machete city, baby. I would have gone with a 3-4 inch blade and a 12-14 inch machete type blade by preference.

Urban survival? go "tactical" and get all your cool sharp angles and glass breakers and stuff.

Definitely have a seperate dive knife.

I'd suggest strolling through the last week or so of postings and getting a feel for the question. Then come back and revisit the question with a some details. Location, skill level, tasks. Where you place the knife on the scale of "must have to survive" down to "convenient tool that makes surviving a bit more luxurious"

And- I'd suggest grabbing a kabar on sale, a mora, a $15 machete, and a basic SAK and doig some dirt time with them. Total investment would be under $100 after a six pack of beer.
 
CSG said:
I like the Fallkniven F1. BTW, you don't lash your knife onto a stick to make a spear!! You sharpen the stick with it (you don't want to risk losing or damaging your most important survival tool).
Click to expand...

Well, I've been known to carry a separate knife for just that. :D

Someone at after dinner drinks last night asked me how many knives i was carrying. I realized that once I counted the leatherman, I had 5. ... weird.
 
I will mirror what most have said about dive knives, it should be different than your bushcraft knife.

Everyone has to have a knife if they dive, it's just cool! Rarely do they get used by the average diver.

I advise most people to get a decent blunt tipped knife to strap onto your BC exhaust hose. It will always be there when you need it and it does not get in the way. Like your other gear you have to practice with it. Take it in and out of the sheath while in the pool so if you drop it you can find it. This part is important, get a blunt tipped knife. I have witnessed three accidental self stabbings, nothing serious, but painful non the less. Everything is different under water.

In diving redundancy should become second nature, you have two second stages etc. The old saying "two is one, one is none" is very true. Someone mentioned a pair of shears, good advice. Firewire is hard to cut with a knife, but shears will cut it okay. Stash them in a BC pocket and practice with them.
Good diving.
John
 
This is my suggestion for a dive knife. I had a stileto piont one when I was in the arme, and for as cheap as they are, its good quality stainless, that held an edge for me well.


And at that price(24.99), you can afford to lose it on a dive.....

4006.jpg
 
DiverDn said:
...I will mirror what most have said about dive
I advise most people to get a decent blunt tipped knife to strap onto your BC exhaust hose. It will always be there when you need it and it does not get in the way. Like your other gear you have to practice with it. Take it in and out of the sheath while in the pool so if you drop it you can find it. This part is important, get a blunt tipped knife...
Click to expand...

Unless you mean to do spear fishing with the same knife, because you will feel in need to finish of your prey. If we are talking big tough fish... you will need a substantial knife with a strong tip. I have bent a few blades finishing off my prey... crappy knives...

Mikel
 
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