Big tough fixed blade

KABAR WARTHOG!

i've been beating on this on for a week now, even (gasp! :eek: ) batoning (abuse) it to split wood. Its a inexpensive tough balde, and you'll have money left over for other knives!
 
Busse, Swamp rat, RAT, Mineral Mountain. Newt Livesay (aka Wicked Knife Co.) no longer makes knives, but you see them on BF now & then. Mostly carbon steel with differential heat treat, they were darn good tough field knives and a lotta bang for the buck.
 
Batoning, how could you? Only joking. I'll get a Warthog so, maybe 2. By the way, I already checked out knifetests.com and mentioned earlier that I can't watch the videos because of my lousy internet connection.
 
I have a Buck 'Night hawk' pigsticker I like a lot.It's my truck Buck .You can pick up one of about 6-7 slight variations in the 'Night Hawk' line for under $75.00...
 
Take a look at the Buck Nighthawk Line... Tough FB's for the $$$$!!!! The Spines are 1/4" thick w/420HC Steel...
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fallkniven Mod A1, Swedish survival knife. I have not seen anyone say anything bad about this company, and believe me, they come sharp as heck and are made of tough steel.


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chuckschilling said:
Sure. As long as you only have one question and that question is: "What does it take to destroy a particular knife?"
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Yes, and the answer to that question will tell you exactly how they do break. I'm not afraid of knifetests.com. I'm surprised so many people are. Then again, opinions vary.
 
Not made in the USA but I can buy a couple Mora's for 20.00 and have no trouble handling the cutting chores. For USA made under 20.00 get the Russel/Green River knives. High carbon steel. Get just the blade or the knife complete. I have several of them and they will cut with the best 100.00 knives you will find. Blades from 3 inches to 10 inches.
 
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You're lucky, where I live you can't get a Buck Nighthawk for under $95. I'd still consider it but I'm not sure about the 420HC. I know Buck give a very good heat treat but how good is the steel. I'll check out those Fallkniven too. Thanks for the advice.
 
Livebythesword said:
You're lucky, where I live you can't get a Buck Nighthawk for under $95. I'd still consider it but I'm not sure about the 420HC. I know Buck give a very good heat treat but how good is the steel. I'll check out those Fallkniven too. Thanks for the advice.
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If your concern is about toughness (meaning ductility, resistance to fracture, etc.) then 420HC is superior to any of the "super" stainlesses like S30V, BG-42, etc. These latter will hold an edge significantly better in some types of cutting, especially when cutting particularly abrasive mediums like cardboard, rope, and the like; but fall behind if impacts/lateral stresses are what's called for. You'll see dulling no matter what you use, but it can take many different forms, and most dulling in the typical uses for a big fixed blade like you're looking for are not abrasive in nature.

But then again, while 420HC is on the tougher side of stainless, it doesn't compare at all in this quality with the truly tough non-stainless steels like L6, 5160, S7, O1, 3V, INFI, etc.

What are your intended uses? You'd mentioned a Kabar fighter initially but then said the SY Dogfather was what you're looking for. These are two vastly different knives in size, weight, and balance--and vastly different in the types of jobs they'll excel at.
 
I'll need to do some chopping and maybe batoning so toughness is the main concern. I don't want anything too soft either, I need decent edge retention. I have a USMC Ka-bar that I used for chopping once and it worked well, kept an edge for a good while so I thought the Ka-bar Fighter would be ideal, being that bit bigger. The Dogfather is bigger and more rugged so it would be more suited. I only considered the Nighthawk because I can get one easily without having to order it and I like the thick blade. Anyways, I don't think SY will ship to Ireland. They say something about only shipping internationally to established customers. Machetes are prohibited in Ireland so I can't get one of those either. So its probably a Ka-bar or a Buck.
 
Busse if cost isn't an issue.

Swamprat is no joke either.

The Gerber LMFII if you want an outstanding $60 knife.
 
tabeeb762 said:
There is nothing wrong with the Ka-Bar's tang. It has proved itself an excellent knife for over 60 years but suddenly somebody here says the tang is weak and you guys all jump on the bandwagon and light your torches.
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The tang is soft and weak. It will bend easily, and break if you push it. A fine knife for it's time, but a thick layer of nostalgia does not make it a "tough" knife.
 
The Gerber LMFII ASEK was $60 - now $70 most places ('LA Police Gear', etc) on 'closeout'. It was well received by the knife destroyer. It has a sharpening device built in to it's sheath, too. They may ship to Ireland - contact them. My son gave me one for Pappy's day - neat - something I wouldn't normally buy (I don't like serrated knives!).

Sad you don't have a Wally-World (WalMart) handy - they carry the short/serrated Nighthawk (Buck #655) for <$40 - and the venerable Buck 119 'Special' - a 6" 'traditional' hunter for <$34 with a nylon sheath. That is the same knife that Discovery Channel's 'Survivorman', the Canadian Les Stroud, carries when he has a knife to go with his multi-tool. It's the same 420HC blade material - with great heat treating by Paul Bos - it really works as no other common SS - and you can re-edge it. Good luck!

Stainz
 
+1 for Fallknivens.
Also, you might want to check into the Gryphon M35.
I have two and they're excellent knives.
(Cutlery Shoppe started the line and are still a great place to get an M35 at a good price.)

Regards,
Mike
 
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I'd seriously look at the Cold Steel Bushman. One of the best bargains available for a good sized knife that will take all the abuse you can throw at it. It's one of the few Cold Steel offerings that really stand out.
 
i will say this about the usmc bowie.i have been useing mine as an axe,hammer and a throwing knife.i was useing it as a throwing knife in my cellar and it has bounced of the concrete floor countless times and the sob wont chip,break snap or anything.i would say i have purposely abused this knife trying to see if it would break,its like its trying to spite me,lol. for the money i cant see you can buy a tougher knife and its not half as thick as the others made buy swamprat,scrapyard,coldsteel or busse.not that im saying there is anything wrong with them.ive been trying to get a scrapyard for sometime now myself.im just saying that i believe the marine bowie will probably do just about anything the others will do.in fact i think i just talked myself into buying another kabar usmc knife.
 
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