Blade styles?

T

Tracker Scout

Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
6
What style blade is best for wilderness tasks? Spear point, clip point, drop point etc..? I have been carrying around a Buck 110 for years, It has done it all. But I was looking for a general all purpose fixed blade. I'm thinking of taking a Tom Brown Tracking, Nature Awarness, Wilderness Survival class and they suggest a fixed blade, 4-5" blade lenght.
 
Try an SOG Northwest Ranger. It has a 5 inch blade, flat ground, AUS6 stainless steel. I have a Ranger, and it is a great knife.

S24-Knife.jpg



A drop point, or spear point blade is best for a "wilderness" knife, but clip point is fine unless you are chopping or splitting wood.

Take a look at some of these:
1 - The "Howling Rat," from Swamp Rat Knives. 4.5" drop point blade.
2 - The Rant DPT from Benchmade. 4.5" drop point blade.
3 - The short Ka-Bar USMC. 5.25" clip point blade.
4 - The Ka-Bar Worthog. 5.375" blade.
5 - The Buck Vanguard. 4.125" drop point blade.
6 - The Buck Woodsman. 4" clip point blade.
7 - The Buck Pathfinder. 5" clip point blade.
8 - The Becker Knife and Tool Companion. 5.25" drop point blade.
9 - The Camillus Pilot Survival knife. 5" clip point blade.
10 - Gerber Harsey Hunter. 5.25" blade.
11 - Cold Steel Master Hunter. 4.5" blade.
12 - SOG Seal Pup. 4.75" clip point blade.
13 - Any of the Grohmann belt knives.

These are some of the less-expensive production knives available. Hope it helps.

TheSurvivalist
 
Im sure you will get many different responses from this as they are all good styles for certain tasks however, for the outdoors you will need a versatile style which narrows it down a bit. There are many styles you can go with but my personal favorite is a clip point or drop point.
 
A couple more that you might want to check out….

19.jpg


The Foster Fears Survival knife is an excellent 4 ¼” hunting/survival knife that deserves a better sheath than the current one that comes from factory….so, I would get only if you are willing to have a custom sheath made for it.

http://www.fosterknives.com/fears.php#]http://www.fosterknives.com/fears


The other is the SOG Seal Revolver which features a built in saw blade and Kydex sheath.

http://www.sogknives.com/revolver.htm


....the Revovler is also offered in a Hunter version with a leather sheath and a flat ground blade, with a gut hook and no serrations:

http://www.sogknives.com/hrevolver.htm





- Frank
 
All three blade shapes have plusses and minuses:

  • Clip Point: Sharp point for detail work, but that also leaves the point weaker than the other two. The edge of the clip can be sharpened, but that's more of an advantage in a fighting knife than in woodcraft It can be a liability if you intend to use the knife to split wood by batonning, as a sharpened clip will waste energy tearing up your baton, and even an unsharpened clip means your batonning an angled surface, which is also inefficient. IMHO, clip points are better for fighting knives, or smaller knives used for skinning, especially caping.
  • Spear Point: Sturdier than a clip point; if double ground, the back can be sharpened, but that's as bad an idea as sharpening a clip (see above). Due to the symmetrical top and bottom edges, the amount of belly in the cutting edge is limited, which can impede slicing performance.
  • Drop Point: The best of both worlds, if you ask me: sturdier tip than a clip point, with more belly than a spear point. Relatively straight spine is ideal for batonning, too.

But then, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. ;)
 
I like Gryffin's analysis, but let's add in the straight knife, maybe with a slight clip, like the Scandinavians. Puukkos have been effective woods knives for centuries. The saber grind gives even a relatively thin blade enough strength.
 
I like something simple. Drop point is my favorite style.
 

Attachments

  • greentrailsman.jpg
    greentrailsman.jpg
    57.5 KB · Views: 43
blgoode said:
I like something simple. Drop point is my favorite style.
Click to expand...
Sweet knife there!! :thumbup:

Guess you can tell from my previous post, I like drop points, too. Aesthetically, the gracefue curve of the spine on a drop point really does it for me.
 
Thanks for help and Ideas. I have been playing around alittle with making a few little blades and these ideas will help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top