Budget survival knife?

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outdoorgeargeek

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Dec 23, 2015
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What is a good budget survival knife? I want the SCHF37 because of the low price tag but read that it can have quality issues. Should I go for it or find another budget survival knife? (I would consider battoning, chopping and bushcraft a necessity for a survival knife)
 
What is your actual budget?

I set my knife budget for the year fairly high. Last year it was close to $1,000, so a budget is relative to who set it.
 
If you liked the SCHF37, check out the Becker BK7. There's a very informative Becker sub-forum here, too.
 
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My vote for "budget" is the Condor lineup. Dollar for dollar I can't find a way to beat them.
I have the bushlore and it's been an amazingly good knife. Heck I'd be happy with it at twice the price.
 
Seriously though, the best survival knife is the one you happen to have on you in a survival situation. Don't overthink it, just get something basic like the Mora pictured above and learn to use it. Focus on the skills rather than the gear, most of those skills can be applied with any knife and even a sharp piece of rock.
 
I should add, it seems like you may want something bigger than the Bushlore. Take a look at the Condor Stratos, moonshiner, and their Hudson Bay.
 
If you're considering chopping and batoning to be primary use cases, I'd say consider mostly larger blades. I find chopping with anything under 8-9in blade length tedious at best. About as small as I'd go for a "chopper" is a Becker BK9, which has an OAL similar to many hatchets (~15-16in), which explains why it chops well.

If you're just wanting good blades on a budget, look at Condor, Ontario, and then Becker. Becker will be more expensive though, but less than other "competing" companies like ESEE and TOPS (although those do come with extra features due to the price premium).

Without much more to go on, I'll just leave it at that.

Good luck on the search :).
 
Yep what's your budget? Can't go far wrong with a couple Mora companions.

Thinking about this.. You could buy 15-20 Mora companions here for the price of one of the higher end Fallkniven. What's a better deal? Which would last longer?
 
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Low budget survival knife..... Condor Moonshiner or Kabar Becker BK-7 or BK-9. The BK-9 will chop better than the BK-7. Just depends if you're willing to carry such a large knife. Another possible is the Condor Kumumga which has a 10" blade and is more knife like than machete-like. It carries pretty easy in the leather Condor sheath.

Smaller budget woods craft knives might include the Condor Bushlore or of course the Mora Companion. Not choppers. Any of the middle sized Kabar Beckers are good if you like the size.
 
=ocnLogan;15636580]If you're considering chopping and batoning to be primary use cases, I'd say consider mostly larger blades. I find chopping with anything under 8-9in blade length tedious at best. About as small as I'd go for a "chopper" is a Becker BK9, which has an OAL similar to many hatchets (~15-16in), which explains why it chops well.
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This is good advice about 8-9 inch blades being marginal... I even found the BK-9 to be really, really marginal, because of the thin 3/16" stock and huge vibrations: Chopping performance is barely above a Trailmaster, which is not good...

I've found that starting at 10" of blade the chopping performance jumps by a large margin for just one more inch. An Rtak-II or Esee Junglas are probably more along the lines of what you are looking for. I object to the carbon steel and the 3/16" stock, but your mileage may vary. They are not heavy at around 20 ounces: They are so large the weight will seem like nothing...

Big blades can be grabbed mid-blade for small tasks, so for genuine survival I don't see the point of going small, except that big knives often have crappy thick edges around 0.040", when 0.020" will do everything just as well.

Gaston
 
I would say a crkt elishwetz ftws, most all the Becker's are skeletonized and not as strong as they could be and this one is tapered tang, so still reduced weight while retaining more strength, carbon steel blade with a secondary edge on the back if you don't wanna use your primary edge for chopping, scraping firsteels etc, but it doesn't go all the way along the back to allow for a better reinforced tip than most double edge knives. I have one and I love it, great budget survival knife
 
I had a Becker BK2 once. Had to sell it. I didn't get good quality time with it but from my limited experience with it, it was great. A bit on the heavier side. I heard the Condor Bushlore is pretty good.
 
I've said it once, and I'll say it again, a properly designed skeletonized tang is nothing to worry about. Not many Becker blades break (especially not since production moved to Kabar years back), and of the few that I have seen that do, its from a missed HT rather than the skeletonized tang. It is true that tapered tangs are neato though, and I'd not seen that knife before. Looks different :).

OP, I'm playing a bit of devils advocate here, but I ALSO find that blades much over the 8-9in range rapidly get much more cumbersome to use for small knife tasks, particularly over time. Thats why personally I feel the BK9 is so good, not because its actually all that great of a chopper (its about middle of the road), but its one of the only "choppers" that I'd want to use on smaller tasks. Something to keep in mind.

Further muddying the water is the fact that there ARE lots of techniques to deal with longer blades length in tasks (grabbing the spine of the knife in your hand and using it like an ulu, sticking the tip of the knife into a log/tree to take the weight and make a fulcrum, etc), and then conversely there are ALSO ways to use smaller knives a bit more like larger ones (crossgrain batonning). What it really comes down to OP is just what you think you'll be doing MOST with the knife. Buy something thats best at that, and can be made to work with the other tasks you need if required.

The above reasons though are why so many people decide to get multiple knives/tools. The "chopping" task might actually best be done by an axe, tomahawk, machete, golok, or even a saw. Once that is taken care of, the job of picking out a companion knife gets a lot easier. My personal combo so far has been a Mora, BK9, and a folding saw, if that somehow helps you.

And Gaston, I personally don't get much vibration from my BK9. That "could" be because I use a loose-ish two or three finger grip and a moose style lanyard when I chop. That also helps with the effective length by an inch or two, which helps with the tip speed and thereby the effectiveness when chopping. I know you've used the BK9, but did you try the "choking back" method I'm describing? Just curious.
 
GO FOR A MORA! I have carried my Mora companion for 2 years now I have used it in every bushcraft project I have ever done. I have battoned with it countless times it is still in perfect shape!
 
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The Schrade SCHF36 is a pretty damn good "budget" survival knife. Picked one up for 40 bucks, it's not my go to, but it's a solid knife....what's your idea of "budget" by the way?
 
Condor makes the best budget bushcraft/survival knives, one of those and a Mora as a backup and your ready for anything.

If your set on a Schrade I recommend a Schf9, it's a thick hunk of 1095 steel that shouldn't let you down, only caveat is handle is a little big so it might be too much for someone with small to medium hands.
 
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