Bush Craft knives

It is so funny how we change and evolve in our choices. I remember when Ron Hoods and Greg Davenport were moderating this forum and they were pushing for the SAK Rucksak as the ultimate wilderness knife. I was vehemently arguing for the one knife for all tasks.

And here I am years later taking their position. :foot:
 
I think it's like Hollowdweller says, the conventional definition of a bushcraft blade is what Mors Kochanski and Ray Mears pushed. If you look at Mors' definition in his Bushcraft book, it's nothing more than a full, exposed tang puukko. Which, incidentally, is what the current crop of "must have" bushcrafters are, like the Skookum, Koster, BRKT Nebula, etc.
Nothing wrong with that.

Lately, I've broadened my definition. Pitdog is largely responsible for this in proving that his Tracker (a design I really don't care for) works for him. Running with the "any knife that can do woods tasks can be a "bushcrafter", I took my Busse Hellrazor -- a purpose-built fighter if there ever was one -- and did all kinds of "crafty" stuff. Guess what? It kicks ass in the woods.

So, my definition is now more in line with the other guy's: whatever knife you can make work for you in the woods, is your bushcraft blade.

Note that what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.
 
psy-ops said:
It is so funny how we change and evolve in our choices. I remember when Ron Hoods and Greg Davenport were moderating this forum and they were pushing for the SAK Rucksak as the ultimate wilderness knife. I was vehemently arguing for the one knife for all tasks.

And here I am years later taking their position. :foot:
Click to expand...

Im with ya, my SAK's get more use than anything.:thumbup::D
 
If I want to get a job done, I go get my SAK. I still want to get a Koster!
 
Hey, don't look at me, I am using an Ontario Pilots survival knife.

If it worked for decades, I am thinking the woods will not notice the difference.

So far, I have not attempted a task it could not handle, but I am sure many others could say the same about their Buck 119, SAK, Custom bing bang whatzit or whatever. I have a lot of knives, but when ya get right down to it, they all cut.
 
psy-ops said:
However the idea that there is some kind of designated knife to bushcrafting is BS because whatever can be carved with a "bushcraft knife" can be easily be done with a SAK. Most people don't say, "my bushcraft knife is a SAK," they are always referring to a small FB .
Click to expand...

Well to play the devils advocate here the Woodlore was designed as a knife for bushcrafting. So for instance when I talk about a Bushcraft knife I'm talking about a style of knife like or similar to the Woodlore.

At the same time that doesn't mean you can't use other styles for outdoor stuff nor does it really mean that those types of blades are the only ones that will work:rolleyes:

But a lot of people here are just referring to any knife they take to the field and do stuff with. I take my Nessmuk a lot so by that standard my Nessmuk is my bushcraft;)

But like you say you can do a lot of woodsy things with a small folder, so you could start calling it your bushcraft SAK and maybe the term will expand further:D:thumbup:
 
Actually HD you make an excellent point.

Naming things serves a purpose and sometimes it can limit people's imagination.

Thanks for the sage counter point. :D
 
Lots of good points raised so far :thumbup:

I can't say that I own a knife that is designed as a bushcraft knife, even though I enjoy time in the bush.

I do carry a fixed blade hunting knife on all my hunting/camping/hiking trips and a fixed blade fishing knife when I go fishing.

Personally, I carry a fixed blade that is designed to do the bulk of my knife work whilst on the trip. If the need arises to use either of these for wood working whilst out on the trip, I know both will do the job even though neither are designed as bushcraft knives.



Kind regards
Mick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top