Bushcraft community hate towards non-bushcraft knives? What's up with this bushcraft craze? šŸ˜‚

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My philosophy is if you like it and can afford it, buy it.
My last 3 knife purchases:
A couple ā€œMilanoā€ $15 assisted opening stilettos
a Spyderco Swayback and
a Boker/Hogue OTF

And i have a well used Spyderco Pacific Salt on the way.

I have carried this Buck Bantam which I got as a gift from my girlfriendā€™s parents every day for almost 5 years and just rehabbed an older Spyderco Police for daily carry.

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Don't let others make decisions for you...
 

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Let them have their little safe space for taking pictures of their knives. Most of those people spend so much on fossilized walrus penis bone pukkos theyā€™ll never do anything with them but take pics for Instagram or whittle on twigs. Would a Bear Gryllis box store special be my first choice? No. Would I turn my nose up at one if I was stranded in northern Alaska? Absolutely not. Iā€™ll bet Walmart specials have saved more lives than any custom or mid-tech.
 
Paratrooper06 said:
Would a Bear Gryllis box store special be my first choice? No. Would I turn my nose up at one if I was stranded in northern Alaska? Absolutely not. Iā€™ll bet Walmart specials have saved more lives than any custom or mid-tech.
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I spent almost 7 years using a Byrd rescue as my only knife and it did everything a knife 3x the price could do. I lost one overboard and wore out the serrations on another one.
There are probably more Buck 110s and 119s in the field or in the woods than any other knife, dressing deer, carving wood and any other bushcraft chore there may be (i am not a woodsman, im a boat guy so I dont know what bushcraft entails.)
I am around a lot of people who use knives daily and primarily see lower end folding knives, the occasional Spyderco or Benchmade or Kershaw folder, and a few Mora fixed blades. By far the most used knife around here is a $7 Victorinox serrated paring knife.
I have to agree while a nice knife is nice, if i were stranded somewhere and all I had was a hardware store Gerber I would be happy to have it.
 
I wrote a little something about this a few years back here if interested:

Real and Sham Survival/Bushcraft | Master Woodsman

masterwoodsman.com masterwoodsman.com

Canā€™t remember who said it first; but the one thing weā€™ve learned from history, is we havenā€™t learned from history.

And to answer the OPā€™s question, I have more than my share of Scandi grind bushcraft knives and they do work well for woodcraft (now known more commonly as bushcraft). Hard to beat 1K+ plus years of simplicity.

However, here is my latest outdoor knife and I am really digging it after a few weeks. G. Sakai has a long history of knife making going back as far as the 1950ā€™s if I am not mistaken. They were the premier Japanese maker for Gerber back in the 80s and 90s and their name then was actually Gerber Sakai. I have quite a few Silver Knights to this day. The company name was later changed to G. Sakai and theyā€™ve also made knives for Al Mar and several others popular brands including Spyderco of which G. Sakai manufactures their ā€œSekiā€ knives to this day. The knife below is ā€rust-proofā€ and as such cannot be bought or supported by G. Sakai in North America due to their existing business agreements from what Iā€™ve heard. I have several ā€™Sabiā€ models in H1 steel Iā€™ve purchased through eBay, but this Sabi model 2 is not labeled H1 and is a ā€™mysteryā€™ steel with mostly the same corrosion properties as H1. I wonā€™t list the steel name here out of respect for G. Sakai and the fore mentioned U.S. business relationship, but should be easy to figure out as a great innovative company and this new Sabi 2 has what most would consider an updated tough edc steel.

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Old time outdoors writer John Jobson wrote the book "The Complete Book of Practical Camping". In it he talks about his friend and guide in the Yukon, Johnnie Johns, who was a member of the Carcross/Tagish First Nations. Johns was a guide from about 1926, and blazed part of the Alcan Highway for the U.S Army during WWII. He used a single bladed pocket knife, a Remington 1306 with a stag handle and a 3 1/2 inch blade. Jobson relates how Johns fashioned a tent stove by cutting two 5-gallon oil cans, by cutting out an end in each can and fitting them together, cut a door, a draft and a stove pipe, then cut wood shavings and built a fire with that Remington 1306. Johns reportedly skinned out well over a 100 grizzlies plus scores of other animals like Dall sheep, caribou, moose and beaver with that knife. I would suggest that Johns living and guiding in the Yukon for nearly 60 years did more "Bushcrafting" than anyone lately and seemed to get along just fine with that Remington 1306. By the way the Yukon is the smallest and least populated of Canadian provinces, yet you could still fit 2.3 Great Britains, or 3.7 Englands into it by land mass. That does not mean I do not like or suggest everyone get a Remington 1306 for their Bushcraft knife, just that it is not necessary to have a very expensive "BushCraft" knife to go camping with. I also watched film about First Nation members in Eastern Canada, made back in the 60's, going out and setting up their hunting log cabin, and making all sorts of stuff like a canoe paddle, and looked to me the knife he was using as one of those hooked Linoleum knives, another man had a Camp King Boy Scout type knife, and again they were REALLY living a BushCraft life style. John
 
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EatingSarma said:
So I'd like to hear your non-bushcraft knives and their use šŸ˜Š
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Hereā€™s both a Tanto and a drop-forged knife for you! Both great non-bushcraft bushcraft knivesā€¦
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The Bowie belongs to my son - got it from Santa years agoā€¦
EatingSarma said:
The guy I know entering DBK chat on discord, and crew starting to bully him for owning CS AK47 field knife and liking 52100 steel on drop forged knives?
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I think it might have to do with fear. The idea of carrying a knife that could effectively serve as a weapon implies that something/someone out there might try to kill you. People donā€™t like to think about that so they only get little bushcraft knives without guards on them and go skipping off into the woods (also without a firearm because GUNS).

Same reason perhaps that some people like to study ā€œbushcraftā€ over ā€œsurvivalā€. The second implies mortality and danger.

Or maybe not - I havenā€™t done any surveys or anythingā€¦
 
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DangerZone98 said:
Just curious, do you own a Cold Steel Trench/War Hawk? I havenā€™t brought mine to the woods yet, lol.
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Hey brother,

I've had the Trail Hawk, Norse Hawk and now the Viking Hand Axe. I feel like I'm forgetting one.

The Norse axe is off balance and doesn't swing well, but it cuts well. The trail hawk is well balanced and cuts very well.
The Viking Hand Axe does not cut super well, or split well. For obvious reasons. It really is best for soft woods and light duty use. My Fiskars X15 hatchet did just as well or better in prepping kindling, and being half the size.
 
Billy The Hungry said:
Hey brother,

I've had the Trail Hawk, Norse Hawk and now the Viking Hand Axe. I feel like I'm forgetting one.

The Norse axe is off balance and doesn't swing well, but it cuts well. The trail hawk is well balanced and cuts very well.
The Viking Hand Axe does not cut super well, or split well. For obvious reasons. It really is best for soft woods and light duty use. My Fiskars X15 hatchet did just as well or better in prepping kindling, and being half the size.
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Thanks for sharing, man. The hammer on the trail hawk is pretty useful.
 
scdub said:
Hereā€™s both a Tanto and a drop-forged knife for you! Both great non-bushcraft bushcraft knivesā€¦
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The Bowie belongs to my son - got it from Santa years agoā€¦

I think it might have to do with fear. The idea of carrying a knife that could effectively serve as a weapon implies that something/someone out there might try to kill you. People donā€™t like to think about that so they only get little bushcraft knives without guards on them and go skipping off into the woods (also without a firearm because GUNS).

Same reason perhaps that some people like to study ā€œbushcraftā€ over ā€œsurvivalā€. The second implies mortality and danger.

Or maybe not - I havenā€™t done any surveys or anythingā€¦
Click to expand...
That Bowie is well used and well loved.
 
scdub said:
I think it might have to do with fear. The idea of carrying a knife that could effectively serve as a weapon implies that something/someone out there might try to kill you. People donā€™t like to think about that so they only get little bushcraft knives without guards on them and go skipping off into the woods (also without a firearm because GUNS).

Same reason perhaps that some people like to study ā€œbushcraftā€ over ā€œsurvivalā€. The second implies mortality and danger.

Or maybe not - I havenā€™t done any surveys or anythingā€¦
Click to expand...
I think you might be right.

If a knife has guard they are automatically triggered by it... add full flat or saber grind and sharp tip - and they are losing their minds.

As much as a knife is a tool - it can also be used as a weapon (like any other tool) and some knives are designed in a way that if you do need to use them as a weapon - they will perform accordingly and be safe for you.

They'll argue that a guard will get in the way if you do fine carving... but you can still do that with a knife that has a guard.

I understand that they like the knives they have and I have no problems with it, but I just don't understand insulting other people for liking different knife.

In my opinion it's better to have a knife that can do everything decently than a knife that excells at one area and sucks at pretty much everything else.
 
EatingSarma said:
I think you might be right.

If a knife has guard they are automatically triggered by it... add full flat or saber grind and sharp tip - and they are losing their minds.

As much as a knife is a tool - it can also be used as a weapon (like any other tool) and some knives are designed in a way that if you do need to use them as a weapon - they will perform accordingly and be safe for you.

They'll argue that a guard will get in the way if you do fine carving... but you can still do that with a knife that has a guard.

I understand that they like the knives they have and I have no problems with it, but I just don't understand insulting other people for liking different knife.

In my opinion it's better to have a knife that can do everything decently than a knife that excells at one area and sucks at pretty much everything else.
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That's the main reason that I carry multiple knives. No matter what the day/night may bring, I have a blade for the job.
 
I've heard that this Discord server you guys are talking about just got deleted because the admin got "hacked".

Also, what the creator of this topic is talking about is not about the bushcraft community. It is about steel snobs who collect knives without even using them seriously and brag about owning these knives.

I have been in this server since the beginning and I have seen it grow. 3 years ago, its community was actually very nice and polite. But then a lot of people joined, just to brag about their knives or to lick DBK's boots just to win the Patreon giveaway..
 
eveled said:
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These are a good example of what I enjoy. Old school Buck knives and small sportsman axe. These 4 will do everything you could possibly need. If you donā€™t believe me I donā€™t care. I have no desire to try to convince you.

In my experience people who adamantly say their way is right are wrestling with and internal seed of doubt.
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Nice set, I like them. The way I see it, wherever gets the job done and bring happiness in the field is all that matters; especially when/if you go into the field alone. Apologies this is my first posts. Just sign up to poke my head around.
 
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