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

[Houlahound]

The watch crowd is worse IMHO reacting to the moonswatch.

Purebred dog forums are as bad as it gets, cat forums are even worse.

 

[GAGL]

only thing i don't get about the bushcraft community is the love for the tom brown tracker knife

the ones that use it,love it.

 

[Murdamook]

only thing i don't get about the bushcraft community is the love for the tom brown tracker knife

the ones that use it,love it.

Just judging on some of the “bushcraft” videos and opinions I’ve viewed, most of them despise the knife except for the little corner where the blade grind changes.

 

[BumblingBear]

One of life's greatest mysteries is how people with hobbies that they are passionate and particular about can and will take shots at other people with other hobbies they are passionate and particular about.

Don't get me wrong, even as someone who enjoys Bushcraft stuff, on some level I think some "bushcraft" marketing is silly, and I think there's a huge element of larp in the hobby, but I'm also willing to admit the same is true about my love of custom knives. The only reason the average person doesn't think I'm insane in the membrane for buying some high dollar knives is that they keep decent resale value (or even grow in value), but most hobbies are a money sink.

 

[The Grendels]

It's a monstrous community and growing fad that drags along knife enthusiasts, just like the prepper community does. The mega group on Facebook combines the bushcraft, camping, and prepper community, so it's a bit messed up at times. You get people showing off their bug out bags, discuss fishing trips, talk about post apocalypse communications networks, and post pics about fire starting materials for camping trips all on the same day. It's also pretty troll heavy because it's social media and that's what it does best. They get a ton of people posting pics of knives, without saying anything about knives, and then a bunch of people posting about what is up with all these knife posts. Where you can learn a lot here about knives, you're unlikely to learn much about them there.

only thing i don't get about the bushcraft community is the love for the tom brown tracker knife

the ones that use it,love it.

It's pretty widely promoted and once it's featured on popular culture for bushcraft or backed by someone from the wilderness entertainment industry it's going to get a lot of people's interest. It's sort of like what happens in the wannabe market whenever you get an official handgun or rifle of the US military. You also get a lot of true believers, who think that if so and so promotes it that knife must be awesome, because that celeb on TV would never endorse a crappy product to pay for their new swimming pool. A lot of bushcraft knives end up being backpack jewelry that you curse yourself for bringing on multiple day hikes if you either don't have a use for it or could have accomplished the same tasks with a smaller knife.

It kind of looks like something you'd find in the bushcraft version of the Tacticool thread, where it tries to be a bushcraft multi-tool, but a different knife would do most of those jobs better. It weighs a ton, so maybe all right to toss in your trunk to car camp to show off to people over a few beers, but not something you want to carry in a pack all day. Of course is you're car/truck camping you can just as easily carry a camper axe and also carry a regular fixed blade or several fixed blades. I'd carry a forester axe every day instead of this thing and then add a lighter knife.

It's also got the excessive handle humps that some TOPS knives have that I really don't like. The same way a designer like Jesper Voxnaes totally gets how I like to hold a knife, this handle is the complete opposite of comfortable. There are probably people out there whose hands fit this thing perfectly, but not mine. Ergonomics is a make it or break it factor for whether I'm going to use a knife, if I've got better options.

 

[Houlahound]

I grew up in the bush and can tell you it's overrated, give me the comfort and convenience of modern suburban life any day.

 

[Drop bear]

So the very fact we are members here, means that we are snobs?

Pretty much by definition.

I mean if we were happy with garbage knives. There would be nothing really to discuss.

"Hey you got a knife?"
"Yep"
"What sort?"
Don't care"

 

[chevyrulez1]

I do not have any hate for bushcrafting and do enjoy watching videos and reading up on it to learn skills for survival, camping, and being outdoors in general. The only thing I can see flawed in the way some people pursue bushcrafting is they put self imposed restrictions on their hobby. The main one being the "one tool option" approach to knives. They create this idea that they are going to find themselves in the wilderness with nothing but their knife (and a fire steel of course) and therefore your knife has to have all of the features needed
1. Must be full tang (unless it is a Mora, and then this restriction no longer applies) and thick and robust enough so you can baton big pieces of wood because you are not allowed to have an axe
2. Must be made of carbon steel so you can strike it with a flint or other hard rock to make a spark
3. Must have a sharp spine to scrape, mainly for the fire steel (Again, unless it is a Mora this no longer applies, in that case you can sharpen the spine yourself)
4. Must have a scandi grind because that is what is best for wood carving

While I understand the philosophy behind it I think it is somewhat flawed in my personal experience. Anything that is designed to be good at many things usually doesn't excel at any of them, and will usually not be as good as a purpose built tool.
The knife that is thick enough and robust enough to baton through huge knotty logs usually doesn't slice as well in my experience
Carbon steel is great, but if the main reason you need it is to have a source of sparks you can pay 20 bucks for a steel striker designed for that purpose and drop it in your kit, or even a broken piece of file works better than the knife
If you want to use a fire steel, one of the premade strikers is small and cheap and works just as well as the knife spine. I have found one of the Corona carbide sharpeners works even better, and doubles as a knife sharpener in the field
Which brings me to my last point, scandi grinds are wonderful carvers and I enjoy them thoroughly but they are difficult to sharpen in the field because you need a perfectly flat sharpening stone and need to remove a lot more metal to restore the edge. If you truly were in a bushcraft/ survival/ long term sustainability situation I would think a different blade geometry would probably serve you better.

I think these self imposed restrictions is what rubs some people because they find them limiting their choices, and then you have someone trying to make you feel like you are wrong because you don't think exactly like them. At the end of the day, everyone has to get what they want that makes them happy, and people need to not insult others and tell them they are wrong for having different preference.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Is that even a serious question, this beyond snobbery - it's a collection of cults, extreme autism and enablers.

I swap between all 03 continuously.

I doubt you "swap" to "extreme autism", but I'm very sure you take autism too lightly, and possibly don't know what autism is.
Don't be a jerk.

Pretty much by definition.

I mean if we were happy with garbage knives. There would be nothing really to discuss.

"Hey you got a knife?"
"Yep"
"What sort?"
Don't care"

A knife snob is someone who believes that their taste in knives is superior.
The opposite is one who understands tastes can be different, not someone who has no opinion on knives.

I think we're guilty of having strong opinions, if that's something one can be faulted for.

 

[Quiet]

Didn't these original outdoors men you speak of carry a butcher knife? More a kin to a $15 Old Hickory. The main task for there knife was butchering of game so they carried the best knife for that job and then used their skills to make it do everything thing else they needed.

One of the better YouTube survival guys IMO once said something along the lines of a person with great knife skills can make a $20 knife look like a $400 knife and a person with shitty knife skills can make a $400 knife look like a POS.

Exactly right. This 100%.

I feel I should clarify*, that I have no issue with whatever silly term people put on the concept of getting outdoors, out into the dark places under the trees and sitting around a fire or under a rain fly and whittling themselves the sticks for a figure-4 trap, or making themselves a whole pile of feathersticks to use for the weekend. At least folks are going outside!! All of my comments have been specifically to address the sort of elitism and gatekeeping I myself have also seen elsewhere on the internet. Let me tell you, if it's considered "hating" to make fun of a silly term that people came up with for the afore-mentioned getting outside concept, and then use it to tell other people that they're not using the "right equipment" or that they're "doing it wrong", then it is what it is. Labels are ultimately irrelevant, just get outside and touch some grass. If somebody wants to use a $15 Mora, or a $450 Skookum, or a small slipjoint, or a $750 CPK Behemother, then it's all good.

And? It's all the same thing. In this specific case? Nobody on the internet gets to tell anyone else that they're doing it wrong. Just go outside. And for God's sake, make sure your firesteel is on a lanyard, or better yet, bring a few BIC lighters As for the knife? Make sure the edge is sharp!






* Because some of the folks reading along may have taken this the wrong way.

 

[coolbreezy37]

I swap between all 03 continuously.

Forgot my point

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I view bushcraft as a niche of the knife hobby. While I find the need to hunt down "the perfect bushcraft knife" a little silly as pretty much any knife that isn't a total POS can be pressed into survival service, I at least give them props as what Quiet said, they are going out and USING their knives. Don't get me wrong. There is no incorrect way to collect knives. Your reasons are YOUR reasons. Some sock away multi-thousand customs because the Safe Queen route is their game. Some stockpile knives that can be used for defensive anti-ninja takedowns when on the mean streets of suburbia. I'm not going to wee-wee in anyone's cheerios because they buy a knife for a reason.

That said, as others have mentioned, like all niches of a hobby, there is a superiority/elitism in part of the community. Generally by the kinds of guys that I find that probably think that if someone isn't carrying the newest/bestest then they are going to curl up and die within 20 minutes of getting turned around in the bush. I once read a post from a guy poo-pooing someone using a Kar-Bar as their camp/bush knife. "Sorry, but I my life is worth more than $50. I carry a XYZ." Gimme a break. Not everyone has an unlimited budget, and Ka-Bar will get the job done if you do your part.

My late grandfather told me stories about how when times were lean back in the late 1950's, he would go and hunt rabbits out by the train tracks to supplement meat on the table (he told my mom that is was "chicken"). Because he didn't always want to potentially waste a round of 16 gauge, he set snares too as that was how they hunted rabbits on the farm when he was a kid back in the 1930s. I don't remember what kind of set up he used as bushcraft is not a strength of mine, but is was a basic sapling/twine/trigger set up. It would spring, he's hear them scream, and he would just run over and give them a good fast twist. They were easy to pack home like that too. The traps were nothing fancy. Couple feet of string in his pocket, a springy little tree, and his pocket knife to carve the trigger. Being a knife knut, I did ask him what kind of knife he used: fixed blade, lock back, slip joint, brand, etc. He said he didn't remember. He didn't remember where he got the knife from. It was little slip joint barlow of some type that he thinks he most likely picked up from the front counter of the local hardware store. For 7 years, he shot and trapped rabbits to feed his family. With a 3 shot bolt action 16 gauge and some forgotten name slip joint, he made due.

My point is that my grandfather did not practice "bushcraft". He was a depression era guy that knew how to harvest from the woods. It's totally cool if people want to learn neat backyard/state park survival tricks and even test them out (safely). I can't bust their chops too much because they seem to actually be enjoying the knife hobby through using their gear. But some of them do need to check themselves. The art is in the skill. Most any blade can be used to complete a survival task.

Finally, I will admit, I tried a Tracker knife once. Not a TOPS. I was just curious about the design, so I ordered one with good reviews most likely made in China. D2 steel and finished nicely. i can't fault the quality of the manufacturer, really. However the overall design is just heavy and weird. I didn't feel anymore prepared for the wilds than I would with a large bowie or even a small belt knife. It was just clumsy in my hands. Now, if I were to pack some sort of cutting gadgetry that actually looked like it could be pressed into doing mostly useless but kinda cool stuff, I would probably give the A-TAX a try. A little Ulu/Ax that has all kinds of Boys Life article-worthy ways to measure/start fires/find direction/be a slingshot etc paired with a good sharp Mora, and I think you could MacGyver your way out of some stuff if you knew how to use all the features .

I gave the Tracker to my brother after a couple of days. He doesn't do bushcraft either, but he lives in a sketchy part of town. A full size tracker in the hand of a ginger 6'4 bearded viking-looking guy gives pause.

 

[dogstar]

There is something about the name "Bushcraft" itself that seems to bother people. Call it wilderness living, living off the land, woodcraft, whatever you want. If it is all the same to you, why pick on one subgroup? Bushcraft is a term used by Europeans and the British Commonwealth. Is there some aspect of xenophobia at work here?

 

[EngrSorenson]

Is there some aspect of xenophobia at work here?

Lets just nip this in the bud.
No.

 

[shane45-1911]

There is something about the name "Bushcraft" itself that seems to bother people.

Yes, it bothers me. It is stupid, when the word "bushcraft" is followed by "knife".

Remember the word "tactical" that was all the rage in the '90's? Bushcraft is no different. People have adopted the belief that somehow the product is better or mission-specific if it has those words in the name.

Tactical is a mindset. Perhaps bushcraft is too. But it certainly doesn't (or shouldn't) define a knife.

Now if someone would only make a TACTICAL BUSHCRAFT knife, I'd be all over it like white on rice.

 

[Quiet]

There is something about the name "Bushcraft" itself that seems to bother people. Call it wilderness living, living off the land, woodcraft, whatever you want. If it is all the same to you, why pick on one subgroup? Bushcraft is a term used by Europeans and the British Commonwealth. Is there some aspect of xenophobia at work here?

A better question is, why does it bother you that people make fun of a term? And let's be clear: it's a 100% madeup term by people who wanted to try to set themselves apart, even though they're doing the same thing people have always done. "Bushcraft" isn't special, and "Bushcrafters" aren't special. It's just camping with some wooden cup and feather-stick whittling. It's not special or different, so I am at a loss as to why you're using terms like "picking on". Do adults need to be protected from other adults thinking their made-up word for an age-old activity is silly? Is that where we are now?

Also? "Xenophobia"?

Careful you don't hurt yourself with that huge stretch.

 

[CHNeal]

There is something about the name "Bushcraft" itself that seems to bother people. Call it wilderness living, living off the land, woodcraft, whatever you want. If it is all the same to you, why pick on one subgroup? Bushcraft is a term used by Europeans and the British Commonwealth. Is there some aspect of xenophobia at work here?

And just like that ….ignored.

 

[Quiet]

Yes, it bothers me. It is stupid, when the word "bushcraft" is followed by "knife".

Remember the word "tactical" that was all the rage in the '90's? Bushcraft is no different. People have adopted the belief that somehow their product is better or mission-specific if it has those words in the name.

Tactical is a mindset. Perhaps bushcraft is too. But it certainly doesn't (or shouldn't) define a knife.

Now if someone would only make a TACTICAL BUSHCRAFT knife, I'd be all over it like white on rice.

Heh, too easy.

Morakniv Bushcraft Fixed Blade Knife Black (4.25" Black) - Blade HQ

Features: Black finished clip point blade made of high carbon steel. Black plastic handle. Black plastic sheath with ferro rod attached. Description: The Morakniv Bushcraft Survival knife is a competent and fully capable knife for the ultimate adventurer. It has a carbon steel blade with a...

www.bladehq.com

NEEEXT!!

 

[Blues]

Only "Brazilian" knives should be labeled for "Bushcraft".

 

[shane45-1911]

Heh, too easy.

Morakniv Bushcraft Fixed Blade Knife Black (4.25" Black) - Blade HQ

Features: Black finished clip point blade made of high carbon steel. Black plastic handle. Black plastic sheath with ferro rod attached. Description: The Morakniv Bushcraft Survival knife is a competent and fully capable knife for the ultimate adventurer. It has a carbon steel blade with a...

www.bladehq.com

NEEEXT!!

Nope, NOPE........it doesn't have "tactical" in the name. I need the name. I gots to have the name!!!