Bushcraft vs. survival

S

Sprayman

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Nov 15, 2014
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Hi Guys;

I don't really understand the difference between bushcraft and survival knives. I'm obviously new to this. I've had and used knives all of my life, but most have been pocket, multi-tool and lockblade.

The reason I'm asking is because I acquired a very thick piece of 1084 that I'd like to make some blades out of. Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sprayman
 
To me "survival knife" is a term coined buy the military for multi use air crash tool that is cheap and deadly. A bushcraft knife is more for us old guys who like to fart around in the woods.
 
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Nobody understands the difference. They are meaningless marketing terms invented to draw in people with misunderstandings about how knives are actually used they vhabve gotten from movies, video games, and "survival" "reality" shows.

Forget about them. Especially if you are making a knife. Design it to do the job it is supposed to do. :thumbup:
 
I'd say the difference would be in the survival knives strength and toughness . Where a bushcraft knife might be 1/8" thick with a full flat grind to be a better cutter and carver , the survival knife might be 3/16" thick with a saber grind because in a "survival" situation you might have to chop , pry or even dig with the only tool your have . In other words , doing things that might cause a more delicate bushcraft knife to fail , leaving you without any knife at all .
 
Seems some companies have a technology and go looking for a problem to solve.
 
Traditionally Bushcraft knives are Skandi ground (or 0ground) and are meant to be used in various carving and cutting instances like Mike the knife said. A-lot of the mentality is different with a bushcraft vs survival knife. with a survival knife you're very aware of how many calories and the amount of time a specific task will take. So digging with your Survival knife is a perfectly valid option, because it is calorie effective. Where in bushcraft you would most likely have some sort of shovel with you if you knew you would be digging something, or you would use your bushcraft knife to carve some sort of digging tool. Now with the vast amount of survival knives and bushcraft knives that can flex into both scenarios though its getting harder and harder to differentiate if the knife is "survival" or "bushcraft" oriented.

Hope this helps!
 
Survival Situation - You're trying to get out of a forest (or other hostile environment) and not fully prepared other than having your "survival" knife. This knife can do it all, like process wood but perhaps not quite as effectively as a proper tool like i.e. a saw.

Bushcraft Situation - you're entering the forest (or hostile environment) and you are fully prepared to live in it. You have a bushcraft knife, maybe with a scandi grind that's easy to sharpen in the field during a prolonged stay. And you might have your silky saw or a hatchet for processing wood..

If you're just camping or "glamping" and want to look like a bad ass, then go with a survival knife.
 
Sprayman said:
Hi Guys;

I don't really understand the difference between bushcraft and survival knives. I'm obviously new to this. I've had and used knives all of my life, but most have been pocket, multi-tool and lockblade.

The reason I'm asking is because I acquired a very thick piece of 1084 that I'd like to make some blades out of. Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sprayman
Click to expand...

Better question, what kind of knife would you like to have?! How thick is the stock?
 
I believe that a survival knife should be able to do everything you need to survive (chop, fine carve, ect.) but a bushcraft knife is more purpose specific (notching, fine carving, not chopping).
 
hevnerknifereview said:
I believe that a survival knife should be able to do everything you need to survive (chop, fine carve, ect.)
Click to expand...

And KILL.

To me, that's the main difference - self-defense. A "survival" knife must also possess a 'fighting' component that dictates blade design and weight.
 
people worry too much about labels. A well made, sturdy knife, made with good materials, and kept sharp, will do just fine for bushcrafting or survival.
 
Ok, I have to chime in here. I am an avid bushctrafter, so trust me here. A bushcraft knife facilitates bushcraft. Bushcraft, woodcraft, fieldcraft, are all terms that mean woods related skills. Skills that include making fire, skinning and processing game, carving, you know; real world applications. The term survival gets thrown out WAY to often. To be in a survival situation means that you are in immeadiate danger of DYING! Survival knives are for those people who I like to call "hipster bushcrafters". (Unless you are using one as part of a tactical unit, military, Search and rescue, etc...) They want to do all of the cool looking, sexy aspects of woods skills, that have little/no real world applications. If you want to go swing from a grappling hook, beat your knife through a log, (shutter), or generally act like Rambo playing big-boy make believe, get a "survival knife". If you really want to practice primitive skills, camping, filed work, get a bushcraft knife. About a 3" long blade, 90* spine, Scandinavian style grind, comfortable handle, and a SCARY SCREAMING SHARP edge is all you will ever need.
 
By the way, my main bushcraft knife is a folder. A SAK Pioneer, Hunter, or a Case Medium Stockman. Other than that I use a saw, axe and a selection of stone tools. Make your knife cut well. I would go with a 3-4" blade, decent belly toward the tip, drop point or something that looks like a paring knife, Scandinavian style grind, with a natural handle- wood, bone, antler, etc... AND NO SERRATIONS!!! Never! You will want to work with wood and food, so plain edge and as mentioned earlier, SHARP!
 
BenHarris said:
AND NO SERRATIONS!!! Never! You will want to work with wood and food, so plain edge and as mentioned earlier, SHARP!
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Serrations still cut things.
My brother's preferred "bushcraft" knife has some serrations, and it works great for "hogging" material off in a hurry.
It has enough plain edge to do fine with all tasks that a plain edge works better at.
It gets a lot of use.

I like plain edge as well, but it seems to me that most cries of "No serrations!!" are based in notions of being a purist more than anything else.
 
I think a survival knife is made to take hard abuse, it's made to do jobs that a knife isn't really designed for. A bushcraft knife is a practical tool ment to be used as a knife and nothing else. They are ment to be used by people with at least some experience for reasonable tasks in the woods. Just my take on the subject
 
savage99 said:
I think a survival knife is made to take hard abuse, it's made to do jobs that a knife isn't really designed for. A bushcraft knife is a practical tool ment to be used as a knife and nothing else. They are ment to be used by people with at least some experience for reasonable tasks in the woods. Just my take on the subject
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It's really hard to say.
There are "survival knives" with blades ranging from 2-12 inches in length.
Thicknesses range from 1/8 to 1/4 inch quite often.
Some have serrations...some have sawbacks...many have neither.
Blade shapes include just about every shape imaginable, from Bowies to tantos to bolos to kukris to wharncliffes to oddball ones that don't even really have names yet.

Hollow handle, full tang, partial tang, long handle, short handle...tons of variation.

With so much variation it's impossible to make a comprehensive statement about what exactly a "survival knife" is.
 
Bushcraft and Survival are extensions of the same thing (staying alive in the wilderness using basic tools), and there is a great deal of overlap in skills. Depending on who you talk to, they will take offense at either term. Here's my little comparison table. Don't take it too seriously, but I think most people fall somewhere between the two extremes.

[table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td]Survival[/td]
[td]Bushcraft[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Stereotype[/td]
[td]Rambo wanna be, brandishes a big knife, wants to fight the Predator[/td]
[td]Fancy British guy who builds an afternoon fire to warm tea and scones[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Modus Operandi[/td]
[td]Acquires equipment to build a survival kit[/td]
[td]Acquires skills to make primitive equipment[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Knife[/td]
[td]A foot-long, thick spined chopper, must be indestructible[/td]
[td]A traditional 4" blade[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Mindset[/td]
[td]Brute force rules; more is more![/td]
[td]Mind over matter; do more with less[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
 
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Sprayman,

First off, welcome to the forum bro :thumbup:.

Your question is a good one and as you can see will get a lot of different perspectives.
Here's my .02..
A Survival knife is the knife you have with you when you need to survive :).
If you live in a mainly urban environment..with not a lot of wood/or pure cutting chores needed to survive..get a thicker blade stock that you can pry and abuse through the stuff that'll be an obstacle to you in your survival (I.E steel/concrete..city stuff).
If you live in the woods...or in close proximity to the woods..you want something more fitting to process the environment you are in...(I.E Wood)..a thinner blade does exceedingly better at wood/pure cutting tasks than a thick one; typically a bushcraft blade is assumed to be of thinner stock because of this primary realm of use.

A good hybrid between the 2 is optimum...and I would suggest full tang in either scenario..and make sure the handle is comfortable, and the overall size is something that you can carry as easily as possible..pce bro.
Oh yeah...something that can sharpen pretty easily on different mediums is a plus too.

How thick is your 1084?...that's a great steel.
 
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