Bushcrafty knives

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skillgannon

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Apr 27, 2009
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When I talk to family and friends about what they want most of them are getting into the bushcraft thing. Now I like drop point blades around 4" but I want my knives to cut well. What are some things you guys think about when making "bushcrafters".
 
I know die hard bushcrafters that swear NOTHING except a spearpoint blade with a short scandi bevel will work.

I have spent pretty much all of my 38 years living and playing in the woods with knives and I've never understood the above point of view.

They insist that the spearpoint is essential for drilling holes in wood. I can tell you for a fact, the amount of times I've been in the woods and needed to drill a hole in a piece of wood, I could count with one hand......even if I had a bad table saw accident.

And if I did need to, any decent drop point or clip point would work just as well.

As for the scandi grinds.....I just don't see it. Seems like a lot of wasted steel (read that as pointless extra weight). I find full height grinds to be much better cutters and slicers.

I think the best bushcraft knife is any practical, comfortable knife you have with you. If you like how it performs, feels and looks, that's all that counts.
 
J. Doyle said:
I know die hard bushcrafters that swear NOTHING except a spearpoint blade with a short scandi bevel will work.

I have spent pretty much all of my 38 years living and playing in the woods with knives and I've never understood the above point of view.

They insist that the spearpoint is essential for drilling holes in wood. I can tell you for a fact, the amount of times I've been in the woods and needed to drill a hole in a piece of wood, I could count with one hand......even if I had a bad table saw accident.

And if I did need to, any decent drop point or clip point would work just as well.

As for the scandi grinds.....I just don't see it. Seems like a lot of wasted steel (read that as pointless extra weight). I find full height grinds to be much better cutters and slicers.

I think the best bushcraft knife is any practical, comfortable knife you have with you. If you like how it performs, feels and looks, that's all that counts.
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Come on need that knife to be hit with a rock, used as a shovel, drill holes, be a spear, maybe a boomerang and a entire host of situations they force themselves into pretending to have forgotten their saw, machete and axe and for some reason only their knife did not get lost.
 
I instruct about 40 7-10th graders at a wilderness/survival camp every year. I primarily teach edged tools and fire. So for the last six years I have been testing out different designs both of my own and from other makers/manufacturers. I am very happy with the design that I have settled on as my "bushcraft" pattern. It is full flat ground, has an edge that is thin enough to cut a wide variety of mediums well without damage. It should be very good at medium size whittling tasks. By mediums sized, I'm not talking about intricate birdcage projects, just run of the mill notch making, bark peeling, cordage making and such. It should be useful for basic camp food prep. It should be able to baton through wrist size sticks without edge damage for fire craft in wet conditions. We have about 8 experienced instructors with a wide variety of experience and backgrounds including military survival schools. All of them have had input on the design and it has been very favorably received. The next favorite for use around the camp are mora knives which we also use with the students.

So far I have made them out of Elmax and 3V. Both steels have worked very well. The Elmax is nice because it is stainless and has done very well with edge retention. I have not had any chipping issues. It has been HT'd by Peters to 62 hrc. The 3V was HT'd by Peters at 61-62 and has also held up very well. I'm going to make a couple in 4V this summer to try out.

To me this is not an overbuilt "survival knife." They do not excel at most of the tasks I indicated.
 
Well, I’ll give my opinion on this, it’s just My opinion! I hunt a lot, and when I go in for my elk hunts, I pack in on horse back! We’re in sometimes around 20 miles in the wilderness, for up to around 10 days. What I came up with, and it’s what works good for me, is a blade that’s around 6 1/2 inches, with a generous handle, with a choil to choke up on. My idea is something I can do mild chopping with, but carves well, and skins and cuts meat really well. That’s pretty bushcraft to me! A rather heavy duty design, with a nice convex edge, it bites into wood well, and cuts into flesh really good. You can carve, baton, and do whatever you need. Right now I’m testing one in vanadis 4e, at 61 rc. I heat treated it!

I hear from people that say they want a lightweight knife, because a decent size blade is to heavy. But hell, I walk my ass off for 10 days straight, with a decent size knife, a pistol, and my bow and pack! It doesn’t bother me!! I’m working on this, for a one knife situation, because I am somewhat limited as to how much stuff I can haul in on my horses. I drew a tag this year, so now I have some real world testing coming up! I’m excited!
 
This is the design I came up with in conjunction with a customer for exactly that kind of use. It weighs 6.25 oz and is 3V at 61 RC. It's his elk hunting camp knife. He has another knife for processing elk and wanted one purely for camp chores. But since he does it without a horse, weight was a pretty high concern.

WxTQw8F.jpg
 
The appears to be a notion here that bushcraft means something done in the woods. I’m not sure if that is a sufficiently defined scope of what many mean when they say bushcraft. Whether you agree with what it is or not or really buy into the practicality (aka use an axe saw etc etc), I think there is a more understood “hobby” if you will that is bushcrafting. You go camping in the woods, but camping isn’t bushcrafting, so a camp knife isn’t a bushcraft knife. You go hunting in the woods, but hunting isn’t bushcrafting, so a hunter or skinner isn’t a bushcraft knife. The classic spear point with scandi grind seems to be because that’s what is well suited to the activities of the hobby of bushcrafting even if those things may be poorly suited to other activities people think about doing “in the bush.”
 
kuraki said:
This is the design I came up with in conjunction with a customer for exactly that kind of use. It weighs 6.25 oz and is 3V at 61 RC. It's his elk hunting camp knife. He has another knife for processing elk and wanted one purely for camp chores. But since he does it without a horse, weight was a pretty high concern.

WxTQw8F.jpg
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I really like that! I’ll get some pics when my vanadis Knife is done!
 
lanternnate said:
The appears to be a notion here that bushcraft means something done in the woods. I’m not sure if that is a sufficiently defined scope of what many mean when they say bushcraft. Whether you agree with what it is or not or really buy into the practicality (aka use an axe saw etc etc), I think there is a more understood “hobby” if you will that is bushcrafting. You go camping in the woods, but camping isn’t bushcrafting, so a camp knife isn’t a bushcraft knife. You go hunting in the woods, but hunting isn’t bushcrafting, so a hunter or skinner isn’t a bushcraft knife. The classic spear point with scandi grind seems to be because that’s what is well suited to the activities of the hobby of bushcrafting even if those things may be poorly suited to other activities people think about doing “in the bush.”
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That’s why I said it’s my opinion! That’s MY idea of what I think bushcraft is! I’m not really sure if those guys are hunters or not!
 
I really don't care how someone defines 'bushcraft'. A drop point or clip point blade will do ANYTHING 'bushcrafty' equally as well as a spear point scandi grind. And if they're full height grinds, they'll probably cut and slice better than that scandi grind.
 
I use an old carbonV cold steel master hunter with the blade thinned to an 1/8. It is pretty handy for my trapses around the mosquito and gnat ridden south. Good for cleaning deer/hogs and general tasks. That said, for in camp meal prep I like a bit more blade. I always have a machete or small axe around and have never batoned any firewood.

Kuraki, beautiful knife
 
I hunt, fish, canp, love to spend my time in the woods picking berries or mushrooms etc ... so I consider myself a fairly well rounded outdoorsman ...

I also have been through survival training ... and to be honest the things I learned growing up are as useful as anything learned in survival training ...

and I prefer a knife in the 4" blade area give or take with a Full Flat Grind or a slightly convexed grind ... and a folding saw at minimum ... I also hunt and spend days in the woods and the small weight addition of a slightly larger camp knife or a mid sized axe added to my pack is well worth the benefits they give me ... leaving me a dedicated cutting knife ...

as far as blade shapes ... a spearpoint does drill a hole ... say as to make a bow and drill set well ... but a drop point will do the same job as well ... just differently ...

a good comfortabe handle and good steel and good outdoor knowledge are more important that blade shape or grind in my opinion ...

I think everyone has their preferences and I can respect the guys that swear by a spearpoint just as I can respect the hunter using his drop point for every type of camp task ... if its a well made knife and you keep it sharp ... and knife shape or grind or sizes for the most part can make good bushcrafter/outdoor knives ...

learning to keep them sharp and learning the skills will get you farther than the newest super steel with a unicorn grind and steel from the secret government mine on Mars ...

just a poor countryboy's response to this ...

JJ
 
I have made about a dozen knife requests and in my limited experience on this, there seems to be three types. You got actual doers, armchair experts, and dreamers. I think part of making a knife for someone should be to understand which they are, and only if they are an actual doer can you really reason with them if you disagree. But ultimately, if i wouldnt use it myself i wouldnt make it.
 
I actually prefer a scandi grind for bushcraft blades. Blades that will be used primarily for carving soft wood. I’m a big fan of using a good sharp axe for heavier uses. Knives should be for cutting, not splitting wood IMO. I just love how well a good acute scandi will bite deep into the wood. Now, in terms of camping or general survival, I’d prefer a full flat ground “camp knife” style knife. Something that could work well at a variety of tasks. In regards to the blade profile, I think the more acute spear point shape is popular because there’s really no point to having really wide stock. The bevel is usually only around 1/4” high. I never really understood why people make Nessmuk shaped knives and then put a scandi bevel on them. It defeats the entire purpose of the original design IMO. The Nessmuk has a wide swooping blade shape so it will be great at skinning and processing animals. At least that’s the way I understand it.
 
I’m not looking to be argumentative, but skillgannon asked about knives for friends and family that are into bushcrafting and was essentially told, “bah humbug, bushcraft is nonsense make them a camp/hunting/survival/etc. knife.” Based on what people are discussing using these knives for, these recommendations probably aren’t going to be what his friends and family are looking for. Someone into the hobby of bushcrafting doesn’t generally care about if their knife would be good for processing large game like an elk, nor are they likely looking for a chopper. A scandi isn’t the best slicer, but bushcrafting doesn’t call for a slicer. A bushcraft knife is perhaps best thought of as a in the woods woodworking tool as that is a lot of what the hobby really is. The scandi grind works well for that (it’s also easy to field sharpen). The spear point is also good for many of the more “tool” like uses. Folks may think batoning is silly, but if you are making a knife for someone who is into bushcrafting there is a greater than zero percent chance they want to baton wood with their knife. It’s not because of some survival theory of they’ve lost everything but a knife, but more so because that’s what their hobby does.

Something around 4”, a spear point, a scandi grind, and a full tang would probably make your friends and family happy. Steel choice wise just consider they probably want to field sharpen and they’re going to be a bit rough on it.
 
Your point about what it is well taken, I would like to know what task a scandi knife will out perform the one I posted at. It batons. It will out cut. I guarantee it's 2x easier to sharpen than stoning the entire bevel on a scandi.

Outside of a spear point to drill, what is it going to be worse at?

I've sent knives like that to people who evaluated them for whatever tasks because I admittedly don't know or understand all of them. Every one was surprised for some reason that they didn't break or chip. Then promptly switched to them because they also cut better.
 
Lanternnate- you mention several times 'bushcraft' type chores but are very vague about what those might be. Care to enlighten us as to what those are? And why a scandi grind is better for them?

Some of the chores that WERE specifically mentioned in this thread are, indeed, bushcraft chores. A scandi grind isn't necessarily worse at some of these tasks, but it certainly isn't better.

Nobody said, "bah humbug, bushcraft is nonsense." Bushcrafting is legit. What is nonsense is the prevailing notion among 'bushcrafters' that if its not a spearpoint scandi grind, its absolute crap for 'bushcrafting'.......whatever that is.
 
kuraki said:
Your point about what it is well taken, I would like to know what task a scandi knife will out perform the one I posted at. It batons. It will out cut. I guarantee it's 2x easier to sharpen than stoning the entire bevel on a scandi.

Outside of a spear point to drill, what is it going to be worse at?

I've sent knives like that to people who evaluated them for whatever tasks because I admittedly don't know or understand all of them. Every one was surprised for some reason that they didn't break or chip. Then promptly switched to them because they also cut better.
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First, that’s a mighty fine knife I’d be proud to have on my hip. I’m also not going to argue that it can’t do many if not all of the tasks discussed. There are two parts to this really. The first is that if someone is into bushcrafting and has asked for a bushcraft knife they have a mental image of what that is. Your knife isn’t that mental image. Does that make your knife a bad knife? No, but sometimes giving someone what they really want isn’t a bad thing. That’s part of my advice for skillgannon in making something his friends and family will be happy about.

The second part is in reality if it has an edge and a point a knife can pretty much do knife tasks. The user probably matters more than the grind or point. Knife design gets into minor differences that might make some tasks SLIGHTLY better. To me bushcrafting is about the crafting things out of the bush. It’s not camping or hunting or even survival. It’s intentionally going in planning to make what you need out of the woods around you. That’s where the scandi spear point to me is slightly better. Woodworking type tasks of widdling, carving, notching, drilling. The angle of the scandi works well for that. As another poster stated above, you get a good bite with this type of knife. Your knife could do all these things. I just feel that classic bushcraft knife would be just a bit better. It’s almost to me like having a wood chisel that you can also use for other knife tasks. It’s not the best for slicing etc., but it can do it because it’s a sharp pointy thing. Now if I were hunting or camping where I cared less about the hobby of crafting what I needed from the woods around me, I’d be more inclined to have your knife. In that situation I probably packed in some of the essentials and I care more about general camp tasks and food prep, which your knife would be a bit better at. If I need to do the occasional widdling a food cooking stick etc., your knife can certainly accomplish that bit of woodworking too.
 
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