Camping conundrum

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Wild Willie

Wild Willie

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After countless hours of perusing these forums I finally feel the need to throw a question to the to people who have answered so many others. I leave for an annual week long sojourn in the Adirondack mountains a week from Monday. The difference this year from years past is that I've finally dipped my toe into the fascinating world of bladesmithing. Against all of the advice offered here by those who know infinitely more about the subject than myself I have been using pieces of a coil spring scavenged from the scrap pile of my mechanic. (Mostly because I find taking something not even remotely blade shaped and making something sharp from it, secondly because I'm self employed with two young kids and I'm broke most of the time.) One such end result has been riding in my pocket or around my neck for the last several months, it's held up quite well doing all of the things I do for work and play at home. Mostly cutting rope (I'm a tree guy), opening beer, trimming strings, opening mail and all of the sundry tasks that knives are used for. I have used it to baton kindling for the stove and it's survived, but it's kind of small for such tasks. Edge retention has been acceptable and for a short blade I'm able to flex it quite a bit and it snaps back to true (for a short blade at least.). I usually use an axe or a condor lochnessmuk for heavier tasks, curiosity was the only thing that drove me to do some of the things I've done with it. Now my question; do I trust this blade to ride with me on a camping trip? Or do I fall back to a factory knife (Kellam Wolverine) to be sure I have a reliable blade?
 
If weight is not an issue, you could take both. Personally, I bring a couple of blades on multi-day trips and day hikes, just to play around, compare and learn about the different blades I am currently into.

Also, on your trip, you would have a trusty back up just in case.
 
That's kind of the way I was leaning, I unfortunately have a serious problem when it comes to edged objects as I'm sure everyone here can relate to. I've been trying to lighten the load but I just can't seem to shake carrying multiple blades.
 
On camping or hiking trips, I have a fixed, 2 folders, and a smaller backup blade. Depends if it's a day hike or an overnighter but that's usually my MO.
 
Take both or just take a good sized folder to do smaller jobs. I have always liked the idea of a Nesmuk trio, so take both, and find that other third item to make the trio complete. Maybe I missed something, but what type of camping are you doing? Is weight a factor? Or is it for a quick or extended getaway? Half the fun, (and have the fun) is trying and experimenting with what you have to see what works best for you. Let us know how it goes and pics if you can to prove it happened. :D
 
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Gransfors small forest axe, a silky big boy folding saw, and an opinel number 8 will compliment my fixed blade(s). Weight shouldn't be too big an issue. Planning on a short paddle in followed by some day trips to hit some peaks. I'll be with my dad and younger brother, 50, and 27 respectively. Nothing too strenuous, just a recharge time before we really pick up for the season. Unfortunately we really never know what we're going to do until we're doing it. We suck at making plans. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that I wasn't crazy thinking about taking 2 narrow tang fixed blades for nothing more than an experiment. I'm far from an ultralight backpacking fanatic. I've just been trying to cut out anything superfluous in my loadout
 
They both look great and I would take both. Could lose one and need a backup and they don't look too large.
 
It is extremely unlikely that you would need your knife for tasks your little knife could handle.... and it’s very unlikely it will fail
 
Would you be needing to process wood or just use what you find to make a fire? If not needing to baton for firewood, I think the smaller stick tang knives would do fine, you have an ax I guess you would take, but I have heard that there is enough dead wood around and you can find fatwood. I use a lot of pinecones as a starter since there is enough resin to get a fire going, we do not really cook over a fire, but have experimented with grate over a railroad tire ring.
 
I have other tools for wood processing, an axe and hand saw. I've used the homemade knife to split kindling just to see how it did. We do all of our cooking over wood, there's no shortage of dead and down wood to use. I've gotten odd looks periodically from aquaintances when I say I habitually carry more than one knife. I always come here to make sure I'm not crazy in those instances. I was wondering how many guys would trust their own early work over a factory edge or just hedge the bet and take both. Thank you guy tons for the feedback
 
Take it, use it and have a great time.
Maybe take a backup, or maybe not.......my back up usually is a CS Finn bear that weights next to nothing.
You made a knife from a mysterious coil spring steel that is working well. Be proud of it.
I use the book “50 dollar knife shop” by Wayne Goddard as my Basic reference for knifemakimg.
He advocates using all sorts of whatever you can get when starting out. The whole point is doing it and learning and improving over time. I got to meet him once and it was awesome.
IMO, using new and identifiable steel is the best option, but when trying to learn a new skill and spend little dollars as possible, some springs, hacksaw blades, mower blades, etc is perfectly acceptable. My first bunch of blades were lawnmower blade steel, files, edged blades, plow discs, whatever I could scrounge ! Have fun !
 
You'd be fine even if you broke or lost it, given what you have.

I say take it, enjoy it and keep learning!!!

Envious of your getting out.
 
I would take your homemade piece for sure if you don't want to carry both. It would be the perfect time to test out your own knife. And if something does happen to it, you got a quality axe, folder, saw and the loadout of 2 others to pick up the slack of 1 lost knife(although im sure it will do fine).
 
Definitely glad I came here. A good friend of mine told me to go factory just yesterday. Not to mention without the homemade job if be without an American made blade for the trip, and that might just be inappropriate.
 
I always take at least 4 or 5 knives of various sizes for different uses ... I would take both and always have a backup for any extended trip ... or trip into dense or steep terrain just in case.
 
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