I am all for "made in America" instead of Chinese production knives, so I pre-ordered a Survive! GSO 3.5 a little over a year ago now, and am still excitedly anticipating its completion and eventual arrival! I also just pre-ordered a Bark River Gunny Hunter in CPM 3V with liners, but I am now second guessing myself and wondering if a Gunny will be somewhat redundant to the GSO 3.5 in the "under 4" blade category." I'm not a bushcrafter per se, but I spend a fair amount of time trail riding/packing my horses in the Rockies. I want a knife that I can trust to be tough and reliable, but I'm not into big, ugly survival knives or machetes. I do enjoy splitting/batoning kindling for my fireplace at home and when camping, but I have cheaper knives like my Old Hickories that I don't worry about abusing a little. Thoughts on the Gunny vs. the larger Bravo 1 or Bravo 1 LT? Battlehorse knives? I have medium sized hands, and I am hoping to find something fairly traditional-looking with excellent handle ergonomics, but being in Canada, I haven't ever had an opportunity to physically get my hands on most of the semi-production knives that I have watched reviews about online. I know that there are people that are very loyal to particular knife companies, but I'm really looking for some advice on what would be a robust quality blade that I could throw on my belt or put in my saddle bags and know that I have a reliable, tough tool that is still smallish. If the GSO 3.5 becomes my small blade, what would be something a little bigger or more robust as a primary blade or a survival knife? Thoughts? Please weigh in if you have experience with any of these knives! Recommendations?
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