Cold Steel OSI?

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Want to get, but I need to know if it is a reasonable Bush craft in addition to fighting knife. thank you.
 
Welcome!

Short answer is: no.

Longer answer is... well, that depends on your definition of "bushcraft" and what kind of knife combatives training you've had.

Most of the latter threads get moved to Practical Tactical and (from my limited knowledge) turn into an endless rehashing of scenarios, because this is the internet and we love to argue.

These two applications should be done by two different knives. The OSI would make an adequate self-defense tool, with it's sub-hilt for retention and a point that's centered on the mid-line. But with that in mind, it should be kept sharp and ready, not asked to process wood and dig out roots the way a Kephart would.

As for fieldcraft? We will need to know what sort of climate you're looking at, because what works in Brazil is not quite the same as what works in Saskatchewan.
 
Heh. The Survival/Bushcraft/Tactical/Self-Defense knife has become an in-joke here, because those are all marketing terms: a knife cuts things.

You decide what it cuts.

By percentage, the most used "self defense" knife is a kitchen cutlery knife, since they're easy to get to, and most people are already competent with them. It's no coincidence that it is also the statistically most-used knife in "knife attacks", a phrase with it's own problems which are a conversation for a different sub-forum.

That doesn't mean there aren't knives that are better adapted for different uses, although it can be difficult to understand why, without taking one out in the backyard and trying to do things it wasn't meant to do. Like all those optimists who throw knives at trees and end up with two pieces, soon after.
 
If you found yourself dropped into parts unknown with just the OSI, could you cut stuff and get by...yeah probably. Would it be within the top 100 knives I would pick for a bushcraft/woods knife? Nope.

The "sub hilt" is often followed with the word "fighter". Now I know that people say that they can use the Marauder for woods stuff, but I just can't get around how uncomfortable that sub hilt is. It fine for keeping your hand locked in and giving you a bit of a trigger/flick for a snap cut, but for me I would rather just use my wrist and I would prefer the rear guard be gone for a sabre grip, but that has nothing to do with how i would use the knife for bushcraft.
 
A sturdy single edge FB with a blade 3-5" long in a tough low carbide steel would be my choice for bush craft.
 
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