Cold weather blades

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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All winter, Maryland has only had a few snow storms. Central MD anyway. So, in the cold, when I've been working outside, which has admittedly been rare, I've usually carried a neck knife. Gloves, bare hands (we've had some temps in the 70s a couple weeks ago). Tonight we get a blizzard, in my area one and a half feet...

Something I've wondered, what do you carry in cold weather? Going through the whole process to take your gloves off just to open a blade on a knife, or if the pull isn't too much, opening it with gloves, maybe just using a small fixed blade like me (a sheepsfoot/wharncliff traditional design). I remember Steven Dick and Dan Schectman writing about large traditional folders in the dearly departed TK, and stating that they were perfect for a Mackinaw coat pocket?

I don't really have any big traditional knives left. My Mountain Man, Remington 1306 and a few other pieces are long gone. I guess my Zulus and LCs are the biggest. There is a great movie called The Milagro Beanfield War, the main character carries what looks like a Schrade hunting knife in a sheath, but in his back pocket. I laughed at this, but in the cold weather, lifting your coat/shirts etc to get to your blade, can be a cold experience. So, a Kephart or puukko in my coat pocket is much easier to tote around for chores.

Not looking for speed in the cold, the only speed I want is to get my job done and back inside to sit next to the wood stove with two labs and a maremma, listening to blues and bluegrass, reading a book while coon fingering knives.

What is your go to blade in the cold?
 
I usually go with something that's not fancy i.e. delrin, due to the risk of dropping it and bone cracking easier in the cold. Aside from that's it's still just whatever I feel like on a given day.
 
Usually a Buck 110 or 112. Mostly a 110. The sheath is easy to access with gloves on and it's no problem to open and close it....
 
This depends on what I'm wearing.

I was on a morning walk/hike (15F... the calm before the forecast blizzard tomorrow) and I wanted to cut back some low branches on one trail as they are also forecasting a record deer tick and lyme disease outbreak this spring and summer. I had a short waist length coat on and even with gloves, I could easily get my large Sodbuster out of my back pocket, open it, use it and put it back - all no problem. For this to work, all I need is a knife that is big enough that I can grab it by the butt end. My Opinel 9, Sodbuster and Buck 110 all work.

When carrying a pack with a waist strap, I put a folder in a fanny pack worn at the 12 o'clock position and just below the waist belt's buckle.

When wearing a longer hip length coat or wearing mittens (really, really cold), I just suck it up and deal with cold fingers for a few minutes to get the knife out of my rear pocket. But that's the same problem I deal with whether it's getting food, adjusting my laces or looking at a map.
 
Cold weather? What's that? The lowest it got here this winter was 45, maybe 40 °F. That's was enough. I'm not a big cold weather person, there's a reason I live where I do.

I almost always have my #73, but on those rare occasions the temperature dips enough to require gloves, I'll keep another in an outer jacket pocket. This one is too big and heavy for pants carry, but its size allows me to pinch the blade open.

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Living in Maryland, I just used whatever was my pocket knife of the day. Very rare was the weather that it was so cold I couldn't take my glove off too open, use, then close my knife. But…I did spend a year stationed at Ft. Devons up in Massachusetts, and the winter there was a bear. I did carry a large German made F. Herder sodbuster in the right hand pocket of my field jacket. Sodbusters make good work/cold weather knives.
 
Or you could carry what the people of the Nordic countries do: a Finnish puukko, Norwegian fixed blade or a Leuku (knife of the Sami peoples of Lappland). They really know how to use a knife in cold, cold weather.

Rich
 
I never give it a thought if I'm in and around town. But if I'm hunting or working outdoors in cold weather, then usually a fixed blade, a modern OHO, a stockman and a Pioneer or Farmer. The FB is CPM-M4, the other three are all stainless. I like to be prepared.

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jackknife said:
Living in Maryland, I just used whatever was my pocket knife of the day. Very rare was the weather that it was so cold I couldn't take my glove off too open, use, then close my knife. But…I did spend a year stationed at Ft. Devons up in Massachusetts, and the winter there was a bear. I did carry a large German made F. Herder sodbuster in the right hand pocket of my field jacket. Sodbusters make good work/cold weather knives.
Click to expand...

And that one is a lock-back, so easier to open. If it's the one I got away with in your GAW quite awhile back? [nope, that's a Henckels]
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I also have an old Gerber that might have been designed for gloved or weak, cold, wet fingers.
 
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Black Mamba-what/who is the maker of that fixed blade? Kind of an appealing blade shape and the handle looks quite comfortable.
Thanks, Neal
 
This winter has been mild here, but then the past 4 winters have shown much less ice, snow or extreme cold. Worst so far is 'only' -24.3 C :D many days not much under zero C. I just don't like wearing gloves unless I have to e.g. out for a walk. I can't work in the things really, can't drive a car wearing them (remember we in Europe still much prefer manual gearboxes) So I admit my hands do dry up and crack a lot,well skin cream soon fixes it and I don't feel the cold much in my hands or feet luckily.

But my cold weather knives are either a small lockback such as a GEC 83 or small Buck, OT etc these are easy to open and close even if wearing stupid gloves :D Or an Opinel, these too are easy to open plus they lock/unlock with ease. Wooden handle is a distinct plus as well, think puukko but I generally prefer pocket-knives anyway.
 
I will have to agree with the sod buster (Bull Nose) being a good choice overall, you can open it with gloves and the thick handle makes it easy to hang onto. Another useful knife is the #38 Farmer jacks, even easier to open.
 
I live up in the Yukon Territory in a one room off grid cabin way back in the woods some place. Can be minus 40 for weeks at a time and during all this wood needs to be hauled, mechanical repairs made and animals of various kinds fed. Most chores are done in the dark during the week as I have to leave to go to work.

My go to for cold weather work would be some sort of fixed blade that is easily removed and replaced with one hand. Allows enough purchase on the handle to use with gloves. Brightly coloured for ease of finding when inevitably dropped and inexpensive for when the snow inevitably swallows one up til spring. Enter the Mora Companion. Bright orange, functional sheath and around 20 dollars.

My other and admittedly more frequent cold weather carry is an Opinel 10. Again, lots of purchase on the handle for use with gloves. A pinch able blade and simple lock mechanism are easy to operate with all but the thickest of over mitts. I modded mine with a lanyard hold in the butt end where I have a piece of bailing twine threaded through. This allows me to draw the knife from a shirt or pants pocket or to hang it on a tree while I work. Plus it gives a little tail that has a better chance of staying above the snow when dropped. Again to be had quite inexpensively.

My old Boker 494 sheepsfoot always rides in the pockets of layers closer to the skin. Just can't seem to put it down.
 
If you don't mind Eastern semi-traditionals, I find that carrying a kiridashi in the pocket of my coat works very well. I can unsheath and sheath it with gloves on, and no fiddly folding required.
 
The best cold weather folding knife I have used was a British Army 2 pc lock knife (5110-99-301-0301). It seems to have been designed with gloved use and ice in mind. Huge EZ open notch, a blade which stands proud of the handle when closed, an open-ended lock bar cut-out, and a screwdriver/ice breaker that won't fold up in use (or out of use either since it is an extension of the liner). Great knife for coat pocket with gloves on.
 
Maybe you should try one of those traditional "One armed bandit" or "one armed jack" type knives that have that little hook on the end of the blade just over the tip. It is made to catch that hook on something and use it to pull the blade open. I thought this is a really cool and often overlooked feature of some traditional knife styles.
 
I am fortunate to live in an area where cold weather basically doesn't exist, but on those rare cooler days I like to carry something like an Opinel that is easy to open.
 
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