Could you make it with just your knife?

Fallbrook Forge

Fallbrook Forge

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Jan 1, 2006
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I know this has been tossed around in all the possible "what if" threads. But i have been taking a hard look at the gear that is necessary for me to take on 2-5 day trips.

And here's the purpose of this thread, if you had the misfortune of loosing your pack and becoming stranded/lost with only the things strapped to your body still with you, would you be able to make it the 24-96 hours it COULD take for you to either be found, or to find your own way out?

I know I could. The reason I know this is I have one thing that is always with me and cannot be lost under any circumstances, Mindset. I know I will make it through anything because I don't let myself think differently. Next thing I have is skillsets, I'm confident in my ability to read terrain, navigate said terrain, find and treat water, and make fire.

The next level of my confidence comes from being prepared. I keep a spare map of the area I'm going into in a cargo pocket along with a compass. I have a Ferro rod and a SAK classic on my key chain, I keep a chunk of fatwood a magnesium rod, a Ferro rod and Swisstool spirit on my belt. An AMK heatsheet in either a back or cargo pocket along with a Hank of 550 cord. And a pocket sized FAK in any other open pocket.

Then I keep my camp knife, a BK9 these days, on my belt. So this would bring another layer to my prep. I keep a 1Qt water bag, aqua Mira, duct tape, Swiss steel, mag rod, striker/whistle, fatwood, and a tin full of the guts from a road flare.

So, I know without a doubt that I could survive for 1-4 days at least, with just the things I keep on my person. It may not be the best time of my life, but I would make it.

Would you? Why?
 
I wouldnt give up but if the conditions were bad enough and everything went the wrong way, there is really nothing you could do except keep trying to survive.

My biggest weakness is the cold, I would be alot better off in hot weather.

I think I would be able to make it for a while on my own...
how long?
only the Terrain, Weather conditions and access to food and water would be able to decide.
 
Not me man, I'd at least need some sterile gauze and some 30 weight ball bearings in addition to the knife.
 
In my local AO, I could do it 10 months out of the year pretty easy. The other 2 months, I could probably make it, but would be rough with no gear. You are not going to get a friction fire going here in the winter - at least not without a few hours hard work.

Water is easy, I can go a few days with no / minimal food and I know how to build shelter and make fire in the eastern woods. If I have a good knife, some cordage (I hate making rope) and a ferro rod, I can make it a few days.

The real problem here is January / February - you are going to need a solid shelter and tons of fire wood. Somewhere around day 2.5 or 3, the calorie deficit from gathering wood / hunting / trapping is going to get rough. Staying dry is going to be the real problem with wet slushy days and 15-20*F nights.
 
I was backpacking once, and my friend knocked my pack over. It tumbled down the hillside for some distance. Luckily, it was just a switchback trail, not a cliff. Nothing was damaged, and he went and got it for me.
My lesson that day was to keep certain gear on me. It got me thinking what if? I had been a backpacker for years, but never had any backup plan. The other guys would have had extra gear on that trip, but what about all those solo trips I took?
I'm much more prepared these days, even so, it would depend on the terrain, climate, and my knowledge of the area.
 
Could I make it with just a knife? Depends on where I am. Can I make it with all the gear in your pockets. Heck yes.
 
i hope so. i keep redundant gear (firesteel, compass, etc.) in my cargo pants as well. so long as i don't need fire to keep warm since my clothing is enough. if i do then i'm screwed - see my thread about the bk-2 and iron wood below. i'm going to need a chainsaw or a lightsaber to be able to chop enough wood to keep me warm.
 
With just my knife and the stuff in my pockets I could probably make it but it would be rough. Being the middle of January in MI I would bunker down and try to build myself a decent shelter while waiting for rescue. If no rescue came by spring then I would try walking out, until then I'm sitting tight.

In my pockets I don't really carry much of anything that would be valuable in a survival situation but if I was going into the woods I would have a few basic things like a lighter and a pocket knife. In my BK-9 sheath I keep an altoids tin with a bunch of char cloth, jute twine and a small ferro rod. On my belt I always have my KSF fire wallet with more char cloth and waxed jute twine and a flint shard and fire steel.

I'm confident I could build a crappy lean to shelter with my BK-9 and water wouldn't be a problem. I'd just melt snow in my altoids tin, no worries about needing to purify snow.

Not sure what I would do for food but I always carry my XD45 so if I could get close enough to a deer i'm pretty sure I could kill it. If I go walking through the woods I also might carry my GP-100 instead of the XD45.

I'm sure I would be miserable and pissed off but I'm betting I could survive for a few months assuming I didn't run into a bear or break my legs or what not. Water and shelter would be the most important two things at first and hopefully I could kill something to eat within a week or two when food starts getting really important.

I'd feel much more confident in all of this if I had my EDC bag with me, in that bag i've got a basic survival kit that would make me feel much more confident. For instance I don't know what I would do for water if it was summer and all I had was my knife and whats in my pockets.

I think I might put more stuff in my BK-9's pouch so I'll be better prepared if this ever happened to me.
 
i could see if you lived somewhere like canada or the like, but, yer in socal right?
i think (not sure) you'll be ok with the whole survival bit. isn't there like alot of
people you could just call with yer cell phone for help.

no offence meant. just stating my view.
 
imaginefj said:
Could I make it with just a knife? Depends on where I am. Can I make it with all the gear in your pockets. Heck yes.
Click to expand...

That's a key thought right there. I was taught the "never put all your eggs in one basket" philosophy years ago. The pack holds lots of things to make my trips more comfortable, but I always keep some basic life support items on my belt and in my pockets.

.
 
Naw, I wouldn't last long 'surviving' with just a knife. Not in my country.

I'd much sooner attempt to hike out to safety than stay put and wait for rescue if all I had was the clothes on my back and my blade. I'd be hypothermic before the temperature even hit its lowest point on the first night. I need shelter and fire in order to survive, and in the dead of winter here in cold, wet BC, I can't make fire with just a knife. I've tried. I can't do it. People who haven't spent time camping in a Canadian winter on the coastal mountains don't know just how soaking wet everything is. Even dead standing wood is soaked through a good 2 inches around. A knife ain't going to do you much good harvesting firewood in those conditions.

During the summer, yes, not a problem. I do fine with just a knife. It rains, but standing wood isn't soaked through and permanently frozen like it is during the winter. But I don't do a lot of hiking during the summer (bugs + people) so that's not really a relevant scenario. Winter mountaineering is more my style. I've been doing it for some time now, and know that a simple knife wont do you much good trying to stay alive in an emergency.

Give me an axe, on the other hand...

treex.jpg


Yep, a little 19 incher pack axe took that tree down and even split it. If you know how to handle an axe, it's easy to do. The tree was leaning heavily towards the creek there, so we used wooden wedges pounded into it to force it to fall the way we wanted it. Let's see a survival knife do that ;)

firewood.jpg


Here's just one of the logs we got from the tree. We split it in half - again using wooden wedges pounded into the wood - and it burned for about 5 hours before we repeated the process with another one of the logs.

shelteru.jpg


It was dipping under -20 that night (but thankfully not snowing or raining, for once), but inside that shelter it was comfortable (even too hot, at some points) in our base layer t-shirts.



That single tree lasted all night long. It took me about 7 or 8 minutes to chop it down with a sub-20" axe. This is why I carry my axe even on dayhikes. A knife, saw, or even machete is not as capable as an axe when it comes to my survival needs. I wish people didn't take what they see on youtube (from a particular gear reviewer whose name I wont mention) so seriously. The axe has somehow gained a reputation to be too much weight and bulk for too little versatility. I hate it. It's untrue.

Sorry for the long post!
 
This is a good thread and it poses an interesting question. Like most here, I am confident in my abilities to navigate the terrain I am most familiar with, which is the Colorado Rockies. I am also fairly comfortable with my ability to find/make fire or shelter if need be. However, if you add, let's say an injury to the equation, it's going to make survival quite a bit more difficult. And moreover, the mindset that so many of us try to convince ourselves we have will usually go swiftly out the window.

Without a fair amount of training, all the equipment we carry will render itself pretty much useless. That's why our hobbies like bushcrafting is valuable to us. It gives us practice in controlled conditions, so in an emergency situation, we are better equipped.

Can I survive with just a knife and what's on my person? My only answer is; either I will, or I will die trying! :D
 
NothingCoherent said:
This is why I carry my axe even on dayhikes. A knife, saw, or even machete is not as capable as an axe when it comes to my survival needs. I wish people didn't take what they see on youtube (from a particular gear reviewer whose name I wont mention) so seriously. The axe has somehow gained a reputation to be too much weight and bulk for too little versatility. I hate it. It's untrue.
Click to expand...

My thoughts are that if you are man enough to throw caution to the wind and drag yourself into the middle of nowhere, you should be man enough to handle lugging along another 5lbs of gear. Guess that is why I just don't understand the whole "ultralight" thing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to take the kitchen sink, but it seems kinda wussy to disregard an obviously useful tool just because it adds a few more grams, ounces, or pounds to your gear.

Thanks for the pics, looks like one heck of a good time. :thumbup:
 
I been pondering this most of the day, and I think I can come up with a suitable answer. Yes and no. :D

I have lived most of my life in the warm temperate climate of the Southern US, and Western US. To survive in my Smokies, just a knife, nothing more, I can go as long as I need to, living in these lush hills, even in winter, is something I am well versed in. South of here, yeah, I can do that too. But what it hinges on is terrain, climate, and resources.

A knife is a tool that makes other tools. As long as you can make other tools to make the job easier, you can do it. But you need resources. In the middle of the desert, a knife will only get you so far, mainly because you have little to no resources, I know, I lived there. It sucked. Now, take my warm blooded butt and put it in NothingCoherent's neck of the woods, and I'm dead, resources in abundance, but I have little to no experience dealing with subarctic climes. I'm learning, but I have no way of practice, save to go there and honestly, ta hell with that.

The only way a person can say they can survive anywhere, anytime with just a knife, is when that is their job and they train, constantly. Tribes in the deserts of Australia live and thrive, but theirs is a culture based in that area, don't think for a second you could head out into the bush and survive as they do, you won't. Same thing about heading North, to the cold. Unless you have experience dealing with subarctic temps, snow, and the bitter cold, you will die. Plain and simple.

We all can work, play and survive in our own enviornments, but when you start changing the game (Derek?), your knowledge and skill don't amount to shit. Oh, I can make a bow drill. Can you when there is no wood to make one? What if its frozen solid and covered with snow?

Oh, I can build a shelter? Well, see my point?

I can live and survive in a tropical/rainforest enviornment, water, food, and resources. When I lived in the desert, I learned one thing, the desert sucks, you have to have the water you need and you must bring shelter from the sun. Blistering in the day, freezing at night. The few times I been to the North, I could adapt to that clime better than the desert. I like the cold, and you can get warm, I hate the heat, because you can't always cool down.

So, yes, in the rainforest/tropical clime, I'm good. Wooded and cold, I can learn, dry and desolate, I'm screwed.

Moose
 
Survive up to 4 days with "just a knife"... probably not.
There are a lot of variables but the ones most likely to be problematic are injuries and improper clothing.
It's fair to say that in the Mountainous areas Of the Eastern US, I feel I would do well. I have a lot of experience (work here in the mountains) and have an excellent survival and medical kit with in my pack, as well as a smaller set on my belt. If I do not get any kind of head injury then my chances of dealing with a multi day "change of priorities" with no more concern than the discomfort. Most of those situations are simply a matter of waiting for rescue or finding a path. However, I don't see it as a survival situation if the danger is not immediate.
If you are hurt, lost, and cold wet weather is moving in then NO, a knife is NOT enough to survive. If you are lucky enough to find natural shelter (may or may not happen) and you are capable to get to that shelter, and you can gather fire materials (may not be any around), and you can use that razor sharp knife to make a bow drill while your hands are going numb and you have a splitting headache and can't see straight. then you might be able to stay warm providing that your injuries are not preventing you from finding enough firewood and dragging it to your fire. THATS A LOT OF "ANDS".
I know of certain locations where I work that have great resources and others that are devoid of anything but rocky earth. Anyone who thinks they can survive with only a knife in whatever environment they end up in is a fool, plain and simple. I have trained with great leaders, from the local SAR to my military background and one thing that carries through every type of training I have experienced is that your skills and mindset are number one, but it takes equipment and LUCK if you get injured (especially head injuries) and things go bad in the wrong environment.
 
Just a single knife? Maybe, but that is heavy on the not likely side.

With the EDC that I carry, similar to yours, no problem. In Washington conditions can get a little rough, but there are also alot of natural recourses that I can use to help me survive. Since I'm in western Washington I really don't think that I would have a problem with getting water to drink or finding food, the only real problem that I would be facing is making fire; especially in the wet months.

So theoretically all I really need out here to survive is a container to carry water to make it safe to drink, a method to start ans sustain fire, and a good quality knife (any Becker I have, I'd even go with just the Ramora).
 
What is on my person? No pack/fannypack/camelbak?
Well, water purification (that UV thing I forget the name of), firestarting (ESEE tool), and my blades should be enough, given if its winter I'll be wearing my coat /warm clothes and if its the summer I'll stay close to the fire. I always have my Nalgene in hand, but in a pinch could drink from a stream/water source directly (my immune system is pretty hardcore, I've gone a few days on unfiltered/purified water before with no consequence).
My ESEE 6 is plenty good enough for wood processing/bushcrafting.
Yeah, I could make it a few days. A week, with good weather and shelter, especially if I was getting picked up, not hiking out.
 
This is a good thread. Different tools for different people.

It is crazy how much even a few degrees in temperature make. 20 degrees is really cold for me. A 30 mph wind really makes that no fun. At least for me.

-20 will kill you fast I'd imagine.
 
Md 25v said:
Survive up to 4 days with "just a knife"... probably not.
There are a lot of variables but the ones most likely to be problematic are injuries and improper clothing.
It's fair to say that in the Mountainous areas Of the Eastern US, I feel I would do well. I have a lot of experience (work here in the mountains) and have an excellent survival and medical kit with in my pack, as well as a smaller set on my belt. If I do not get any kind of head injury then my chances of dealing with a multi day "change of priorities" with no more concern than the discomfort. Most of those situations are simply a matter of waiting for rescue or finding a path. However, I don't see it as a survival situation if the danger is not immediate.
If you are hurt, lost, and cold wet weather is moving in then NO, a knife is NOT enough to survive. If you are lucky enough to find natural shelter (may or may not happen) and you are capable to get to that shelter, and you can gather fire materials (may not be any around), and you can use that razor sharp knife to make a bow drill while your hands are going numb and you have a splitting headache and can't see straight. then you might be able to stay warm providing that your injuries are not preventing you from finding enough firewood and dragging it to your fire. THATS A LOT OF "ANDS".
I know of certain locations where I work that have great resources and others that are devoid of anything but rocky earth. Anyone who thinks they can survive with only a knife in whatever environment they end up in is a fool, plain and simple. I have trained with great leaders, from the local SAR to my military background and one thing that carries through every type of training I have experienced is that your skills and mindset are number one, but it takes equipment and LUCK if you get injured (especially head injuries) and things go bad in the wrong environment.
Click to expand...
Right on, man. Good post. The part I bolded is VERY important and often overlooked.

People always talk about these hypothetical survival situations as if they are going to be snaring animals or hunting and with hand made bow, making friction fires, and sleeping on beds of evergreen inside a debris shelter. It's a very romanticized and unrealistic image.

The truth is, that great fantasy of surviving on the land will never happen unless you go out into the woods with the intention of doing it.

A real survival situation is the one where you slipped down a cliff because your pack was (ironically enough) loaded too heavy with 'survival' gear and you weren't sure footed enough to handle the trail, and break a leg. Or the time when you swing your axe around a bit too carelessly and plunge it into your thigh. Or even just the time when the weather suddenly turns for the worse and you are stuck in a total white out snow storm, and soaking wet, with night approaching quickly.

Those are real survival situations. Your snare wire and fire piston ain't gonna do shit for you when that happens.

When I bring new people backpacking with me, and they ask me what the most important item to bring is, do you know what I tell them? It's not a knife. No, I tell them to bring a good, waterproof rain jacket and knowledge of first aid. That is what will save your life in the real world. It might not be as romantic as a blade, but it's the truth.

Building fire and shelter is out of the question when you fall and hit your head, unable to even see straight. Putting your raincoat on and crawling under a log for the night, on the other hand, isn't. You wont be warm, you wont be comfortable, but with a raincoat you will stay reasonably dry. Being wet is what causes hypothermia. Hypothermia is what causes death.

edit: of course, when its -20 out and you don't have fire, you're dead anyway. so don't hit your head, and handle that axe with caution! :)
 
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