Define "Bushcraft" knife for me please

At 1st I had only seen Mear's style bushcraft blades so I assumed that was the style. With more searching though, I have discovered that almost any knife can play a role in bushcraft. Generally though they are small 3-5inch blades. Usually, but not always, of thinner blade stock. They are used for real world cutting tasks and for building other tools one would use in the field. I have not seen many that would be good at chopping but it is generally held that a bushcraft blade should be able to withstand at least moderate batoning.
 
shipwreck said:
You know how that post about bushcraft knives being worthless happened? That post was made by a guy with zero time in the woods using a knife for any kind of minimalist camping or survival. He wanted to join into the discussion so he googled woodcraft knives and copied the first link he stumbled on. His own post is just a rehash of what that review contains. No first hand experience or knowledge.

No one who has had any experience with using a knife could dismiss the validity of the class of knives that come under the name "bushcraft" as being worthless. This is just another example of people with no experience in a field or activity jumping in and shooting their mouth off. You see it all the time in the prac tac forum where people whose only experience with fighting or combat is from playing video games shamelessly offer opinions that fly in the face of anything that is sensible.
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so you think your king of the woods because you run around with your purdy little hand made knife
I'm sick of these hoods woods and doug ritter fools
YOU obviously dont know what tasks knives are used for in the woods
I have tried "bushcraft" knives and they dont work in almost all tasks needed in survival except skinning and notching
 
macgregor22 I call your bluff. I dont think you have any bush time at all. I have no way to prove it, but I know right now you are sitting at your keyboard with a red face because you know its true.

People with any kind of survival experience know you can build a very good shelter with no knife or cord at all. The only thing a big chopping knife does is lend a little bit of convienence for chopping (though a hatchet is superior), however a blade like a mora or skandi or that Ray Mears knife is indespensible, it is in constant use in any camping or survival situation.
 
Enough to know the value of the knives we are talking about. Hey man, tough love. Next time think before you post. Everybody makes mistakes. Learn from them and try not to repeat them. No hard feelings on my part.
 
agreed, every outdoorsman knows what works for him right
just throwing my opinion in though
this is what a survival knife shood be able to do
- chop
- baton
- Skinning
- Bushcraft ( cutting wood both dry and green)
- Cutting rope
- Leverage
- Digging
- Chopping Ice/Snow.

right now the blade I use most is the scrapyard knives yard hook
 
macgregor22 said:
so you think your king of the woods because you run around with your purdy little hand made knife
I'm sick of these hoods woods and doug ritter fools
YOU obviously dont know what tasks knives are used for in the woods
I have tried "bushcraft" knives and they dont work in almost all tasks needed in survival except skinning and notching
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fwiw ron hood of hoods woods likes a big knife and a sak for his needs.

i think you are talking survival knives instead of bushcraft.
 
I think of a bushcraft knife as a versatile tool that is at its best when teamed up Nessmuk style with a chopping tool and a small folder. It can be used as a survival tool, but it is generally a woods utility tool for the 99.9% of the time you're not "surviving" in an emergency.

A survival knife on the other hand ( in my thinking) is meant to function alone adequately as a knife and as several other non-knife tools (chopper, pryer, digger, etc.) in extreme situations.
 
Oh, I noticed bkultra is viewing this thread, here's another chance for me! ........Hey Bkultra can I have your hatchet? You know that cool strider? Just for a year or two?
 
My 2 cents before I duck for cover. I think a lot of comments made were done so on the notion that you only have one knife with you. Personally, I never go anywhere with less than 3. As far as woodcraft knives being useless, that is obviously wrong, our ancestors made do with far less, and so do a lot of us, at times.

Knocking another person's choice in tools is a waste of time. First of all, it only creates a lot of non-productive discussion and who knows what the other person can do with that choice?

Mors Kochanski can do mora (little pun there :rolleyes:) with a Mora, than a lot of people can do with a complete tool box. Once again, it's not so much the tools as the skill of the person using it.

I'm probably going to duck, now, since M40 is a member of this forum, and I think he may be in here in due course and if so, this thread may give the Busse thread a run for its money.:(

Doc
 
I usually carry a hatchet and a multitool alnong with a med fixed blade but would feel more comfortable with my med fixed blade or even a multitool by itself than a large chopper knife..I can baton sappling with my fixed blade or saw them down with my muti tool and a smaller blade to me is just handier...and attracts less negative attention since evertime I go out...part of survival is getting along with the natives....but whatever works...My survival instructor swears by a large chiopper knife.... I prefer a hatchtet for that whatever works for you..I just want to know what everyone else uses for a bushcraft knife.
 
I think Doc nailed it. This is a completely different conversation depending upon whether we are talking about one knife or three (or more). A bushcraft knife makes a fine middle tool in a three tool combo. But I'd certainly prefer it wasn't the biggest and toughest thing I had with me. It works great for crafting many useful camp items, but if I only had one knife (and had a choice) I'd take something bigger and tougher.

However, I don't plan on being in the woods with only one knife. On the other hand, if I had an unplanned wilderness situation, I'd be thankful for most ANY knife!
 
Marcelo Cantu said:
Okay I'll bite. This term will get different definitions depending who you ask. For me it's a simple one: An outdoor utility knife that can handle precise carving, efficient whittling, batoning, drilling, notching, game skinning & gutting, food prep, fire prep, and be able to produce a nice spark with a firesteel. The handle should be comfy for extended use. The blade, long enough to handle the above, short enough for control in finer tasks, durable enough to remain intact. The edge should sharpen easily but hold a good edge. Many of these points may be subjective but that is the point.
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That is a very thorough definition!

shipwreck said:
Hey naked here is a link to the premier bushcraft knife, designed by the just about the most legendary figure in bushcraft. It will give you an idea.

http://www.raymears.com/shop_item_desc.cfm?id=72&itemType=Cutting Tools&desc=Woodlore_Knife
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Can someone please explain to me why would one prefer to pay about $500 (£250) for a knife like this and not buy two Busse Badger Attack Tac's :confused:?
 
I don't think he's necessarily a troll. What we are talking about all depends on someone's definition of bushcraft. I know my definition includes a hatchet, an sak and a knife somewhere in between.

What I do know is that if any of us were stuck in the bush with just one knife, a standard "bushcraft" knife or a mora isn't what many, if any, would choose.
 
Call me quirky, but I think the OPs question has been pretty sufficiently answered. Anything beyond that is personal preference and semantics in regards to where "bushcraft" style knives and "survival" knives cross niches.
Granted, discussion for that would be something to see, but it's not really relevant in my opinion to the OP.


Gautier
 
naked said:
I'm curious of the specific characteristics of a knife that make it a "bushcraft".

Thanks!

L
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It has to be made of a wonder steel, have super high-tech synthetic handle materials, a non reflective surface, a SAW, a glass breaker pommel.....

wait, that sounds a lot like a tactical knife....

macgregor22 said:
agreed, every outdoorsman knows what works for him right
just throwing my opinion in though
this is what a survival knife shood be able to do
- chop
- baton
- Skinning
- Bushcraft ( cutting wood both dry and green)
- Cutting rope
- Leverage
- Digging
- Chopping Ice/Snow.

right now the blade I use most is the scrapyard knives yard hook
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Sometimes as knife nuts i think we tend to forget that we don't need to, and in some cases probably shouldn't do EVERYTHING with our knives. batoning, leveraging, digging, and chopping ice can usualy be accomplished more readily by using a stick. NO, you DONT need a 12" chopper for survival. the branch or the rock that you brush out of your way is every bit as much of a valuable tool as a knife. We have tendency to forget that.

What a survivalk knife NEEDS to be able to do is to secure tinder, build shelter, and skin game. you do'nt need to chop to do any of that.

Batoning is not only a waist of your time its an answer to a question that was never asked. there are a dozen other ways to get tinder.

Building shealter? believe it or not you dont need to chop down the forrest to build a lean-to. Some peoples yards have enough dead fall for that. All you need to do is is cut pine boughs for thatching and vines or bark for lashing. a sharp rock can do that.

now we cone to the issue of skinning. your 12" chopper is basicaly useless for cleaning an animal, unless your plan is to hack off the rear leg quarter and leave the rest to spoil.

All said and done, a stout 4-6" blade is far superrior for survival use. Choppers have their uses, but IMO they are secondary to a true bushcraft knife.
 
As far as building a shelter to get through a cold night. It should be in everybod's skill repetoire to make a shelter without using your knife at all. There is something called a debris hut that requires no knife or cordage to build and will keep you insulated and safe even without a fire on a cold night. The key is too heap up the debris elbow deep and keep the hut small. In my opinion this is one of the best survival training experiences you can give yourself. Because it shows you that you can take care of your most basic need in a survival crisis with no tools or supplies of any kind, other than a little elbow grease.

When I was a kid 11, 12, I used to build these huts all the time and sleep out, it used to drive my parents crazy because I would be gone in the woods overnight with no tent and they just couldnt fathom how I could do that. The hatchet allows you to do all kinds of things in terms of shelter but its most primary function is to provide wood for your fire.
The four inch blade covers a multitude of utility tasks while you are camping or surviving. The big "survival" knife is a bad compromise between a proper bushcraft knife and a hatchet.
 
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