Define "Camp Knife"

[pict]

Here's a question I've wanted to discuss for a long time. We often use the term "Camp Knife". I've seen it in several threads recently. Every time someone posts a largish blade someone says, "That would make a great Camp Knife".

What tasks are so specific to Camps that carve out this niche for a large bladed knife? I certainly have my own ideas but since I live in macheteland I admit I'm biased.

So my question has two parts.

#1. In your opinion what is a camp Knife? (no wrong answers here)

#2. What jobs does your Camp Knife do?

Mac

 

[kdstrick]

They say a picture is worth thousand words... Here is mine. A nekkid Swamp Rat Chopweiler .

She does everything I need her to do from fire to food prep.:thumbup:

 

[RescueRiley]

I think a camp knife is a heavy duty style blade which could be used for limbing branches, splitting kindling, batoning fire wood, quatering game maybe, basically IMO a camp knife is a partner to a much smaller possibly more delicate blade (a folder for me) the camp knife should be able to perform the heavy tasks that your primary knife might not be able to, I'm curious to see other peoples responses

 

[Skunk Ape]

a knife you take camping?

 

[Cpl Punishment]

#1. In your opinion what is a camp Knife? (no wrong answers here)

IMO, a knife that can do all the required chores in camp without a second blade needed. I usually say "camp blade" because I'd rather use a hatchet or kukri than a typical knife.

#2. What jobs does your Camp Knife do?

It would have to cut and possibly split wood (i.e. run a fire), be useful for food prep and consumption, and be able to do various chores for pitching a tarp/tent, etc.

 

[koyote]

I define a camp knife .. well. Furst there's 3 kinds of non hunting outdoors knives I think of.

Hikers- light, small, sharp. Survival/woods knives, which are bushcrafters. Again, there's a tendency to limit blade lengths to 4-5 inches (rightly so) with a lot of handle and good close cutting ability. And batoning & drilliung are important here.

Camp knives are the place where you go for a bit more blade, and play around with designs a bit. A camp knife is going to be used mostly for food, cordage cutting, and kindling. I often go for a larger blade in a camp knife than I do in a bushcrafter, since I'm cooking for groups and don't have weight penalties that are as stringent.

 

[stingray4540]

Interesting question. I guess my camp knife would be a hatchet/axe. I carry a 4" blade on my belt, and I leave a hatchet/axe at camp to do everything that I don't want to do with my belt knife.

 

[j williams]

duplicate....

 

[j williams]

nice setup man. I am likin these chopweilers. Neat compass on the kydex too, who does these?

They say a picture is worth thousand words... Here is mine. A nekkid Swamp Rat Chopweiler .
Thats a sweeeet setup man. I like the comaps on the kydex. Who does that? I would like to find a satin chopweier.
She does everything I need her to do from fire to food prep.:thumbup:

I define a camp knife .. well. Furst there's 3 kinds of non hunting outdoors knives I think of.

Hikers- light, small, sharp. Survival/woods knives, which are bushcrafters. Again, there's a tendency to limit blade lengths to 4-5 inches (rightly so) with a lot of handle and good close cutting ability. And batoning & drilliung are important here.

Camp knives are the place where you go for a bit more blade, and play around with designs a bit. A camp knife is going to be used mostly for food, cordage cutting, and kindling. I often go for a larger blade in a camp knife than I do in a bushcrafter, since I'm cooking for groups and don't have weight penalties that are as stringent.

:thumbup: good post christof. I agree 100%

 

[Bushman5]

I define a camp knife as one for in camp tasks:

- food prep
- fuzz sticks
- kindling gathering
- cordage cutting

most of my camp knives are under 5" in length

for bushcraft/fieldcraft my blades range from 10" - 20", and include both choppers, machetes, large bowies, and axes.

 

[ilbruche]

I think a camp knife would be one you'd be less likely to carry on your person. Something that would be kept at your camp. So it would perform the basic camp chores. Splitting kindling, cutting food, etc.

I'm thinking of an established camp setting. So you could be car camping at deer camp or any other sort of camp.

An axe would probably be available so the knife wouldn't have to be able to chop but it would do everything else.

 

[crbauhs]

im gonna agree witht the others here. it is a knife that needs to be able to handle wood working, batoning, making fuzz sticks, cutting cordage, and prepping food. for me it is my shiv/enzo/mora/buck 119/ka-bar

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I think a camp knife would be one you'd be less likely to carry on your person. Something that would be kept at your camp. So it would perform the basic camp chores. Splitting kindling, cutting food, etc.

I'm thinking of an established camp setting. So you could be car camping at deer camp or any other sort of camp.

An axe would probably be available so the knife wouldn't have to be able to chop but it would do everything else.

Good definition - I like that - I think I will think that way in the future. Man, it seems Nessmuck knew his stuff.

He carried, then, a hiker, a Camp knife and an axe.

TF

 

[texastonydobbs]

I think a camp knife would be one you'd be less likely to carry on your person. Something that would be kept at your camp. So it would perform the basic camp chores. Splitting kindling, cutting food, etc.

I'm thinking of an established camp setting. So you could be car camping at deer camp or any other sort of camp.

An axe would probably be available so the knife wouldn't have to be able to chop but it would do everything else.

A+ Excellent call bro

 

[BarberFobic1992]

A camp knife is a well rounded knife that will perform a variety of tasks that are necisary to camp life.
the dutys i need a camp knife to do are food prep, trap making, bushcraft related tasks, whittling stakes, fuzzy sticks, and wood splitting. chopping is not usually necisary, as there is plenty of wood laying around. I am not saying i never chop wood or anything ( i quite enjoy chopping) but if i only have one knife i wouldnt want the extra weight od a chopper to hinder the more essential duties.

 

[allenC]

I think that the term "camp knife" is an old outdated term for any large strong knife that folks once used for setting up a campsite in the wilderness.

I say "outdated" because camping has changed alot in the last thirty years.
Today, most experienced campers usually try to leave as little trace as possible when camping.
It seems that down here, in the southeastern US, the only folks who carry a large fixed-blade as their "camp knife" are the ones that don't really know much about camping.

 

[JK Knives]

When I think camp knife, I think of something like this. Thin enough for food prep (1/8"), but big enough for light chopping.

John

 

[Fletcher Knives]

What I think of when I say camp knife is:

...ok I have no idea. I know what I expect when I hear "chopper" and I know what I expect when I hear "bushcraft". I have no idea what makes a "camp knife." I don't have anything I would categorize as a camp knife. In my mind, a camp knife is the knife I use around camp. In that respect, much like the question of "what is your survival knife?" It is just the knife I have on me and am using at the time. I will say that typically, I'm not using a little whittler around camp for cooking, making tent stakes, etc. Usually it's a slightly larger knife, but still, I don't know what would make it a camp knife and not a bushcraft, chopper, whatever. The phrase "camp knife" seems to put a picture in my head or a Leuku or similar large knife, but that is only because that is what I've seen here when someone calls something a camp knife. If you had asked me what my camp knife was before I found this site, I would have pulled out whatever was on my belt and said "This."

 

[pict]

Lots of good answers so far, keep them coming. I'll try to work out some form of consensus post later and add a few of my own ideas.

That Chopweiler is a nice set-up. I wouldn't mind a rig like that at all.

Good stuff.

Mac

 

[ilbruche]

When I think camp knife, I think of something like this. Thin enough for food prep (1/8"), but big enough for light chopping.

John

Sorta the same style knife I think of. My Farmer camp knife so far has turned out to be the best I have ever owned. Some people freak out at the thought of chopping with an 1/8" blade but this thing cuts like a demon.