Digging Knife

Dig a 12' hole in Western Washington and the rain will drown you before you hit 6' :)

I reckon I could walk a few miles for the same energy as digging a deep hole with a knife and that would take me to one water source or another in the mountains here. Too much water is more the problem than too little.

I vote for using a stick for digging.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I'm the only guy here that has actually dug a twelve foot deep hole in the desert with hand tools. I had a pick and shovel and it took me five days. Admittedly, the hole was 8'x4'x12' so it was a bit bigger than would have been necessary for a well, but I would have died of dehydration long before I hit twelve feet. And with a knife? Fuhgeddaboudit.

I never did strike water. That was a good thing; I wasn't digging a well. If the hole started flooding it would have been a real pain to pour the concrete.
 
Digging in the ground even in rocky soil is not that hard on a knife. I have done it many times. With proper technique to resist focus overloading of the edge then it would just take a few minutes to sharpen on a medium/coarse stone. Digging sticks do not work well on really tough ground.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Digging in the ground even in rocky soil is not that hard on a knife. I have done it many times. With proper technique to resist focus overloading of the edge then it would just take a few minutes to sharpen on a medium/coarse stone. Digging sticks do not work well on really tough ground.

-Cliff
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I request quantifiers.

What do you mean by "rocky soil"? Some posters on this forum harbor an alien releaty to the rest of us. Before stating rocky soil knife digging is ok; defining "rocky soil" is necessary. Otherwise your statement lacks validity.

What geographic location did you perform your knife digging tests? The loamy soil 12 feet think of Ohio is much different than near concrete stubborness of Mojave desert caliche..yet both can be termed rocky soil.

Where were your tests conducted?
What was the makeup of the soil?
Rock to dirt ratio?
Geological makeup of said rocks?
Rockwell hardness of rocks to knife used?
Measured force of knife digs in foot pounds?

What is your favorite color?
 
digging is not the issue here, reasons why you are digging are the issue.

I am a contractor, we routinely dig 10 to 20 foot deep holes, sometimes much deeper, and we only find ground water to be a problem in about a quarter of the holes. We are digging in minnesota, land of ten thousand lakes, and we just finished a home where had to excavate a small area 21 foot down to place footers under the walls in the sub basement. (this was only on half the basement, the other half, because of lot slope was nearly a walk out. The soil at 21 feet down was as dry as powder.

Where oh where did you come up with this data that water is just below the surface, maybe we should tell those dying in the Sudan and Somalia that all they have to do is dig a few feet down and they will be saved. In the Sudan, I saw one hand dug well over 100 feet down that was fed by a trickle of a aquifer.
 
zenheretic said:
Rockwell hardness of rocks to knife used?

What is your favorite color?
Click to expand...

I don't think the Rockwell scales is appropriate for this as natural stones, depending on the condition will have a very low rating in which none of us will be able to relate. MOH is more fitting.

I'd guess his favorite color is red.
 
I think Catapilar is concidering coming out with a pocket back hoe but fuel would likely break your back or pocket book.
 
swedishdwarf said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I'm the only guy here that has actually dug a twelve foot deep hole in the desert with hand tools. I had a pick and shovel and it took me five days. Admittedly, the hole was 8'x4'x12' so it was a bit bigger than would have been necessary for a well, but I would have died of dehydration long before I hit twelve feet. And with a knife? Fuhgeddaboudit.

I never did strike water. That was a good thing; I wasn't digging a well. If the hole started flooding it would have been a real pain to pour the concrete.
Click to expand...

how many bodies went in to that hole?
 
aersixb9 said:
I can't get through dry clay without metal! Rocks tend to break, and I'd be chipping away all day with a rock! The Ka-Bar Warthog does look pretty good, I could use a stab-and-twist motion to dig pretty easily. And yes, if you dig 3-6ft in most areas (12 feet in the desert) you'll hit water. When I go wildernessing I like to bring as few things as possible, and even my little folding shovel is too heavy for me to want to carry it! But I usually bring a knife.
Click to expand...
You have been watching way to many movies.
 
Guntotin_fool said:
digging is not the issue here, reasons why you are digging are the issue.

I am a contractor, we routinely dig 10 to 20 foot deep holes, sometimes much deeper, and we only find ground water to be a problem in about a quarter of the holes. We are digging in minnesota, land of ten thousand lakes, and we just finished a home where had to excavate a small area 21 foot down to place footers under the walls in the sub basement. (this was only on half the basement, the other half, because of lot slope was nearly a walk out. The soil at 21 feet down was as dry as powder.

Where oh where did you come up with this data that water is just below the surface, maybe we should tell those dying in the Sudan and Somalia that all they have to do is dig a few feet down and they will be saved. In the Sudan, I saw one hand dug well over 100 feet down that was fed by a trickle of a aquifer.
Click to expand...
It is the same here in Texas.
 
aersixb9 said:
I can't get through dry clay without metal! Rocks tend to break, and I'd be chipping away all day with a rock! The Ka-Bar Warthog does look pretty good, I could use a stab-and-twist motion to dig pretty easily. And yes, if you dig 3-6ft in most areas (12 feet in the desert) you'll hit water. When I go wildernessing I like to bring as few things as possible, and even my little folding shovel is too heavy for me to want to carry it! But I usually bring a knife.
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I been in some desert-ish areas ,

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For the hell of it , while we were out there , we did dig a hole looking for damp sand , not water actually but just a hint of damp sand ..

we only did 6 foot , with a shovel , to go deeper we would have needed shoring and stuff ... the stuff is like red talc , only finer and drier .

Id say that maybe in SOME desert places , water is 6 - 12 foot under ground maybe , but its not everywhere ... not by a lONG shot
 
I use my Tramontina machetes to probe for water in dry streambeds. Often you can find sandy places where water pooled during rainy season. If you shove the machete blade into the sand, and give it a little twist it may come up smeared with water. If it comes up dry move lower down the watercourse and test again. If it comes up wet then it pays to dig the sand out and water will most likely pool in the bottom of the hole.

Cutting a digging stick is a good idea, but I often find myself digging out seeps up in altitudes where there aren't many trees, just grasses. The digging doesn't beat up the cutting portion of the blade, just buggers up the tip and maybe the first inch and a half of the sweep of the blade. Here's the secret, carry a file. Mac
 
This is what I've used...granted I'm not digging huge holes but I've dug a field latrine with it.

sp8_machete.jpg
 
Just some ramblings here....

Sure, it is possible to do some digging with a knife. I've done it before with about a 7" blade - but only to make a small, shallow hole for an expedient latrine. And that was a long time ago. I think anything beyond that it would be inefficient to dig with a knife. Since that adventure, I have relied on actual digging tools like the Glock e tool and the CS Special Forces shovel. Of the two, I prefer the CS shovel.

Sure, a knife could work, but the energy spent to make it do the work would stress and tax you all the more. A knife is a poor tool for any substantial digging. As far as on-location improvised tools go, I'll agree with others here that sticks tend to not work too well in hard soil.

I'm all for trimming the load and going light. However, I try to balance the weight of my load and the activities I foresee myself doing. If I know water is going to be an issue where I'm going, I try to nail down the nearest reliable water source, and then just plan on humping water to where I'm going. So what if I don't get to where I'm going really fast. Health and safety are my primary concerns, and i will not compromise either just to save a little weight.

All that said, if I had to dig with a knife, something like the EST from Jensen Elite Blades might work ok...
EST-7
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EST-9
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Or the Spetsnaz Survival Machete might work... Until the handle breaks off...
Spets.jpg
 
I would use my knife to make a wooden shovel type digging stick out of a suitable piece of wood. I have done this a few times to dig up the soil to remove the flammable layer of dirt to expose mineral soil for camp fires. Doing this helps prevent the fire from burning into roots which makes camp fires difficult to extinguish and can lead to forest fires later.
 
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