digging with a knife

N

nounderscores

Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
58
Hi,

I've never dug with anything besides a maddock and a shovel, and just realised that I have no idea how to dig a hole with a knife. Instinctively, if all I had was a survival knife to scrape out a shallow shelter hole with, I would put the point into the ground and drag the knife towards me.

Is this asking for steel in my intestines? How does one dig a hole with a survival knife safely and effectively.

The situation is:

1) I have a sturdy knife that says "with a strong point for digging" on leaflet.

2) the ground is hard and stony, with clay like dirt between the lumps. Might need to leaver the stony bits out. If only I had a maddock...

3) The wind is killing me and I haven't eaten for days... I'm going to need this knife to catch some food with later... if I can figure out how...

thanks
No_S
 
You dig with the side of the blade toward you. It'll mess up the edge big time so
the knife had better be easy to sharpen on a rock (no wonder steel here). I've
used the military issue "Ka-bar" many times to do just that. (Don't believe all that
you read in the leaflet) If all the hoopla is boiled out of the knife used the simplest
cheapest knives are usually the best because the steel is easy to put an edge back on.
I've use the Buck "Nighthawk" on many occasions to dig with and find them to be
an ok knife. Either way buy a knife that'll be easy to sharpen (1095 or 420hc) no less
with a thicker blade and happy digging.
 
No_S,

What I would do, if in wooded terrain at least, is make a digging stick with the knife.

If no materials, then I'd do as Tightwad has said. If it's rocky, just go a little slower, and pry the rocks up carefully and remove them with your hands to save the blade.
 
I have done this many times and it is not as bad as you might think on a quality knife. Even in hard rocky ground to really do away with the edge I had to stab the knife into the ground and pull the edge violently towards me with both hands. Even then the edge was not damaged enough to show up on a picture for example. It is not something that you would have trouble repairing in short order with a coarse hone. The tip gets the most wear as it gets perpendicular impacts when used as a pick.

In general as Brian noted all you really need to do is break up the soil and pry out the rocks, the rest you can do with your hands. You are using the knife as a pick, not as a shovel. The only real exception to this is soil that is very rooty to such a degree that it is difficult to move any signifiant volume of material as it is all bound together. This is one of the rare reasons that I would want a sharpened false edge on a knife as you can then just use that part, similar to how Brian and company used the spike on the ATC hawk.

-Cliff
 
As I see it, there are at least 3 better options than using your survival blade for digging. Personally, I just can't stand the thought of my cherished blade being abused in such a manner. I carry a Cold Steel Bushman as a "beater" blade. It gets all the nasty jobs I don't want my Campanion to do. Such as digging.

If you don't want to carry a second blade (which has many other uses as well, mind you, for little added weight), then the digging stick is a good bet. Using your knife to *build* other tools is a much better use.

The last option is to carry a 12 inch prybar with you. I've added one to my knife belt, and it's quite handy. You can use it to dig, and it's much sturdier than a stick for that purpose. You can use the "J" hook for prying rocks out of the soil. You can use it to pry rotten logs apart for grubs or dry tinder. You can use it to drive tent stakes. A prybar is cheap insurance that doesn't weigh a whole lot, and can manage a lot of tough outdoor chores.
 
Thanks for the quick replies. V Shrake, how do you secure the the prybar to your belt? do you use one of those maglite rings?
 
About the only real digging I ever did with a knife was with a machete. It worked much better than I expected - but it was a pretty heavy stiff tool, and the ground wasn't rocky.
machete
Digging sticks work surprisingly well, especially if you are after roots and don't want them diced. As V noted, a prybar works extremely well for such digging and many native people digging roots have moved to one rather than use a digging stick.
 
V Shrake has some good suggestions. I always assume, for this forum's purposes, that we're talking about a survival situation, where you're left with nothing but a knife (or maybe not even that), unless otherwise noted.

My Becker Brute worked like a shovel because of its flared shape, and the Becker Tac-Tool also work wonderfully as well.

Our ATC Spike Hawks also were great for digging -- the softer rockwell hardness (52-54) meant almost zero chance of chipping -- it might push to the side or roll a bit, but easy to straighten in the field.
 
noun, all I do with the prybar is stick it in my belt. The "J" hook at the end keeps it from falling all the way through. Just watch a late-night pirate movie, and instead of a cutlass, use your prybar in the same carry mode. :~} Then again, I guess a cutlass might come in handy for some situations. But could dig with one? And imagine the weird looks you'd get from other hikers.
 
Digging with any knife has a certain cringe factor as sandy/gritty soil is well harsh on your pride and joy. The best blade coatings are just ground off. However, any good survival knife should be able to dig; its in the job description. One reason why survival knives should be built on the stouter side. The longer the blade the better. A seven inch blade is to me the the start size. Machete sized blades even better and they do dig quite well, Gollocks are great. A digging blade does need to be stiff so forget those long springy pangas.

Most of the digging I've done are no more than hollow scratchings; to collect some worms or for a fire pit. I could have made a digging stick which is what you should do if you intend to dig anything substantial. Digging sticks more over are only as good as the wood they're made of. One area where a knife can really work is when used for turf cutting. I've cut some quite large turf blankets in the past with my 7 inch CR Project.

My method is to kneel and paddle scratch my hollow two handed. One hand over the pommel and the other controlling the flat of the blade. One reason I like my knives straight, rather than having an angled handle. If dirt cutting then use the back/spine of the blade as the cutting edge.

I've done more damage to my knive's keen edges by hitting stone than on any other material. In the field I carry a DMT medium stone. Its back at home with my sharpening box of tricks that I have to rectify my recklessness. A couple of minutes digging can translate onto an hours sharpening - ouch!

Recently, I've been carry a Glock folding spade; now that is civilised. (PS: the Glocks saw is crap.)
 
I've used a K-Bar to dig a "shallow grave" (hasty one-man fighting position).
Stick the blade into the ground at about a 45 degree angle, now cut a circle using the point as the pivot. You should cut a chunk out of the ground that is cone-shaped. Dig several and connect them all, and you will have a fighting position in no time at all. try not to tear up the top-layer of grass/soil because you can use that to camoflage your position and hide the fresh dirt.
This does not work in loose sand!

Good luck,
Allen.
 
I just checked my bar for stampings, and it's listed as a Stanley 55-112. It's hexagonal in cross-section, and 12 inches long, and around 1 inch in "diameter". Not something you'd choose to tear down a house, but quite an acceptable tool for the woods, since it's fairly light, easily carried, and quite versatile. I've had it for so long, I actually can't remember how old it is, but probably at least 12-15 years. It has a flat chisel end, and the hooked end has a nail-pulling notch filed into the chisel point.
 
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