Diminsions of the "Survival" knife??

jeremy1517

jeremy1517

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Sep 11, 2012
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What do you believe should be the dimensions of the ideal "Survival" knife?

Length of blade, OAL, thickness, shape, etc?

If you have any suggestions for knives, I would appreciate hearing them..
 
IMHO for an all around survival knife, you cant do better than the ESEE 6. Its 3/16" thick so it can still slice well but it would be strong. The blade is 6 1/2" so it can do light chopping, shelter and fire craft. 1095 may not be rust resistant but if worse comes to worse, you can sharpen it on a flat rock. My ESEE 6 is my go to survival blade and its in my bug out bag as well.
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Esee6 is an excellent choice. For a larger option, esee junglas. There is no set "best" survival knife or size.... You have to experiment with different sizes and systems and see what works best for you and for your environment.
 
For example, a lot of guys seem to have no need for a knife with chopping or batoning capability. Whether they are just more adept outdoorsmen than me, I just live in a different environment, I find that I need a larger knife with these capabilities living in western Washington, as everything is always soaked. This may not be the case if you live in a more arid environment.
 
It depends on your skill set and location. Many can make a very small blade work... For me personally, anything under 6" is too frustrating and takes to much time to baton down to the dry center of firewood. I also pair my knife with a sawvivor collapsible folding saw.
 
I live in Kansas. Good mix of hard and soft woods. I like my 7" blade. It's made of 52100 steel, keeps an edge well, tuff, and throws sparks well. It has an OAL of about 12" so it's kinda big. Not that big of a deal but it's not the best at the smaller tasks. Maybe I just need to improve my skills.

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I think the Busse Basic 10 and SHe are nearly perfect in the $300+ range

The Scrapyard 711 is a great choice also at a lower price point around $200

Depending on where you are trying to survive, and whether or not you will also have a folder, I might go smaller and recommend a Swamprat Ratmandu (RMD)

I keep a Basic 6 in my pack as a backup and I could make it do whatever I need, but I usually take something bigger. And I always have a folder, usually 2.
 
It becomes a question of either: getting better at the little stuff with the large knife, or big knife plus small fixed like a mora or izula with more weight, or having less capability at chopping/splitting and fine detail, but cut weight with a mid sized fixed blade like an esee 6... You have to decide what you want to do.
 
I would look for a small fixed blade or folder to go with it if you are happy with what you have. 52100 is great steel when heat treated well. That design doesn't appeal to me, but if it does what you want it to do for your uses that is what matters.
 
I've purchased many knives from an ABS Mastersmith. The knife I've shown is a smaller version of his large chopper he has won cutting competitions with. I've used it a bunch, feels very comfortable me but it is a different design. I guess I'm trying to decide whether to get a new knife or not. If there is something else that would be better. I'm not sure if the design of this knife is practical...... Don't know if I'm making sense here......
 
Mainly I don't understand the choil area. I can see why it would be hard to do small knife stuff with it.

I think either the handles should go up higher, or there needs to be more material behind the choil similar to a subhilt so you have something to hold on to with your index finger for fine work.

Adding a small knife would make it a moot issue though.
 
Also, if that back corner was rounded off, you could hold it with 2 fingers for an extra 2 inches of chopping power without it stabbing you in the palm. I never do that without a lanyard though.
 
For the woods I would definitely choose the Esee 6. lighter, longer, better slicer, you name it. The only part I can think of unless you need to carve your way out of a car is that the Esee 5 has a cooler logo on the side^^ With a small lanyard for a tad more reach, the 6 is perfect IMO
 
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