Do you dig w/ your knife?

Lobo103

Lobo103

Joined
Jul 14, 2003
Messages
645
Some of the comments regarding digging w/ a knife in the "Matereals being cut" thread sparked my interest. My purpose in posting this thread isn't to approve or dissaprove of the practice but merely to ask, who does this and how important is it to you as a fuction of your knife?

I personally have never found a need to dig w/ a knife and would think that in a survival situation you would want to preserve your tool's edge as long as possible. You can always find or cut a stick or use a flat rock to dig w/ but you might not be able to fix a chipped or rolled edge in the field depending on the level of sustainment you've prepared for.

I have heard of field troops needing to scratch out a "hasty" w/ a knife because that is the only tool that they had available and needed it done yesterday, but thats a whole different ball of wax.
 
I have used an old,beater KaBar to dig out sassafrass root on a weekend campout with a prospective girlfriend,it was years ago and I think I was trying to impress her with my supposed herbal knowledge.Young,dumb and full of......................................................................something. I still have it. :)
 
leatherbird said:
I have used an old,beater KaBar to dig out sassafrass root on a weekend campout with a prospective girlfriend,it was years ago and I think I was trying to impress her with my supposed herbal knowledge.Young,dumb and full of......................................................................something. I still have it. :)
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Still have what? The Kabar, the girl or the ......... you were trying to get rid of? :D
 
I've used my Busse Steel Heart around the house gardening to dig tree/shrub roots. No problem. Hit a few rocks, no sweat.

I will have to disagree on part of your initial statement, that one can "always find" a stick or rock to dig with. Not always, depends on the terrain, the time available, and weather conditions.
 
thatmguy said:
I've used my Busse Steel Heart around the house gardening to dig tree/shrub roots. No problem. Hit a few rocks, no sweat.

I will have to disagree on part of your initial statement, that one can "always find" a stick or rock to dig with. Not always, depends on the terrain, the time available, and weather conditions.
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Your absolutely correct! Allow me to rephrase " In most situations and terrain with sufficient time you can find a stick or rock to dig with" :cool:
 
I do not purposely dig with a blade but glancing blows and misses that hit rock and earth are quite common thus a blade that can survive direct hits on solid rock without chipping or deformation are what I use.

Skam
 
I have a couple of heavy knives that I could dig with, but I never carry them. I have a USAF PSK that I have dug with, but my preference is to sharpen and fire harden a stick and use it along with the small garden spade I carry.
 
Only when I absolutely have to. Nothing will destroy an edge faster than digging in dirt.

The first was on a hike up on a mountain pass and my 4 yr old says, "Daddy, I have to go potty. NOW!" Then starts pulling down her pants. Out comes the Becker CU/7 and the clods start flying. I didn't have the time to find a stick. The second was this spring when pulling some old and large tree stumps out of the ground. After several hours of dirty grimey work, there were just a couple of roots left to cut, so I had my wife pull the stump over to the side with my truck (these were pretty big stumps) and I hacked through them (and a lot of dirt) with my Becker BK9. This is after snapping a shovel handle, completely dulling a good bow saw, and ruining a couple of other implements as well. I'm definitely not a professional here, but it got done. I also pried more with that BK9 than I probably should admit to, and it did just fine.

In both cases, the edges were dull enough that you could easily pull them across your skin with no chance whatsoever of cutting your self, using as much pressure as you want. Very dull. They both sharpened up easily though, one on a DMT bench stone, one on my Edgepro.

When it's down and dirty work, I just love those Beckers! Great knives!
 
I and two friends backpacked into a site in the Sierra Nevada. The site was "dry." We had to pack in water. We were relaxing after dinner, when we noticed a commotion at an nearby site. The couple there had cooked on an open fire without clearing away the pine needle "duff." When they tried to extinguish the fire, it kept "coming back" ("We can't get it out!). They had used all theor water.

I used my Cat 225Q to dig out the area so we could stomp out the smoldering fire.

We then discussed using the fire circles provided. :rolleyes:
 
So basically the consensus seems to be that digging is an emergency function or is accidental, but the steel needs to be able handle it w/ minimal damage. Sounds like good sense.
 
I dug with my Buck 888, but I wouldn't do it with any other knife I own based on breadth discrimination. I bought it because it felt like a compact shovel.:)
 
If I'd be to dig, I'd use my knife... to make a digging stick, and this can be done even in an emergency situation. Can't imagine using a knife for that: I don't spend time sharpening a knife to waste it on that sort of thing.
 
I feel digging with your blade to also be a last resort if you have nothing else to use. Like has been mentioned, the blade should be able to handle such a request of it or it's not worth having. That's why I feel so strongly about having the convex grind because of it's durability.
Scott
 
Only if:

A. There was nothing around to make a digging stick with.
B. Whatever needed dug did not allow for time to make a digging stick.
 
skammer said:
I do not purposely dig with a blade but glancing blows and misses that hit rock and earth are quite common ...
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Yeah, and that can be way worse than digging with a knife.

Lobo103 said:
I personally have never found a need to dig w/ a knife ...
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For a long term shelter, sod makes an excellent material both in terms of keeping out rain as well as being a powerful insulator. If you have a decent knife you can cut a lot of it very quickly.

You can also use dirt itself to pack rock walls, pad a substandard shelter floor, help with a fire pit, plus looking for fishing bait (or direct food if you are hungrier).

You can always find or cut a stick or use a flat rock to dig ...
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A knife will be far more efficient, try using a stick or rock in rooty soil. It also doesn't require a massively overbuilt knife if you put some time into developing optimal techniques to lower the stress on the edge. Work within the limits of the knife.

...but you might not be able to fix a chipped or rolled edge in the field ...
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Not having a way to sharpen a damaged edge in the field sounds problematic to me, pretty much the first thing you should pack after the knife is a way to keep it sharp.

Tree bark can be filled with dirt, in urban-ish areas you can often use "garbage" fairly effectively and used materials are often very gritty, plus animal skins are often dirty.

-Cliff
 
The only knife I have truly dug with was my SRK from cold steel. That was just to see the best way to do it. I played in both sandy ground and some hard clay. I was tryin to see how quickly the knife would dull in the field if I had to do such a thing. The sand dulled it quicker than the heavier thicker clay. All in all If you have no other choice.....you have no other choice.
 
If you work backward, run the spine rather than the edge through the dirt usually only the very tip gets impacted. If you need to actually cut sods/roots then the whole edge will take some blunting, a serrated knife will do this well for a long period of time, the japanese even make them especially to do that.

-Cliff
 
I have been doing some digging lately with my Rat7/1095. No problems so far. Knife gets dull fast but no damage to the blade at all. I have no plans to stop digging with this blade... it's holding up quite well. As a matter of fact it is even inspiring me to consider trying other blades that use 1095.
 
Brian6244 said:
I have been doing some digging lately with my Rat7/1095. No problems so far. Knife gets dull fast but no damage to the blade at all. I have no plans to stop digging with this blade... it's holding up quite well. As a matter of fact it is even inspiring me to consider trying other blades that use 1095.
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I have read repeatedly that 1095 was originally developed for farm machinery - plows, harrows and disks.

I await superior edification.
 
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