Fixed blade, outdoor/camping knife?

xyrium

xyrium

Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
290
Hi Folks,

I've been using a Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter lately as a camping knife. Duties are usually slight carving of branch ends, feathering branches for kindling, cutting rope, and random other minor tasks. I don't really split wood with it, but was wondering if a nice, fixed blade would be easier, so I picked up a Spydeco Bill Moran.

I'd like to add one more, under $100 (Amazon pricing let's say) fixer, and may have narrowed it down to one of these. Any suggestions/preferences from the following?

Spydeco Street Bowie

Gerber Gator

Morakniv Bushcraft Carbon (odd man out perhaps)

Buck Open Season Skinner (slightly odd man out)

Please let me know what you think. I probably camp only about 20 days out of the entire year, on random weekends. Thanks!
Paul
 
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I would suggest the Becker BK16 above all of the knives listed above.
Toss in a custom Kydex sheath and you are looking at your $100 cap.

The Ka-Bar 1095 Crovan takes a Great edge, is tough enough for gritty camp tasks, and light enough to not really notice. The Factory sheath leaves some to be desired, but you can get a custom Kydex from 710, or a few others and stay under budget.
 
The Spydie Moran is a great hunting knife. It is not a great camp knife as it isn't real strong if you do things like batoning. I have one. The Kabar Becker BK-16 or the ESEE 4 would work real well for you and stay pretty low cost.
 
I find a folder with a blade around 3.5 inches to be ideal for most camping tasks if you take away splitting kindling. I find folders much easier to carry. And folders in this size range handle food well and give my hands enough grip for wood working.

If you want to split kindling with a knife, then fixed is important. I strongly prefer a convexed or sabre-flat/scandi ground knife for this.

I'd recommend getting a Mora Companion or Companion HD and reading up on how to either sharpen a scandi blade or how to convex a scandi blade. Moras are very capable knives, cost little and provide a great way to learn about this grind before dropping more money on a more expensive knife.
 
NJBillK said:
I would suggest the Becker BK16 above all of the knives listed above.
Toss in a custom Kydex sheath and you are looking at your $100 cap.

The Ka-Bar 1095 Crovan takes a Great edge, is tough enough for gritty camp tasks, and light enough to not really notice. The Factory sheath leaves some to be desired, but you can get a custom Kydex from 710, or a few others and stay under budget.
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This ^^^
 
I don't think I'd choose the Spyderco Bowie as a camp knife. It's just not really what it was designed for. In a pinch, sure, but there are better blades out there.

I'd suggest an Ontario Afghan. 5160 steel, thick as hell, relatively cheap(though I haven't looked in a while so maybe they aren't anymore). It'd make for a great camp knife.

And Mora's are never looked down on. They could handle whatever you throw at em'.
 
I've backpacked for 2-3 weeks at a time carrying a 35-40 pound backpack in rugged mountain trails. All I ever carried was a Vic Champion in my belt pouch and a 4 inch puukko in my backpack. Never needed anything else.
Rich
 
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The Gerber fixed gator is a great knife. The mora is gonna serve you very well also

If you are open to other knives, I would suggest the Becker necker and get some scales for it. It has a huge fan club.

Also be open to the condor kephart ! Classy and inexpensive !
 
Another vote for the Becker bk16. My all time favorite blade. It's a pretty great all around knife. I love it for camping. I don't mind the factory sheath at all. It's perfectly servicable.
 
Try the Marttiini Lapinleuku 230. A little bigger than a typical Mora. Seems better suited to wood splitting. Costs about $60 with sheath.

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out of what you mentioned I would defenately go with a Mora ... but I would look at the new Esee 3HM or 4HM ... one of the Beckers mentioned or LT Wright ... the LT Wright my first choice ... the Esee if your hands small or average ... or the Becker if your hands bigger then average.

But the Mora you could get a few with their price being so good. And they are great woodcraft food prep general use camping knife.
 
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Wow, thanks guys. Seems like the Mora and KaBar get lots of love for this purpose. I have a cheaper Mora (like $13 cheap) and the larger KaBar, though I haven't used the KaBar for anything (too damned big for anything practical other than routing an adversary I suppose. I was under the impression that the s30v knives would have been favorites, but I'm happy to learn about cheaper alternatives! Thanks!
 
Gerber Strongarm $60 + Mora $15 and still a few $ leftover in your budget for something else. I think the Strongarm is a great bang for the buck all around fixed blade.

The Strongarm has replaced my BK 2 as my main camp knife.
 
xyrium said:
I was under the impression that the s30v knives would have been favorites, but I'm happy to learn about cheaper alternatives! Thanks!
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S30V does have its olace, but on an outdoors knife, I would choose other alloys...
If it was ran soft to gain toughness, you lose some edge retention. But to gain edge retention, you risk some having some chipping. Not to say that S30V is overly chippy, but it can exhibit some when grit, rough use and dirt are combined with a higher HRC S30V blade.

There are plenty of other alloys out there that can be ran harder and are more stable.
- For tool steels, look to A2, O1, Cruwear, 3V, 4V, and a Bunch of others.
- For stainless, you have AEB-L, S35vn, 12c, and a few more...
- Carbon steels (1070, 1084, 1095, et al) tend to take a keen edge quickly, have relatively high toughness, and are fairly easy to maintain. Just keep a screw top container of carmex in your bag for overly humid conditions. If it isn't needed for that, it works as an impromptu fire starter, just add a ferro rod and some fluffed cotton.

S30V is billed as a Top performer, and while most non-knife enthusiasts, or those just getting into knives, haven't experienced enough to know otherwise, would agree that it is.
But as the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea.
 
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