Going Hunting and Need Advice

Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
114
I want to buy a knife that I can use as a survival knife should anything happen. The two I am looking at are the:

Columbia River Ultima plain Edge 5" version Link
or
Benchmade 10505 Link

Any suggestions?
 
buy a RAT 3 or RAT5 or even TAK-1 you'll need to decide if you need plain edge or combo edge 1095 or D2 steel. I prefer the Ontario RAT line up over the two mentioned. my $.02 !
 
had the rant before but ended up trading it before it got any use. for the short time i had it the knife seemed like an excellent slicer however the blade was fairly thin. the ultimate looks like a cool knife and i've handled one in store however the grip is what turned me away. it seemed like that with prolonged use it may be a bother to my hands.

Johnny is absolutely right. a k-bar usmc can be found for roughly 50 bux and takes a good beating. i own the 7 inch version and the knife has served me well thus far.

however for my personal recommendations you can take a look at some of the mora's and other knives at rag-weed-forge. they are very well made and are pleasing to the eye. mora's tend to be fairly cheap. you could probably pick up a mora 2000 and get normark to make you a custom kydex sheath for it and still have money left over for a nice opinel #7 to use for detailed tasks.

cheers
 
a hunting knife is used a lot more for huntign than for survival. the first thing is to decide is what you are going to hunt, if you hunt rabbits than any pocket knife of reasonable quality will suffice, i have skinned rabbits with my car keys once. if you are3 hunting large game like deer, moose elk, bear the someting with a 4 inch blade would be more usefull. one of my favorites is a cold steel master hunter with a carbon steel blade. i have bought these from cold steel-special projects the sell some seconds that are much less expensive and very servicable. survival knife is the knife you have with you , a cold steel master hunter will take care of you if you have refined your skills a bit.

alex
 
Fallkniven S1!! only twice what you want to spend and worth every penny....other than than just get a SAK, a One Handed Trekker would do nicely for everything you need and then some. OHT - 30-35 dollars.
 
Of the two you showed the Benchmade would be the better hunting/skinning knife. The Mora Carbon clipper or 2000 would also do well for you.
 
Of the two you showed, the Benchmade is a hunting knife.

I would recommend a RAT-3 in 1095 <$60.
 
My question is is this in addition to a hunting knife, or as o do all blade?


Of the two you posted I prefer the benchmade, I just dont really like that particular columbia river.

I also agree with the other posters about the Kabar, its hard to beat for the price. Buck also makes some great knives in the 50$ range.

If you already have a hunting knife onboard, a hatchett might not be a bad idea, a 20$ fiskars hatchett. is a good bet and will out chop either of the knives you posted.
 
Use a mora as a neck knife, have anyother on your belt, and one more in your ammo bag. Then get a fiskar/ gerber hacket or a folding saw. There's your 50.
 
I don't care for Tanto blades and the BM looks a bit thin, but I've never held it, so who knows.

If you could spend a bit more, I'd urge you to buy a Fallkniven, but the Mora 2000 with kydex sheath from Normark will run you a little over the $50.00 mark and it would be worth the expense, because it's an excellent bush blade. Still, there are other knives out there that fall into the price range you're looking to spend and if you are more inclined to like the military/tactical type of blades, I'd have to agree that the Kabar Marine fighting knife would be up to the task.
 
I have one of these and would choose it over the two you mention. It feels perfect in the hand and keeps a keen edge well.
The Rant has the same BILT system as the BM CSK and if you do a search on these forums you will find where someones failed and when stripped down it does seem to have a bad weak point, not at all a knife I would trust !
http://www.newgraham.com/detail.aspx?ID=5148
Here is mine...
SaanichInlet007.jpg


Saanichton026.jpg
 
I want to buy a knife that I can use as a survival knife should anything happen.


Hi Cuchuga,

Welcome to the forum! I am not familiar with either of the two knives you mentioned. I'm also not clear exactly you are looking to use your "survival" knife for. There is no shortage of controversy regarding what makes a good survival knife.

Where are you going? How long will you be out? What is your level of woods experience? What other "just in case" gear are you planning to take?

-- FLIX
 
Hi Cuchuga,

Welcome to the forum! I am not familiar with either of the two knives you mentioned. I'm also not clear exactly you are looking to use your "survival" knife for. There is no shortage of controversy regarding what makes a good survival knife.

Where are you going? How long will you be out? What is your level of woods experience? What other "just in case" gear are you planning to take?

-- FLIX
Thanks guys!

I just want a knife that could handle the abuse one might put on it in a survival situation. To be more specific I have a few "criteria" I am looking for:

1)4-6" Blade +- a little
2)Fixed Blade
3)Full Tang or a variation. Like the BILT style that I think Benchmade has is fine
4).125" blade at least.
5)Preferably drop point

The only other "just in case" gear I will probably bring is some sort of flint fire starting spark making device (the ones where the person hits it with their knife to make sparks). I'll be out for just under a week and my woods experience is more than average, I would say. I am really not that into the military knives style. I dont think IMO that a outdoorsman would need a huge blood groove unless they are killing boar with it. Thats not to say I don't like KA-BAR, they are great. Anyways, I am thinking about getting, and doubling my price, an Ontario Rat 3 in D2 Tool Steel. What do you guys think of that? I really like that type of sheath the RAT 3 comes with. Thanks for the friendliness and replies. :)

Edit: Actually I just found the RAT 3 for around $80. So I am also considering the RAT 5.
 
I think I know what you mean by "just in case".For me it is not very realistic but kind of fun to think I would be able to survive if I had the right knife.Any of the blades you named would work, though I think the Rat 3 you mentioned is better.

In the real world I think survival has a lot more to do with your brain that your knife.If I wanted to be able to carry my survival-hunting gear at all times and wanted to stay around $50 this is what I would choose.
1.Wetterling hatchet
2.Cheap Mora
3.Opinel
4.whistle
5.compass
6.a couple Bic lighters
7.a few yards of strong nylon cord.
 
I think I know what you mean by "just in case".For me it is not very realistic but kind of fun to think I would be able to survive if I had the right knife.

You said it best. Thats how I feel. It also feels nice to have your trusty steed by your side while in the woods.
 
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