Good Survival Knife

If everything went according to plan, I could backpack safely with a safety razor blade to open food packages.

In fact, if it never rained, I probably would not need the tarp.

IF

"Things rarely fail according to plan."
 
Thomas Linton said:
If everything went according to plan, I could backpack safely with a safety razor blade to open food packages.

In fact, if it never rained, I probably would not need the tarp.

IF

"Things rarely fail according to plan."
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This. Exactly.

Having said that, a small folding saw is perhaps not as sexy as a "survival knife", but substantially more useful. A broken femur, for example, requires a traction splint. I (having been an EMT) could put an improvised one together in a pretty short time with a small saw, a few tree branches, a little 550 cord and a bandana. Without the saw, I could still do it, but it would take substantially more time, energy and effort - and time is often a non-existent luxury in an emergency. (Those same tools & skills would be used to build an emergency shelter as well, btw)

For me, a small saw allows me to carry a much smaller knife and still have greater capability over a monster chopper mental masturbation fantasy blade. A Bravo Gunny, Bravo I or (at most) a Bravo 1.5 and a Silky pocket Boy or Sven saw would be my choice. This would still be overkill if all goes well. However, if things don't go according to plan you have sufficient tools to deal with an emergency.
 
mete said:
Many years ago in the Cub Scouts I learned NOT to start fires in Grass or brush ! I didn' see any comment about this here ! . I fact it was in a Cub Scout outing that I first met a brush fire ,not fun at all !
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I saw that, and what looks like duff or thatch under the grass, too. Asking for trouble with that fire in my opinion, even if you have a hose or jerry can of water nearby.
 
So, for me, more like a Survival Tool Kit: SAK Farmer; Gerber telescoping pruning saw; a stout 4" sheath knife.
 
Gravelle Knives FK5

I have not used this knife in the field yet, since I just got it a couple days ago, but it's a freakin' awesome knife. The dimensions are just like that of an ESEE-6 (11.5" OAL, 5.5" BL) with better steel (3V), a thicker spine (0.2"), and a better FFG with no coating in the way. The G10 handles are spectacular, and the handles are well-molded and fit my hand just right.

It was love at first touch, now I can't wait for my next camping trip.

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I also say that the 5.1 is the best Choice. It is my favorite knife. Head over to the Survive Knives manufacturers subforum to get lots of good info on it. Survive has a starter program open right now, which closes on 4-30. You could order one now. There WILL be a wait to get it though. Here is a pic of mine.

 
KingMC said:
Gravelle Knives FK5

I have not used this knife in the field yet, since I just got it a couple days ago, but it's a freakin' awesome knife. The dimensions are just like that of an ESEE-6 (11.5" OAL, 5.5" BL) with better steel (3V), a thicker spine (0.2"), and a better FFG with no coating in the way. The G10 handles are spectacular, and the handles are well-molded and fit my hand just right.

It was love at first touch, now I can't wait for my next camping trip.
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I'll definitely check it out, keep me updated on how you like it once you've used it?
 
Riz2530 said:
I also say that the 5.1 is the best Choice. It is my favorite knife. Head over to the Survive Knives manufacturers subforum to get lots of good info on it. Survive has a starter program open right now, which closes on 4-30. You could order one now. There WILL be a wait to get it though. Here is a pic of mine.
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From what I've seen and read about it it looks like and awesome knife. Im assuming you like it so far. Any negatives that you've noticed?
 
Brommeland said:
This. Exactly.

Having said that, a small folding saw is perhaps not as sexy as a "survival knife", but substantially more useful. A broken femur, for example, requires a traction splint. I (having been an EMT) could put an improvised one together in a pretty short time with a small saw, a few tree branches, a little 550 cord and a bandana. Without the saw, I could still do it, but it would take substantially more time, energy and effort - and time is often a non-existent luxury in an emergency. (Those same tools & skills would be used to build an emergency shelter as well, btw)

For me, a small saw allows me to carry a much smaller knife and still have greater capability over a monster chopper mental masturbation fantasy blade. A Bravo Gunny, Bravo I or (at most) a Bravo 1.5 and a Silky pocket Boy or Sven saw would be my choice. This would still be overkill if all goes well. However, if things don't go according to plan you have sufficient tools to deal with an emergency.
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Your way of thinking makes sense but i want to have something that is on me at all times when in the back country. Even when just hanging around the campsite its more likely for me to have a knife on my hip then have a folding saw/hatchet on me. And im not looking for a 10 inch monstrosity, the blades I am currently considering have a blade length no bigger then 6 inches, most smaller. And if you do own it, how do you like your Sven saw? I heard really good things about it.
 
I get what you're saying - which is why my first recommendation for a knife was a Bravo 1.5. You seem to want a knife in the 6" or so blade range, and the Bravo's cutting performance is really in a class by itself.

As far as the Sven saw goes, they're great. Tough, light and they work really well. Good luck!
 
Phage said:
Your way of thinking makes sense but i want to have something that is on me at all times when in the back country. Even when just hanging around the campsite its more likely for me to have a knife on my hip then have a folding saw/hatchet on me. And im not looking for a 10 inch monstrosity, the blades I am currently considering have a blade length no bigger then 6 inches, most smaller. And if you do own it, how do you like your Sven saw? I heard really good things about it.
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I agree with this. You should always have a "survival knife" on you if it's a survival knife. A survival knife in your pack with your tarp, extra clothes, sleeping bag, snacks, etc doesn't make sense to me. To that end, I avoid knives of the size you're asking about. They work great car camping and bumbing around but on a long hike, a pound on your hip isn't all that great. Buy the big knife(we all have them. I'm like Pinnah and pull it out to watch tv. Only for me it's venture bros.:D) and use it. I'd go with esee as it's not as expensive and is pretty good and has a good sheath. That way if you change your mind you have a bit of cash left to experiment with a smaller one if you lean that way. The BK2 wouldn't be a bad choice either. Remember, you're more than likely going to switch knives at some point. I've tried several popular knives and most don't work for me. And not just the size, in use they weren't so great for what I needed.

My knife of choice right now is a scott gossman unk. 5/32" thick 3v with a blade of only 3 inches. In the summer, I'm leaning toward folder only carry to be honest. Delica is my prime suspect for that. Fuzzes sticks like the dickens. :D
 
Shotgun said:
A survival knife in your pack with your tarp, extra clothes, sleeping bag, snacks, etc doesn't make sense to me.
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Speaking as a (wannabe) alpinist, carrying a knife in the pack makes perfect sense to me.

A story... A guy I know was skiing a backcountry XC route out of Waterville Valley, NH several years ago. He was skiing along a flat section of an old logging road and took a simple fall. Possibly hooked some dead fall beneath the surface but could have just "caught an edge". He landed and ended up with a double spiral fracture of his femur - one by his knee and the other by his hip. It could happen to anybody.

He fell in the late afternoon. He was a short 2 miles from reconnecting with WV's busy trail system and about 5 miles from the road. He had a parka, bivy sack and satellite phone in his pack. But, he was so incapacitated with pain that he couldn't get his pack off, much less access anything.

This is pretty much my nightmare scenario. A simple fall at the end of the day heading into a frigid night. It's one reason why I prefer to travel in groups of 3 for backcountry ski trips. This trip was 10 miles all of which was separated from the road by a river with no good crossing options (except at either end).

Untitled by Pinnah, on Flickr

We carried a small wood stove, bivy sacks and a tarp, plus heavy parkas. 3 people: 1 injured, 1 to tend and 1 to get help.


For trips like this, there is a balance between too much and too little. Tricky balance.

But one thing is for sure... EVERYTHING in my pack is about surviving the night. Everything. There's no way I'm going to survive with what's in pockets - so much so, that I never ever even think about survival away from my pack. The conditions are too bad and the margins too thin to begin with.

There are things I want on my person but it's really more about convenience. If I'm in the woods, I have a pack.
 
pinnah said:
Speaking as a (wannabe) alpinist, carrying a knife in the pack makes perfect sense to me.

A story... A guy I know was skiing a backcountry XC route out of Waterville Valley, NH several years ago. He was skiing along a flat section of an old logging road and took a simple fall. Possibly hooked some dead fall beneath the surface but could have just "caught an edge". He landed and ended up with a double spiral fracture of his femur - one by his knee and the other by his hip. It could happen to anybody.

He fell in the late afternoon. He was a short 2 miles from reconnecting with WV's busy trail system and about 5 miles from the road. He had a parka, bivy sack and satellite phone in his pack. But, he was so incapacitated with pain that he couldn't get his pack off, much less access anything.

This is pretty much my nightmare scenario. A simple fall at the end of the day heading into a frigid night. It's one reason why I prefer to travel in groups of 3 for backcountry ski trips. This trip was 10 miles all of which was separated from the road by a river with no good crossing options (except at either end).


We carried a small wood stove, bivy sacks and a tarp, plus heavy parkas. 3 people: 1 injured, 1 to tend and 1 to get help.


For trips like this, there is a balance between too much and too little. Tricky balance.

But one thing is for sure... EVERYTHING in my pack is about surviving the night. Everything. There's no way I'm going to survive with what's in pockets - so much so, that I never ever even think about survival away from my pack. The conditions are too bad and the margins too thin to begin with.

There are things I want on my person but it's really more about convenience. If I'm in the woods, I have a pack.
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I approach it a bit differently. Opposite really. I carry cutting tools on occasion in my pack but to me that's just trip specific gear. "Survival" to me means last ditch, lost my pack, this is all I got on me. This is really where the fixed blade comes into play for me. It's a lightweight, easily carried substitute for a hatchet. I use them for other things but that's really the only reason why it gets carried. My knife is there to fabricate things that are lost, damaged or forgotten. Bow bed for sleeping mat, fire for sleeping bag, etc. Stuff happens.
 
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While it meets none of your specs; too thin, Carbon V blade, not a stainless or "super" steel, 7 inch blade length ... I like the Cold Steel Bushman.

My reasoning? It can be used to batton (but as with any other knife, excluding perhaps a 7/16 or thicker blade Kukri, a small axe or hatchet is a better tool for splitting wood) Carbon V, at one time was Cold Steel's premium high carbon steel. The design of the knife allows it to double as a spear head, and, it takes and holds a good edge, and is easy to sharpen.
The Bushman, while perhaps a little long, is good for skinning game, too. (I prefer a 4 inch or so drop point fixed blade for skinning)
Misters Nessmuk and Kephart, the "fathers" of modern bushcraft, never found it necessary to batton their knives. They both carried into the woods a small, 4 or 5 inch fixed blade, that was all of 1/8 inches thick, a good folding pocket knife, and a small axe or hatchet. In their day, they did not have tents made of the miracle fibers we have today, their knives were 1095 high carbon, (if that, may have been 1045 or 1055) since stainless and "super" steels were yet to be.
All this hype of "you need the latest and greatest _____ (fill in blank) to survive ..." is nothing more and nothing less than marketing, to get people to part with their hard earned money.
 
Phage said:
Your way of thinking makes sense but i want to have something that is on me at all times when in the back country. Even when just hanging around the campsite its more likely for me to have a knife on my hip then have a folding saw/hatchet on me. And im not looking for a 10 inch monstrosity, the blades I am currently considering have a blade length no bigger then 6 inches, most smaller.
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Those were called field knives. People who partook in outdoor recreation carried them. Somewhere, along the way, they became "survival knives." Odd. :confused:
 
mete said:
Many years ago in the Cub Scouts I learned NOT to start fires in Grass or brush ! I didn' see any comment about this here ! . I fact it was in a Cub Scout outing that I first met a brush fire ,not fun at all !
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I thought maybe I was strange as the fire in an uncleared area immediately got my attention. I guess old habits stick with you.
 
Shotgun said:
I agree with this. You should always have a "survival knife" on you if it's a survival knife. A survival knife in your pack with your tarp, extra clothes, sleeping bag, snacks, etc doesn't make sense to me. To that end, I avoid knives of the size you're asking about. They work great car camping and bumbing around but on a long hike, a pound on your hip isn't all that great. Buy the big knife(we all have them. I'm like Pinnah and pull it out to watch tv. Only for me it's venture bros.:D) ...

My knife of choice right now is a scott gossman unk. 5/32" thick 3v with a blade of only 3 inches. In the summer, I'm leaning toward folder only carry to be honest. Delica is my prime suspect for that. Fuzzes sticks like the dickens. :D
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Amen to all of that (inlcuding Venture Bros...funny, funny show).

It seems that if one spends time in the woods with, say, a Delica or Vic Farmer, they are not "doing" survival. While if one does the same thing in the same woods with a "survival knife" all of a sudden it becomes "survival."

I have never been able to quite get it. Like a woods enthusiast in the 30's with a Marbles Ideal did anything different than anybody does now. If anything that guy with his old stuff and no gps or cell phone or ferrocerium fire stick or CamelBack etc etc was probably way more "survival" than any of us now.
 
Some great comments here. If I were 19 again, I'd go for the Ratmandu. The knife just fits the bill for so many applications and yes, it is tough as nails. To my mind, the ergos are superb. The Ratmandu is a proper jack of all trades and will probably be all the knife you'll ever need. Mileage may vary!
 
Shotgun,

:thumbup:

Are you a hunter?

My cousins are true Vermonters and big hunters. They have a large wood lot and harvest it selectively and run syrup lines and such. I crash around the woods dragging a gun and scaring off game.

One of the things we talk about in deer camp is my odd approach. I always have a fanny pack, minimally. They have the pockets of their mackinaws and pants stuffed to the gills. I have more survival stuff than they do. <shrug> We learned it differently. 'Zall good. :thumbup:
 
Thank you everyone once again for all the recommendations. I think the best choice I made for doing knife research is signing up on this website and creating this thread. I'll keep all the recommendations in mind and will do some research on each knife on my own time. That being said, i'm going to continue checking this thread for any other recommendations or advice people have for me. It's nice to see a community come together like this. Also, I currently own a fixed blade with 4.75 inch blade length and I have no problem with keeping that on me at all times when im out and about in the woods so I am hoping that something around 5.5 to 6 inches wont be to much harder to carry.
 
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