Help Find a knife for protection while hiking

You could jsut get a prybar and sharpen one end, that will give you reach, weight and not worry about knife legalities.

What ive read about mountain lions is that you need to make yourself look big. If you are wearing a jacket, unzip it and open it up with your arms, that will make you look bigger to him. A knife isnt likely to deter an animal, its only going to be effective if the animal actually comes at you.

I just got a kukri machete from kabar for about 60 bucks. Its got a 12 inch blade, and i imagine it could fend off an animal, thats my recomendation. And thats actually what i bought it for, well hiking, not for killing animals.
 
You guys are a great and a big help! Thanks :)

I just got back from my first knife show. The BAKCA had one in Palo Alto. I picked up a Lion Slayer!! LOL pretty nasty looking vicious piece of steel.

I met this knife maker from Colorado named Barry Daswon. He was really funny and had a lot of very nice knives with a few different kinds of steel. I hesitated a lot on picking this one because I was not familiar with the steel. It's L-6 steel with with hard line and canvas micarta. He called it a 4" Trailing Point and it came with a kydex sheath.

I had a good time looking at all the different knives but didn't find any Bark River Knives. ZERO! People didn't even know much about them.

I did however find out that I like the Lawless design. And BRK has those styles.

I learned a bunch and missed out on my first knife! It was so sweet, made by Chuck Richards in Fortuna CA. It wasn't a full tang but had like a truss rod through the handle. The wood was blackend curly maple that looked like a hologram as you moved it. It had a demascus blade and was a great price. I just didn't realize much so when I came back to his booth, jonesin' for it, it was gone :( He was showing me what it took for him to go from Journeyman Smith to Master. Congrats Chuck! http://www.woodchuckforge.com/gallery.htm his website.

Anyway, what do you guys/gals know about this L-6 blade for a n00b.
I don't think it's a low maintenance knife. I'll upload some pictures in a bit here.
 
Barry Dawson 4" Trailing Point
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Notice the line
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I also picked up a little 3" Ken Onion Leek in red ano (the one on the right)
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I would have a .45 on my side, but in situations where u cant carry a gun,(state parks). I would want my SOG Seal2k. It has exelent penetration, and very sharp. U stab anything with it, and it will feel it. Deep woods camping, i allways have both, and somtimes a 12ga with xx00 buck shot, with alternating slugs. Like the old saying "I would rather have,(gun/knive)and never need it, than to need them, and never have it". Are something like that.
In any situation, anything is better then nothing at all.
 
Good idea to carry the knife. I just moved to Colorado 4 months ago from Hawaii. I Mountain bike, hike, and Fish alot since I've been here. If I can I carry my HK USP compact 40 cal. if not which is most times I always carry A MOD Massad Ayoob Razorback fixed blade 154cm , BM Nimravus, Spyderco Military or BM 806d2. those are all pretty decent weight and size. if size is not an issue I carry SOG Desert Dagger. But to be honest The 40 cal or any compact subcompact is awesome, I just saw a moutain lion going down to a fishing/Biking spot last week. I was glad I had my 40 cal. even though I most likely would never use it or if attacked get the chance to use it, its sill peace of mind. And better than nothing. And the way I look at it if I'm getting ripped apart, maybe at least on shot or stab/slash is better than just taking it.
 
Cold Steel has some spears that could double as a walking staff and will add reach to your blade. FWIW, everyday I walk my dog I carry a 4' rattan staff(I think they are called a Lahte) with a cold steel Bushman fitted to the top with a quick slide on sheath. The last time I had to use it, we were attacked by 2 Chow Chow dogs that were very aggresive. I slipped off the sheath and gave one of them a whack accross the nose with the razor sharp Bushman and drew some blood. That was the second time I was attacked by these 2 dogs. The last time was in my own back yard and they would not let me get to the gate to close it so I took a shovel to them and drove them off.
However, if my knives that I carry every day won't work then I also have a
9X18 Makrov (bullet dia. is .362 to .364) that should do the trick.

Ciao
Ron:cool:
 
A better way to go is a small hatchet. They are much more effective on dangerous animals than a knife and they draw a lot less attention from law enforcement personnel. Before I got my ccw here in michigan, I carried a Granfors Bruks mini hatchet since a large hunting knife is illegal to carry unless you are actually hunting. A hiker with a small hatchet not likely to draw much attention and can be used effectively on any large animal. John Greco makes a small one also. Gerber has a model with a plastic handle that looks like it would be easy to carry. A 12 inch Kukuri from Himalayian Imports is an excellent weapon if you want to go that large, but it must be sharpened properly and is most likely illegal to carry in most states.......FS
 
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