How many of you regularily dig with a knife?

I routinely dig with my Tramontina machete. I would never subject a more expensive blade to digging. The machete makes a great shovel when digging out seeps for water or preparing ground to sleep on. It is abusive to the edge but that's why I carry a small file. The shorter Tramontina blades are light to carry when I don't need a longer machete. Basically the only reason I carry a machete in the higher elevations is to dig. Mac
 
The name for the Japanese Digging tool is Hori Hori.
I got one to use for gardening, and it is very useful.
Esp good at dividing plants.
 
A knife is for cutting not digging! :) Seriously, if I don't have a shovel or other digging tool I cut a digging stick if any digging needs done.
Gene
 
I would opt, like some of the fellas, to make a digging tool with the knife. However, I would also like to know that, should an emergency arise, my knife could handle the task and come away with minimal damage.
 
ROCK6 said:
My apologies Brian, didn't mean for you to put a fence up around your yard :D I was just asking for comments not a request for a digging test :cool:

ROCK6
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That's ok, Rock. I didn't have any posts or fence to put up anyway...:D

Seriously, the debate is good. It boils down to "whatever you have on you in a survival situation". If all you have is a knife....

A digging stick, if you have the energy or are not injured, is good. Unless of course, you're in the desert digging for water or trying to make emergency shade. No sticks in many deserts...
 
By inferior tool, I mean using an inferior knife. There are survivial knives which can be used for digging, rooting etc. without harm, except that you have to sharpen them, which you should be prepared to do of course as it happen with any use of a knife - thus a knife which can't do that is an inferior tool.

Learn how to dig so as to minimize the damage to the knife, this can be done in several ways, for example use the butt / pommell to break up veyr hard top ground which can be packed, then when digging, trail with the edge to minimize impacts. Go a bit slow, working around rocks rather than trying to go through them. Use your hands liberally to scoop out the dirt, the knife is basically just a pick, not a shovel.

There are lots of times when a digging stick is useless, try in very boggy soil, or when the frost sets in. Try to dig through ice with a stick. A decent knife is actually many times faster than something like a small spade because you need a sharp pick to break up the ground.

Of course if you actually have a pick on you, or a pole spur, or mechanical auger, then yeah you use those, but it isn't a "abusive" task for any quality large tool steel blade, those types of steels are actually intended for such work, hence why they are called tool steels.

Now of course on such tools the edges are not left sharp as on knives, so yes the knife can go dull - however if this really is a huge problem for you, I think that in general is a pretty critical issue as part of survival skills should be the ability to restore a worn edge.

So can you do it, yes; should it damage the knife in any way significantly no; do you do it for your first choice; probably not depending on the circumstances (no sticks, frost, lots of roots, etc.).

Of course there are lots of other survival tasks which also put the edge of the knife in similar conditions as digging. For example :

1) cleaning wild game (the hide can be very dirty)
2) cutting thick barked wood (can be encrusted with dirt)
3) getting roots (very good makeshift cordage)
4) cutting very hard bones (nutrition + tools)
5) cutting metals (tools)

A knife which can't dig and thus any of the above things is very limited compared to one that can, and there are lots that can thus the other ones are inferior. But yes, if you happen to have other more specialized tools on you are the time (bonesaw, cheap bypass pruner, metal snips, plasma cutter), then you use them instead of the knife.

-Cliff
 
ROCK6 said:
How many of you regularily dig with a knife?
I understand the importance of a quality "do-almost-all" type of knife. Most extreme or especially "Hood's" types of tests and reviews include a lot of digging with their blades. Now, under extreme circumstances, digging may very well be a big issue, but how many of you actually "practice" or regularily use your main blade for digging (I'm assuming the main blades are the larger Chris Reeve, Fehrman, Busse, Becker, Khukuri, etc.-types)? ...
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Cliff -- I know a big knife can be used for digging, but this is a case of practicing bleeding and I see no point to "regularily dig with a knife". I'm glad other folks have shown that it can be done and in dire circumstances I'd do it too. I carry more than one knife and I carry the equipment to resharpen, but I do not " "practice" or regularily use your main blade for digging".

Besides that big knife, I also carry a small shovel and axe, and a smaller fixed blade with a couple folders.
 
One thing I do if I'm going out with a group, or even with one other person is to carry a dedicated "Beater Blade" like one of my older Tramontina machetes. That way if there is some particularly nasty, blade deforming task to be done we just call upon that already well used blade to give up the ghost.

I've seen both extremes on this: "I paid $250 dollars for this blade and I'm going to use it for anything and everything!" -also- "I paid $50 for this blade and that rope looks kind of muddy, that might scratch the finish, we'd better chew it in half with our teeth and treat ourselves for dysentery."

I fall somewhere in there as well. I'm more like "I paid $2.50 for the machete and I can get another on at the Central Market next week if this one gets too ugly." Digging is really easy with a cheap machete. They also have the advantage of being able to penetrate deep into soil to probe for water.

Cutting digging sticks sounds nice but just about every time I have ever dug for water I was either in a desert or above the treeline where sticks are hard to come by. In fact most people going to such places won't bother to carry a machete for just that reason. I carry a short machete in those areas mainly as a digging tool that can also use to chop out the odd bush or root where I plan to sleep. I would never plan to use my knives for such ignoble tasks, they aren't disposable gear. Mac
 
Of course if you carry other optimal tools then you use them, no one would argue otherwise. Just like if you have a nice small knife you would use it rather than a large chopper to fillet a fish. However it is nice to be prepared to know how to use what you have to its full potential, as you may not always have what you want. It is quite possible for example that you lose part of your gear, or maybe don't even have any but have to depend on someone elses.

For example awhile ago I was out for a walk to a nearby store and came upon a friend whose dog had caught himself in barber wire. The guy had restrained the dog so he could not tear himself up, but was having trouble untangling the wire and holding the dog on.

Ideally I would have had some bolt cutters, but I made do with a small knife the guy had on him and two flat rocks, one as an anvil and one as a striker.

I have cut a lot of wire and nails with such small knives so as to learn how to do it with the least stress on the knife and thus achieved the above with only blunting of the knife, no significant damage, a few cuts and the wire could be removed.

That is why you practice, tools are meant to be used, and you buy more expensive tools so you can use them harder. Why would you expect a 500$ custom knife to balk at something that a $5 machete doesn't even break a sweat doing.


The best time to practice tasks which are demaning edge wise of course is when your knife generally needs to be sharpened.

With a lot of new knives for example, I will use them for EDC work for a few weeks until they have blunted down and then do some harder cutting (carpet, pop cans, bone etc.) so see how the edge holds up. I was going to sharpen it anyway so no real extra waste.

-Cliff
 
I like the looks of that spade...not a big dirt mover (compared to full shovel), but I'll bet it does great for general camp chores. As much as I like the CS Shovel, it's a tad heavy for family hiking trips.

Great feedback from all, I'm really looking at retiring my old Busse A2 SHII (I'll probably get her refurbished though). I've been strongly considering Fehrman's Fire Strike, and knowing the capabilities of the knife are important, but not as much as actually practicing with it. Digging with your main blade should not be a "hold your breath" moment, but more of a confidence that it can do the job and still be functional. I'll still try to carry the right tool for the job though...force of habit :D

ROCK6
 
Thanks Brian, just practical. I attempt as much as possible to carry a wide range of tools, and will use a pick if I have a pick (dug up some alders recently), but won't hesitate to use a knife if its all I have on hand. Yes it will blunt it, and yes I will have to sharpen it. I never thought they would last forever anyway.

I recently helped a friend take up some old carpet, very gritty, filled with lots of abrasive dirt. Had I had a cheap disposable on me I would have picked that and worn out a blade, but I just had my SAK and cut away with it. Took some metal off the edge, nothing that a sharpening would not fix, and did. Again, as I have done a lot of that, I did it so as to minimize damage, in this case it was to cut with all the blade, and not just concentrate the cutting in one section which would rapidly wear a visible notch in the edge.

-Cliff
 
Hello everyone

For sure, every task deserves its tool. But even well apart from "survival", "emergency" or "extreme" situations, even on a small day-hike or week-hike, digging can be necessary, and I would be curious to see someone carry in the mountains a shovel over all the rest of the already heavy equipment.

Lighter is better, to a certain extent. And it would be a pain to reach your goal in three times the time needed only because you're over equipped. Do not forget this is the reason survival knives exist : they are kind of heavy-duty multi-tools, in a compact and lightweight format.

Sure, if a sharpened stick can do it, it's nice, but it is not always possible. Recently, on a two-days hike in the nearby mountains, I had to dig seriously to allow an abandonned spring to flow again. Believe me, thirsty as I was, I did not hesitate half a second before grabbing my Camp Tramp and chopping the ground for five minutes to cut all the mess of earth, stonesand roots which had grown around the spring. After that, the knife only had one blunt spot, half an inch long. Resharpening took one minute on 350 and 800 grit sandpaper.

As Cliff said, survival knives are designed to do the job and I'm sorry for the people who put such a lot of money in them to eventually spare them the work.

Have a nive day !

Mathias




***edited for spelling corrections
 
I`ve never used a knife for digging and I`m sure I never will. Why ruin the edge of my knives on digging in the hard rocky soil when I need them to chop and cut. Only the thought give me goosebumps.
Digging is what the E-tools I own is used for.

When I think about it I don`t usually dig at all when I`m in the woods :) .

Tor
 
I wouldnt dig with a knife unless I was forced to or in a demanding situation (like breaking out of prison). No need to wreck the steel or snap the blade. Instead, I use an E-tool, the military folding shovel. They weigh a few lbs but it's worth it. Just make sure you get a strong, authentic one. And keep the sand out of it.
 
Would I? Yes.

In many years of bad stuff. Have I? No.

It's great to know that your blade would if you needed it to, however, there is almost always a better option.
 
Any knife which was "wrecked" by digging, would not be able to withstand chopping which is a far more stressful activity and would be readily damaged by other common survivial activities as noted in the above. Digging at most should blunt the blade, and noted by Mathias takes a minute or so to restore, that is all. I have done it with many production stainless steel knives, and very cheap low end survivial knives. Any high end tool steel blade should be many times tougher, as I said before, a cheap shovel can do it without harm, why would you be concerned about a knife which is many times thicker, made from a much higher grade of tool steel with you would hope a much higher level of QC - the knife should be able to withstand more stress not less.

-Cliff
 
just dug afire pit with my cs bushman it worked great I simply cut the sod like cutting a cake to start with then used it as a scraper to clean up the edges
 
I dug with my Battle Mistress - actually I was chopping trees on the side of a hill and stuck the knife in the soil- and it nicked up the point enough that I had to give it a serious sharpening. This is why I have an e-tool in my BOB.
 
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