How many people still like big knives for survival?

Here's something to consider about cost and weight efficiency (data from cutleryshoppe.com):

Becker Combat Utility 7
- $70
- 17.6 oz w/sheath

Gerber Back Paxe
- $30
- 17.5 oz w/sheath

Gerber Exchange-a-blade folding saw
- $20
- 6 oz w/sheath

Gerber Gator folding knife
- $42
- 5 oz w/sheath

You can probably find better prices, but they should still be in the same proportions.

Scott
 
I like to take large (7") knife and a smaller sheath knife and a multitool on every outdoor trip. I also frequently take a light ax if I am going by some means other than walking. That way I always have on me personally the means to make a shelter,skin small animals/fish and fix things. That way if the ATV gets washed away from me in a river crossing,the snowmachine sinks in overflow or I walked away from a plane crash I can survive. I don't to fly often but ATV's and snowmachines are normal modes of travel up here in Alaska and every year we loose a few idiots who are not prepared. akraven
 
Also if you look at most primitive cultures who live out there all the time they have a large bladed knife as there core of there gear and a smaller one to back it up for small chores. The Lapps use the Leuko (sp) a large knife for butchering,fire wood prep etc in the artic and the amazon folks use a machete for about everything. Native Alaskans use huge butcher knives for fish and animal prep. You can't beat learning from the people who live in the environment you are in.
akraven
 
Akraven, nail on the head.

BTW, look east, on the Dempster Hwy, near Inuvik. I'm waving.
How's the moose out your way?

Regards
 
Agree with Akraven's assessment. While the little blade will be sufficient in most cases, when you refer to survival my thoughts go automatically to a larger and thicker blade. At the same time, hey there's always room for that small pocket knife. Carry the bigger knife for "survival", but throw in the small pocket knife.
 
Big knives aren't part of the indigenous culture here. Small slivers of stone where used traditionaly in conjunction with stone axes (Koidja). Most aborigines living closer to a traditional lifestyle still tend to go with a small axe and knife combo. The machete is popular in the more tropical regions up North, also with those tribes who have a fishing based existence. But these where obviously introduced.

The spear is the most important hunting implement, along with the digging stick. In many of the traditional paintings you can tell where they are referring to a man by the presence of a spear and a woman by the digging stick.

Even so my bigger blades have been popular when ever I've been in the bush with aborigines. Their 40-60,000 year old culture does not support the idea of individual ownership of property, so I always lose them. That's an endorsement in itself.
 
Have to side with my far north kin on this one:D
Better to have than have not when you are in the bush where no one around but you. During our annual lost hunter season,folks get turn around for days sometimes permenatly. Could a big blade have made a difference? Maybe, but for sure those found turned into popsicles had no fire or shelter.
 
I can't deny that a big blade makes some tasks easier, just like an ax makes some tasks easier too.
But overall, I think it depends on the survival situation.
Alone, on a forest covered island with no chance of escape or immediate rescue, sure a big blade is great (and an ax is probably better).
After all, you're going to be there for a long while and you need to build a more permanent shelter. You would really be homesteading until someone rescued you.

But if you are in the woods or desert anywhere in the lower 48 states, I think you would be better served with a good multi-tool and maybe a 3"-5" locking folder.
You're goal to survive is to either wait until help arrives (if you took the proper precautions of letting someone know your schedule and where you are hiking), or hike to civilization yourself.
The fact of the matter is that it is hard to walk in one direction, in the lower 48 states, for more than 15 miles without coming upon some form of civilization. And in some states, you can't walk 5 miles without hitting someone's house!

I also think that knowledge is much more important than what type of knife you have. I doubt if there has ever been someone who died in the wilderness just because their knife was too small.

When I go in to the woods I always have two things with me: a knife or multi-tool and a Bic lighter.
I have carried a machete or an ax or firearm or recurve bow on occasion, but I did'nt really need them. They were more for fun and experiance than anything else.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
Hi there Jim Craigand hstdist
Glad to see some other northerners on here. As for the moose they are definitly around but fish and game has put a size limit of >50" or spike fork and that makes the pickins pretty slim. Next season I want to get out further to get a better chance. By the way I have made it up the Dempster aways in the past but never over in the NWT. Love to see it though. Drop me a note guys offlist sometime if you want to talk. akraven@alaska.net
 
There's just something comforting about a big chunk of cold hard sharpened steel that a tiny little piece of sharpened steel doesn't give me! :)
 
Here in central Brazil it is essential to have a machete. An axe is dead weight in the tropics because it can't clear a trail and the things you cut are not really a match for a good machete.

Here the sheath knife is optional. I carry one out of habit but you really can get by with just a machete and a small pocketknife in this climate.

Recently I have taken to carrying a Brazilian made, shameless copy of a Gerber BMF (Cost $12.00 US). The knife is in carbon steel. I replaced the hard-rubber handle with one of epoxy resin wrapped with OD parachute cord. If I'm planning on hiking in the higher elevations (Mostly scrub) then that's all I need. If you go lower into the valleys you get into single canopy jungle that you can't move through with out a machete. A large knife will do in a pinch but you really miss the machete real quick.

The machete I carry the domestically produced Tramontina. These machetes cost about $7.00 US w/ good looking leather sheath and I haven't had a complaint yet. Mac
 
In reference to an earlier post, I'm a tree hugger, I hate SUV's and high horsepower vehicles, and I often carry a BMF in the bush when I want a sidearm. My Vic Farmer or Gerber Multipliers seem to be able to handle the work. When I'm working in the tropics I carry a Gerber BackPax for coconuts.
 
Some treehuggers, like rep, are much cooler than others, I guess :)
 
I had a tree-hugger have a nervous breakdown over my Ka-Bar in Canada once. I think he was under the impression that guys like me were filtered out at the border. He said something in French I didn't understand but the look on his face said volumes. How do you say "Weenie" in French? Mac
 
I walked by some Granolas with a 25" Himalayan Imports Sirupati Khukuri and I thought they were going to go into cardiac arrest. I spent several hours clearing a trail that they all use, but on which they never contribute any maintenance work. I agree that there's nothing inconsistent with being an embracer of foliage and carrying a large blade. It always surprises me when people assume the large blade makes one anti-environmental.
 
LOL on the Sirupati, DWK! I got harassed by some "earth muffins" who were "highly insulted" (their words) by my Cold Steel SRK, which they thought was a REALLY BIG KNIFE. :rolleyes:

For the record, I have no problem with environmentalists, as long as they have a brain and some common sense. Hey, I love the woods too! It's the arrogant/ignorant elite that just aggravate me...
 
How does one get insulted by a knife?

My wife has a little dog - a pug that barks and growls. All anyone can say is, "Oh, how cute!" Try the same thing with a German shepherd and you'll get sued. Anything big is a natural threat.

I don't know, maybe these folks were afraid your knife was going to break its leash and sniff their crotch or stab them.

I used to carry a tiny red Gerber LST folder because I wanted to thwart the PR consequences of carrying my Benchmade AFCK. I kept the AFCK with me, just didn't use it around them. It worked.

Scott
 
Originally posted by akraven
Also if you look at most primitive cultures who live out there all the time they have a large bladed knife as there core of there gear and a smaller one to back it up for small chores. The Lapps use the Leuko (sp) a large knife for butchering,fire wood prep etc in the artic and the amazon folks use a machete for about everything. Native Alaskans use huge butcher knives for fish and animal prep. You can't beat learning from the people who live in the environment you are in.
akraven
Click to expand...

About the Sami people using large knives. - Yes, but such a large knife can do anything an axe can do in the tundra enviroment. One can maybe compare that enviroment to areas above the treeline. - There is really not too much there to chop, requiring any heavier chopping tools than a large knife. I.e. trees usually don`t grow too tall there.

In denser forest enviroments in the arctic and temperate sone, I think I personally would prefer saw or axe plus small knife combo.

Nils
 
I am with Nils on this. Where I live in Oak tree country or in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, a saw and small axe would be better.

It just depends on the enviornment you live in. If you need to chop, a knife can not beat a small axe.
 
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