I need a Rambo knife

[steve-in-kville]

Seriously. Something made of good steel, hollow handle to keep goodies in and such like. This will stay under the seat of my truck, since that is what we take camping.

Budget is around $100, give or take a few bucks.

steve

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Sure you don't want to spend a bit more?

Chris Reeve does a couple of outstanding "survival" style knives.

Excellent steel, superb workmanship, utterly reliable.

For example:

Sadly, we're looking at $300 or somewhere in that neighborhood, unless you can find one on the 'bay.

Also sometimes available on the 'bay, you might find a Buckmaster. Actually made by Buck Knives, it's the real deal. Solid quality, even if it is a little too big for me.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly with better suggestions, but that's what immediately comes to mind.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

there is not a hollow handle knife worth owning in the $100 range.

 

[Return of the J.D.]

Here's the problem. Most hollow-handle knives have the blade joined to the hollow handle by some VERY weak means. The hollow-handle gimmick usually SERIOUSLY compromises a blade's strength.

Your options are probably as follows. (And there's no reason you can't take more than one.)
1. Get one of the $300 one-piece-hollow-handle knives mentioned above. Great, but expensive.
2. Get a VERY inexpensive, and tough, Cold Steel Bushman. These are unlike most hollow-handle knives, in that they are made of a single piece of steel; the handle part is just rolled around into a tubular configuration. I've heard of people using crutch tips to close the back of the handle. These have stood up to spectacular abuse, and can be had on eBay for, what, $20 each? For $100, you could get 3 or 4 or 5 of these. Then you could afford to drop one in the river accidentally, trade another, and still have a knife to use.
3. Do what most people end up doing, and just get a tough knife without the hollow-handle feature--and consider a sheath with a pouch for any little survival gadgets you want to keep with your knife. (Ranger Knives, for example, would fit this description--incredibly strong, and with capacious sheath pouches. You could fit a Leatherman multi-tool AND a few other basic survival things into it.)
4. Go to Harbor Freight Tools and order their 7"-bladed, saw-backed, hollow-handled "survival knife". I think it costs less than $10. It's exactly the look you're going for, and even if the steel is bad and the blade isn't held onto the handle too well, you can use it as a tent stake or display piece if you like. There are legitimate uses for "looks" knives like this--say, as a movie prop, or for giving to a kid who's way into Rambo, old enough for a knife, but who maybe isn't going to need a really quality blade that much, and he can get all of his mistakes like throwing it, sharpening it on an electric grindstone, etc. out of his system before he gets a knife that would be more of a shame to abuse. This knife would work for that--and won't break your bank. It'll leave you enough money out of your $100 to buy a Ranger RD-6 or -7 on the used market, or a handful of Cold Steel Bushmen.

 

[Whoever Wherever]

There are no good hollow handle knives in that price range. The reason is that in any but the best made hollow handle knives the joining of blade and handle is a horrible weak spot. Theres just not enough room to secure the blade and have a compartment unless you spend some time making it. Thats why the CR you see above is machined out of a solid piece of steel. Any knock off will break at the blade handle junction. I second Arfin that the Buck is probably the cheapest usable hollow handle if you can find one. Watch out there are alot of knock offs of the Buck still floating around.

 

[steve-in-kville]

there is not a hollow handle knife worth owning in the $100 range.

Okay... what are my options??

steve

 

[steve-in-kville]

Replied to thread before seing the above two replies.

Thanks for the replies. I have some options I see.

 

[BRASMAN]

http://www.knivesplus.com/cold-steel-knives-cs-95busc.html

http://www.knifetests.com/page3.html

This knife is well worth the money.

 

[mad bodhi]

How about a good full tang fixed blade and carry your'e kit in the sheath.Like a Spec-Ops Combat Master sheath.

 

[myright]

I was reading in another thread about putting things in the handle of the sheath and what the alternatives are to doing it.

First, let's think about what a potential issue is when have your survival gear in the handle of your knife. It alters the weight of the knife and it's balance, but more importantly - if you lose your knife you lose all your survival gear. Say you are near water and drop into the water and can not get it. Now you are left with a sheath, good luck surving with an empty sheath.

So what's the alternative?

Get a nice, good quality survival sheath that has a couple pockets and plenty of space to put things. This way, even if you lose your knife you will have your sheath wilth it's gear still on your belt.

Here's an example of a sheath I saw:
http://www.survivalsheath.com/main/home.htm

 

[Lurker]

The other thing to consider is that a cylinder is not the most ergonomic handle shape for a knife, so you are going to be making a compromise there with a Rambo knife.

I would go for a pouch on the sheath or a separately carried kit.

 

[Lycosa]

You need a Busse! Carry the other nic-nacs in a pocket.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

You need a Busse! Carry the other nic-nacs in a pocket.

You could try reading at least the original post before posting to threads.

 

[chasden]

No hollow handle, but a kick ass bowie knife:

http://www.savesomebucks.com/?pm=0&page=1&searchkeywords=laredo&so=1&lpp=10

 

[xdshooter]

How about waiting for the Bark River Bravo II? Should be only slightly higher than the $100 limit, but with a Bark River warranty you won't be scared to use it.

 

[Lycosa]

You could hollow-out the Busse handle!

 

[jkarp_53]

If you decide to chuck the hollow handle idea a very good knife for the money is a Benchmade 158 CSK II. MSRP is $100, which means a reality price of around $70 for a nice piece of 1095 steel in a 6" blade.

 

[knarfeng]

Okay... what are my options??

steve

Here's the problem. Most hollow-handle knives have the blade joined to the hollow handle by some VERY weak means. The hollow-handle gimmick usually SERIOUSLY compromises a blade's strength.

Your options are probably as follows. (And there's no reason you can't take more than one.)
1. Get one of the $300 one-piece-hollow-handle knives mentioned above. Great, but expensive.
2. Get a VERY inexpensive, and tough, Cold Steel Bushman. These are unlike most hollow-handle knives, in that they are made of a single piece of steel; the handle part is just rolled around into a tubular configuration. I've heard of people using crutch tips to close the back of the handle. These have stood up to spectacular abuse, and can be had on eBay for, what, $20 each? For $100, you could get 3 or 4 or 5 of these. Then you could afford to drop one in the river accidentally, trade another, and still have a knife to use.
3. Do what most people end up doing, and just get a tough knife without the hollow-handle feature--and consider a sheath with a pouch for any little survival gadgets you want to keep with your knife. (Ranger Knives, for example, would fit this description--incredibly strong, and with capacious sheath pouches. You could fit a Leatherman multi-tool AND a few other basic survival things into it.)
4. Go to Harbor Freight Tools and order their 7"-bladed, saw-backed, hollow-handled "survival knife". I think it costs less than $10. It's exactly the look you're going for, and even if the steel is bad and the blade isn't held onto the handle too well, you can use it as a tent stake or display piece if you like. There are legitimate uses for "looks" knives like this--say, as a movie prop, or for giving to a kid who's way into Rambo, old enough for a knife, but who maybe isn't going to need a really quality blade that much, and he can get all of his mistakes like throwing it, sharpening it on an electric grindstone, etc. out of his system before he gets a knife that would be more of a shame to abuse. This knife would work for that--and won't break your bank. It'll leave you enough money out of your $100 to buy a Ranger RD-6 or -7 on the used market, or a handful of Cold Steel Bushmen.

Aside from these, you could by a KaBar for about $50 and a small pouch for about $35. That gives you a really tough knife and more storage than you would get in the handle of any knife.

 

[3mptin3ss]

what about the cold steel GI tanto?? its only 20 bux and it outperformed the 300 dollar knife its copied after.

its a beast of a knife for only 20 bux. not quite the rambo knife you wanted, but for a camping/survival knife this one is pretty good.

 

[fernando]

I agree. Save your money, donate blood, have a garage sale. Whatever it takes to afford a Chris Reeve one-piece! Do not be dissuaded from your hollow handle bent. If you get something else, you'll wish you had the hollow handle to begin with and will just spend more in the end to get it.

Three big bonuses with Chris Reeve knives:

Sharpest production fixed blades right out of the box.

Probably the absolute best customer service of any production maker.

Highest sheath quality on the included sheaths. Some of them are flat-out amazing.

Hope I've made my point - save up for a Chris Reeve hollow handle!