I need advice for a survival/outdoor knife

E

evasion

Joined
Apr 14, 2000
Messages
123
Hello everyone. I'm faced with a little dilemma. At this moment my budget is a little short and I want to buy a fixed blade all-purpose knife for hunting, anything in the outdoors, camping, and just plain roughing it out in the woods. I was thinking about buying a Buck Specialist with the 6" blade or the one down with a 5" blade and maybe 1 or 2 mora knives (one 6" and one with a plastic handle for heavy heavy use). Then I started thinking...hey I could buy 1 very nice knife instead of these 3 so-so knives. Maybe a fallkniven S1 or A1. What do you guys think? Do i need a blade over 5"? If I want to cut down a small tree I could hammer the knife into the tree instead of chopping. A bigger blade might get in the way of smaller chores. Is it really needed to have a knife with the tang exposed at the bottom to be used as a hammer? I look forward to hearing your opinions.
 
Originally posted by evasion:
Hello everyone. I'm faced with a little dilemma. At this moment my budget is a little short and I want to buy a fixed blade all-purpose knife for hunting, anything in the outdoors, camping, and just plain roughing it out in the woods. I was thinking about buying a Buck Specialist with the 6" blade or the one down with a 5" blade and maybe 1 or 2 mora knives (one 6" and one with a plastic handle for heavy heavy use). Then I started thinking...hey I could buy 1 very nice knife instead of these 3 so-so knives. Maybe a fallkniven S1 or A1. What do you guys think? Do i need a blade over 5"? If I want to cut down a small tree I could hammer the knife into the tree instead of chopping. A bigger blade might get in the way of smaller chores. Is it really needed to have a knife with the tang exposed at the bottom to be used as a hammer? I look forward to hearing your opinions.
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Sounds like you want something that will take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. I think I would get a knife with a full tang. There is an industrial strength knife out there that might fit the bill for you (probably many) but I'm not sure if they are going to keep on making them and if they do, they are expensive. This is the Busse Badger Attack. Another one might be one of the smaller TOPs which can be seen at Ron Hoods surivial website. If you don't mind rubber handles (I seem to be phobic about these lately) then try the Fallkniven line. James Mattis (Chai Cutlery) had some with micarta handles but they were definitely pricey.

Since you stated that you are on a budget, I don't think you could go wrong with a Buck. Buck knives have always had a great reputation and I think it's well deserved. Even in this day and age of fancy knife steels, Buck knives remain popular and they continue to innovate. I would also check out Kabar, Cold Steel, and Ontario.

The Mora's would be nice for slicing and dicing but they are not designed for chopping, bending or hammering on. As a lightweight backping knife, they are excellent. If you want to do "survival things" you need something a little heavier.

How about this combo? A Camillus Companion (was $63 at the 1stopknifeshop) for chopping and heavy knife work and a Mora ($8 at Ragnars) for the fine stuff, like cleaning those 18 inch brown trout you are going to catch in the wilderness.

Or you can get a nice 3-4" knife for general work (e.g, Grohmann Camper, Mora, Schrade Sharpfinger, Marble Fieldcraft, Fallkniven, etc.) and buy a small Sandvik hatchet for $30 and chop your heart out. The leather-handled Estwing hatchet is a nice one too.


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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
I agree with HooDoo. I like a fairly small, very sharp knife paired with a hatchet. Learn your tools, and they will amaze you with potential.
 
Maybe somebody could be more specific if they knew what you budget is!?! How much do you have to spend?

I'm a cheapskate to begin with and have never spent more than $35 on a knife...Even though I wish I had bought something better and more expensive in the long run. Sometimes a $60 knife is better than a $35 and a $35 pair, sometimes it is the other way around. So I could learn something useful from this thread too!
smile.gif


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Plainsman
primitiveguy@hotmail.com
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Plainsman's Cabin Forums</A>
 
Well..my budget is not too restrictive. I want to get a decent knife but going over $100 US would be a bit much for me. What do you guys think of the Buck fixed blades? They have 7 1/2" 6" 5" 4" etc. What type of steel do they have? The companion looks good, as does fallkniven knives. How does the companion, A1, and buck compare? Thanks for your replies.
 
If you're looking for one knife do do all things, you are asking a little too much out of a piece of steel. That said, I would have to direct you toward Marbles knives.
But I agree, under the circumstances I would buy a quality hatchet, I prefer a HI Khukuri, and a good Marbles (like a field craft)smaller knife. Large, thick bladed knives do lots of things good, but they're not worth a hoot when it comes to, say, sharpening a stick, like you would do with a pocket knife.
Dan
 
Great advice HooDoo. I'd add that Campanion is getting rave reviews and for less than a C note it's hard to go wrong. There are a ton of knives out there for less than a hundred made by a bunch of quality manufacturers. Gerber, Buck, Marbles, Camillus, Cold Steel (oh yes... the Master Hunter would be excellent). Geez... as you can see the choices are out there. Go check them out.



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-ramius
"oderint dum metuant"
 
Buy one knife, and one hatchet. The hatchet will do all the pounding and chopping you ever wanted to do, and better than any knife you can buy. Then you can focus your knife decisions on the tasks remaining, allowing you to buy a knife that will perform those jobs better.

On the other hand, a rock will pound things very well, and I've set up more than one tent with a rock or a stick. A pocket chainsaw will cut things far better than a small hatchet or knfie will chop things. If you are opposed to hatchets in general, as one or two people out there seem to be, you can go buy a pocket chainsaw and look for a rock when you need to pound, and then you can still specialize your knife.

Don't buy a knife, and expect it to all of a sudden supplant you entire toolbox, be it hunting, fixing a car, or surviving. Get the different tools.


Stryver
 
I agree with Stryer, you get the best of both worlds in that combo. Hard to best it with one single knife. I know and ride both sides of the knife vs. hatchete issue, but when it comes to hard knocks and pounding a hachete wins hands down.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
You can't go wrong with a Kabar. They take a lickin and keep on tickin and tickin. Not to mention they are fairly cheap. That's the knife I trust with my life.
 
Depends on blade size:
about 5 inches - Marble's Woodcraft ($75 & 4.75 inch blade). Have one and it is the absolute most well shaped blade for a smaller utility knife.
6 inches - Marbles Expert again ($75 & 5 7/8 inch blade). Love that 52100.
7 inches - Kabar. Cheap ($35), sturdy, and offers lots of utility.
One word on the Marble's. The steel is 52100 and holds a great edge, but it rusts. I used a cold blueing solution from Brownell's and blued the blade. Now I have no rust whatsoever on my blades.
 
Hey, let's not forget the Ontario products. Their survival bowie looks like a hefty machete, the marine raider bowie is a tough piece of steel. The quartermaster is thick yet not long for ease of carry. The full size tanto is 14" OAL, 1/4 inch thick and would work in a pinch. The latest addition is the frontiersman bowie which is a light fast handling long blade, can be used as a weapon or machete. Best part is that they are all under $50.

Another great blade is the CS Recon Scout. It has a 7 inch blade and is 5/16 inch thick, razor sharp out of the box and best in Carbon V steel. You can get it for $80 from CS as a second.

Buck Intrepid and Nighthawks.

All BK&T's

Falkniven's

The Gerber Bowie if you can find one.

For another $50, you can get a Livesay RTAK, I think they are around $150. It may be worth waiting, if you are only going to get one knife.
 
Originally posted by CAman:
Depends on blade size:
about 5 inches - Marble's Woodcraft ($75 & 4.75 inch blade). Have one and it is the absolute most well shaped blade for a smaller utility knife.
6 inches - Marbles Expert again ($75 & 5 7/8 inch blade). Love that 52100.
7 inches - Kabar. Cheap ($35), sturdy, and offers lots of utility.
One word on the Marble's. The steel is 52100 and holds a great edge, but it rusts. I used a cold blueing solution from Brownell's and blued the blade. Now I have no rust whatsoever on my blades.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting tip about the blueing. I guess I will have to figure out which one of my marbles I want to "sacrifice" to try it out. They do stain rather easily.

I'm a little leery of ranking the Woodcraft as a survival knife. The main reason being that the tip is a little too delicate for prying. But because of the slender tip, the knife is a great "outdoorsman" knife, especially if your interest is big game. It's an outstanding blade for just about any cutting you want to do on a wild animal. And with that slender tip, it will do some fine whittling and skin a squirrel as well.

Even though the blades are a shorter, I see the Fieldcraft and especially the sport 99 as more suited for a "survival" knife cause the tips are more robust. I wouldn't be afraid to hammer on the spine of my sport99. Having said that, I prefer a full sized tang with riveted slabs so I can use the pommel for a hammer. I don't think the Marbles in general are really suited for that. They are hunting knives to me.


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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
A few thoughts come to mind from reading your enquiry and replies. First is that you must really like the look and feel of the Buck knives you have seen or are getting a really good deal. Second I agree with the thoughts expressed on the Ontario knives as I have recommended them to members of our local CAP (Civil Air Patrol) ground team. Lastly, however, I am in full agreement with the idea that if you want an inexpensive knife that is tough enough to take on a war, and still be handy enough to do the small chores around camp, you need look no further than the Kabar Marine Fighting knife (or its Cammilus equivilent). In conversations with Special Forces operators from Vietnam to more modern times it is still the knife of preference to take into the field. Want something smaller use the Pilot Survival knife. I don't personally care for them but it may be just the thing for some.

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Where no law exists there still must be justice- Dan Mahoney
 
Sorry, one further thought just came to mind. The Buck Intrepid (designed by Kit Carson) is a nifty and interesting blade. I have seen them for around $100 at the Camp Coleman outlet store here in the states. Perhaps if you posted this request on the "wanted to buy" section of the exchange one could be had for less.

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Where no law exists there still must be justice- Dan Mahoney
 
Hey guys. I decided on getting a Kabar, 2 mora knives, and a benchmade 710HS. What do you think?

When I'm out in the woods I'm usually loaded down with knives..
smile.gif


If I went camping and had these knives I would have 1. Kabar 2. Benchmade 710HS 3. a mora knife 4. a schrade stockmen and 5. a SAK
Don't ask me why..I just like to have them all. The benchmade and 3 bladed stockmen prolly wouldn't get alot of use though.

On a normal day in civilization I'd carry a BM 710 and the SAK...right now its a SAK and another cheap 3.5" lockback.

The reason I was asking about Buck fixed blades is because last time I went camping I didn't have a fixed blade..I was using my dad's old hunting knife and my SAK the whole time. My uncle suggested that I get a Buck 6"'er. So I was just inquiring on their performance. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
Good question...
I should definately buy one.
Do you think it is too much to carry a hatchet and a fixed blade on your belt while hunting?

Also, I've been thinking about getting a D.H. Russell #1 stainless steel belt knife instead of the kabar. I'm really not sure though. If I have the 710HS I wouldn't really need the Russell #1..but if I had a hatchet I wouldn't really need the kabar? I know they are for two totally different purposes. Any advice guys?
 
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