knife based survival kit

Knife is a Blackhawk Kalista, the kit on the knife has to be small and light to wear around your neck and it is basically for canoing. The neck carry is the handiest for anything that you are required to sit, such as a canoe. My thoughts were pretty simple, if I dump I will always have a sharp knife and fire. Chris
 
RescueRiley said:
The testubes are actually unused bloodtubes and are made of pyrex They are really tough I can throw a full one full strength acrossd a room in to a wall with no ill effect
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But can you fall while climbing on rocks, or through rubble and land on them with no ill effect. this is not an unreal situation for your knife in an urban or wilderness survival situation. It would be a shame to perforate yourself and worsen an already bad situation.:eek:

The kit sounds good I would just re think the test tubes. and look for a different fire starter. Even a waterproof match case with a flint on the bottom would be a good option.

As far as a saw to add, I have a very small 2 blade saw from walmart that has a hack saw and a wood saw this might work or even better a SAK with a saw giving you other tools as well
 
the saw on my leatherman wave (which piggy backs my kit ) is similar to a sak saw but also locks into place I decided to do away with the test tubes and add a small pouch to the leg strap that will accomodate a water proof match case a film canister fo fishing equipment and a mylar blanket
 
Rescue Mike said:
Here is my survival kit/ knife rig..

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4266638&postcount=19
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I really like the kit that you have come up with. If I were to add one thing to it that would be a SAK; the biggest that could fit. The thing about this kit that clearly sets it apart from all others mentioned / shown in this thread lies in the solidity of its key components: The Busse HHFSH and the fantastic heavily modified Okuden A-7T rig! This a knife that can take you to the end of the universe and back without failing, period! I have this knife with magnum handles myself as well. As for the rig, well from what I can tell from the pictures it looks like it's built rock solid.

RescueRiley, if I were to reconsider one thing about your knife based survival kit, that would be the knife it self. I just can't picture the SOG Seal Pup as a knife that can withstand the rigors of a survival situation. My philosophy is that if things come to worse I want to have the best outfit I can lay my hands on because then this (along with proper training of course) may make the difference between making it through or, just be remembered.
 
What's wrong with a seal pup???, aside from being a mass produced blade... My understanding is that it had to pass some rigorous testing to get to where it is....and all the reviews I've read have ben outstanding, Aside from the aus 6 steel what would be the major hangup?? and I am opent to suggestions of other knives...It's just that corrosion resistance is important as I often take my knives camping near the ocean, and sometimes spearfishing (they are always washed thoroughly and oiled afterwards)
 
RescueRiley said:
What's wrong with a seal pup???, aside from being a mass produced blade
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Nothing. You could do a lot worse. Everyone has a favorite, and it's not my style of knife, but if you own one already, you would have to spend a lot more money to get a marginally better knife. If you dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and that was the knife I was given, I would be worried about other issues, that's for sure!

What do you need in a survival knife?

1) You need to have it with you.
2) It should be able to help you shelter and feed yourself.

IMHO, it comes down to cost, portability and durability. It should be able to clean a frog, fish or rabbit and cut small diameter tree limbs. Field sharpening is the other atribute I want. The rest is show.
 
I noticed as a general rule among the general public the seal pup is highly regarded, Yet I don't seem to hear too much about it on the boards I was wondering what if anything is wrong with it mine seems like a pretty decent knife, a little more tactical than I would normally choose but if anyone could reccomend anything better that would fit my needs, Primarily camp/survival knife, that has the ability to be submerged or exposed in salt water for at least short period of time with no ill effect. Primary uses would be general camp chores, light batoning skinning small game and fish
 
No, theres nothing wrong with the seal. And what it comes down to at the end of the day is what works for you. I have used a Buck 192 for a while now. Ive split small piceces of wood, as in 1" - 1 1/2". Its worked fine and has held up fine taboot. Plus bucks 420HC is a very nice steel for ageneral use knife, And holds a great edge.
 
RescueRiley said:
What's wrong with a seal pup???,
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Not a damn Thing. It is a good solid knife and better than some for the price, it is a good size for hiking. probably stronger than a mora but definiteley weaker than a busse.

There are better knives out there but i think your best bet would be to take this one and try it, use it and abuse it a little and form your own opinion of what you like and dont like about it and keep that in mind when you buy the next one.:)

:D And there will be a next one and a one after that and a one after that and the one after that etc etc etc......................:p

Soon you too will be a steel addict if you arent already infected.
 
Hi Riley, can you post some pics of your rig???
Im in the process of making one myself and any help would be great..
Thanks, Danny
 
I've taken the pictures just waiting for the wife to help me post em I'm not too computer saavy
 
RescueRiley said:
What's wrong with a seal pup???, aside from being a mass produced blade... My understanding is that it had to pass some rigorous testing to get to where it is....and all the reviews I've read have ben outstanding, Aside from the aus 6 steel what would be the major hangup?? and I am opent to suggestions of other knives...It's just that corrosion resistance is important as I often take my knives camping near the ocean, and sometimes spearfishing (they are always washed thoroughly and oiled afterwards)
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First of all if this works for you, then nobody should tell you that it doesn't. Having said that let's cast a glance at a few of the characteristics of this knife: the spine of the blade of this knife has an elongated swedge. This is not helpful for use with a baton. What you really need is a full thickness spine that will absorb the force of the baton more easily and convey it to the edge more efficiently. Aside from this, the primary grind line goes up until the middle of the blade. This is an inferior geometry versus either a full convex grind or, a convex bevel grind or, a convex micro-bevel grind or, even a full flat grind.

Regarding the steel per se (AUS-6A), may I offer you this link http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/blade_materials.html#S_AUS6A ,
which will give you an idea of it. If you also go here http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/vapor.html you will see that the biggest issue is the steel which gave low edge retention on harder cutting in the kitchen. Is this a really good attribute for a survival knife? You say that you are open to suggestions of other knives. Readily one knife that comes to mind is the Fallkniven S1 (http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/s1_f1_wm.html). Or, even the Spyderco Temperance (http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/temperance_vg10.html). You can still find some of them (I refer to the Spyderco Temperance since they have been discontinued) in mint condition in the secondary market.
One of my colleagues at work bought an absolutely mint Spyderco Temperance from me about 15 days ago. A few days later he was off for wild boar hunting. They manage to down a 220 lbs. boar. His hunting buddies were laughing at the peculiar (at least to them) looking blade of the knife and told him that this knife was not up for the task. They tried to skin their trophy with their blades and couldn’t even go through the skin. We are talking about 1” skin with wire-like hair. Since they were not getting anywhere, they decided to try my colleague’s “peculiar” knife. The pig opened up as if they unzipped it! They were stunned. They skinned and gutted the animal and when I saw the knife it was still razor sharp! That is performance and I don’t think that AUS-6A can match that!

Of course I could go on and suggest a BUSSE but the money would be completely different. However, BUSSE’s are exceptional knives. I own a good number of knives from various manufacturers and makers including BUSSE and SWAMP RAT so I can tell the difference.

Take care.
 
Riley, if you can load pics from a camera into your computer and save them to a file, then you can use photobucket.com. As far as ease of loading pictures from a camera into your computer, I recommend getting a USB card reader. Once the card reader software is loaded, you can access it as a disk drive from the My Computer area. I'm just trying to help you. Figuring out how to post pictures has brought another dimension to my posting :D .If you have a Mac... er, then I don't know if I can help you. :)

Regarding your SEAL pup, I recently read somewhere that the Pup has been the standard issue knife lately for BUDS training. It was also mentioned that it wasn't too bad 'for a disposable knife.' Before you get upset about the 'disposable' comment, think for a second how those guys use those knives. I would think whatever the carry, be it a SOG Seal or a Busse, they have to see the knife as disposable. However some knives may take the hard use better than others.

The SEAL Pup is a fine knife. Heck, I would mind having one. There are junk steels, decent steels, and awesome steels out there. I'd say the Pup is made of a decent steel. Are you using the knife everyday for hard use? If not, I'm sure it'll serve you well for a long, long time. I have a 1st gen SEAL 2000 in 440A knife. Again, not a fantastic steel, but it can hold an edge for a reasonable amount of time, take and edge in a reasonable amount of time, and the knife met my expectations during use. It has been out of my user rotation for a number of years now, but I still have it.

Busse's are great. They look cool, are made of great steel (from what I've read), perfrom exceptionally well (again, from what I've read), and are built well. I can't afford one, nor will I be able to afford one for a long time. For me, $100 is a lot te spend on a knife. $250 is insane, but I've spent that - once. I have to live within my means, so I buy and use what I can afford. I also live in a 1600 sq ft home on a suburban city lot, and drive a Subaru that is 5 years old. I also have other pursuits aside from edged tools, so my 'play' money goes different places.

If I am going to use a knife, I know there is a possibility that something may happen to it someday. I don't think I use knives hard enough to bust them in half, but they do see their fair share of chopping and batoning. I never deploy a knife intending to break it.

Just my two cents. It doesn't hurt to know how steels differ from one another. But bottom line, buy/use what you like, live, and learn.
 
RescueRiley said:
What's wrong with a seal pup???,.... Aside from the aus 6 steel
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I have only seen a few photos of the SEAL PUP, but so far from this I really like that blade and it's design.

Looks like a good knife to take into the woods.
Looks like it would do lots of helpfull things around the camp.
and it looks like it could handle a hardship situation too, where the chips are down and you need a good knife to get you out of some type of trouble.

Does the handle come apart?

I have always searched for a good knife like the SEAL PUP that had a full-tang handle that would come apart so as to allw for turning the knife into a spear .

On a side note:
I have also questioned the position of the "lanyard" hole being on the butt end of every knife.

I once held a knife that had the "Lanyard" hole up front in the handle (on top of the hand), and this allowed the leather lanyard to slip around the hand and hold it from the top.
It seemed to work way better.
 
Hey Guys..

It should be remembered that the Seal Pup isn't a hard use knife, in the respect that it will chop wood,, baton large wood ect..

The Seal Pup is a general purpose to light knife,, and if you want to keep it in one piece,, I wouldn't do much heavy work with it, especially the tip..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Seems like this thread has evolved slightly from it's original format but it has forced me to consider what is important in a wilderness knife....first off it should be able to to multi task, The most common uses of a knife really are more than likely going to be cutting cheeze or spreading peanutbutter, followed by cutting cord or rope, next up would be light whittling (tent pegs and the like) followed by fire prep (small kindling/fuzz sticks etc) It shoul be able to skin small game and clean small fish with at least some adequacy as in a true survival sit this type of fair will make up alot more of the diet than would a deer or a swordfish.it should hold a decent edge and be relatively easy to sharpen, I personally do alot of kayaking, scuba and spear fishing in addition to smallgame hunting, hiking, camping etc and am just as concerned with having to land on a deserted beach while kayaking or snorkeling as I am with getting lost while hiking or hunting. considering those parameters what would other people consider?? I chose the seal pup strictly based on the reviews I read online and I got a pretty good deal on it, I havn't had the chance to put it to the test yet, but just from handling it I can say the things I donot like about it are the tapered thinness of the spine, and the tactical look It looks more like I'm ready to take on a ninja than enjoy a day in the woods but I might change my view after I put it to the test, as alway all comments are welcome and appreciated
 
I know it's winter, but I would be interested to learn what you think if you took it outside right now, and did a few things.

use it to help start a little fire.
use it to trim a few trees...
use it to for any other things...and allow it to get cold to see if that changes what you think of it.
 
I think th eonly way I'm going to put my mind at ease is to do all the things with this knife that I described and see how it fares.....I'll wear it around the house and use it for everything cutting veggies/meat I'll splits some kindling, carve some tent stakes clean a fish I'll give you the results as I get em
 
Hey Guys..

Those kind of duties the knife will work just fine....

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
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