Knife for Survival Kit

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richardallen

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Oct 15, 2002
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sooner or later i will put a knife into my (yet being planned) survival kit. so now the question is what knife ? i want it to be a folder, and most likely either a benchmade or a spyderco (although other suggestions are welcome). not a sebenza, i dont want to spend that much on a knife that will probably get ****ed up anyway. also it has to be very lightweight, and at best a long blade, something around 4". also, corrosion resistance is important, as it might probably stay unused and with no treatment such as cleaning in the kit, possibly even under wet conditions sometimes.
basically, it boils down to either the benchmade ascent II or a spyderco endura frn. another thing is, what do you think of partial serrations ? see, the knife will possibly cut everything from wood to cans, hence i think they might come in useful. i know most of you guys dislike combo edges, so do i, but for this specific intended use they might be useful, dont you think ?
with combo edge, the ascent would also get a coating, which is good for resistance - as a survival knife i dont care for the looks much. then the steel would be another issue - vg10 vs. 154cm.

so, any suggestions for this one ?
 
I worked in Survivial Equipment in the Af for 8yrs (88-96). I put together many a survivial kit, for parachutes, rafts, ect. I have to say that any decent knife can be a survival knife. Personally I think a sak with a saw makes the best survival knife, Its small you can use it to make other tools, and easily carried in a small kit. If you have room and dont mind weight I think the western w49 makes a great heavy carry knife that will do good chopping jobs, or of course the collins bowie that the w49 evolved from. a machete is good, but a knife with a heavy blade makes a kuch better chopper. Machete is a good jungle path clearer, but a heavy knife is more useful. I havent seen the new large becker bowie, but from the looks it looks to fit into this category.


personally if I were putting together a kit I would include:
1. sak knife w/saw.
2. a whistle
3. signal mirror
4. fish hooks
5. 25ft of fishing line
6. 25ft of 550 (para) cord
7. 50ft of 110lb test cord
8. razor blade
9. sharpening stone (small arkansas med. hardness)
10. small first aid kit
11. maglite (2aa size with xtra batt.s)
12. foil blanket
13. waterproof matches
14. magnesium fire starter


these are some ideas fo what goes in a small kit. This would all be double "bagged" in a ziploc bag. Then stored in a vinyl pack 6"x4" (or so).

hope this helps
 
The knife I would put in a survival kit is one of those big Victorinox Swiss Army knives made for Mauser. Green handles, a little bigger than the normal SAK, 2 big blades(1 clip point, and 1 spear point), and a bigger than normal wickedly sharp saw.
 
A BK&T BK9 with a Swisschamp or leatherman supertool would be the way I would go.
 
The victorinox mauser knife is actually the Bundeswehr (German army) knife. Victorinox originally made the knife for the Germans in 1976, then they took the pattern added another blade (a clip I think, I use to have one of these also, had three blade, the main spear, the new clip, and then the saw of course) and put mausers name on it (for them that is). The knife also has been used ny nato, and the only difference with these is a file was added on the saw blade, and is widely copied by roc. Now you can find the same pattern made by an Italian contractor who won the contract for a while after Victorinox (for the Germans) and now a solingen comapny called ccm is taking the contract now, and from what I hear has them made outside Germany, dont know if this part is true). The Victorinox versions were high quality, the Italian, well not as nice, and the ccm quality from what I hear is as good, but finish is not.

The bundeswehr knife is a good choice also!!!
 
The Victorinox Rucksack (or like-sized model w/saw) would serve you well.

Paul
 
The Endura is an excellent choice. But for pure survival purposes I would have to have a multi-tool.
My choice is either the Leatherman Super-Tool or the Gerber Pro-Scout.


Good luck,
Allen.
 
Is you're going the SAK route, you might check out the Survivor from Wenger. It's got the regular SAK goodies, a locking serrated blade and a very shrill whistle.
 
It might be just a few dollars more than what you were looking to spend and I know a lot of guys don't like tanto's but a BM Stryker has a great thick blade and tip on it which will help with stand opening cans and the like. I alos agree about a multi-tool but personally I would want a dedicated blade in there too. just $.02 worth of thought.
 
A low cost (so you won't mind it stored without use for a long period of time) but very well made little knife for that application is the Ericson Mora 2000 from Sweden. They retail for around $28 from Ragnar's, are made of Sandvic 12C27, take a wicked slicing edge and a lot more abuse than they would appear. My first thought when I held one can be summed up as "Cheap ****". I was, however, very mistaken. Outstanding, consistent performance for most cutting tasks. Combine this with a $12 folding tree pruning saw from Home Depot and a mid sized SAK and you will have a very reliable and utilitarian combination for less than $50. Take the rest of the money you would have spent and put half of it in your kit for Urban emergencies and take the other half and buy a good quality cell phone or some calling cards. These will bail you out of more situations than many a knife.
Just my 0.02.
Doc
 
hey thanks for all the advises, but a SAK is not what i'm looking for. i got one already, they're quit cheap here in germany. i want a folder, not a fixed. i dont need a saw, i got that covered. nor do i need a multitool, most stuff you can do with a knife anyway, plus they weight too much. and apart from that, for urban enviroment they might be helpful, for anything else they're just useless. this will not be an urban survival kit, i dont need cellphones. they wouldn't be likely to work in wet enviroment and backwater areas like the rainforest anyway.
i was thinking about the stryker, but then i might as well buy an 710. but i try to save weight, hence a few gramm can make a difference. axis look too heavy and too much to worry about (steel liners, spring), stryker doesn't really have that much utility blade. besides, i dont want to pry open cans, hence tip strenght ain't that important. cutting is more important here. nevertheless, i will reconsider the stryker again. takes some time to think about it. keep it coming, guys! thanks...

cheez
 
Whatever your choice is, I agree that the "rural" survival folder could be one of the situations where a partly serrated blade might be preferable to a plain edge.
 
Richard, if light weight is a concern, as an alternative to the Benchmade 710 (4.5oz/128g), you might want to go with the lighter Spyderco Endura FRN (2.9oz/82g).

-Frank
 
frank, i agree. but benchmade also produces a lightweight, the ascent. so how would vg10 and 154cm compare, concerning corrosion resistance, holding an edge and sharpening ?
 
Evedenlty You people havent read Cliffs, or joes review of Arlees knife.I would want one of these bad things 4 shore. And Im not just saying that cause Im his brother.
 
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