Knife you could rely on for survival

highestpoint said:
I would have to say the one I had on me when I was stranded.

If I had a chance to plan before I would Say an ESEE 6 or Junglas just for the sole fact ESEE's warranty is so good. Break the knife while you're stranded, just mail it to them and they'll send you replacement.
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Also, if you break a junglas you will have 2 knives instead of just 1! If you break a small sak or mora, your life just got a lot harder.
 
Yonose said:
Any knife held improperly while batoning will cause painful vibrations. Even in a knife designed for such hard use. As will infections caused by cutting oneself. I can attest to both facts from experience. Hopefully your kit is designed for the location you choose as well as for your experience with said tools. Those more comfortable with a sak and and axe should not take a large knife just because someone recommended it. Those more comfortable with a large “bowie” should not take off with just an axe and a sak.
In some areas survival is as easy as dealing with simple boredom, in others its as much luck as it is how much suffering one is able to withstand. Finding small animals to eat can be difficult in some seasons. Digging for insects, roots, and mushrooms might be a requirement. Hoarding water might be more important in others.
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Agreed.
 
ROCK6 said:
While I’m admittedly from the old Ron Hood School of big knives, if we’re talking a well-planned kit, I would likely go with a smaller knife only because they’re easier to carry on you all the time. My top two choices both reflect my mindset for survival…CHEAT!

Habilus Bush Tool with some sheath modifications and the addition of a small BRKT PSK knife:







Martin Knives Bushcraft-Tactical with a bird and trout blade.





Both have a sharpener and a firesteel (that also contains a little tinder). Unless you’re in colder climes or you’re practicing some serious primitive tasks for shelter, a larger chopper is over-rated and excess weight “if” your other gear is planned properly. While they’re less efficient, I can still build a shelter with a smaller belt knife and once a fire is going, I can burn through logs that simply burn to many calories to chop through. I do a lot of distance backpacking and I honestly pack too much steel…the smallest Mora #2/0, Spyderco Dragonfly, and a Leatherman PST mini multitool. There are two schools of thought…set up a base camp or travel from A to B. A smaller fixed blade gives you much better mobility options if you’re actually backpacking and not chopping wood in a base camp. So, as much as I love my large choppers, I need a fixed blade I can integrate into my pack suspension system for traveling, and it’s still able to remain on my body whether I ditch my pack or not. This is where your sheath system is as important as your blade.

Ideally, I would pair this with a Silky folding saw and of course a SAK/multitiool and pocket folder...

ROCK6
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Excellent planning to get 3 blades on one sheath, plus some quick fire starting materials and enough materials for a small snare or fishing line! People sometimes overestimate the knife while underestimating the importance of a quality, and multitask able sheath! You could be separated from camp for a long time with a setup like yours.
 
DracoKrys said:
If you knew you were about to spend a long time in the wilderness in any environment, what knife would knife would you choose to bring with you, and why?
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It is not stated that I will have to carry everything into the wilderness so presuming I am allowed to drive I would take as much as I could possibly fit into my car.

There would not just be one knife in my car, there would be many ... plus
saws, axes, and other heavy duty camp stuff.

If I had to carry it would be different. Is that what is meant? If so I would probably take a path clearing tool machete/chopper an opinel and a Swiss tool for any type of environment whether temperate, tropical etc..
 
gadgetgeek said:
Fair enough. Though I will contend that their point of "Sven, we might be in a bother" is so far past where most of us would be either hunting for the PLB button, or already dead, that even though in general life was certainly harder, they probably didn't have a "now we are surviving" mindset, more of a "well, I guess today is another day" and if those knives were good enough then, what's changed?
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Sure.
Their life back then was most likely hard on a daily basis.
They knew that a mistake, getting their herd killed or getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by inclement weather could kill them.
A life so relatively harsh, that they no doubt didnt sit around in a circle chanting 'Survival' - or coined that term on their situation.
They just coped.

I totally hear that 'Sven, we might be in a bother' in the Swedish Chefs voice!!!:D
 
ROCK6 said:




Both have a sharpener and a firesteel (that also contains a little tinder). Unless you’re in colder climes or you’re practicing some serious primitive tasks for shelter, a larger chopper is over-rated and excess weight “if” your other gear is planned properly. While they’re less efficient, I can still build a shelter with a smaller belt knife and once a fire is going, I can burn through logs that simply burn to many calories to chop through. I do a lot of distance backpacking and I honestly pack too much steel…the smallest Mora #2/0, Spyderco Dragonfly, and a Leatherman PST mini multitool. There are two schools of thought…set up a base camp or travel from A to B. A smaller fixed blade gives you much better mobility options if you’re actually backpacking and not chopping wood in a base camp. So, as much as I love my large choppers, I need a fixed blade I can integrate into my pack suspension system for traveling, and it’s still able to remain on my body whether I ditch my pack or not. This is where your sheath system is as important as your blade.

Ideally, I would pair this with a Silky folding saw and of course a SAK/multitiool and pocket folder...

ROCK6
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By a coincidence, I was just looking at the BushTac and was about to contact Martin.
Its a beaut.

I held off writing the Martins due to their recent sad loss.
They have enough on their plate right now, I imagine.

You told us a little bit about it but please elaborate.

Pros/cons etc. How do you find it in the hand during hard use.

Your BushTac is the smaller one, right?
Why'd you go eith that over the longer bladed version? (I like both).

Severely tempted.
 
Im a c2-c4 quadriplegic (I have regained good funtion in my hands and some in my arms to clear up confusion as to how I am typing) so unless that knife can help me change my clothes and transfer to bed Im screwed bahaha.
Jokes aside I would total trust a mora. Ideally one of their new bushcraft series. These are really the only fixed blades I have experience with besides my customs which I am not really going to count here lol'
Another knife is maybe the classic buck 119 special. My ideal combo would be one of these with a leatherman.
This is coming from a guy that has absolutely no experience with camping or backpacking though so take it as you wanto_O Im just thinking hypothetically what I would use 3 years ago before my injury.
 
If you were going to drop me off in the middle of nowhere for an unknown length of time, I'd take my Busse NMSFNO/SpecOps set up, but if I could take only one blade I'd have to take the small stainless folder out of the pouch. Not perfect for smaller/finer tasks, but the durability/overall utility wins the day.

Nexcaliber, Busse Tankbuster or Fallkniven A1 all close seconds. The Timberline Bush Pilot Survival Hatchet has a lot of potential for the $$ as well.

Boss
 
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Busse DSSF and a Spyderco M4 Ti G-10 Military in a Spec Ops 8" rig.
zfJn4oY.jpg
 
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That question is (thankfully) easy for me. OKC Blackbird SK-5.

It's just a perfect camp/survival knife. The ergo's are amazing, and the blade is even better. I'm shocked it isn't more popular. I did a lot of research, and I handled a lot of knives built for outdoors/camp/survival before I decided on the SK-5. In fact, the only purchases I've researched MORE were the computer, car, and camera.
 
Seti42 said:
That question is (thankfully) easy for me. OKC Blackbird SK-5.

It's just a perfect camp/survival knife. The ergo's are amazing, and the blade is even better. I'm shocked it isn't more popular. I did a lot of research, and I handled a lot of knives built for outdoors/camp/survival before I decided on the SK-5. In fact, the only purchases I've researched MORE were the computer, car, and camera.
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And what did you pick for your computer, car, and camera?
 
Higgs Particle steel said:
Well the last thing Id want would be a Becker or Esee or some overly large knife made out of carbon steel with a freaking glass breaker pommel. Thats gonna suck when your edge rusts after half a day in a rain storm. 3V or D2 would be the minimum Id want for corrosion resistance. If I knew I was going to be out in the woods for a long time Id go buy an Elmax or S35VN knife.
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I guess esee knows nothing about designing a knife for survival in a wet environment :rolleyes:

Becker seems to know nothing either.

You do know that not everything esee makes is a big heavy knife.

Carbon steel has been used in the environments for hundreds of years effectively.
 
DracoKrys said:
If you knew you were about to spend a long time in the wilderness in any environment, what knife would you choose to bring with you, and why?
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If I'm allowed to bring several cutting tools but only one of those tools can be a knife, then I'll bring my LT Wright Lagom along with an axe and a saw.

If I'm only allowed to bring one cutting tool and it has to be a knife, then I'll opt for something larger like a Becker BK9.
 
Higgs Particle steel said:
Yes I know all that but the statements you made are not congruent with my thoughts which in your defense I didnt elaborate on at all.
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Relax man. You are not the first to go over this stuff. The reality is that some people manage carbon steel just fine. You do know that ESEE specialize in jungle environment training right? So yes, elmax is "better" than 1095. But that isn't the end-all be-all of everything. Your post seemed very dismissive of two pretty popular knives for a reason that many would not find that important. No need to get snarky about it. Be clear about what you want, and your opinions. That's fine, opinions are great, just don't confuse them with facts. Also, you're explanation was somewhat confusing. I'm not sure I get what half of it matters to the other half. But its late where I am.
 
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