Knives necessary in the outdoors?

B

beef

Joined
Feb 15, 2004
Messages
680
Hi All,
I've been musing on whether a knife is really a necessity in the outdoors. First I think I should specify that I mean when day hiking or multi day backpacking.

Scenario1: I'm day hiking, stop for lunch, use my stove to make some tea, complete the walk with no problems. I always carry thermals/ fleece/ rain gear in a dry bag, plenty of water (up to 6L on a ridgetop walk) and esbit tabs/ stove.
Where's my need for a knife? If I couldn't get out that day, I'd be forced to put on my clothing, put on my rain gear, sit on my pack and wait out the night. If I was cold I'd stuff leaves in my jacket, find one of the innumerable caves on the side of the ridge protected from the wind. Or fire up the esbit.

Scenario 2: I'm on one of my multi day walks when I break a leg. I pull out my blue foam mat, hop in my sleeping bag and pull the tarp over the top if I can't set it up. If I'm solo with no mobile reception, I wait there till the TWO people I've told realise I'm overdue and alert the SES (State Emergency Service).
Use for a knife? Nada.

I think the cliche and romantic notions of having to use your knife to build a little shelter, kill an animal and live off the land are fantasy.
A lot of serious multi week trip backpackers don't even take one. Or if they do, it's a SAK classic to trim toenails.

If you don't carry the ten essentials, in particular insulative clothing and rain gear then maybe you will have a need to build shelter and make a big fire. But any experienced walker does. Noone would consciously think "I don't need to bring my fleece jacket, I've got my axe".

Consider the other much loved scenario of falling in a river and becoming soaked. Which is it easier to do, open a dry bag and put on your insulative clothing, or build a fire whilst shivering? If you're shivering, do you really want to be messing round with a knife anyway.

If you cut yourself due to poor fine motor skills, would you have the dexterity left to administer first aid to yourself?

Last scenario: The classic losing your pack situation. If I'm doing a serious trip, I do it with companions who are also experienced. If I miraculously lose my pack in a river crossing, they've still got their packs full of gear. We'd all have to simultaneously lose our packs for us to end up in the "use a knife to build a hut and weave clothing situation".

I love knives as much as anyone else on here. But I can't justify bringing one on a trip, other than my SAK with the scissors (useful) and tweezers (very useful for ticks and splinters).
But luckily I don't have to justify bringing my toys, I can pack whatever I want. :)

Obviously some outdoor activities like hunting and fishing do require a knife, so no chest beating thanks. This is referring to hiking.
I do bring my knives, spoon knife and saw on trips where my focus is wood carving.

It'd be great to hear other people's take on this topic.
 
You never know when you might need a knife... to open a can of worms!! :rolleyes:
 
I just cannot fathom hiking without a knife. True, there have been many times when I have never required the services of a good knife on a hike, but then that's true of my first aid kit as well. I'm packing a knife wherever I go and that's never going to change:)
 
Hiking is that activity where you put your closet on your back, walk a big loop, put all your stuff in your trunk, drive home and return it to the closet right??? :D

Seriously, asking why a knife is kind like, why hiking? I don't hike much just for the sake of beating my feet on the trail. Mind you, I used to. Then I decided I wanted to do other things, sometimes fishing often times photographing things, watching animals and trying to track them, screwing with primitive fire techniques, trying to identify trees and plants and learn their uses, whittling sticks.... Some things need a knife, others don't. My photography always needs a knife for perspective :D

I do agree with the OP. You can bring all your tools on your person, a knife not being one of them, and be fully prepared and safe. Then again, not bringing a knife would be severely restrictive of the things I can do. People do focus on their knives as symbols. That is fine and it is certainly worthwhile to be able to know what you could do with your knife should you need it. As for myself, if I have a knife and bootlaces, I can make fire. I'm happy with that even if its just for entertainment and not a survival thing.

In the end, I'll probably be more likely to have my knife and bootlaces with me than I will a full pack with all the other stuff. That and a camera so I can take pictures of my own demise. Don't worry, I'll have a shot of the knife in there for perspective ;)
 
In 50 years of backpacking and mountaineering I never needed more than a SAK and a spoon. I took a 6" bowie once and didn't use it.
 
I've actually come to a conclusion similar to that of the original post. I no longer hike with a fixed blade. I had been ever since I was a kid, but recently realized I never actually get much use out of my blade. I still carry a small folding knife that I use primarily to gut and clean small trout that I've caught, and occasionally cut some cordage, but as far as knives go, that's it. Just a little SOG Flash clipped in my pocket.

And I'm not some weekend warrior slouch that doesn't know what they're doing. I've been living in the woods since before I was born, and then every year since. I was brought up a camper. I love the wild more than just about anything. I routinely hike off trail deep into the forest and high into the Rocky Mountains here in western Canada, for multiple days or even weeks at a time, schedule permitting. As much as I love my knife collection, I just don't use 'em enough to warrant carrying.

There is a caveat, however. I carry an axe. :D In my country, that's your survival tool.
 
lawp said:
In 50 years of backpacking and mountaineering I never needed more than a SAK and a spoon. I took a 6" bowie once and didn't use it.
Click to expand...

I don't have nearly that many years under my boots, but I too have hiked and camped a good deal on three continents and I've had the exact same experience. I'd never hit the trail without a knife - but I'd also not bother taking a fixed blade (or if I did, it'd be a small one). A SAK or small Leatherman is plenty.
 
Having carried a SAK Swiss Champ every day for the past 34 years and used it multiple times each day, I could not imagine setting out without it!

It is literally an essential tool, to me at least.
 
I can't imagine even putting on a pair of pants without a knife. One of these days I'll have to keep a log on how many times a day I use my knife and what I use it for.

I rarely carry a sheath knife other than a couple of small fixed blades.
 
For hiking people carry tools mostly for gear repairs or to open beer bottles. Small things like a SAK work fine. I've seen some guys with a naked razor blade to save weight. I'm a fan of nail files and scissors on a SAK classic. There just isn't that much to need a blade for that a small folder can't handle.

Big fixed blade knives are cool and all that. Then you realize you gotta carry around that 5+ oz piece of steel every day for a week/month/6months/whatever. I'd prefer having an extra half-pound of food instead tbh.


Camping is different and everybody has their own romantic idea of camping. Take whatever you want to get that camping experience you desire.
 
lawp said:
In 50 years of backpacking and mountaineering I never needed more than a SAK and a spoon. I took a 6" bowie once and didn't use it.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that.

In the last year, and multiple SAR missions, I have yet to NEED anything more than a 3.5" fixed blade.

I think we put to much thought into this stuff once in a while.:D
 
Interesting thread. I hike more than camp and I've been selling knives from my collection due to lack of use. I don't own an axe bigger than a hatchet, I do have several larger blades, yet use my smaller fixed mostly (4-5"). I can't imagine going out without them. I do however, use my multi tools a lot. I guess I like the versatility of the multi tool and strength / stability of the fixed. Works well for me.
 
Here's my two cents worth. Like extra clothing in a hunting/hiking pack, if you don't have you can't put it on. Same with a knife if you don't have it and need it you could be in trouble:(. Ive hunted, fished, back packed, day hiked, in the military and have carried some sort of knife almost everyday for the past 55yrs and have used it in some way everyday:thumbup:. Would feel naked without one;).
 
Its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
 
huh. of course you need a knife to go into the wild. as important as shoes. in a worst-case scenario, it can be your fire/shelter/food source.

what if you're pulled into the river you happen to be crossing, and your pack gets hung up?... you're being held under by a strong current, and don't have a knife to free yourself?...

some friends and i went to l.a. this past fall,(that's a real wilderness) and the only knife i had with me was a 2-blade old timer. nice and sharp. my nurse friend had a wicked blister open up, and an inch-diameter piece of skin hanging off her heel. she got to perform a minor self-surgery, and my irrational need to carry a knife on sunset strip was validated. :D
 
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