Looking for cheap fighting/survival knife.

I've named and shown you plenty of options for the 25-70 dollar price range but I can't emphasize enough that for this price range you should by all means get a Becker bk2 or bk7! They are some of the best knives on the market hands down, and are probably worth at least twice what they cost. Just check for yourself-go in the Becker forum on here and start a post asking why they are so good and which one to buy. You will be bombarded with replies because the Beckerheads and many other posters as well worship these blades. Like I said, my BK9 is my mini bug out kit and I would, when the s.h.t.f. trust my life to this knife with absolutely no worries. Check amazon for both models-they have bk2s starting around $52 and bk7s around $57.
 
If you were to up your max price to 50 or 60 dollars, hands down the answer without any doubt or competition would be a Kabar Becker. I just put my order in for a 35 dollar Heavy Duty Warthog, too...
 
You guys do realize that the OP gave up on this thread back in page 2, right? :) Happy Thanksgiving
 
Here is my Glock, not bad for $25
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californiapyroboy said:
Kabar USMC nuff said.
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think we have fully covered the fact that ..."nuff said" doesn't quite cover it in this thread haven't we. please, if you have a valid arguement on the topic, chime in. by the "nuff said" logic, the glock model is cheaper and lighter and holds up pretty well.
 
chiral.grolim said:
This fact stands to reason as the blade is where the thinnest material is present as well as enduring the majority of stress during a cut, a chop, pry, etc.
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And a stick tang is the narrowest section. If the tang is the same thickness as the blade flats, as in a saber grind, then I don't know what your argument is, since stiffness is linear in width and cubic in thickness. Cherry-picking anecdotal results from one set as opposed to other results doesn't make either side right. Knives break in the blade, at the ricasso, and in the tang. Depends on many factors, there's no absolute authority on the matter.
 
Your life is only worth $40? :(


rachet197 said:
I'm looking for a cheap (under $40) fighting/survival knife.
The cold steel gi tanto caught my eye as well, as the glock field knife.
Any ideas for knives or, thoughts on these knives, ideas on modification of the gi tanto belt loop.


THX in advance
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The Glock knife looks like it would more or less fill the same role as the old WW2 GI Mk III Trench Knife, which was a good thruster, having a bayonet blade, but a bit weak in chopping power. More weapon than anything else.

IMO a survival/fighting knife should be a good jack-of-all trades design: a good point for stabbing, a keen edge for slashing/slicing, and the blade reasonably wide enough to deliver a good chop.
 
RandomAyes said:
Do you pour maple syrup over your turkey, eh? ;)
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we put maple syrop on everything... that's the one good thing the french ever did for us, lol. and I couldn't agree more with what "HARDHEART" is saying. we just got off on a tangent of "what if's" on that one somehow. happens i guess.
 
JNewell said:
Your life is only worth $40? :(
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Hell, that's more than those guys who go out with a Mora, a machete, a hatchet, or a folding saw. He's two to four times more prepared than them, since price is directly related to your survival chances. Those cheapskates are pretty clueless, it takes at least two months' salary to survive 72 hours.
 
lol... you can't put a price on comfort! i literally can't feel my toes from the last time I played survival routine in the woods, and that was over two weeks ago. the money and thought you put into the gear you bring (and your training) directly relates to your success, and in the case of survival, it may be just that... your survival
 
As a fan of Ka-bar the company and many of their products (certainly not all), I here suggest the Cutlass Machete for survival - if survival means needing a good all-purpose tool with which to fashion shelter, process wood and otherwise accomplish efficiently the larger tasks that surviving for long periods requires. Big enough to work on zombies probably also. Whatever, I've had really good luck with it around our place clearing brush for example and that's the kind of work, the hard-bashing of the flora that a long-term survival situation will require. Not a great kitchen knife, but it will cut food, too.

My personal favorite for general woods-use at the present moment is the recently re-released Mark 1. It's a great improvement on the Short F/U since it has a real man-sized handle. Plus, the profile needs no additional work, unlike the Short. Well, the Short doesn't really need re-profiling either, but I just couldn't resist. Just like I can't tolerate the black coating that Ka-bar sprays on their blades; I can't help myself, I just have to remove it and then blue the steel. I protect 1085/95 and such steels from rust with Techron SnowSeal. Works really good, especially if you really grease up a leather sheath with the stuff. No rust. No paint required. I like blue. And I really like the Mark 1 with the Kraton handle. Pretty much the perfect knife for me and it's not much money either.

I read a comment early in this thread about batoning with a Buck 119. That I would never do as the edge is just not strong enough for that kind of thing; it's hollow ground, well, mine is and there is no way I would ever subject it to the kind of loads that batoning imparts. And, as far as batoning is concerned, sometimes it is the only way to get dry wood; you can't just pick small wood off soaked trees and expect to make fire. Well, I can't, so I do a fair amount of batoning. But I also really like doing it so maybe I'm just making another excuse. Dunno.

I do like the Ka-bar military stuff. Don't much care for any knife that relies on nuts and bolts to hold the scales on, sure don't. Fact is I only own two knives that use bolts in their design, a Kershaw Skyline (my EDC) and a Leatherman Wave (my other EDC and yes, I do carry both). All the rest my knives are fixed-blade hidden-tang.

By the way, the only time I ever bent a Ka-bar USMC was while throwing it at a really hard buckskin Doug Fir. And all I had to do was bend it back straight. I'm still using that blade regularly and no I don't throw it any more but I do process wood with it. For the life of me I can't figure out how anybody can bend the tang of a knife batoning wood. Seems to me you'd break your wrist in the process. As for throwing a knife I figure if I'm gonna' toss something it ought to be .45 caliber hard ball.

We learn by doing.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Ben
 
Benwaller said:
And, as far as batoning is concerned, sometimes it is the only way to get dry wood; you can't just pick small wood off soaked trees and expect to make fire.
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I've had to do that, but I use an axe/hatchet to split open wood, not a knife.

My backwoods gear isn't based around a knife, but rather a kit, and knives (more than one) are just part of it.

But since I live in the backwoods, I try to keep caches of dried wood available. It's hill country out here. There's a lot of rock outcroppings and small caves. I stash small supplies of dead dried wood in them, just in case I might need it.
 
hardheart said:
And a stick tang is the narrowest section. If the tang is the same thickness as the blade flats, as in a saber grind, then I don't know what your argument is, since stiffness is linear in width and cubic in thickness. Cherry-picking anecdotal results from one set as opposed to other results doesn't make either side right. Knives break in the blade, at the ricasso, and in the tang. Depends on many factors, there's no absolute authority on the matter.
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The only authorities I appeal to here are physics and empirical evidence... not sure how much more "absolute" one can get without delving into theology, but you are right that it has to do with many factors, the primary being use. One CAN break a knife in the tang, but empirical evidence says more knives & swords have broken in the blade than in the tang in use. The well known destruction videos posted by noss bear out the same result, but they are only referred to because of their popularity, accessibility, and the variety there presented. History/archaeology, and the vast majority of modern anecdote tell the same story. Physics states that fracture will most likely occur at the weakest points nearest the apex of stress, and most of the stress on a knife or sword occurs in the blade, specifically the ground edge. Most of the fractures occurring in a blade in use are due to lateral stress and the edge chips out - this makes sense as there is the least material support present there and also because "stiffness" can be detrimental when sufficient force is applied to cause the blade to either flex or fracture. When prying laterally with a blade of any grind, the apex of stress is usually well ahead of the handle & tang. Also, so long as the handle and tang are securely attached, the tang's thickness is compounded by the handle, reducing likelihood of any flex that could stress the tang to its limits of ductility, and I also suspect that the tangs of forged knives and swords tended to possess greater ductility than the blade, but I'd need a metal-worker to confirm that... Anyway, only in very specific cases is sufficient stress placed on the tang of a ("well-made") knife or sword to induce fracture - the knife or sword is far more likely to fracture in the blade (which is thinner on average than the tang and esp. the tang+handle) or the ricasso (unusual, as the ricasso is thicker & stronger than the blade which is close enough that, even if the ricasso is the apex of stress, the blade should flex and/or snap first). The secondary importance of the tang allows for a great variety of tang designs, including that of folding knives, hollow-ground and skeletonized tangs, tapered tangs (e.g. loveless knives), stick tangs, etc. So long as the handle is well made and the tang has no anomalies like welds or inclusions, there should be no issues with stress in the lateral dimension. A stick tang is characterized by reduced breadth compared to the blade. This could mean that the blade has more metal supporting it against stress in the vertical (edge-to-spine) direction than the tang has (particularly in saber-ground knives and swords). This is also the case in hollow-ground and skeletonized tangs. However, the blade again also endures a greater portion (many times over) of this stress in normal use, and along more of its length, and usually at some distance from the handle, increasing likelihood of fatigue and fracture prior to that in the tang. The increased breadth and stiffness of the blade are not an advantage over the skinny tang when the force is always focused there - the tang may flex to endure its small portion of the stress-load, but the stiff blade may simply shatter apart as it bears the majority of the load. Thus, tang construction is of secondary importance in durability, blade construction is primary. I'm not saying that the tang is UNimportant ... just less important, because it need only be strong enough to outlast the blade.

What "cherry-picking" are you referring to? And I'd gladly be schooled on this subject, I just haven't come across objective information to the contrary. *shrug*
 
wall of text
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Please use paragraphs.

The percentage of stick tang knives which have failed in service would appear to be quite small if judged by the number of soldiers who to this day swear by their KaBars.

Are stick tangs less strong than full tang? Yes.
Does that make them unsuitable for hard use? I would argue that it does not.
 
I think a lot of folks these days have unrealistic expectations of their knives, largely influenced by TV and Hollywood.

I don't expect my knives to be Excalibur. I don't expect them to be able to chop concrete or cut through iron bars and come out unscathed. That stuff is for comic books. It's silly.

I do expect them to be reasonably strong and take/hold a very fine edge though, and every internal tang knife I own does well in both regards.
 
Thank you so much guys I am looking at a bk9.....

But a ka bar F/U knife with a kraton handle might be good/AWSOME!

also to everybody that suggested machete, I might get an Ontario.....
 
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