Lost with only one folder

I think I get the drift of the original question, ”How hard would you use your folder in a survival situation”. Obviously you would be as careful as possible but… I can’t believe not one person has said, “ I would use it in whatever way it took for me to survive.” I can’t believe anyone would die rather than risk breaking your knife. These mystical “Survival Situations” could be anything. Trapped in a burning car I would beat, pound, pry, and yes break my knife trying to get out. I don’t want to have on my gravestone “ He died with an unbroken knife in his hand”. I would be as careful as possible with it but, I’m not going to die because I was afraid it might break.
 
I would be very, very hesitant to do anything with a folder, other than cut. Unless it's a SAK...

Now, if it were a life and death immediate situation, I'd do whatever I felt I needed to do.
 
Greybeard, you're definately right, but I mean a situation such as being lost in the wilderness, where you expect to be there for at least three or so days. Would you rather risk not having used your knife hard enough or having used it too hard? In a situation like that, your knife is definately an asset you want to preserve, but at the same time if you're too conservative with it, you might end up neglecting some critical needs.
 
In a situation where my choices are to risk breaking my knife by abusing it or don’t risk it and possibly die I wouldn’t hesitate one second in using the knife anyway necessary to survive. That is the definition of a “survival situation”-life or death. If I can honestly expect to be found in 3-4 days, I’m not in a survival situation, I’m doing some uncomfortable camping.
 
a survival situation is different things to different people , Ive been stuck broken down about a weeks walk from anywhere , it took a couple days to dodgy the car up and get going again .. to me it was part of the trip , to my wife it was a life n death affair ..

Ive been in situations where I was seriously considering using my knife in self defence not idly turning the thought over in my head , but hyped and just waiting for any indication that the situation was going to escalate ... to me , that was a short "survival situation"

a knife I made was used to cut thru a car hood and then the battery cables to stop what was considered a fire about to happen ... for the guy in the car , it was pretty much a survival situation ... my bro who used it rang me after the guy was cut free ( by fire dept , not a knife wielding towie ) he was totally hyped not so much from having used his knife like that and it surviving , but from the reaction of some onlookers to what he did

I have been camping longer than I wanted cos I got stuck to the bellypan in mud , took a week longer than I planned on ( I was out or a day trip shooting ) I used my knife real gentle then , it was kinda survival situation , no-one knew where I was , or was expecting me back anytime , I wanted it to last because the situation was looking longterm ....

I reckon that how your knife is sued depends a LOT on what the situation is at the time ... but usually , I use it with at least finishing the job at hand in mind ...
 
Hmmm....

when envisioning my great and powerful survival folder, my beloved Douk Douk comes to mind. (although I might would prefer something with more horsepower, I'm realistic in regards to what I really carry)

I would cut and pierce things with it. Make shavings, gather birch bark, whittle spoons, pot holders, tongs, etc. No batonning, no prying.

I kinda think we all have a tendency to put way too much emphasis on beating a knifes spine and prying with it.I can make a pretty decent shelter by breaking trees and limbs by hand. same goes for harvesting firewood. Anything too big to break could be slowly fed into the fire, or burned in sections.

I've made a couple of unplanned overnight stays with my SAK Adventurer. I would have gladly traded it for a decent fixed blade, even a Mora, but it got me through just fine.
 
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