My take on the difference between a Bushcraft and Survival knife.

J

Juany118

Joined
Mar 11, 2018
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I know some people think the difference is marketing speak but I wanted to put my take out there and see what people thought of it.

Survivalcraft and Bushcraft to me are two different things. Survival being "oh crap I am in trouble I need to get out of this and back to civilization." So you do what you have to do to stay warm, dry, hydrated etc until either search and rescue arrives or your own navigation and fitness get you to civilization.

Bushcraft is "I can live here and sustain myself virtually indefinitely, I like it here."

Because of that I feel the Bushcrafter would have more than the 72 he bugout kit etc. They will not only have a solid knife but also an axe and a saw of some sort etc. for the heavy chores like wood processing. You will have a shovel of sort etc. Hence your knife can be tailored for finer tasks, feather sticking, fine notching for traps, stakes etc.

So a survival knife would be one that is a beefy jack of all trades tool. It can get the job done that the Bushcraft knife does but not as well. You can also reliably chop with it, baton, etc but not as well as an axe or saw. You dig a hole if you need to, but not as well as a shovel.

So a Bushcraft knife would be one that takes into account you have myltmult tools or even the ability to make them. Survival knives are about having a one tool option.

Thoughts?
 
A bushcraft knife has an orange handle. (A "zombie" knife has a green handle.) A survival knife has a skull stencilled on it somewhere. :D

What a "bushcraft" knife is, and what a "survival" knife is, and what the difference between the two is, is whatever marketing departments say it is. You nailed it in the first sentence.
 
marcinek said:
A bushcraft knife has an orange handle. (A "zombie" knife has a green handle.) A survival knife has a skull stencilled on it somewhere. :D

What a "bushcraft" knife is, and what a "survival" knife is, and what the difference between the two is, is whatever marketing departments say it is. You nailed it in the first sentence.
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This. The main difference I can tell between survival and bushcraft is how seriously one takes oneself while doing it and how 'hardcore' you think you are.

I've seen people skin animals better than I can with some damned unlikely hunting knives, carve wood and start fires better than me with knives I would scoff at and generally do things well with tools I would never choose.

I recommend for both tasks concentrating on knives you're willing to carry for long amounts of time and comfortable using for long amounts of time. Find what works for you and ignore what kind of knife the peanut gallery tells you it is.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
This. The main difference I can tell between survival and bushcraft is how seriously one takes oneself while doing it and how 'hardcore' you think you are.
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Agreed. Both are merely variants of "outdoor recreation." Heck, there are a ton of folks around who drive out to the woods with a trunk full of beer, stay withing 50 yards of the car, bash the bejeebus outta innocent trees with big knives, burn stuff, and call that bushcraft. Then some call that same thing survival. Others call it "car camping."

People all the time come in here asking for the best knife to "practice survival" with. The best knife to practice survival is is no knife.

You get the knife that does what you want it to do in the woods. Call it "Betty" if you want.
 
It all depends on which way the wind is blowing...today all knives are called bushcraft tomorrow they will be called survival...

Don’t get caught up in all this nauseating bushcraft silliness.....Insipid and Marcinek said it best
 
I'd be more concerned with such 'survival gear' as my 'survival coat' [waterproof & windproof coat], my 'survival trousers' [waterproof] and my SHTF 'survival boots' [my walking boots]. No good having some kick-ass, state of the art, uber-steel knife when you are dying of hypothermia. Mind you, I suppose if it's the last thing the 'survivalist' sees as the lights go out for the last time, why not buy a pretty one...

Oh, and it's always good to have a Zombie Apocalypse 'survival re-hydration kit' [water bottle].
 
Well, I have lots of 'better' knives, but a Mora pretty well covers both bushcraft and survival. That, a book of matches and a supply of single malt (10+) is all you really need in the wilderness:D.
 
Boggs said:
It all depends on which way the wind is blowing...today all knives are called bushcraft tomorrow they will be called survival...

Don’t get caught up in all this nauseating bushcraft silliness.....Insipid and Marcinek said it best
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Your second point is spot on, but I have to disagree with your first point.

Today all knives are called "hard use" or "overbuilt." Before that, they were all called "zombie." Before that "bushcraft." Before that "survival." Before that "Bowie." Tomorrow? Who knows? Wish I did! Make a lot of money.

In Levine's book he talks about "outdoors" knives of the early 1900s. Many were just slightly scaled down versions of the "Bowies" of the time (which looked nothing like Bowie's knife anyway). Despite the fact that they were too thick to be slicers and too thin to be choppers, they sold like hotcakes. "Bowie" was hot, "outdoors" was hot. The design didn't matter to people.

Same as now. A lot of what makes knives cool is fantasy. It makes you feel good to feel "bushcrafty"...you gotta have a bushcraft knife!

I'm a sucker for that "one knife option, do everything survival knife" thing. Utter nonsense, but I love the fantasy.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Well, I have lots of 'better' knives, but a Mora pretty well covers both bushcraft and survival. That, a book of matches and a supply of single malt (10+) is all you really need in the wilderness:D.
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A couple Bic lighters would be even better! But that's not "woodsy/bushcrafty/survivaly." :D The whiskey's the same. Like you really cant take a supply of vodka, rum, or tequila into the woods. Just not right.
 
I don't carry just one knife or edged tool when I bushcraft. I seem to be gravitating towards a smaller B&T type knife and a big knife (HK feint) more recently, leaving machetes and axes at home and carrying a saw. Axes and machetes are the most fun though.

A survival knife is whatever I have on me at the time, probably a mini-grip or GEC. With some fore-thought, a tomahawk would probably suit my needs better if I keep it sharp enough to use for slicing as a handaxe/ulu.
 
Juany118 said:
I know some people think the difference is marketing speak but I wanted to put my take out there and see what people thought of it.

Survivalcraft and Bushcraft to me are two different things. Survival being "oh crap I am in trouble I need to get out of this and back to civilization." So you do what you have to do to stay warm, dry, hydrated etc until either search and rescue arrives or your own navigation and fitness get you to civilization.

Bushcraft is "I can live here and sustain myself virtually indefinitely, I like it here."

Because of that I feel the Bushcrafter would have more than the 72 he bugout kit etc. They will not only have a solid knife but also an axe and a saw of some sort etc. for the heavy chores like wood processing. You will have a shovel of sort etc. Hence your knife can be tailored for finer tasks, feather sticking, fine notching for traps, stakes etc.

So a survival knife would be one that is a beefy jack of all trades tool. It can get the job done that the Bushcraft knife does but not as well. You can also reliably chop with it, baton, etc but not as well as an axe or saw. You dig a hole if you need to, but not as well as a shovel.

So a Bushcraft knife would be one that takes into account you have myltmult tools or even the ability to make them. Survival knives are about having a one tool option.

Thoughts?
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Im inclined to agree with some of your points.

Some bushcraft inclined persons might often bring a smaller knife and some other tools - material for making a fire, small saw maybe an axe etc.

On a personal note; I like seeing the smaller or medium knives being used (again).

Then there are those survivalists, who bet the farm on a medium to ginormeous knife and maybe a survival tin in a pouch on the sheath.

But there are so many 'schools' on this and opinions, as you can already see in this thread.

As others have written; there is a barrage of marketing/hype and one has to see through all the smoke and mirrors and make up ones own mind and choose what one finds best.
 
I take a "bushcraft" type knife (around 5") with other implements (saw, tomahawk, paracord,etc.) when camping; which, for me, means more cooking, bigger fire, probably some carving and utensil making. If hiking, I'm more inclined to have a large knife (around 10") with a kit in the sheath pocket or a "possibles" bag (and, of course, a canteen-of WATER). The idea being if I get lost (it can and does happen) the large knife will do all I need to "survive" until found or reoriented. Hence, my differentiation between "bushcraft" and "survival". :) Hey, it's info worth what you paid for it. ;)
 
BladeScout BladeScout I totally get marketing hype is part of it but I think people might get wrapped up in the "spin". I think maybe I brought my obsession with bicycling to the table where the marketing hype is equally strong. The types of bikes, road racing, aero road, time trial, cyclocross, endurance bike, comfort bike, cross country mountain, endura mountain, free ride, downhill, time trial, triatholon...jeebus there are a lot... the list goes on but some bikes straddle the lines between the various specialties.

I guess what I was trying to say is that, to me, a survival knife is one you strap, or put into, a "bug out bag" and forget about it. A Bushcraft knife is one you wear on your hip when you want a primary tool for cutting and slicing but also have a "stable" of tools (bikes) that can perform the more specific tasks.

So as an example maybe you carry a Mora Kansbol on your hip for immediate use when you have an axe and/ or a saw nearby. If you want something sitting in the bug out bag, and are concerned about weight, maybe have a BK2 or a schf10.
 
Juany118 said:
BladeScout BladeScout I totally get marketing hype is part of it but I think people might get wrapped up in the "spin".

I guess what I was trying to say is that, to me, a survival knife is one you strap, or put into, a "bug out bag" .....


........A Bushcraft knife is one you wear on your hip when you want a primary tool for cutting and slicing but also have a "stable" of tools (bikes) that can perform the more specific tasks
.
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Chopped your post a little

But

Sure. Cant disagree with the above chopped bit.
 
Haha, +1.
marcinek said:
You get the knife that does what you want it to do in the woods. Call it "Betty" if you want.
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OP I agree with the notion that there are purpose-built knives that just do one or a few things well. Like a fillet knife. In those niche cases, whatever the marketing department calls a knife category, and what it's actually good at, can be pretty closely aligned.

When it comes to small-ish fixed blades 4" to 8" designed for general outdoor use, I am less interested in the marketing category, and more interested in the fundamentals of the blade: thickness of the primary grind, blade geometry, edge type and quality. If those things are good for the tasks I'm doing, and if the knife has a good handle, then I'm good. I wouldn't make too much out of those categories for general purpose outdoor knives, they are fluid and there's a lot of cross-over between them, mostly they are useful as somebody said, to help sell knives.
 
Juany118 said:
I guess what I was trying to say is that, to me, a survival knife is one you strap, or put into, a "bug out bag" and forget about it. A Bushcraft knife is one you wear on your hip when you want a primary tool for cutting and slicing but also have a "stable" of tools (bikes) that can perform the more specific tasks.
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First, a knife you throw in a bag somewhere and forget only helps you survive if you have that bag and knife you have forgotten with you.

Also you said a survival knife is an "oh crap I am in trouble I need to get out of this and back to civilization." knife. That's not "bugging out." In fact its the opposite. And when you are away from civilization shouldn't you have your bushcraft knife with you by default? Does it somehow turn into a "survival knife" at the first chance of trouble?

I think you are getting caught up in these terms and hoisted by your own petard.
 
Just names. Lots of overlapping activities out there in the woods.

The skills, techniques, and knowledge of the user determine the performance of the tool in a given situation.
 
Eagle Scout said:
Just names. Lots of overlapping activities out there in the woods.

The skills, techniques, and knowledge of the user determine the performance of the tool in a given situation.
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That's part of the problem, you have to get out into the weeds and then be allowed to use a fixed blade. I'm sure many of you have seen the thread where a young man is goin' into the back country for trail maintenance or overall park. The point is they were goin' in for a couple of weeks at a clop and they were told not to bring a fixed blade pocket knives were ok. It seems kinda silly and I mean no offense by sayin' that but here's a kid goin' deep in and he's bein' told to leave his fixed blade home. It's ironic when you think about it.

I swear the Scream series of slasher movies ruined it for people carryin' a FB anywhere these days, even in the wilderness. I fear for us as a species sometimes.
 
Lot of interesting takes on the two "labels". Personally, I find the "Bushcraft" the more marketing department derived of the two.

For me, a survival knife is any blade you happen to have with you when you get into a tight spot. How well your knife batons wood really isn't relevant if you are above timberline, the artic circle, or you are in a lifeboat. On the other hand, if you find yourself tied up in a hostage situation, a $10 rough rider folder maybe be what you have and need to cut your bonds and get away.
 
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