Up until last week, I had a standard 7" USMC Ka-Bar in my Bug Out Bag in my car. It was nothing exciting or sexy, but it seemed like it would do the job and it wasn't too expensive. Then, my cousin came home for his 6 month R&R from Afghanistan and we were talking. He told me that during the first half of his tour, he had carried his dad's old Ka-Bar and had brought it home to him so he could have a knife his son had carried in the sandbox. He offered to carry my Ka-Bar for the 2nd half of his deployment and then return it to me when he comes home in December. I jumped at the chance just thinking it would be cool to have a knife that a family member carried on deployment. However, it left me without a fixed blade in my BOB. When he does return home with it, it will now have sentimental value and I will not want to keep it in a kit in my car where it could be stolen. I have temporarily put my Fallkniven S1 in the bag while I figure out what I want to do, but that knife was supposed to be my new hunting knife. I have a few ideas and I'm looking for feedback from the forum.
1. Buy a Doug Ritter RSK Mk2 Perseverance for the BOB.
2. Buy an ESEE 6 for the BOB.
3. Just buy another Ka-Bar and call it a day.
4. Buy a Becker BK7 (similar to the Ka-Bar, but get to try something a little different for a similar budget). I have heard the sheath sucks though and it isn't a good deal if I have to buy an aftermarket sheath.
5. Leave the S1 in the BOB and buy a Doug Ritter RSK Mk3 as my new hunting knife. I like this idea, but it is really pushing my budget. Retail on this knife is $165 and I'd really like to keep this maxed out at about $125 and less is better. The other con is that I'm leaving a $150 Fallkniven sitting idle in my bag instead of getting some good use out of it.
6. Follow the brilliant advice I'm about to receive here for a knife I haven't thought of yet.
Ideally looking for something 5 - 7" that is a good all purpose survival / camping knife. Looking for tough, not overly heavy and a decent sheath. I'm leaning toward either the Doug Ritter RSK Mk2 or the ESEE 6. Both are 6" 1095 with Rowen hardening. The main difference is the ergo of the grip and the sheath. I like the full flat grind of the ESEE but the grip of the RSK better. I'd really be interested in a comparison of these. I'd also love some feedback on the BK7. If I can't decide between all these, I'll probably just get another Ka-Bar. However, as a knife guy I always prefer to get to try something new.
1. Buy a Doug Ritter RSK Mk2 Perseverance for the BOB.
2. Buy an ESEE 6 for the BOB.
3. Just buy another Ka-Bar and call it a day.
4. Buy a Becker BK7 (similar to the Ka-Bar, but get to try something a little different for a similar budget). I have heard the sheath sucks though and it isn't a good deal if I have to buy an aftermarket sheath.
5. Leave the S1 in the BOB and buy a Doug Ritter RSK Mk3 as my new hunting knife. I like this idea, but it is really pushing my budget. Retail on this knife is $165 and I'd really like to keep this maxed out at about $125 and less is better. The other con is that I'm leaving a $150 Fallkniven sitting idle in my bag instead of getting some good use out of it.
6. Follow the brilliant advice I'm about to receive here for a knife I haven't thought of yet.
Ideally looking for something 5 - 7" that is a good all purpose survival / camping knife. Looking for tough, not overly heavy and a decent sheath. I'm leaning toward either the Doug Ritter RSK Mk2 or the ESEE 6. Both are 6" 1095 with Rowen hardening. The main difference is the ergo of the grip and the sheath. I like the full flat grind of the ESEE but the grip of the RSK better. I'd really be interested in a comparison of these. I'd also love some feedback on the BK7. If I can't decide between all these, I'll probably just get another Ka-Bar. However, as a knife guy I always prefer to get to try something new.
Now, did you notice how useful my post was? Did you notice how much it added to the conversation? Yeah, I felt the same way.
