Need recommendations: 6-7” fixed blade UNDER $40

In the price range, besides from the SRK and other CS, i spontaneously come to think of Schrade. But they seem to take a lot of flak in here apparently due to previous behaviour so I’d have to go with the general consensus and vote for the SRK. I have one myself, it’s a solid knife.
Cheers/D
 
Just realizes, I never updated my own post.

I did indeed end up buying the CS Recon Tanto. Mainly because, well, why the hell not! 🤣
It’s already been on a couple of camping trips, and while not the ultimate camp knife, it doesn’t do too bad as one either. It came nice and sharp right out of the box, so cutting basic things like cordage was no biggie.

Making feather sticks and shavings was better than expected. The long, upswept blade actually made shaving nice long curls fairly easy, even if the edge geometry is a bit thick for this purpose. To get the edge to an angle to shave curls, also meant it was real easy for the knife to dig in too deep and want to ‘notch in’. More than anything, just takes getting the right touch.

Next up was battoning. Gotta say, this thing was a champ. Didn’t matter what I tried splitting with it. Seasoned hardwood. Pine 2x4 cutoffs. Or fresh cut greenwood. Didn’t matter how hard or soft, or even if it had a knot, that thick Tanto acted like a big ol’ wedge and went right through it. The handle did transmit a little shock back to the hand, but I was using a rubber mallet, so it wasn’t too bad. I stuck to things under 4” - small rounds, corners of larger splits, or the occasional fresh cut branch. You can see in the photo where the coating is starting to wear from battoning. The 7” blade gave enough length to allow angle adjustments, while still having plenty of spine to get a solid blow with the mallet.

Where I was actually most pleasantly surprise was bushwhacking and clearing small limbs. Look, it’s no machete, and I didn’t expect it to be, but with some quick, snappy swings, it’ll strip a sapling down to a usable pole with ease. Same with working your way through light bush like you would find on a deer path or grown in trail.

It’s not a food prep knife. I did quarter some red potatoes with it, but that was about it.

I’m not deep into bushcraft, and I don’t do primitive, off grid survival. In fact, I go camping in a nice, 30’ travel trailer, and carry more appropriate gear for each individual task. But we also don’t full on ‘glamp’ either. Last trip, we hiked two miles into the woods, and spent the day building a small shelter using this thing, and it did quite well. Then we came back, gathered firewood and processed it with this, before using it to make marshmallow sticks. it’s thick enough, I even used it as a light pry bar to break up a wooden palette. I say it was $50 well spent!

Pick with my normal, 4.5” camp knife

ZCbID7L.jpg
 
Last edited:
jaseman said:
Just realizes, I never updated my own post.

I did indeed end up buying the CS Recon Tanto. Mainly because, well, why the hell not! 🤣
It’s already been on a couple of camping trips, and while not the ultimate camp knife, it doesn’t do too bad as one either. It came nice and sharp right out of the box, so cutting basic things like cordage was no biggie.

Making feather sticks and shavings was better than expected. The long, upswept blade actually made shaving nice long curls fairly easy, even if the edge geometry is a bit thick for this purpose. To get the edge to an angle to shave curls, also meant it was real easy for the knife to dig in too deep and want to ‘notch in’. More than anything, just takes getting the right touch.

Next up was battoning. Gotta say, this thing was a champ. Didn’t matter what I tried splitting with it. Seasoned hardwood. Pine 2x4 cutoffs. Or fresh cut greenwood. Didn’t matter how hard or soft, or even if it had a knot, that thick Tanto acted like a big ol’ wedge and went right through it. The handle did transmit a little shock back to the hand, but I was using a rubber mallet, so it wasn’t too bad. I stuck to things under 4” - small rounds, corners of larger splits, or the occasional fresh cut branch. You can see in the photo where the coating is starting to wear from battoning. The 7” blade gave enough length to allow angle adjustments, while still having plenty of spine to get a solid blow with the mallet.

Where I was actually most pleasantly surprise was bushwhacking and clearing small limbs. Look, it’s no machete, and I didn’t expect it to be, but with some quick, snappy swings, it’ll strip a sapling down to a usable pole with ease. Same with working your way through light bush like you would find on a deer path or grown in trail.

It’s not a food prep knife. I did quarter some red potatoes with it, but that was about it.

I’m not deep into bushcraft, and I don’t do primitive, off grid survival. In fact, I go camping in a nice, 30’ travel trailer, and carry more appropriate gear for each individual task. But we also don’t full on ‘glamp’ either. Last trip, we hiked two miles into the woods, and spent the day building a small shelter using this thing, and it did quite well. Then we came back, gathered firewood and processed it with this, before using it to make marshmallow sticks. it’s thick enough, I even used it as a light pry bar to break up a wooden palette. I say it was $50 well spent!

Pick with my normal, 4.5” camp knife

ZCbID7L.jpg
Click to expand...
Good choice. The Recon Tanto to me is like an SRK but with an almost indestructible tip. It’s a great all-arounder and that second tip where the two angles intersect makes for a very acute point for detailed work. And let’s not even talk about how well this would do as a self-defense weapon. It’s got the reach and that tanto point 😬. I bought 2 of them and they might be the sharpest knives I’ve ever seen come right out of the box.
 
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