Novelty/innovative survival knives

[mneedham]

Over the years, I've collected a number of novelty/gimmick survival knives. They vary tremendously in quality, innovation, and manufacture. You see every permutation in survival knives that have been produced, well-thought designs that have been poorly executed, excellent designs that have been very well made. It appears that many of the folks here are outdoorsmen and are primarily interested in practical, functional blades, but a number of us are also gear junkies and might find these knives interesting if nothing else. I thought I'd post a series of them in this thread, if you own any, good/bad/ugly, put them up.

This first one is labeled "Apollo Space-age survival knife", (yep, it is really called that). I don't when it was made, but it has an interchangeable blade, small psk on the handle, and a sharpening stone on the back. Interesting design, but I think its not gonna hold up to hard use:

 

[zman308]

Very interesting. Does the compass work? The metal handle should affect it.

 

[mneedham]

Very interesting. Does the compass work? The metal handle should affect it.

Zman,

I was wondering that when I pulled it out of storage today.. It does.

 

[j williams]

Thats weird, but definatly cool looking.

 

[koyote]

you can calibrate a compass that's near ferrous metals, did it on boats a lot. (and you tend to have to for a car compass, too)

But is it all steel or is most of that aluminum?

 

[kgd]

I had to laugh when I saw that levelling bubble, if that is what it is. That would suck in my dad for sure. I can just see him building his survival shelter and then checking to make sure each piece of wood was level. He is a straight shooter obssessive!

 

[mneedham]

Koyote,

Yes, you're right, the handles appear to be aluminum, the blades are stainless, the locking assembly is brass...

KGD - The level works too.... Sounds like your Dad had his stuff together..

 

[DOC-CANADA]

That the case it came with, or did you send that to ilbruche too (grumble, grumble.....)?

Doc (ever the envious bas***d)

 

[BarberFobic1992]

does it have a magnetic back?

 

[mneedham]

Doc- No, Ilbruche didn't make this one. If he had, it would look just a little more special (cause he can do that).

Barber - Nope, that's an aluminum handle with a sharpening stone inset.

 

[siguy]

neat looking gadget, funny that you have to sharpen the blades without a handle attached to them.

 

[hollowdweller]

That's really cool!:thumbup:

 

[shecky]

Neat find. I love examples of these sometimes bizarre little items. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

If this is all you had - I think you certainly could do a LOT worse. Take care not to treat it poorly - and you would do well I think.

TF

 

[jdowell]

wow.. how old is that?

Was it an infomercial that sucked you in?

 

[mneedham]

Tal - You are probably correct, at the end of the day you have two blades with a fairly positive locking mechanism (that brass plate on the back slides through the holes on the blade, and is then screwed down with the brass nut on the front). If you weren't too rough with it, you would probably be OK.

JDowell - I'm pretty sure that this knife pre-dates infomercials (they don't need one for me, I actively collect unusual designs, and all other knives for that matter..). I don't have any info on it at all (other than the name and that it was made in Japan). I'm hoping someone will see it and tell me more.

I'll post another tonight or tomorrow...

 

[macgregor22]

Very neat.

The apollo crew did carry randalls that had hollow tangs but that thing is really space age.

 

[mneedham]

I think that there is a tendency to group all of the 80's survival knives as cheap junk (most were), but there are exceptions, and I believe that the Tekna is one of them. Tekna was a diving equipment manufacturer and maker of the Tekna Splashlight, they sold their name a while back and someone else now reportedly makes an inferior version of the original product line. This knife is very comfortable to wear, the knife sits right at hand level, where you can flip the locking toggle and depress the protrusions that hold the knife to the sheath, this process can be done in the dark with one hand, no problem. There is waterproof Splashlight (lithium) in the handle of the knife that is released by lifting a lever on the side of the handle. The man who sold me this knife claimed he had never replaced the battery, and it still works to this day... The kit consists of a sharpening crock/firesteel, snare, fishing kit, compass, and signal mirror. The kit fits in a case that locks against the back of the knife and is secured and released by a knob/screw assembly on the bottom of the sheath. The fishing reel screws to the side of the sheath when in use...

Lots of gimmicks, but someone had fun designing this guy, and I would argue that it is fairly well executed...

The survival kit:

The fishing kit

 

[siguy]

why doesn't the knife go inside the sheath?

looks like a nice knife though, and i like that the blade looks well ground. i wonder about the holes in the blade, but it looks like it would hold up to use anyways...

 

[mneedham]

Siguy,

Good question! I assume for easy access, there is no upward motion of your arm to release the blade. You simply flip the toggle (if you had it locked)and push the lever down, and you have a knife in your hand. The motion feels very natural.

I agree, I doubt the cut-outs impact the using strength much...