One Knife for One Year

As far as using a coated blade, I was mainly thinking about sanitizing it for food prep, which you would be doing all the time in this scenario. Much easier to do with a non-coated blade.

Understood.

Thank you.

I am drawing up the rules for this thing in my head. I'll post once I've got them all down. :D
 
I shared a fire with another hiker tonight. I had my Busse and Skookum and he had a "winchester?" folder with built in firesteel. Looked like it has been thru war but was razor sharp and met his needs just fine. Probably cost him about $25 total. If I run into him again, i'm going to give him my Alox Farmer and see how it holds up over a years time of hard use. Not much you can't do with a simple SAK.

Well said. Truth be told, I could probably get by both in the bush and in everyday life with a simple SAK, no problems.
 
I think that's a great idea. There a was a thread a while ago on the Traditional forums about using a peanut for a year. I didn't pick up a peanut but get get a Boker pen knife I carried for over a year. Sometimes I backed it up with a SAK. Sometimes it was the only knife on me. I'm a suburbanite cubicle dweller, so a pen knife or a peanut will probably not be the knife you want to take into the wilderness for a year, but I did learn a lot carrying the little guy.

There were very few times I had to get another knife to complete a given task. There were a few times I wanted a larger knife but the tiny 1095 blades cut everything I asked them to. I think the more time you spend with a blade the better off you'll be. You'll know, not just wonder, what a particular knife's limitations are. And when you're tired or cold you won't have to think about how to draw or hold it. You'll know. And when something enexpected comes up you'll have a much better idea how to approach the problem with that given knife.

Frank
 
Ive already done it. I spent 4 years of my life as a grunt, with nothing more than a Kabar USMC on my LBE as my only means of cutting.
 
Well said. Truth be told, I could probably get by both in the bush and in everyday life with a simple SAK, no problems.

You probably could - but if you wanted to do some chopping and batoning to set up a camp fire then you wouldn't be able to. I would also question everyday life without bigger knives available - what if you had a watermelon you wanted to cut?

I've always believed in using the right tool for the job and it seems that trying to use only one knife for a year would not fit in with that. Cutting your knife collection down to half a dozen users instead of dozens of collectors pieces has much merit - but trying to use one knife for every task has no appeal for me.

Of course you could get away with one knife easier if you cheated a little - one knife (except in the kitchen) + one hatchet ('cause that isn't a knife) and one SAK (they don't really count do they) and one multitool. That would probably not be that difficult to cope with for a year.

For camping I would want a chopper (axe, hatchet, machete or whatever) and a utility knife (~4" knife that is good for food prep & wood carving) and a SAK/Multitool. If Hatchet + Knife + Multitool fits in the rules here then you can be adequately equipped for camping with the one knife for a year. However I like to play with my gadgets and always go camping over equipped with half a dozen flashlights, half a dozen lighters & half a dozen knives. I would take my 15" HI Ganga Ram for chopping & splitting wood and a Mora for my utility knife and my SAK & LM Leatherman EDC tools, but I would also take my BK7 & BK9 to back up the others and probably a couple more to play with. Hell, I even take my full DMT Aligner kit & strop to let me sharpen before going to bed.
 
I don't chop. I usually baton. But I've had to make a fire in the rain before with only a SAK. I used the saw to cut halfway through a thick piece of deadwood. Smacked it down to split it in half lengthways. Did it again. Feathered the pieces and had a fire. So it's not a big deal. I normally baton because it's quicker.
 
if i had to pick only one it would be big, 10"+ easily. eventhough my sak is my most used knife it can't do everything i would want to do then you get into SD and that opens up a whole new can of worms. 2 or 3 for me and i will take the test.
 
This is a cool idea.

I did something similar a while back, and it ended up being a fun and educational experiment. When you force yourself to stick to a limited set of tools, you really come to appreciate their strengths and limitations. At the end of my experiment, I had a good idea of the features that worked for me and those that could be improved. For me, it made more sense to work with two knives (an EDC and a belt knife) and a Leatherman, rather than a single blade, but I can definitely see that working too.

Anyway, best of luck with this. I look forward to reading about it.

Best,

- Mike
 
In my 22 years in the military...over half that in Special Operations...my most-used knife was a simple SAK. The model varied from a Huntsman to a Ranger, to a plain old Wenger Soldier...but the fact that I always had one on me, and used it for more "knife work" than anything else, says something. In more "interesting" times, I carried a 6" Randall #1....but it didn't see anywhere near the use of the SAK. Same goes for the 33 months spent in Iraq between 2005-2008. A SAK was my most-used knife.

Ron
 
i don't know about carry only one knife, sometimes i have two or three on me, but i am considering making the benchmade snody activator, the one that is always on me(once i get the new sheath made)
 
I am going to try something similar next year, but I am making two changes:

1. It applies to all my gear; flashlights, lighters, knives, MT's, etc
2. I am only going to continue with tasks I regularly practice. Meaning--no baton practice :)


Good luck with it
 
I am going to BTT this thread because I finally have time to put the idea into action.

I figured 11-11-11 was a fitting day to begin.

Here is my blog:

http://oneyearoneknife.tumblr.com/

-Stan

Well it's about time! Happy Veteran's day by the way. That is a heck of a knife! Should be an awesome knife for all around duty in the bush, but can't wait to see how you discretely carry it when the need arises :D

Good luck bro, you have set out on a path that will teach you many things about using knives, blade geometries, as well as yourself and your own creativity. Keep us posted.
 
Nice knife selection there. Should be an interesting year for you mate. Good luck.
 
Stan,

You're a better man than me for even thinking of only one knife for a year...!
See; I just pulled out and fondled my Leatherman and my SAK to calm myself down.

Do keep us posted on this mighty quest!!

Cheers,
8
 
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