Outdoor/Survival knife

[Cymro]

I know this has been beaten to death, but hear me out...

I'm looking for a large outdoor/survival knife. The easiest way to put this is that i want something like an RTAK or some of the swamp rat knives, but with a sawback. I figure it would make my life easier.

Ideally, this would set me back less than $200. But I'm willing to entertain any ideas that y'all have.

Thanks in advance!

 

[skammer]

Why a sawback?

I have never used one that worked to any usefull extent. It also limits your choices which is not good for a reliable decent blade.

Skam

 

[ras]

IIRC the saw-back on the TOPS Steel Eagle is supposed to work okay, but I agree that saw-back cons outweigh the pros. I don't own any and wouldn't buy the Steel Eagle. YMMV $.02

 

[cheung_victor]

SOG Seal Revolver, 2 in 1. Or Hunting Revolver http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=354507

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

Buy the RTAK or Swamp Rat knife you want, then spend about $25 on a good folding pruning saw. You'll get a better saw than you'd find on the back of a knife, and none of the "cons" of having a sawback on your main knife. The "cons" of this approach are the weight and space of the saw, but you can get pretty small ones, and none of them are very expensive.

I've used one of these, and it works just fine... http://www.silkysaws.com/f180lt.htm

 

[shpshooter]

The saws on the back of knives were meant for cutting through aircraft aluminum for downed pilots, not for cutting wood. Most of them don't work very well on wood. You are much better off buying a good knife and having a folding saw seperate. The Sog seems like a good idea, but I wouldn't trust as much as I would a full tanged fixed blade. However, I don't own one so I can't really talk about it too much.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

... then spend about $25 on a good folding pruning saw. You'll get a better saw than you'd find on the back of a knife...http://www.silkysaws.com/f180lt.htm

Yeah, they are not even close. It is like comparing a decent custom knife to the lid of a tin can.

-Cliff

 

[LeeBower]

The sawback on my kershaw survival knife is a better tree cutter than my bow saw, it's just too short a stroke to use for big branches but it tears through a 3-4" branch in 3 or 4 strokes...

 

[grobe]

hope i'm not crossing any lines here, but checkout the RD in this thread.

http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/621960/tp/10/

 

[Survivalboy]

You can't go wrong with a Becker BK-7 or a Swamp Rat Camp Tramp

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys...

Saws on the backs of knives are a waste of time, can cause failure to the knife, and simply don't work very well.

You'd be much better of with a stand alone say, such as a Gerber, or Trail Blazer pruning saw, or a SAK, and even the SOG Revolver which has an Excellent saw, as well as a knife, that would do well for cleaning game and general camp chores.

Pic a fixed blade with a full spine and you'll be much better served..

ttyle

Eric....

 

[Boondock Saint]

+1 for the Becker BK7.

 

[dniice87]

i too say go with the SOG revolver

 

[WEB2]

get the SOG SEAL revolver, you'll love it! great camp knife, skinning knife, and yard knife.

 

[RokJok]

Buy the RTAK or Swamp Rat knife you want, then spend about $25 on a good folding pruning saw.

I concur with FoxholeAtheist's recommendation. Another downside is that the sawback knifeblade may well chew at your baton while being beaten through branches to get at dry wood on the interior. As he noted, a dedicated saw is much better at its job than knifeback saw teeth.

Folding pruning saws range from under $10 to the neighborhood of $60 or more, depending on how rigorously you shop and how important it is to have brand name product in your pack/pocket. My folding pruning saw choice for "bang for the buck" is the Tashiro Folding Pocket Saw for $28 plus shipping. One of the features of this saw, as well as many of the other mid- to high-end saws, is that you can replace the blade readily. Search here on BFC for comments on the saw.

On the lower end of your $200 window, I'd recommend a Ranger Knives RD-7 ($100) or another vote for the Becker BK-7 ($50) or BK-9 ($60), a home center folding pruning saw ($20), and a Mora style knife from either Kellam Knives S-series models ($13) or else Ragnar's Ragweed Forge Swedish knives ($8-30). The one I like from Ragnar's is the Swedish Army Knife model #760MG for $11.

SAK's also make a decent small knife, but I like them more for their extra tools. Any folder, including a SAK, loses primacy because of the relative weakness of the joint and the crannies where gunk can accumulate.

If you want to use ALL of that $200 or a touch more, I'd recommend the Swamp Rat Camp Tramp ($125) for the big knife. I'd change the small knife recommendation from a Mora to a Spyderco Moran Featherweight ($65), Benchmade Outbounder ($65 in 440c, $75 in D2), Swamp Rat Howling Rat ($88), or Cold Steel SRK factory second ($50).