pen knife vs 15 inch AK or GRS for camping

[selanne8]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently looking for a camping knife. And by camping, I mean in a tent at a campsite with my car close by.

The primary duties for the knife would be to baton wood, make kindling/shavings and double as a hammer for tent pegs. For all my trips, I've had access to already cut wood, so taking down trees or processing logs isn't something I would be typically doing.

Finally, all my camping has been done in state parks, so I need something that isn't going to draw suspicious looks from the rangers and I'm not too worried about fending off the zombies. When we go hiking, we don't need to clear a path because the park service typically keeps them clear for us.

Given all this, does a pen knife make sense? Or is there a need for a larger chopper with the style of camping I usually do.

I do admit, an M43 looks much nicer than a pen knife

Thanks!
John

 

[jdk1]

I have a 12.5", 16 oz. IIRC, chiruwa GRS/BC. It is perfect for what you want, in my opinion. It's sort of smatchet shaped and would make a good spatula. I do not have an AK, except a 16.5" CAK, but there are quite a few 12" AK and CAK owners around and I've heard nothing but praise. I can say that mine is like a little chainsaw in my experience. I was very surprised just how well it chopped. In fact, what you see are a lot of posts from folks saying they never imagined how much they would like their shorty. The shorties are at least 3/8th inch thick I believe. Heck, HI Biltons are even 3/8". So batonning and rough use is not an issue. Since you want a hammer also, you might look for a chiruwa handle. I don't think I could break mine if I had to. It's handy to the extreme and quite innocent looking. I'm sure the 14 and 15 inchers work even better, but carry more weight and intimidation amongst the sheeple. Since you're not really wanting to chop, I think a 12" ish khuk would fit your needs well. This isn't a very good photo, but every thread needs at least one pic. Take care.

 

[jdk1]

I'll add this spine shot of "Baby" next to a 16.5" CAK. If you had any doubts about strength, this should put a stop to that!

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I dunno, if you can find one, a 12.5-13" Pen Knife is tough to beat. Dan Koster et al designed it pretty much just for such a camping endeavor. I have one in my jeep that has seen many hikes and non-roughing-it camping duties. Great design, and I would love to see them sort to cycle back into production again.

I'd like to see a chiruwa version with a ringless grip come in at 13" overall. Very comfy medicine

 

[javand]

As a pretty much full time hiker/outdoorsmen, and maker of professional custom outdoor equipment, I'm going to arrogantly assume my opinion is worth something here..

I currently favor a 15.5" 18oz Bura BAS as my go-to big trail knife. I wouldn't want to get much shorter, you can baton logs with this thing, and I do. It's plenty choppy, and I haven't managed to kill it yet. I'll definitely replace it with something lighter if I get the chance, but for smaller blades, I've got a lot of other options for much less weight. Once you loose the leverage on the 10-12" pieces, I just don't think they're as effective as a thinner blade that bites well. At that point I favor a 13" full height convex 1/8" custom I've got, or my 12" (blade length) Fiddleback Machete.


Just my 2c. Personally if you can find a light AK, or BAS, I'd go with that.

 

[jamaljahda]

I have a 12.5", 16 oz. IIRC, chiruwa GRS/BC. It is perfect for what you want, in my opinion. It's sort of smatchet shaped and would make a good spatula. I do not have an AK, except a 16.5" CAK, but there are quite a few 12" AK and CAK owners around and I've heard nothing but praise. I can say that mine is like a little chainsaw in my experience. I was very surprised just how well it chopped. In fact, what you see are a lot of posts from folks saying they never imagined how much they would like their shorty. The shorties are at least 3/8th inch thick I believe. Heck, HI Biltons are even 3/8". So batonning and rough use is not an issue. Since you want a hammer also, you might look for a chiruwa handle. I don't think I could break mine if I had to. It's handy to the extreme and quite innocent looking. I'm sure the 14 and 15 inchers work even better, but carry more weight and intimidation amongst the sheeple. Since you're not really wanting to chop, I think a 12" ish khuk would fit your needs well. This isn't a very good photo, but every thread needs at least one pic. Take care.

what is this GRS/BC? I like that too. Is the handle small can I get a measurement if you have time I found I need at least a 4 1/2 inch handle to be comfortable preferably 5.

 

[jdk1]

Jamal, I like it much more than I imagined. It is an old Murali Bonecutter/Ganga Ram Special hybrid. From the days when Murali encroached on the Sarge's turf and got shut down. Auntie cleared her inventory of these old Murali pieces last Summer at rock bottom prices and I was blessed to get one. It's a handful of chop! I think it's the perfect blade for a 12.5" khuk, but it's also the only 12" khuk I have. Checking my notes shows the spine is about .323 at the bolster and widens ever so slightly at the shoulder. It wieghs a solid pound, but feels like part of your hand. The bad part is the handle is real short. It's about 4 1/4" from the rear of the horn to the very front of the bolster. A solid grip leaves my hand covering the bolster. But this is quite comfortable. You can also let your pinky press the rear of the pommel for a little chopping leverage. Either way is OK for me. Here's a better photo. Take care.

From left to right: 12.5" GRS/BC, 11" BDC, and Bilton.

 

[wildmanh]

Since I don't have experience with the BGRS I can't comment on it. But I do have a 15" AK and I got to play with the Prototype Pen knife back in the day so I'll talk about them. Personally you can't go wrong with either one. The Pen knife at it's origanal 12" long is a good general camp knife, Chops better then a Ka-bar or BK7 which are about the same length. I've even heard of people using the Pen knife as a spatula to flip pancakes and such on campouts. The 15" AK is one of the top selling Khukris and IMO a great 1st one. It will handle chopping and splitting duty around camp and beg for more. Mine is on the heavy side, 1/2" thick at the shoulder and weights around 2 pounds. Got it used, had to repair some cracks in the handle, straighten the tip, clean up the blade and work over the edge. The edge is sharp but rather thick, once I thin it out a bit it will be an amazing chopper.

Since you will be car camping I recommend the 15" AK out of your list. IMO it will compliment other knives that you'll probably be carrying really nicely.