Pilot Survival Knife

W

W.T. Beck

Joined
Jul 9, 2001
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1,411
Does anyone know if there are any knives similar to the Camillus Pilot Survival Knife, but made with high quality stainless steel?
It doesn't have to be an exact duplicate, but I would like the feature of a five inch blade made for survival/camping uses which is also suitable for self-defense. Also, it SHOULD have a double guard, but if there are no such knives then it MUST at least have a single guard. This rules out Busse and other highly regarded knives which do not have guards.
 
The Randall model 15 "Airman" and the Chris Reeves Aviator were both intended to provide a better quality replacement for the standard issue knife.

N2S
 
BWT Welcome to the forums.

You may want to look under the Exchange forum. Someone had a Randall model 15 up for sale earlier this week.

N2S
 
I'd say your best bet would be the Timberline Aviator or Specwar.
tl-94022.jpg

Above is the aviator
tl-94012.jpg

Above is the Specwar

They are both a bit pricey
 
I keep thinking I need a Chris Reeve aviator as well.

Not quite sure what for, but I need one.

:-)

Mike
 
My brother has a pilot's license and I fly with him here and there. Sometimes I do some flying as well.

I gave him a BM 910 (partly serrated). I felt it was something he should have on him in case he had to cut himself (or me:rolleyes: ) out of a difficult situation.

The fixed blades are probably more fitting to the situation, but I wanted him to have something he would carry and have at hand if necessary.
 
Check out a SOG SEAL pup:

SEALPup.jpg


Steven Dick, editor of Tactical Knives Magazine, reviewed one once. He said it is a great camp kid of knife if venturing around water. I hear that SOG's heat treat for 440-A is pretty good.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys. I do like the traditional guard on the Randall.
I thought I had found just the ticket when I came across the Allen Blade (Blade Cutlery) website. It lists a five inch blade version of the Combat Patrol Bowie, which has a bowie type blade and brass double guard. However, I sent an email to inquire but got no reply.
 
what do you think of the camillus cuda "Close Quarter Battle CQB2 Jr"

ATS-34, 4 in blade, and you can get it serrated
 
Lizardking,

The Camillus CQB-2 is a GREAT knife (I have its' big-brother, the CQB-1)...The only "problem" is that it doesn't have a "hand-guard", and that's something that he was looking for in his knife-search.:).
 
this is quite the challenge! Finding a fixed blade survival knife, with dubble gaurds, decent steel, and at a non-stratospheric price.

SOG-dubble gaurds as far as the eye can see, but most blades are 440A, the only one that has a good steel (BG42) the recondo, lacks a proper gaurd.

KaBar-many gaurds! Steel is ok, but not all of it is stainless

Cold Steel, some can be found, many of the gaurds are krayton, so that really doesnt count but the military classic and the outdoorsman have real ones, but cold steel is sometimes questionable.

fallkniven-no gaurds
 
Originally posted by LizardKing
this is quite the challenge! Finding a fixed blade survival knife, with dubble gaurds, decent steel, and at a non-stratospheric price.
Click to expand...

surprising, isn't it?

A replica of the standard military pilot survival knife in stainless might be a good seller.
 
Doesn't Kabar have a short version of the USMC knife out in stainless? Check out Brigade Quartermasters, for one place. I'm not sure, but I think the short versions are either 5 or 6 inch blades. What do you want the guards for, keeping your fingers from sliding forward or stopping an opponent's knife blade? If it's the former, a rubber guard molded into the handle should be fine. I have a nice Buck Nighthawk that is a serious hunk of steel. I also have the USAF survival knife by Camillus. The parkerizing seems to work well for corrosion resistance, although I don't hump the backwoods with it.

Good luck, and WELCOME, W.T.!

Karl
 
Second vote on Fällkniven. F1 is used by Swedish military pilots as survival knife for some years, recently USMC Air Forces are going to issue F1 and bigger S1 in the same role.

In my opinion large hand guard (especially both-sided) is completely redundant on pilot's survival knife.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. The replys so far confirm my previous conclusion that there is no readily available higher quality approximation of the Pilot Survival Knife. The Randall Airman is a excellent high quality replacement, but the Randalls are pricy, hard to get, and usually found in carbon steel.
The need for a large traditional guard is very controversial, but my view is that one can never have too much safety. So far I have never needed to be wearing a seat belt in all of my car trips, but I don't plan to stop using them.
There is one other knife I have seen that has most of the Pilot Survival Knife's features - the Walther Hammerhead. It even has a pommel suitable for hammering. However the blade is one inch shorter than on the Pilot Survival Knife, and the Walther knife is made of 440A - not my idea of a high quality stainless steel.
 
What does a U.S. military Pilot Survival knife do that just about any other fixed blade (usually with a stronger point and without a sawback which makes the blade weaker) can't do better? I am not trying to start an argument here I just want to be educated as I have never seen a reason for why these things sell.
 
Well, it is successful because it takes an edge, is readily available, and is cheap! Ask Nam vets what they think of the knife, and I bet most of the comments would be positive. Steven Dick used to carry one in his LRRP days, as far as I know. Jeff Randall also wrote an article on this blade. Though I don't consider it an ideal woods blade, it certainly takes an edge and can make fuzz sticks right along with the Busses.

Perhaps the person wants one for nostalgic reasons too. THe all important "thins knife makes me happy" factor could be in play.

Oh, Beck, check out SOG's forum here on Bladeforums (makers/manufacturers section). They are comming out with a BG42 Field knife that should be pretty cool. I was reminded about this blade and their Recondo when reading my old Tactical Knives magazines yesterday! In one I found an article by Steven Dick on the Recondo and he compares it with the Pilot survival. He wished he had a plain edged Recondo in Vietnam. If you don't like the Recondo (tanto design) then you could wait until their dropped point field knife comes out.

Good Luck on your search.
 
The need for a large traditional guard is very controversial, but my view is that one can never have too much safety
Click to expand...
I'm afraid this contains some kind of misunderstanding about handguard 's role. Originally it was designed to protect your hand against enemy's blade when fighting blade against blade with large knives or short (also long) swords. It is not intended to protect your hand against your own blade, especially when working. If the man has calm, well controlled movements and use his knife with care he do not need the hand guard at all. Traditional Scandinavian knives are the good example here. If the man has violent, hardly controlled movements or use his knife without care - he can make himself a harm even using knife with D-shaped guard. No one guard protects your other hand, hips, chest, belly etc.

BTW, Fällkniven knives have enough guard to protect your hand against accidental sliding onto blade, of course if you work with care. They have great stainless VG-10 steel blades with strong convex edge. It's really hard to get more knife for your money.
 
The Vietnam Veteran I talked to most about knives was issued the "kabar" which has a stronger tip and blade and he would have liked something better.
 
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