am going through a phase of survival planning and am in the process of gathering my designated pack with all my gear. I will probably start a thread about a little later (after I read more on this forum, as I am new) posting what I think I need in it, and soliciting guidance.
Any recommendations on a different knife?
Firstly, well done on having the guts to ask for advice, because a lot of people don't and they end up wasting money on the wrong stuff.
My honest opinion is that neither the LMF nor the Sog are particularly good choices for a wilderness survival knife.
The major problem with the LMF is that the blade has serrations for almost half its length, and (believe it or not) serrations actually reduce the functionality of the knife in the wilderness. Serrations are really only useful for cutting tough synthetic materials like nylon spectra or hard plastics, where they out-perform a plain edge perhaps two or three times to one. Nevertheless, both of these materials are also easily cut with a plain blade so long as it is sharp. If you were cutting these materials hundreds of times a day, then certainly a serrated edge would be optimal, but if not then serrations are best avoided. The serrations on the LMF would be a significant hinderance in performing all the critical wilderness tasks (such as notching for traps, creating feathersticks, shaving tinder, skinning, chopping wood). Unfortunately I found all this out the hard way, as my first "good" knife had serrations along half of the blade and proved utterly useless out in the bush.
The Sog seal pup, whilst a better choice than the LMF, is also not a great choice for a wilderness knife. One problem is that the blade steel is AUS 8, which is not terrible but is not particularly good either. It is generally regarded as significantly inferior to other steels available. A second problem with the Sog is that the blade is (I believe, not 100% certain) hollow ground, or it may be a partial flat grind. Either way, neither of these grinds is optimal for a wilderness knife. The best grinds on a wilderness knife are a convex grind or a full flat grind.
So if not the LMF or Sog, what type of knife should you be looking at? My first suggestion is Fallkniven knives, either the F1 or the S1. Both of these knives are made from laminated steel, using a combination of the premium Japanese stainless VG10 and a softer 420 stainless. The result is that these knives have exceptional edge holding whilst being extremely strong. The F1 has a blade about 4 inches long and approx. 4mm thick, with a full flat grind. The S1 (which I carry and prefer to the F1) has a slightly longer blade at about 5 inches, and is slightly thicker at about 5mm. The S1 is convex ground. There is also a larger model called the A1, which is similar to the S1 but about 6 inches long and 6mm thick. My personal feeling is that this is a little too thick for a wilderness knife, but it might be a good choice if you wanted to do a lot of batoning.
My second suggestion is the Bark River knives, which I haven't personally used but are very highly regarded. The models in A2 carbon steel seem particularly popular, although I have read reports of fairly serious rust problems from some A2 users. Obviously, any carbon steel requires significantly more care than stainless steels.
My third suggestion are the traditional scandinavian knives, such as can be found on
www.ragweedforge.com. These range from the famous Frosts Mora which sells for about $10 through more expensive models with thicker/stronger blades and more exotic handle materials. Almost all of them make fantastic wilderness knives.
Best of luck with your choice.
-jh205
