Recommendations for a medium woods knife?

I looked at the Recon Scout. It's a great suggestion. I really like the overall design but I don't think I want one. I don't like the sharp angles where the tang goes into the handle. That's a weak point for batoning.

I'm liking the BK7, but now I'm reading that it only has a 3/16" thick blade*?? :( I still need to go back and look through all the suggestions. Does anyone know of something like the BK7 with a FFG, 1/4" thick blade, preferably 1095 steel?

*The Kabar website does not list the blade thickness.
 
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I'm concerned with the more brittle nature of stainless (chipping) over carbon steel. It's possible that I could hit the knife into the ground while I'm tired and trying to split wood for a fire.
 
ShooterMcgavin said:
I am looking for some recommendations for a medium length woods knife to be used for backpacking, mostly in winter (that's when I'd need an emergency fire most). I am thinking the length should be 7-8", but I am willing to hear your input on that too. I probably want 1/4" thickness, since I will want something good at splitting wood. I want to be able to baton and split wood up to 6" in diameter.
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Um... sound like what you need is a small axe, not a large knife. ;)

If you are set on a knife, one of the larger ESEE or Ka-Bar/Becker knives would probably be my choice.
 
ShooterMcgavin said:
I looked at the Recon Scout. It's a great suggestion. I really like the overall design but I don't think I want one. I don't like the sharp angles where the tang goes into the handle. That's a weak point for batoning.

I'm liking the BK7, but now I'm reading that it only has a 3/16" thick blade*?? :( I still need to go back and look through all the suggestions. Does anyone know of something like the BK7 with a FFG, 1/4" thick blade, preferably 1095 steel?

*The Kabar website does not list the blade thickness.
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Why does 3/16" sound insufficient for your needs? If it's strength or longevity, I wouldn't worry. Heck, I'll buy it off you if you break a BK7 during normal use.
 
mdauben said:
Um... sound like what you need is a small axe, not a large knife. ;)

If you are set on a knife, one of the larger ESEE or Ka-Bar/Becker knives would probably be my choice.
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I want something that can make fuzz sticks, some food prep, make a divot for a bow drill, and make notches. All of those tasks are better suited to a knife than an axe... and the knife will save me 10 oz or maybe more. The axe mostly does 1 job and does it VERY well. I don't need that capability at the expense of that much weight.

I wish ESEE made a 7-8" blade. My problem would be solved.

Spooky, I'm not too worried about breaking a 3/16" knife, but I want something better at splitting wood. The thicker blade will do that a bit better.
 
I think if you are looking for a super tough chopping/splitting knife a scrapyard SOD (7.5" long 0.25" thick blade) would serve you well. The BK-7 strikes more well rounded design, good at both chopping/splitting and cutting. If you know exactly what you want, but can't find a production model that matches it, talk to the custom makers here on the forum. It's cheaper to buy 1 custom that is what you want than to buy half a dozen production blades that fall short.
 
CoyotePhysics said:
I think if you are looking for a super tough chopping/splitting knife a scrapyard SOD (7.5" long 0.25" thick blade) would serve you well. The BK-7 strikes more well rounded design, good at both chopping/splitting and cutting. If you know exactly what you want, but can't find a production model that matches it, talk to the custom makers here on the forum. It's cheaper to buy 1 custom that is what you want than to buy half a dozen production blades that fall short.
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I don't currently own any 1/4" thick knives. Do you (or anyone else) think that a 3/16" blade will do perfectly well for what I want?
Coyote, I'll look into your suggestions.

technician1 said:
did you check out stknives (stknives.com) I can say only good things about mine. check'em out
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Yes, I looked through most of their knives. They look to have a tactical focus, largely. Can you recommend something that fits my requirements?
 
the ranger large is the one I was thinking.. I like this blade grind because (saber) the knife will have more weight for choping vs. a FFG of the same OAL. You can get any of the knives in a drop point. and different handles. The blade steel with an "in house" heat treat is 1095. If you were interested you can call them and speak to them. to have one made to your likeing. Kydex sheaths are very nice. made to each individual blade. the blade is 1 and 1/4 wide. You could call them and have the blade made as longe as you wanted it to be made. Not trying to sell on somthing, just giving you my input. If i were looking for , cold winter woods knife, that I trusted. Good luck!
 
ShooterMcgavin said:
I don't currently own any 1/4" thick knives. Do you (or anyone else) think that a 3/16" blade will do perfectly well for what I want?
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3/16" is a good thickness for a field knife and tough as h#ll with the right heat treat. 1/4" should have more lateral strength but not necessarily a better thickness all around. Here are some examples of knives in 3/16 steels.

TOPS Pathfinder, 3/16 1095 steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=775287



Fletcher DF, 3/16 O-1 steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=748110



RAT RC-4, 3/16 1095 steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717473



BK-7 and BK-9, 3/16 1095 CV steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=642010

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=734191



RAT HEST, 3/16 1095 steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=713027



Breeden Recon, 3/16 O-1 steel

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656405



SOG Seal Pup, 3/16 AUS8

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=637152

.
 
Personally, in the blade length range you're looking at, I think 3/16" is about as thick as I'd go...and I'd lean more towards 5/32". In my world 1/4" is almost silly thick until you get into the 8+" blade length range. I agree with Koyote, drop Bruce Culberson an email and ask about his camp knife.
 
SpookyPistolero said:
Why does 3/16" sound insufficient for your needs? If it's strength or longevity, I wouldn't worry. Heck, I'll buy it off you if you break a BK7 during normal use.
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If he breaks a BK-7 during normal use I'd need to see the video. I have put mine through hell and the only damage has been to the coating.
 
I'm not too worried about the coating on any of the knives I will get. I was thinking that 1/4" would be a better splitter. Maybe that would add weight and would not help the splitting ability(?)

I really like the looks of the Scrapyard SOD! BUT... What is up with the full 1" of space (between handle and blade) above the choil??? A choil is fine, but at least make it space-efficient like on the Ontario RAT7. Speaking of the RAT7, how does it compare to the BK7?? Good heat treat on it? One of my reservations about the BK7 is on the quality of the heat treat from a mass-produced knife.

About stknives... I'm not crazy about how low the grind goes, and the Large Ranger looks like it's only a 6" knife.

I'm not much of a knife "collector" and I don't have lots of money to spend. That's why I spend a lot of time doing research so that I only buy once, but it's a knife that will take care of my needs for a very long time.

The 3/16" thick knives that I own are RAT RC-4 and RAT HEST.

MistWalker, Thanks for the links, and thanks for all the reports and pictures in those links!!
 
ShooterMcgavin said:
Speaking of the RAT7, how does it compare to the BK7?? Good heat treat on it? One of my reservations about the BK7 is on the quality of the heat treat from a mass-produced knife.
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I don't think you need to worry about the heat treat on a BK7. For mass produced knives heat treating is a science, for hand made knives heat treating is an art. I would trust Becker's heat treat before I trusted the work of anything less than a master smith.

As a side note, you mentioned that this knife is for cold-weather splitting. Keep your blade warm. It is amazing what cold can do to steel. A perfect example of this is the Liberty cargo ships built in WWII. They kept cracking in half and sinking. No one knew why until someone pointed out that the North Atlantic was cold enough to make steel brittle.
 
The new Ontario SpecPlus Gen2 look like they have lots of potential and about the same price as the Beckers. Check out the sp43 model I believe it is, sounds like what you are looking for.
 
CoyotePhysics said:
I don't think you need to worry about the heat treat on a BK7. For mass produced knives heat treating is a science, for hand made knives heat treating is an art. I would trust Becker's heat treat before I trusted the work of anything less than a master smith.

As a side note, you mentioned that this knife is for cold-weather splitting. Keep your blade warm. It is amazing what cold can do to steel. A perfect example of this is the Liberty cargo ships built in WWII. They kept cracking in half and sinking. No one knew why until someone pointed out that the North Atlantic was cold enough to make steel brittle.
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That's a pretty crazy story, about the cargo ships.

I thought that a good heat treat was the reason you don't have to worry about a knife becoming too brittle in cold weather (and it also effects edge retention).
 
You could do everything you need to do with a 12" Ontario machete and spend about $25, but would be a bit clumsy for food prep. Folks in South America do it all the time with even larger machetes. Frankly, a 7" blade is a tad large for food prep for me. The SOG Seal Pup Elite mentioned above is a very good all around knife.

Here's a Kabar that might just turn your eye (1/4" stock). Should be priced under $100 by sellers ($76 at New Graham). In fact, I may just have to look at one of these for myself. I have the Kabar Cutless Machete. It is a good chopper but lacks finese due to the shape for some detail work. There is also the "bacon maker" which has a more aggressive blade design.
https://www.kabar.com/product/produ...goryId=1,2,7,8&categoryName=Military/Tactical
 
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