rough use knife suggestions

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brad2008

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Aug 5, 2008
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ok heres the deal , i do a lot of camping an over the years my choice of knives have been somewhat BAD to say the least ........... i need some help finding a suitable knife for my needs without wasting my money on another piece of junk . below ill list some requierments and a general price range ( btw the first 2 are prob my most important needs followed by number 5) oh yeah one more thing , this knife will also be included in my survival gear/preps an not just for camping type scenerios

1-hold an edge
2-use to chop wood if need be
3- cut open a deer if need be
4- 8 inch blade give or take
5- a few extras , maybe storage compartment in handle ....for example i have a steyr aug bayonet an i love the fact that it has wire cutters an a screwdriver tip on the sheath . im a multi use nut i guess
6- strong durable, take a beating etc etc
7-hammer type pommel ( im a painter by trade so im used to using my putty knife as a hammer so i do the same thing with my knives )
8-pry something open if need be
9-around $200 give or take

thats about it i guess, if i forgot something feel free to suggest ...

thanks in advance, Brad
 
err, an 8" blade to dress deer with? each to their own i suppose.

looking at your specifications, an ESEE Junglas, Fallkniven A1 or A2 or the Ka-Bar USMC all seem to fit the bill.

i'm sure there's an 8"ish Becker out there too.
 
Take a hard look at the Becker line from Ka-Bar.

Good steel.
Heavy and tough enough to chop.
The BK-2 will do a deer if you keep it sharp.
They have several blade lengths.
Pretty sure they have hollow handles that can be used for storage.
Has an extended pommel that can take a beating.


Best part ... the bigger ones are still well below $100.
 
sambo. said:
err, an 8" blade to dress deer with? each to their own i suppose.

looking at your specifications, an ESEE Junglas, Fallkniven A1 or A2 or the Ka-Bar USMC all seem to fit the bill.

i'm sure there's an 8"ish Becker out there too.
Click to expand...

For deer hunting & dressing I'd prefer the Ka-bar Utility knife w/o the leather washers for a handle but having two sizes of blade 7.5" & 5.5" (not sure on the smalller one) they're much lighter than the Junglas & much cheaper than the Fallkniven A1 or A2.

(that's if you must use such a large knife) I did my last two with a BUCK 110 knock off made by a familiar knife company - it's been a long time. I sold it for $20 in my wife's yard sale. She bought it for me years ago for about $5 at yard sale!

No need for big survival blades when dressing deer. Must be big d*mn deer! :D
 
Last edited:
DMT diafold C/F
Leatherman tool

The fixed blade you have hundreds of options for but a few would be.... Kabar becker line, ontario spec plus, EESE, Cold steel, Swamp rat and Scrapyard (FS forum)
 
both the kabar an fallkniven seem to fit the bill ... just carry a multi tool an im set it seems
 
Pretty much, my last camping trip a spyderco delica and LM tool were the most used items. I used my large knife for a few things but mainly for fun :)
 
yeah, chopping wood and dressing a deer are pretty diametrically opposed tasks... kind of like asking for a gun that you can use to take down a moose and also to plink squirrels or something. But for $200, you can easily get everything that you want in separate knives.

For field dressing game, the conventional sized mora knives are great and very cheap. Maybe stainless steel, although it won't hold an edge as well as the carbon (but the carbon will patina very quickly and rust if not dryed off). A spyderco bill moran skinning knife comes to mind too. The fallkniven pilot's survival knife is probably a good choice for that and a good all-around knife. Any number of folding knives, from a classic buck folder to any number of the spydercos, benchmades, etc. will do a great job.

For chopping, I would say a becker bk-7 or bk-9 is a great choice. Probably better for pure chopping than the bigger ESEEs (plenty of posts on here to look at on that topic). THe bigger fallknivens are also big chopper type blades, but I tend towards the carbon steel of the beckers over the fallknivens' stainless.

None of these have the bells and whistles, but for that, why not pick up a multi-tool or swiss army knife? To be honest, most of the knives that are worth their weight aren't going to have bells and whistles.
 
ESEE Junglas fits the size descriptions you listed the best, but an ESEE 4 or 6 could accomplish the tasks you listed the best.

JGON
 
You can field dress a deer with a big knife but you won't want to do it twice. I just did one Friday with my Becker BK-11 (bit over 3" on the blade) and that was about perfect, but to your question...

How about a Becker BK-9? If you get lucky, you might still find one with the Ramora that came with them for a time (so you can clean your deer). Great knife - will do what you want and you won't break it unless you do something really dumb like throw it.
 
Take a look at the Entrek bison, buffalo, or elk. They are all top of the line knives at a great price.
 
Kabar JAB Potbelly will fill all the needs you listed except for the hammer pommel. It also comes with the piggyback knife for fine work. For a 1/4" blade, it's a pretty good slicer too. It does fuzz sticks almost as good as my Mora does.
 
brad2008 said:
1-hold an edge
2-use to chop wood if need be
3- cut open a deer if need be
4- 8 inch blade give or take
5- a few extras , maybe storage compartment in handle ....for example i have a steyr aug bayonet an i love the fact that it has wire cutters an a screwdriver tip on the sheath . im a multi use nut i guess
6- strong durable, take a beating etc etc
7-hammer type pommel ( im a painter by trade so im used to using my putty knife as a hammer so i do the same thing with my knives )
8-pry something open if need be
9-around $200 give or take5
Click to expand...

I can see no way for one tool to do it all, but within the $200 budget it is easily doable.

Tool 1 - Victorinox Ranger is available at around $33 shipped (covers 5 by giving you the multi use tools you want - smaller blades, saw, file, can opener, bottle opener, screwdrivers, tweezers, scissors)
http://www.victorinox.com/product/1/100/1000/1103/1.3763 (does so much, the most useful 4 1/2 ounces you will carry)
Tool 2 - KA-BAR Becker BK-9 can be had for under $70 shipped. (Meets 1, 2, 4, 6 & 7)
Tool 3 - Countycomm widgy pry bar - small & easy to carry Costs about $5.50 before shipping (meets 8)
http://www.countycomm.com/widgy.htm (This is designed for prying, a knife is NOT!)
Tool 4 - Mora (Allround HighQ or Bushcraft or 2000 or 911 or . . . ) costs $16 to $40ish shipped depending on model (Meets 3 and handles a bunch of other woodcraft tasks not mentioned.

That is 4 useful tools that can be had for under $150 total including shipping. There are many reasons why my suggestions will beat the pants off any single tool and they still don't add up to all that much weight or bulk. I have all items listed and would happily go camping/fishing/hunting equipped with the 4 tools I listed and feel well covered for almost any task required. SAK + Mora + BK-9 = 4 blades from under 2" up to 9" chopper, no problems having a suitable blade for any tasks.

The BK-9 can chop & baton pretty well and does have a hammer pommel:
IMG_8425.JPG
 
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