SAS Survival Guide Knife

[Peak_Oil]

The SAS Survival Handbook has a description of a knife handle. I liked the idea and have been looking for such a knife but haven't come across one yet. I thought you guys might have seen one and could let me know where I can find one.

"Handle A is ideal: a single rounded piece of wood, the knife tang passing through it and fastened at the end (my note: by a disc of metal that screws on to hold the handle in place). If the handle breaks the tang can be wrapped with cloth or twine.

"Handle B is only riveted to the tang and would cause blisters.

"Handle C could break at the rivets if subjected to heavy work and the short tang would make it difficulst to improvise a handle."

So I'm looking for Handle A, that has metal going all the way out the back of the handle and a screw top, not a hollow tube with a thing of matches in it, but a solid bar of metal going to the back with a one-piece wooden handle, held on by a disc of metal that screws into the tang. I think I got the terminology right.

So. Anybody know where a knife like that can be had?

 

[JD Mandrell]

"Handle A" pretty much sums up any full length stick tang, like the famous Pilots survival knife.

This is the classic Camillus version, with leather stacked washer handle.

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

Yup! What he said!

 

[longbeachguy]

If that's what your looking for, you can very often find unused military surplus stock on e-bay for around thirty bucks. I have one -- it's my survival kit knife.

 

[Vlad H]

You better do a search for Mora survival knife instead if you want something to take to the woods.

 

[matthew krissak]

Heres the knife from the book, its a smith and wesson survival knife. They dont make them any more, but I have seen them on ebay evey now and then. Or get the knife that, The Last Confederate suggest, it the closest thing around right now.

 

[Vlad H]

Get a mora the round handle lets you work a long time and the construction and steel is good.

 

[sunnyd]

Vlad,
I'm typically not a betting man, but I'll wager that you like Mora's.. ?

 

[Peak_Oil]

The Pilot looks serviceable. I think that's my huckleberry. That and a Garand bayonet and I think I'm done for a while. Excellent suggestions guys, thank you all.

 

[freezergeezer]

Many Scandinavian knives have a full length tang like you describe. And Mora are certainly very good knives indeed, especially considering the relatively miniscule price!

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

Moras! I don't think there is a better cutlery deal out there. Those things CUT! I've only got the stainless bladed, synthetic handled ones and have been extremely impressed with them. I have a sythetic handled, carbon steel Mora on the way. A few months ago I picked up a used one with a wood handle in a second hand shop that seems to have been sharpened by someone who doesn't like sharp knives. It may take a while to rescue.

Here is a good source for Moras. Everyone needs at least one.

http://www.ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

They aren't kewl looking or the latest mall ninja item, and they aren't even expensive. What they are is a very impressive cutting machine. I should probably look at seeing what kind of deal I can get on a dozen or so and just stash them around everywhere.

The USAF Survival knife is certianly a good choice. Since the Moras are also very light in weight, consider taking both along. The Pilot can be a heavy cutting, chopping type, and the Mora can be your slicing tool.

SunnyD, you can't make a wager on me liking Moras cause there isn't a chance to wager on. I like 'em just fine.

Now if I can keep the memory of how much, I mean little I let my Camillus go for, with a cordura sheath and a Camillus utilitiy knife in the sharpener pouch on the sheath where I had forgotten I'd put it, I may be able to more forward. It was a terrible tradgedy that I can only hope to someday find something or someone to blame it on.

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

Okay, I had to toss in this link about Swedish Military knives as it is just good, interesting reading. There's even a folder and an interesting leatherman near the bottom of the page.

http://gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/knivar/swed_knife.htm

The page is in English.

 

[JD Mandrell]

The knife I showed does mathc the description more, but if you realy want a good woods knife, the guys here are right....Mora's are hard to beat!

 

[JD Mandrell]

Heres the knife from the book, its a smith and wesson survival knife. They dont make them any more, but I have seen them on ebay evey now and then. Or get the knife that, The Last Confederate suggest, it the closest thing around right now.

I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that this Smith & Wesson knife was a hollow handled "survival knife" wasn't it?

Doesn't that brass "cap" unscrew to reveal a hollow storage compartment?

If so, that's not what the SAS book describes.

 

[sunnyd]

.. SunnyD, you can't make a wager on me liking Moras cause there isn't a chance to wager on. I like 'em just fine...

When I think of a Mora, I think of a good old fashion very thinly ground slicer and deicer for one terrific value!..

What I don't perceive it as is an extremely heavy use, camping, shelter constructing, butchering and wood chopping tool... NOW, I could be wrong about this, and if I am, please feel free to enlighten me(as if you needed my permission too do that!. ) I make no claims of any real knowledge of uses for a Mora.. However, any knife for use in the aforementioned application that does not have a full tang runs the risk of handle breakage during the coarse of heavy use.. If there are varieties of Moras that have full tang construction, than I would very much like to examine it, and after a time, may not want to argue the point with you.

 

[JD Mandrell]

What I don't perceive it as is an extremely heavy use, camping, shelter constructing, butchering and wood chopping tool... NOW, I could be wrong about this, and if I am, please feel free to enlighten me(as if you needed my permission too do that!. ) I make no claims of any real knowledge of uses for a Mora.. However, any knife for use in the aforementioned application that does not have a full tang runs the risk of handle breakage during the coarse of heavy use.. If there are varieties of Moras that have full tang construction, than I would very much like to examine it, and after a time, may not want to argue the point with you.

If you get a chance, read Mors Kochanski's book "Bushcraft", he takes a plain old Eriksson #2 Mora to the extremes, even driving them into a tree and standing on the handle.

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

That's why I made this suggestion.

The USAF Survival knife is certianly a good choice. Since the Moras are also very light in weight, consider taking both along. The Pilot can be a heavy cutting, chopping type, and the Mora can be your slicing tool.

I think it would be better to have a heavy use knife and keep the Mora in better shape for serious slicing duties. That said, I have seen and read of some pretty hard uses the Moras have held up to. As noted on the Swedish Military knives link, the Moras have been issued as pilot's knives.

To tell you the truth, I've had to honest with myself about my knives and guns. I realized that a fellow could probably get by really well with a break-action, single-shot 12 ga., a Mora, a mid size SAK that had the saw, metal saw/file, and punch included in it's blades, and a decent tomahawk or small axe. That's a pretty good kit that an enterprising individual could do well with.

Curving back in a little bit though, if I was grabbing what was on hand for a survival/trail kit I toss in my older SRK, a Mora, and hang my Swiss Champ on my belt. Since I gave my Dad my tomahawk, okay, used it to finally trade him back out of the SRK he'd been hanging onto since the early 90s, I have a small axe I would probably slide under the side pockets of my Lowe Vector pack. If I didn't want to carry a gun in hand, but have one in the kit, I'd probably take the barrel off the NEF, bag it in sleeves, and toss it in the bag.

If I was replacing the SRK I might consider a Falkniven.

BUT, since I won't be doing any of that stuff anytime soon I'll just keep all my toys on hand and enjoy them. As much as a big part in me wants to head down the trail and go backwoods, reality just doesn't see that happening anytime soon for a number of reasons.

Just wish I'd never let that old SF/Ranger type who was my best bud at Ft Bragg ever trade me back out of his old Bo Randall made Model 14 once I'd gotten it out of him. Now THAT was a knife to do it all with! And he did a lot of it.

I thought for a moment about hard testing a Mora, but I like the ones I have too much and appreciate the way they cut that I don't think I could bring myself to do it.

I did find this on the net though from: http://www.mountainzone.com/gear/blogs/gear_junkie/2005/10/fabled-mora-knife.html

excerpt:
But what really has made Mora knives famous are their superior steel blades. The steel, which comes in four varieties from Frosts Knivfabrik -- carbon-steel, stainless, Triflex and laminated-steel -- is known to hold an edge well, and it is regarded as extremely tough and resilient. Indeed, a common survivalist endorsement of Mora knives says that in a time of dire need one of these knives can be used to fell a tree by pounding the blade in and hammering the knife back and forth to slowly cut through the trunk.

A grown man can also pound the blade of a Mora knife into a tree and stand on it without hesitation, or so portended the common wisdom and folklore that I’d heard.

To see what these Swedish knives could actually take, I recently found a tree on my family’s property that needed to be removed and went to work with a Mora knife I’d picked up in Sweden earlier this summer on a trip through the country. The tree was a box elder, and I managed to hack off a 6-inch-wide branch with the knife in about 10 minutes, repeatedly pounding the blade in a couple inches with a log and then forcing the handle back and forth to cut.

I next pounded the knife into the base of the tree to stand on the blade with my foot pressed hard against the bark. It did support my 185-pound frame, though the blade bent slightly from this silly abuse.

Be aware though gang, one of the plastic handled models has a hollow handle, but I can't recall which one at the moment.

 

[mp510]

When I think of a Mora, I think of a good old fashion very thinly ground slicer and deicer for one terrific value!..

I had the same misconception as yourself, until I ordered one of the Swedish Military MOras like those that Sportsmans Guide sells from Stormsurge Outfitters and Supply.
I am attaching a copy of the ad from Sportsmans Guide:

Additionally, I believe that a Buck Pathfinder would do the job pretty well, and I have a relative who owns a Spanish made knife, that was a kit put out by either CVA or Traditions Muzzleloaders that fits the bill almost perfectly- down to the rounded wood handle and full tang.

 

[sunnyd]

mp510,

Thank you for your response but I all I see is another Mora dressed up in a military looking plastic handle. The add does not specify full tang construction, so I suspect it is not.

As previously stated, my primary problem with Mora's used as a heavy use knife is breakage near or at the handle location under extreme conditions during heavy use. The best, and I believe only solution to this problem is to do exactly what Amos Iron Wolf said, which is to pack both a Mora for varying degrees of cutting chores and a larger full tang chopper meant for such use..

The only exception to the 'full tang rule' in my book, where a knife can be used as a hard/heavy task knife without having to be of full tang construction, is the very old style aluminum cast handled knife, and hence does not require the tang to be full! The reason for this is the molten aluminum is poured directly on the narrow tang design into a cast and therefore the strength is incorporated into the handle which forms a very nearly indestructible bond between the aluminum and the steel. The best example of this today can be found in Ruana brand knives. For further information about this extremely heavy use knife go to the Ruana Knife Works website at www.ruanaknives.com

 

[jackknife]

My two most used woods knives are a Buck Woodsman and a wood handle carbon steel mora. I love the mora so much I built a sturdy leather puuko style sheath using the plastic tube sheath as a liner. I've subjected that knife to heavy uses that I did not want to use my woodsman on, and it takes it all in stride. For practice I've built a survival shelter with it by batoning it through wood, and the scandi edge cuts very well.

I'd rather have my mora and a sak with a saw than a military survival knife. You don't need a heavy sheathknife for 98% of what you do in the woods. A sturdy 4 inch blade does well. If you need something more, then follow Weismans advise and use a machete. A small 12 inch machete will out cut any 6 or 7 inch sheath knife like a Porshe will outrun a Honda civic. Plus a 12 inch machete is lighter weight than you think.

If you want to get right down to it, with a machete and a couple good pocket knives like a sak and sodbuster, there is'nt much you can't do. In fact, in his book " The SAS survival Guide" the recomended tool for survival is a golock.