Searching for medium sized "survival" knife capable of chopping

D

damib

Joined
Jul 7, 2021
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119
Hello,
I am more and more interested in buying some "survival" knife that is medium sized (10-13 cm) and is also capable of chopping wood. I own Glock FM81 and Tops knives CAT which are both capable of being called "survival" knives, but CAT's blade is too short for some of my EDC tasks and Glock FM81 is not concealable easily. By survival knife, I mean something that is fully capable of anything without too much hassle. Food prep, wood work, prying, batoning etc... I really like sabre grinds or similar. I am also more keen on carbon steel, but will luckily try some other steel if it won't mean inability to resharpen it back to a decent usable edge.
The only knife I've found close to my requirements is Halfbreed blades MCK-02. One of the cons is the "recurved" blade shape that would need special stones. Any other suggestions?
 
shane45-1911 said:
10 cm = 4". Is that what you meant to type? No 4" blades that I know of chop worth a damn.
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Yes, 4-6 inches I'd say.

I almost forgot. There is the law in my country that you can't collect wood larger tan 2,75 inches in diameter for a fire, so I didn't mean that it should chop whole tree in half or something like that.
 
In other words, you want a 4" knife that can cut, as opposed to chop. The world is your oyster.... :)

Look at the Becker BK2. Great heat treat with 1095 carbon, easy to sharpen, 5" sabre ground blade and 1/4'' thick makes it good for batoning/splitting.
 
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Don't know your budget but the shortest survival knife I have that can "chop" is my Fallkniven A1
due to it's overall weight, forward weight balance and convex grind despite only 6.2 inch blade length.
 
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Guessing the 4"-6" blade requirement is not something the OP can "bend" on, but the MCK-02 is $240, so I'm guessing budget is pretty negotiable.

Try the Extrema Ratio Fulcrum C: fixed blade, 10.74 cm length, 0.635 cm thick, tanto point.

Are you looking specifically for a tanto point, D damib ? If you're interested in other blade shapes, there could be other options.
 
Varusteleka Jääkkäripuukko or Peltonen Sissipuukko. They both come in shorter or longer versions, about 4 1/2 or six inches. Sabre grinds with 80CrV2 steel. Thin enough for decent food prep, will split and chop a little. Similar, yet different all-purpose knives. Under $100.
 
ESEE makes a few knives from 4"-6" in 1095 and they have a great warranty.

I realize we'd all like a single knife that could do it all but you'll make compromises that wouldn't be needed with two knives.
 
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Welp, I love the size of the ESEE 5 blade but hate that is .25" thick. There is always the 4 or 6 if 6.5" blade length is doable.

Anything Kabar/Becker or the blades from Henry Beige Henry Beige mentioned are good choices too.
 
Henry Beige said:
Varusteleka Jääkkäripuukko or Peltonen Sissipuukko. They both come in shorter or longer versions, about 4 1/2 or six inches. Sabre grinds with 80CrV2 steel. Thin enough for decent food prep, will split and chop a little. Similar, yet different all-purpose knives. Under $100.
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I have the skrama which I really like. If OP could put up with a 20cm knife.

I also think food prep knife for camping is mostly operated in the sense that you generally are not doing massive amounts of it and honestly the skrama wouldn't have you cursing. Except that big knives fall off plates to easily.

Or you get a SAK like a picknicker and that will generally handle a camp food prep as well.

Skrama.

Some very glamp worthy food prep. Which you don't really need a chefs knife for.
 
Otherwise camp cleavers might be as close as you can get to the 4 inch chopper/food prep.

I don't know much about this one. It just looked cool.

 
love that he has a large bandage wrap on his pinky finger.... perhaps an axe is not the best cooking utensil ?
 
Drop bear said:
I have the skrama which I really like. If OP could put up with a 20cm knife.

I also think food prep knife for camping is mostly operated in the sense that you generally are not doing massive amounts of it and honestly the skrama wouldn't have you cursing. Except that big knives fall off plates to easily.

Or you get a SAK like a picknicker and that will generally handle a camp food prep as well.

Skrama.

Some very glamp worthy food prep. Which you don't really need a chefs knife for.
Click to expand...

I have the Skrama 240, which I really, really like. There is a temptation to buy all of the Varusteleka knives, but I have so far limited myself to three.
 
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