Selecting best length for survival fixed blade.

[Natlek]

This one actually - haven’t held it yet though - it’s in the mail from Bill Siegle. Chopper/Fighter, 9.5” blade:
View attachment 1733760

I like that knife .You can live rest of life with that knife in that *survival scenario* . Just be careful , it is long knife so it will slap around when you move . You can scare some bear to death

 

[Natlek]

How many calories are you going to expend cleaning a squirrel with a 14” knife that weighs 2 pounds?

First you need to know how to catch squirrel .Cleaning is easy , you don't even need to clean it, you put it all in the fire , if you know how to light a fire without a match .

 

[Steely_Gunz]

The more I think about it, if I were to REALLY have to go light and fast but capable I might elect to go with a 15" bolo-style machete with a finely honed edge, quality sheath, and a wooden grip that was refinished for extended use comfort. Kinda fiscally silly to spend extra time and money on a "cheap" blade, but you can do so much work with a blade of that size and shape, it doesn't weigh much, and you have a nice long edge that can be left sharp yet more utilitarian toward the front and honed super fine near the grip. You'd have something that can easily take down 4" live trees and would most likely be hard enough to throw sparks for starting a fire. You could sharpen it on any rock you find, yet it would remain very capable smashing through things even if it were used to butterknife-dull levels.

 

[Bob Denman]

Gee... the "over 8" crowd" is now leading in the poll.
Imagine that...

 

[353]

This, 14" of 5160:

Kidding, the A1 was actually designed for survival and has a very comfy kraton handle and stainess steel:

 

[353]

King of the Cheese if you want to close your own poll thread, you should hurry up and do it before some mod do.

 

[trevitrace]

King of the Cheese if you want to close your own poll thread, you should hurry up and do it before some mod do.

Well, shoot, I'd better post up a pic before he locks it down again.

 

[Jsega51]

 

[trevitrace]

How many of those are you up to now? I swear not too long ago I was asking you about them and you had zero to none.

 

[Jsega51]

How many of those are you up to now? I swear not too long ago I was asking you about them and you had zero to none.

8 CPK knives with 3 currently on pre-order. I’m set for any survival situation!

 

[Bob Denman]

8 CPK knives with 3 currently on pre-order. I’m set for any survival situation!

I want you on my Team...

 

[trevitrace]

8 CPK knives with 3 currently on pre-order. I’m set for any survival situation!

It's worse than I thought and I feel a little bad for having ever mentioned them. You're sick, sir, seek help.

 

[Bob Denman]

Nahhh...
Full speed ahead!

 

[Jsega51]

It's worse than I thought and I feel a little bad for having ever mentioned them. You're sick, sir, seek help.

Keeping the garage at just one motorcycle helps keep knife funds available lol.

 

[Bob Denman]

What do you ride?

 

[Jsega51]

What do you ride?

Currently a ‘16 Road Glide Special. When I am ready for another bike, I’ll probably just do engine work and a few other things. (My avatar is a pic of my ‘06 Night Train that is gone but not forgotten!)

I survived a weekend on a quick road trip in WV with this 4.5“ knife although I didn’t need to make a shelter, I had a tent with me.

 

[Bob Denman]

That's a real beauty, and so is the knife!

 

[Zulus]

9-11"

 

[Joshua J.]

3" and get a folding saw.
The more work you try to do with a knife in a survival situation the more likely you are to kill yourself from exhaustion.

Personally I would probably bring an 8" blade but it would mostly only function as a kitchen knife.

 

[TheArab]

Who said size doesn't matter? Come read this thread

But seriously, in my limited experience & in theory I guess, anything 16 cm+ should perform well if it's the only tool you have. 12 cm+ if you have an axe/hatchet/saw etc..

imo