The knife should be sharp. Shaving sharp isn't absolutely necessary.... a knife that might be fine for most jobs may still not be able to cut hair with a light stroke. A knife with a sturdy edge can still be made shaving sharp.
To keep things as safe as possible I might consider:
- Having a knife that is the right size for the job. Generally you only need a small blade for many tasks. The longer the blade, the more of it you are exposed to, and the more difficult it is to use for small jobs. Plus you are likely to have greater difficulties with sheaths when the knife is big.
- Having a knife with only one side of the blade sharpened. If you have to stick it into an animal it should still do the job perfectly well without a dangerous sharp edge on the back.
- Having a knife with a handle and blade shape so distinctive that you can instantly tell which way the sharp edge is facing as you pick it up.
- Having a knife with a safe handle. A guard is not essential for safety, but the handle should not be slippery and should be comfortable. Guards can be a real nuisance on a working knife.
- Avoiding a knife where the blade is slightly wider than the handle and where the blade is sharpened right to the handle (like some cook's knives).
- Thinking carefully about how I use or sharpen the knife. I don't recall the details of all the self-inflicted cuts I've had, but generally I'd say they were the result of not thinking about what I was doing.
- Being very careful with knives which have a square back to the handle and which will lie on their back with the blade exposed upwards if you set them down on the ground. Somebody could step or sit on this blade.
- Having a secure sheath that was easy to get the knife in and out of. Like Normark's Concealex ones (as shown on a recent Bushman thread).
- Keeping a safe distance away from anybody else who is using a knife or any cutting tool.
I think that a general purpose knife for life in the bush doesn't need to have a blade longer than four inches. If you need to chop something, then maybe you could use a longer knife (or preferably an axe or machete...but you need to especially careful using these).
We use many things nowadays that can be dangerous if mishandled. If you remain aware of what is going on, you should be able to use a knife for years without any mishap.
The Scandinavians seem to have the wilderness knife business 'sussed'. Small knife with a sturdy handle and a sensible blade in a secure sheath.
I recently made a small knife for odd jobbing and skinning on the possum line. I use it to cut strips of NZ flax leaf which I use for holding snares and bait in place and maybe cutting the odd twig. It is also used as a spatula to spread paste lure on trees...plus it makes the few cuts necessary when a skin has to come off. The blade is 2.75 inches long, and it is 5.75 inches long over all. The sheath is simply a bit of soft polyethylene water pipe. I can get this knife in and out of the sheath with one hand, without having to think too hard. The sheath is easy to keep clean, and it is very solid. I heated the pipe in boiling water, then forced the knife into it. After it cooled, it retained its shape...and it holds the knife securely. The blade was ground from a bit of saw blade. I've started to carry around my new CS Finn Bear sometimes instead of this home-made tool because I want to play with the new knife. But the cheap DIY knife is fairly much ideal for its purpose and I will probably end up using it more than the Finn Bear for trapping because of its convenient size and practical sheath.
So, I sharpen my knives to shave sharp and when they are less sharp, not dull/ little less than pull sharp I'd say, I sharpen them again. I said it once on another forum but you never truly realize how nice a high quality, RAZOR sharp knife is until you use one.
