Just got back from a camping trip with a group from the church I used to attend up in Oregon. We usually go to Jubilee lake up in the Blue mountains near Weston, OR but a wind storm knocked down some trees so the campground up there is closed while they take care of the widowmakers. We went to a campground near Dayton, WA on the Touchet river in a stand of deciduous tress and it sucked, mosquitoes were horrible. Firewood was hard to come by but we kept the fires small since it wasn't cold. The BK9 was awesome at chopping the 2-4" branches I gathered for the fires, especially since I didn't have anything to chop against. Someone mentioned an axe or hatchet but in that situation the BK9 works better I think.
The only thing I had that was better than the BK9 for chopping was my marbles camp cleaver but the sheath doesn't hold the machete well enough and I cut myself when the sheath exposed about 1/2" an inch of the freshly sharpened edge. Wasn't bad and it closed up quickly but that meant the marbles got left in my campsite and the BK9 in the awesome AZwelke kydex and the jerry-rigged shoulder strap got carried around and gathered wood for the group fire and also cleared out a branch from the river where the kids were innertubing.
I had a large tool bag full of sharp things and I played with most of them but my go-to blade ended up being the BK9, my Mora comapnion, and my leatherman sidekick. The sidekick is just what I had with me because of the pocket clip but any good MT with a saw would have worked as well. I'd like to piggyback a mora and my ST300 to the BK9 sheath along with a firesteel and bic lighter.
My friend forgot to bring a spatula so I roughed one out of wood with the BK9 and my Mora. Then I did a set of tongs and a fork with my sidekick, mora, BK16, and Navy MK1. He ended up bringing them back so maybe I'll snap some pics. They aren't pretty but they are the first utensils, besides hot dog and marshmallow sticks, that I've ever carved and they're certainly functional.
I don't have any pics of the blades doing work but there might be some that other people took. I'll see if I can dig some up.
I do have a couple pics of my niece getting her first knife. I forget the model but it's a small pink Victorinox.
A couple days before her dad and I were at the store picking up a few things and she was with us. We were at the counter getting what little ammo we could and I looked over at the knife cabinet and pointed out the little pink swiss army knife on sale for $9. She thought it was the coolest little thing but she didn't bring her money with her so the whole next day she was pestering us to take her back so she could buy it and take it on the camping trip. So on the way out of town we swung back by and she bought it with a $20 bill she earned from her paper route.
Of course within a few hours of setting up camp she misplaced her knife but eventually found it. To make it easier to find I whipped up a quick cobra weave lanyard.
It's about twice the size of the knife but she likes it and it makes the knife easier to keep track of. Maybe down the road I'll do a smaller round one.
All in all it was kinda fun seeing the old gang again though the setting took away from it considerably.
