Something I will never use a knife for

I for one have never nor will I ever cleanse my anus with a knife, I just see no point in it.


I can say honestly too that I probably will never take food from any sort of dangerous animal just like I wouldn't appreciate them taking mine. Just find my own and respect their space.
 
manowar669 said:
I read a lot of threads on here where people want "survival knives" and then suggest giant 6"++ knives for splitting wood and such. That's stupid. That's something I will never do with a knife. I can survive fine in the woods with a 3.5" knife, probably a lot less.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of people don't know the first rule of gathering firewood: don't pick up anything that is close to the ground. Any wood lying on the ground will be soaked with ground moisture, and if it rains a lot, any wood within a few inches of the ground will also be soaked. You've got to get the stuff that is leaning on a trunk or some other brush, or otherwise supended off the ground. I never had to split firewood in the wilderness; I just know how to find relatively dry wood.
 
In the spirit of the foregoing argument about survival knives,

1) I would not use an axe to open letters. Maybe a cardboard box, though.

2) Wouldn't use either of my kukris for opening letters.

3) I wouldn't try to baton my BM 556. I don't think it would hurt the knife, but I would rather not do it.

4) I wouldn't try to pick my nose with my Razel. Especially since I reground the edge after letting a co-worker use it.

5) And, the follow-up to that: I would not let a co-worker use my Buck Nobleman, or my two Kershaws.

6) I wouldn't use any of my fixed blades at work. It's not allowed.

7) Finally, I wouldn't take anything in this thread too seriously; like 97% of the rest of the world, it's not that important.
 
meanwhile said:
Then if you're trying to make a camp fire with the sort of rain saturated wood you find in the Pacific NW or the UK at the wrong time of year, you will probably fail and certainly struggle. To say that no one needs a +6 inch knife is even sillier than those people who use BK2s to do jobs a Mora is better for. If you need to split thick wood for dry tinder, a large knife is useful. They're also great for making feather sticks used draw knife style.



You can survive fine in the conditions that you are used to. But you're not some universal survival expert who has experienced absolutely everything: another example of the need for a large knife is the use of a leukku for slicing pine branches in the cold - one chop will do them, but with a puukko they're an absolute devil. Are you really going to claim to know more about how to survive in a Scandanavian winter than the Sammi? And Finns and Swedes favour Hukaris - cleaverlike things that chop and split like a large Busse (but cost a lot less) - too.

That said, for what I do "surviving" in the outdoors I've never needed more than a SAK. I just don't mistake my needs for those of the entire world.
Click to expand...

You're correct, but I guess my point is that a survival knife is still a knife. If you are planning on "surviving" then a larger knife is useful, but if you are planning on it, then why not take a more appropriate tool, like the axe you mentioned. I guess I just get a little annoyed when people suggest a Busse Battle mistress as a survival knife, when a Mora (what I carry) and a SAK are plenty. I've batonned a Mora clipper through firewood, and pressure cut limbs as thick as my wrist with no problem. If you have a SAK with a saw, that's great too. In any case, you can make a debris hut that's good to -60F fairly quickly, and heat it with a candle.
 
"Survival" was the big word used to sell knives back before someone came up with "tactical". Ahh, the 80's, so many survival knives. Of course, to be an authentic "survival" knife, it needs saw teeth and a compass in the handle. ;)
 
You said it! The old saying "You mess with the bull. you get the horns " is often repeated because there is a lot of wisdom in the saying. I knew a guide who played with rattlesnakes to amuse his friends and clients until one bit him on the wrist near his hand. Over a year of painfull procedures and operations saved his arm but his hand never will work properly again. The trick nearly cost him his life and left him partially disabled. It was near San Antonio Texas in about 1999. Even a smaller rattler can be deadly; leave them alone or dead if you can't back up. Look howe many animal "experts" have been killed after years of experience but no commopn sense.
 
PB Wilson said:
Could the lions be conditioned to connect people with guns and fear? I wonder if that would make them ready for a hasty retreat until they could reassess the threat.
Click to expand...

It all depends on the cat and the nut. I had a (wealthy) customer who kept a 400 lb African lion as a house cat. IIRC he said the thing ate about 20 lbs of meat a day.

n2s
 
killgar said:
".... Of course, to be an authentic "survival" knife, it needs ...a compass in the handle. ;)
Click to expand...

That was essential so the user could differentiate the back of the knife from the business end....

n2s
 
manowar669 said:
You're correct, but I guess my point is that a survival knife is still a knife. If you are planning on "surviving" then a larger knife is useful, but if you are planning on it, then why not take a more appropriate tool, like the axe you mentioned.
Click to expand...

Because an axe isn't necessarily more appropriate. Neither is a folding saw. Everything depends on the wood and what you have to do to it. Those Sammi, Ghurkas, Fillipino and South American guys with big knives do know what they are doing, even if many Rambo fans don't. If you look at Cliff Stamp's review of the $25 MTECH 151 Bowie, it chops wood about 85% as well as a hatchet of similar weight. But it will make feathersticks, point stakes, and skin game with much greater facility. And it will do a lot better harvesting thin branches or clearing a camp site. An axe is only really ahead if you want to cut down BIG trees to the exclusion of other tasks, which is probably the last thing you want to do, and if you're willing to carry the kilo and half of weight needed for a two handled axe. Or it might draw ahead if you're in a very environment where you have to split a lot of firewood and you can't get a specialist knife like a Hukari - I don't have the experience to say. (A Marbles Bolo Machete is probably another good but cheap choice for a lot of environments, especially if you mod the blade South American style so it has a fine carving edge near the handle.)

I understand where you are coming from, because most big knives are bought for the wrong reason, but I think you are throwing the baby out with the survivalist bathwater. But also, like I said, I never expect to need anything beyond my SAK while hiking. In fact I might swap that for a keychain multitool because the smaller size of screwdriver is more useful and the tiny blade is all that is needed to open boil-in-the-bag meals.
 
Last edited:
I guess people will just about anything to get food if their hungry enough..
I don't know about you but I'd have to be pretty dang hungry to be trying that.
 
Hans17 said:
I for one have never nor will I ever cleanse my anus with a knife, I just see no point in it.


I can say honestly too that I probably will never take food from any sort of dangerous animal just like I wouldn't appreciate them taking mine. Just find my own and respect their space.
Click to expand...

This cracked me up! And I wholeheartedly agree with you.
 
Hans17 said:
I for one have never nor will I ever cleanse my anus with a knife, I just see no point in it.
Click to expand...

I cleanse my anus with knives all the time. I should mention, I have a prosthetic titanium anus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top