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Survival\BOB Knife for a Newbie
- Thread starter MVF
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
- Messages
- 281
You should check out grohmannknives.com. They are a Canadian company that I believe produce exceptional knives, using German Solingen steel. You should be able to buy a fantastic survival knife for about $120.00 CDN!
They look like very nice skinners but not what I would want as my only knife in a survival situation. As it does not look like much of a chopper. Would be concerned about using it to baton with, dig or pry with. All things I may have to do in a survival scenario. Though I do not as a rule think a knife is a pry bar, shovel or trenching tool. In fact I think as a rule it is abuse but when my life depends on it, I expect that my knife stand up to any use or abuse I put it through and still cut like a razor when I am done. Those knives don't look like they are up to that standard. Could be wrong as I have only seen pics. Would be nice to see a review of them
You should check out grohmannknives.com. They are a Canadian company that I believe produce exceptional knives, using German Solingen steel. You should be able to buy a fantastic survival knife for about $120.00 CDN!
I love Grohman knives, especially the flat ground ones. So do (did) the Canadian Forces issueing the Survival model, until they outsourced last year to a Chinese company. Maybe it was because the Grohman factory is in the Green party leader (Louise May's) riding.
But their steel is kind of soft, I think they could use an upgrade in that department. Maybe a RAT carbon or a Sandvik 12c27 knife like a BRKT would be a better choice for about the same cost.
If you really do want to be able to use the knife to chop and baton effectively, I'd ignore all knives with blade lengths under 6 inches.
The smallest I'd want to go for something like this is a Ranger RD7. They can be had for a reasonable price and are tough, and thick at the spine. You want thick knives if you're going to chop and baton. More weight is more efficient for the former, and thicker spines wedge better for batoning.
If you just want a large knife that can chop and baton should the need arise, but not be built specific to such tasks, something from Bark River, a RAT RC6 or even one of the large knives from the people who make Mora's would work well.
Something along the lines of an RC4 or Mora 2000 would be an absolutely terrible chopper. Don't buy one of these knives to chop with. The balance and mass just isn't geared towards that role at all. These are both great knives that are durable and well made, but they are not choppers.
Some knives to consider would be a Ranger RD9, Ontario RTAK, the larger Beckers, Busse Battle Mistress, Scrapyard Dogfather, Spyderco Forester etc. The longer, thicker bladed knives will work better for hardwood chopping. The thinner knives (RTAK and Forester) will be easier to control when hacking away vegetation and growth to clear a trail or camp site.
When it comes to steel, I've honestly had good results from pretty much everything I've tried. 5160, 1095, 12C27, N69CO, A2, 154CM etc. The main thing to look for considering the uses you have in mind is a steel that will bend, roll and fold over at the edge rather than chip. Steels that behave like that tend to take abuse much better.
The smallest I'd want to go for something like this is a Ranger RD7. They can be had for a reasonable price and are tough, and thick at the spine. You want thick knives if you're going to chop and baton. More weight is more efficient for the former, and thicker spines wedge better for batoning.
If you just want a large knife that can chop and baton should the need arise, but not be built specific to such tasks, something from Bark River, a RAT RC6 or even one of the large knives from the people who make Mora's would work well.
Something along the lines of an RC4 or Mora 2000 would be an absolutely terrible chopper. Don't buy one of these knives to chop with. The balance and mass just isn't geared towards that role at all. These are both great knives that are durable and well made, but they are not choppers.
Some knives to consider would be a Ranger RD9, Ontario RTAK, the larger Beckers, Busse Battle Mistress, Scrapyard Dogfather, Spyderco Forester etc. The longer, thicker bladed knives will work better for hardwood chopping. The thinner knives (RTAK and Forester) will be easier to control when hacking away vegetation and growth to clear a trail or camp site.
When it comes to steel, I've honestly had good results from pretty much everything I've tried. 5160, 1095, 12C27, N69CO, A2, 154CM etc. The main thing to look for considering the uses you have in mind is a steel that will bend, roll and fold over at the edge rather than chip. Steels that behave like that tend to take abuse much better.
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
- Messages
- 281
Some knives to consider would be a Ranger RD9, Ontario RTAK, the larger Beckers
The smaller Becker BK2 will work as well IMO. I spent a day trimming branches the wind had broken off and cleaning up dead fall. The BK2 with it's 5.25 inch blade trimmed branches .5 inch plus in one stroke all day long. Chopped up little trees to 4 inches thick and split / batoned them no problem. The BK2 stayed sharp enough to skin a rabbit, split the carcass to lay flat on a green grill and nimble enough to spiral cut a bit of scrap leather to make a string to stretch the hide and easily crack it's skull for the brain. IMO 5 inches about the max you want on a survival knife after that it gets a bit cumbersome for a lot of the finer tasks you will need to do to live. You are right though most knives of that size are worthless chopping hacking batonning. The BK2's quarter inch thick 1.75 wide blade makes it an exception. More than capable of chopping but small enough to be nimble quick and precise when needed.