Survival knife for a desert environment (SW United States)

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dookie1481

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Sep 24, 2009
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Just wondering what size, style, type of knife you experts would recommend for this type of environment. Just general usage for hiking, camping, etc.

I have a Busse Active Duty but I am considering selling it to get a bit larger blade if necessary.

Jay
 
Try to trade it on the Busse Forum for a 5-6 inch blade. Or maybe a ESEE 5-6.

You could also contact one of our Makers here and get just what you want.
 
i think it depends on what you'll be doing.. THe term "survival knife" can mean many things to many people....are you a back packer? an ultralighter? do you use a stove? do yoiu make campfires? do you practice camp crafts etc?

for someone who needs only to cut open foil food packets and occasional tweak a stove a sak or multitool is fine.. if you will be splitting wood making shelters fashioning fire boards... and practicing campcraft type stuff something more robust would be handy.... I don;t live in the desert...But I had the priviledge of getting some tutoring from a gent who lived in off the grid on Govt land in the american southwest.. he used a bk9 and a mora clipper exclusively.... My trips to the bush are frequent but shorter... I like a robust 6-7 inch blade and a locking multifunctional pocketknife or multitool.
 
I do most of my tromping around in the high desert and for me, there isn't much need for a big knife. There's not much that needs chopping, but your particular terrain could be different.
 
So... sagebrush and cactus? a 12 inch el salvador style machete would be pretty ideal, since you don't have to wail on much hardwoods (I live in high desert so I know slightly what you're dealing with). I think in that kind of climate a 3-4 inch real slicer is going to be more important than anything, something like a Mora or other scandi style blade. Skinning snakes, making snares for animal holes, etc etc. Desert survival is about 3 things-the despirate search for water, in which case unless you're leeching from cactus a knife isn't going to help you much, finding food which can come in the form of soft plants or small desert animals, in which case snaring and running a pronged spear are going to be most effective, and just plain suffering. You're never going to have sufficient shelter or water and chances are probably not food, either. Bring lip balm, a good hat, aloe and a compass. Another tool that can be helpful in the desert is a shovel-digging for water, making solar stills, working adobe brick, chopping at scraggly sagebrush and what other gnarly woody plants are out there, etc.
 
tknife said:
I do most of my tromping around in the high desert and for me, there isn't much need for a big knife. There's not much that needs chopping, but your particular terrain could be different.
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Yep, I agree. I live on the edge of canyon country, and I find myself taking mostly my Vic Spirit, and a Mora. Not much need for more than that. If I plan on digging or some such activity, maybe I take my 14" Tram bolo. But mostly I try not to disturb the desert environment too much.
 
Opinions are much like the areas that require wiping, a few times daily.
Gat a machete.
 
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Check out the Swamprat Ratmandu. It is a great reasonably sized knife which takes a fantastic edge. With a 5 inch blade it is sized for most tasks, and it is tough enough for heavy survival use while still being light enough for comfortable carry.
 
I spend a fair amount of time in the desert. As I'm sure you know, there is all kinds of terrain in the desert South West. In a days walk here in California you can run into pretty much all of it.

I carry a 14 inch bolo machete, a Becker BK-2, a Vic Farmer and, often, a Silky saw. Those four cover just about everything from the foothills to the sand: never really needed anything else.

Just keep it simple.
 
Thanks for the input, guys. I guess I always got the impression that a outdoors (I guess I shouldn't use the word "survival") knife should be like 5" long or so, but truth be told there isn't much to cut in Las Vegas. I suppose the Busse should do me fine, I think I was just looking for an excuse to get a Fehrman Last Chance.

Jay
 
dookie1481 said:
Thanks for the input, guys. I guess I always got the impression that a outdoors (I guess I shouldn't use the word "survival") knife should be like 5" long or so, but truth be told there isn't much to cut in Las Vegas. I suppose the Busse should do me fine, I think I was just looking for an excuse to get a Fehrman Last Chance.

Jay
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Well, there's no reason not to get a Fehrman Last Chance, too. Do you really need an excuse to get another knife?
 
I've been to the desert in Eastern Oregon and I can say that your active duty is more than enough IMO. In fact shade and water are more important factors. A big knife and choppers to me are only necessary when things are wet and you have to get to the dry inner wood for fire starting. When things are dry, even in western Oregon, fire starting is easy in my experience. Eastern Oregon looks a lot like the area around Reno for referance.
 
I guess I'm one of few dissenters.

When I lived in northern Nevada, I found a long knife -- current models would be like the ESEE Junglas, Busse Bushwhacker Mistress, or Ron Hood's Hoodlum knife -- i.e. 10 in ch range to be a very nice thing to have. Not because I did a lot of chopping, but because everything seemed to have spikes, spines and needles. For me, a long knife and BBQ tongs were required outdoor equipment.

I'd stay away from machetes, because should you come across some wood to chop, it's usually very hard and will roll the edge of a machete with ease.
 
I know about as much about the desert as I do quantum physics, but I’ve always been a 4” blade guy. Last winter I got a RAT/ESEE-6 and it is starting to grow on me. I don’t think it will replace my ESEE-4, but I want to put it through its paces and see how it performs for my application.
 
Koyote (a maker here) has a blade that he designed for just such an application, his Trail Knife.

I've got one and I love it. Here's his explanation from his website.

"Trail Knives

The trail knife, in military garb the field dirk, is a knife that takes me back in time to the Arizona wilds. The idea of this knife is based on the trail needs for a medium-large blade in wild environments. As a teen and young adult, the needs were primarily as a light chopper, brush cutter, and backup knife for animal defense or finishing game.

It's best paired with a fine small slicer, but can work fine for cutting food. The blade is ground in a full convex, and handles notching, fuzz sticks, and regular cutting chores with aplomb. With the mass of a 3/16, distal tapered, convex blade, chopping ability is really very good for the length and slim profile. Batoning is a breeze, of course.

The forward part of the handle forms an integral partial guard and the long angles handle profile provides a maximum of comfort and security when chopping. I prefer to using lanyard tubing for pinning the handle all the way through, as a forward lanyard mount is very useful when chopping.

One primary task of this blade is for defense against attack by a random critter. You don't want to have to use it, but if you do, this knife will serve well. It's also a handy finishing knife for hunting, especially bow hunting in areas where carrying a sidearm is disallowed. "
 
I wouldn't sell the Busse. Just buy a machete to back it up. As was pointed out by Cpl Punishment, most of the flora is armed. But I'm of the mind that a machete is better for trailblazing than a heavy chopper, that extra reach is nice. You won't need to baton for fatwood to start a fire. It doesn't often rain here, and rarely do we get such a deluge that you couldn't just pick up enough dry brush and deadfall to start a fire. What wood we do have is hard as a rock but it's doubtful you'll ned to split logs of it.

And please take this advice with a grain of salt, I'm not a hard core camper. But I have lived my whole life in southern CA. Once you get out into the hills you'll need a machete, or even a shovel, more than a big heavy chopper. Water and shade is far more important than what knife you're bringing. What part of CA were you looking at? The Angeles National Forest is a far cry from Joshua Tree.

Frank
 
A good quality multi-tool and something like a Becker Tac Tool If you like having a bigger blade. Hacking sage or greasewood will ruin a machete, and the hook on the Tac Tool would make skinning cactus easier.

I think a filter straw, a backup compass, multi-tool, signal mirror, and now days maybe a SPOT transmitter may be the most needed tools first. Lack of water and exposure kill nearly every one they loose.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
I guess I'm one of few dissenters.

When I lived in northern Nevada, I found a long knife -- current models would be like the ESEE Junglas, Busse Bushwhacker Mistress, or Ron Hood's Hoodlum knife -- i.e. 10 in ch range to be a very nice thing to have. Not because I did a lot of chopping, but because everything seemed to have spikes, spines and needles. For me, a long knife and BBQ tongs were required outdoor equipment.

I'd stay away from machetes, because should you come across some wood to chop, it's usually very hard and will roll the edge of a machete with ease.
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+1 I'm in AZ and Cpl P hit the nail on the head. I was going to suggest either a Busse BWM while it is at the factory price or a Junglas which is similar is size and less expensive.
Good luck!!
 
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