Looking for suggestions on a good knife for Hiking/ Camping/ Backpacking. Have a spyderco military and a leatherman wave. Have heard I should take a look at fixed blades. Posted below is info from another part of blade forums.
Preacher Man
Gold Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 108
Siguy is right. A survival knife is usually a fixed blade. You can use a folder as a survival knife, but it will never be as strong or dependable as a fixed blade in a survival/emergency situation. They can be used for battoning, but most aren't very useful for chopping. Many survival minded people carry a fixed blade as their primary knife and a folder as a backup / cooking / whittling knife.
This is routinely discussed in the Wilderness and Survival Skills forum, including the hiking/backpacking angle. The Manix is a good choice, but so are the BM Griptillian, CS Voyager, Leatherman Charge Ti, and the Victorinox Hunter and Trailmaster.
In Fixed blades, forget about a hollow-handle knife, unless it is a Chris Reeve. Hollow-handle knives have a tendency to break in your hands when you need them most. In other words, they look good on a wall, but are close to useless in the field. Chris Reeve's are the exception because he makes his hollow handle knives out of a single piece of A-2 steel.
For hiking/backpacking weight and space are issues to consider, probably why you are looking at folding knives. With that in mind consider the following fixed blades: Cold Steel SRK, Cold Steel Master Hunter, or Cold Steel True Flight. (Cold Steel makes good products for a really good price, just like Becker, but Becker Knives are heavier). You can get the SRK (8.2 oz and nearly indestructible) or the Master Hunter (6.4 oz an excellent camp/outdoors knife) from Wholesale hunter for $52.00 and the True Flight (8.5 oz basically an SRK without the false edge, kraton handle, and heat treatmentl) for $18.00.
Preacher Man
Gold Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 108
Siguy is right. A survival knife is usually a fixed blade. You can use a folder as a survival knife, but it will never be as strong or dependable as a fixed blade in a survival/emergency situation. They can be used for battoning, but most aren't very useful for chopping. Many survival minded people carry a fixed blade as their primary knife and a folder as a backup / cooking / whittling knife.
This is routinely discussed in the Wilderness and Survival Skills forum, including the hiking/backpacking angle. The Manix is a good choice, but so are the BM Griptillian, CS Voyager, Leatherman Charge Ti, and the Victorinox Hunter and Trailmaster.
In Fixed blades, forget about a hollow-handle knife, unless it is a Chris Reeve. Hollow-handle knives have a tendency to break in your hands when you need them most. In other words, they look good on a wall, but are close to useless in the field. Chris Reeve's are the exception because he makes his hollow handle knives out of a single piece of A-2 steel.
For hiking/backpacking weight and space are issues to consider, probably why you are looking at folding knives. With that in mind consider the following fixed blades: Cold Steel SRK, Cold Steel Master Hunter, or Cold Steel True Flight. (Cold Steel makes good products for a really good price, just like Becker, but Becker Knives are heavier). You can get the SRK (8.2 oz and nearly indestructible) or the Master Hunter (6.4 oz an excellent camp/outdoors knife) from Wholesale hunter for $52.00 and the True Flight (8.5 oz basically an SRK without the false edge, kraton handle, and heat treatmentl) for $18.00.
