Survival knife???

T

topol

Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
266
I see many references to the Buck 184 as a survival knife. It would seem to me that I would want a full tang knife in a survival situation. The attached photo of the 184 blade is far from a full tang and it would seem that the "bolt area" is a very weak point especially if the knife had to be used for any hacking or chopping as would seem probable in survival situation. So why the continued reference to the 184 as a survival knife.
Comments?

buckmasterblade.jpg
 
That is a great photo! I have never seen one apart before. It validates your question many times over. In a strange way I wish I never saw that photo...feels like the bubble burst to a small degree.
 
I do not want to be included in any type of bashing here, such as the happy newbie ninja post. I just never saw one apart and it is interesting to say the least.
 
Any time you have a hollow-handle knife, how can you make anything longer than a little stub tang and still have a usable hollow handle?
The only exception would be like the Chris Reeve One-Piece line where the entire knife is crafted from a solid bar of steel.
Or, perhaps a 'bent handle' made from flat stock steel much like Cold Steel's Bushmaster fixed blade. (But then, you wouldn't be able to get a screw-on buttcap with that method.)

Everything is a trade-off, so if a person wants a hollow-handle and doesn't want to mill/forge it out of a solid bar of steel, then it would seem that you'd get a stub tang for your troubles.
All those Rambo-era "survival knives" had those stub tangs.
(Heck, the Gerber Mark II doesn't have a hollow handle yet it still has a stub tang...)

Regards,
Mike
 
when at the 20 th club meeting i asked Joe on that ..
as i recall i thought he said
they had NEVER had one sent in with that handle stud broke
but that could be that he said he had never seen one broke
 
Jeff S1 said:
I do not want to be included in any type of bashing here, such as the happy newbie ninja post. I just never saw one apart and it is interesting to say the least.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's bashing to point out that putting saw teeth on the back of knives is not only useless but can often be detrimental. I am a newbie to knife owning but this is one of the first things I learned reading about survival knives. Have you ever tried sawing wood with them? They don't work very well at all. The amount of energy you'd expend trying to using these types of blades as saws far outweighs the disadvantages of actually carrying a pocket saw with you. Also they can catch on your sheath, potentially damaging it in the long run. Did I mention they also generally increase the cost of the knife?

Saw teeth on knives are totally worthless.
 
ninjarealist said:
Saw teeth on knives are totally worthless.
Click to expand...

What? Don't bash saw blades on a knife unless you have real experience using one. I have used one in hunting for field dressing many deer. A saw blade cuts a rib cage just fine. Maybe you should tell us about what you have done and not tell us about what you read in a survivalist rag.


jb4570
 
I love that picture J.B. Nice buck.You are making me ready to go
deer hunting.That 110 AG is doing a good job.:thumbup:
Happy Hunting

Topol, Thanks for shairing.
 
Man, I swear I am the only guy who skins with the head up. Great photos. Was it a 4570 round? :D
Is it the photo or was there really that much white on the old boys snout?
 
Kinda seems like a mute point discussing why the 184 is still reffered to as a survival knife. It went out of production in 1997.
We were concerned about the tang to handle junction so we added a tang anneal operation. I can say that of the tens of thousands of Buckmasters made, I've maybe seen 2 that were broken there. The only "chronic" problem it had was the tip. For a big beefy knife, it probably could have used more steel out there. In fact, I vaugly remember that we did change the dimensions of the tip to make it less pointy and more sturdy.
We used to get a lot of customers call and tell us they broke off the tip by stabbing it into a tree. I am sure there are many much more effective techniques for killing a tree but who am I to judge? :rolleyes:
 
I bought mine in the mid 80s' and used it to chop firewood,not huge stuff,and to build shelters.I've also used the sawteeth to make tinder for firestarting.No,it's not completely useless.Oh yeah,it never broke.
 
I had one in 1988 i traded a mini bike for it at the trading post,And i used that knife for tons of chores withoiut any type pf failure at all.The saw teeth are not useless,they will cut barb wire believe it or not,and I built many a lean -to with it chopping hardwood poles and nevere ever had a bit of trouble.I also chopped some holes in thick ice for ice fishing smelts without a bit of trouble.If i had to pick one survival /camp knife i'd go with a buckmaster,hands down one heck of a tough piece of gear!I losat the spikes and end cap on mine,but it was a awesome knife to own.lol.So screw that blade back into the handle and go out and test it out yourself,then you will be able to answer your own question ninja...very tough tang
 
Porterkids is better able to comment on this, but the current issue Army M9 bayonet uses the same threaded stub...

M9.jpg
 
The BuckMaster either way was a cool knife and highly collectable. My understanding is that Paul Bos perfected many heat treating processes to get the tempering right on this blade and the M9 bayonet especially on the lug area.
:DHey maybe a new BuckMaster with a full tang is due. :D
 
I like the 184... I don't have one yet, but I do have a 185... I'm trying to buy a 184 from a guy I know... I'm just waiting on him... I'm not going to kill any trees with it... Here's something you can read about the 184... It,s not good, But I still want one... It's a great looking knife... Click on the pics 2 time to make them Bigger..
ITE

184.....

184....

184...

184..

184.


:eek:
 
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