Survival Lilly knife
- Thread starter Jhansenak47
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- Joined
- Jun 16, 2003
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"Investments" in knives rarely result in profits for the "investor." Enjoy your knife.
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The DBK boys did a nice job there comparing it with the SRK in SK5 steel.
The SRK is just one example of good no-nonsense fixed blades that many people would not mind having in their bag in an 'uncomfortable' outdoor situation. My favorite hard-use knives, the Terävä puukkos and the Peltonen Ranger, are bought by soldiers with their own money to be used hard in boreal forests and cold weather, in a country (Finland) where everybody is a knife nut. That's a good recommendation...
If someone gets the APO-1 at least they'll get a knife that will do a fair job of looking impressive and cutting. No more, no less. Just meh. Get it to support some girl power on the YouTube outdoor scene, just ensure you have another one for real use... ;-)
The SRK is just one example of good no-nonsense fixed blades that many people would not mind having in their bag in an 'uncomfortable' outdoor situation. My favorite hard-use knives, the Terävä puukkos and the Peltonen Ranger, are bought by soldiers with their own money to be used hard in boreal forests and cold weather, in a country (Finland) where everybody is a knife nut. That's a good recommendation...
If someone gets the APO-1 at least they'll get a knife that will do a fair job of looking impressive and cutting. No more, no less. Just meh. Get it to support some girl power on the YouTube outdoor scene, just ensure you have another one for real use... ;-)
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2011
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- 96
I use a 1st Gen SRK, and never look back. Probably 10 minutes after I ordered her thing I had buyers remorse, but it is what it is. I got 2 tours in the jungle (RVN), so I do have a realistic view of knives. In my SHTF bag is a orig K-Bar, early Ontario Pilot Survival knife,and a Leatherman Wave w/flashlight kit. BTW..ever hear of a guy named Ristinen? Nordic knife guhru...he sent me a signed copy of his book...if you have a question on a Nordic blade let me know...be happy to look it up in his book (if its there)....
I somewhat agree with what you said about how an indestructible knife can fall short in other aspects, but you lost me when you started making up stuff about steels. I don't mean that to come off insulting...it would be a fair assumption on some level...but people love to hate on Chinese products. Politics aside, China puts out some great products these days, and they of course also still make plenty of junk. One thing they don't make is AUS-8 steel. We're you talking about 8cr series stainless steel? While not a true equivalent, it is a very similar steel that is popular mostly on budget knives. I personally don't notice a big difference in performance between the two, and I still consider it perfectly adequate under normal use. AUS8 is a Japanese product, and they take it seriously, so there may be a bit more consistency in their steel, but I can't say for sure. I think preconceptions have a bigger role in one's experience with a steel and how it performs than one might care to admit, but the reality is that unless you use your knives a whole lot, mid range steels are gonna be just fine for most things. Pretty interchangeable, and the user probably wouldn't even notice. Sure there is a boost in edge retention from AUS8/8cr to N690/VG-10, but I just don't find the difference significant like the jump to Maxamet or S110V.
Well, destruction testing looks cool and it gets a lot of views, right? That's one problem with many youtubers. They love to do things like baton their knives just because it looks cool on camera. They are foolishly steering people wrong with their bad knife practices. Batoning a knife drastically increases the chances of the knife breaking. In a real survival situation where you have to rely on your knife, the last thing you want to do is repeatedly strike the blade with a club like an idiot, or try to use the tip like a crowbar. If you need to split wood, you should carve wedges and use the wedges to split the wood instead. If you need to cut dry branches, you can use leverage to break them in half between the fork in a tree. The length of the branch itself can be used to your advantage in breaking it.
Stupidity can quickly make a bad situation worse. Be smart and don't listen to these arrogant youtubers. Normal people don't go into the woods with expensive cameras to film themselves being cool. These youtubers care about their view counts, not you. If they break something it's no big deal to them. They can easily replace it. If you break something then you're out of luck.
It's completely crazy and I think it's a trend driven entirely by youtubers batoning their knives like moronic savages. People now expect that's what you're supposed to do with your knife, and so the knives are bigger and thicker to withstand that kind of abuse better. Your knife doesn't need to be a brick if you just treat it properly.
You know what's one of the most important things about any piece of gear you're carrying? The weight. You shouldn't have to become Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 every time you go outdoors. Leave the Buster Sword at home.
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I liked the APO-1S, and I wanted a do everything knife, that's made out of a decent stainless steel. The only problem was that the price was outrageous. Most of my knives are high carbon steel. They'll always perform much better, but they do rust. It's nice to have at least 1 quality stainless knife that can handle most tasks, and will stand up to some abuse. After deliberating, I bought a Steel Will Argonaut 800. I love the knife. It's the same Japanese AUS-8 steel, it's 6.5" long, it's the same thickness as the APO-1S, it's full hidden tang with a nice rubber over-mould. The tang sticks out of the back of the rubber over-mould. I'm sure it's not quite as good as the APO-1S, but it's at least 90% as good, for only $74. The APO-1S is like $170 to $180 in the US. Everyone likes a true full tang knife with handle scales. In reality, it's really not that important for the purpose.
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2003
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Iif a full-width/lenght tang was important to survival, we would be extinct.