survival/wilderness knife recomendation

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iyn

Joined
Mar 27, 2007
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I'm looking for a "economical" large survival/wilderness fixed blade knife for my bug out kit. I do not have much experience in using large blades in the wilderness. my largest blade now is a 6" cold steel SRK. The cold steel Trailmaster has been recommended by a friend as a "bet your life" large blade but it's feels too "big" to carry around and an expensive blade sitting in storage seams wasteful and I live near the ocean so storing a carbon blade in a leather sheath is not good. I saw video recomendations for 7" blades a a minimum wilderness knife size knife, like the Ka bar Short heavy bowie, RAT 7 and cold steel recon scout. anyone have experience or recommendations?
 
The Kabar bowie is a nice knife for the money, can't really go wrong with it.
 
I know a lot of people recommend a large fixed blade for wilderness/survival but I've backpacked for years and have never had a need for a knife longer than about 4". I'm not opposed to carrying a large blade but make sure you have smaller knives too because those will be the ones you use most often.

As for recommendations, Buck, Ka-bar, Cold Steel and others all make good knives. I'd go for a stainless steel blade. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a good knife.
 
If its for your bug-out-bag why not get a solid fulltang midsized knife and supplement it with a crowbar or small axe?

Ive used a Ontario TAK for all my hiking trips the past year, used it for bulding shelters and windwalls, gutted fish, prepped food, carved wood and built traps and its done pretty good. Other knives could be RAT, KaBar, Fallkniven (abit expensive in the us maybe), Ranger and Ontario.
 
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Ka-Bar USMC, it's good for everything, chopping, hacking, slicing, hammering, batoning:rolleyes:, it's pretty easy to maintain and keep sharp, it won't disappoint or snap in half or anything stupid like that and it works like a friggin machete if you need it to. I'd couple that with a SAK or other multi tool.
 
I think it depends on what you will be doing. My way of camping and hiking doesn't require very big and heavy blades. I can do everything with a Mora, a SAK and an Opinel number 8. The only reason that I also take other kinds of knives with me, is just because knives are a hobby. Other people who do other things when camping may need heavier knives or more specialized knives.
 
Well, the blades you are mentioning are non-stainless unless I'm mistaken. If you want to go with more corrosion resistance, you might look at the SOG Bowie's, or perhaps a KaBar Next Generation???

For my money and with a little care, 1095 steel is simply fantastic if from a reputable manufacturer like KaBar, Ontario, or Rat. I have a RC-6 from RAT Cutlery. I chose it over a Kabar and an Ontario for the quality, and absolutely love it. It is simply an awesome knife for a very reasonable price. Easy to sharpen, takes a lickin', good coating for corrosion resistance. I've heard good things about a non-stainless CS Recon Scout as well, but don't have one.
 
iyn said:
I'm looking for a "economical" large survival/wilderness fixed blade knife for my bug out kit. I do not have much experience in using large blades in the wilderness. my largest blade now is a 6" cold steel SRK. The cold steel Trailmaster has been recommended by a friend as a "bet your life" large blade but it's feels too "big" to carry around and an expensive blade sitting in storage seams wasteful and I live near the ocean so storing a carbon blade in a leather sheath is not good. I saw video recomendations for 7" blades a a minimum wilderness knife size knife, like the Ka bar Short heavy bowie, RAT 7 and cold steel recon scout. anyone have experience or recommendations?
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there is no minimum for a wilderness sized knife. The machete is growing in popularity: marbles, ontario, condor, tramontina etc are all popular machete brands. Most will cost you much less than a big outdoors knife. For a large survival/wilderness knife you WANT high carbon. It isn't nearly as high maintenance even by the ocean (I have lived on the Emerald Coast and in Houston, within visual range of the water) as most of these H1/stainless spyderco lovers want you to think. You will spend more time regrinding the edge of a chipped up stainless blade than you will wiping down a high carbon one with a silicone rag. The Kabar Becker line is great! highly recommended by most of the outdoor recreation crowd, I have a good sized collection of larger survival knives and would recommend the Becker BK7/9 over most of the much higher priced knives. Do your shopping and you can land one for 60 bucks, plus they come with a small freebee BK13 companion knife. The RAT RC5/RC6 (NOT THE ONTARIO RAT5, there is a difference) are also outstanding choices, my RC5 is my "big beater" outdoors knife and its size is plenty big. I often carry a machete or a tomahawk in addition to that knife anyway so if I do need to chop down a redwood tree I will have something that can carry up to the task. anything over 5 inches will be too cumbersome to skin or carve with. You can batton most large logs with an RC5, it will split them wide open. Condor has a new knife out called the Rodan, designed by Joezilla here on the forums. It costs 20 dollars, is made out of 1075 high carbon steel with a 5 inch blade. Very solid design, solid steel, allaround good bushcrafting knife. I have had bad experiences with the Gerber LMFs, great design, extremely poor blade quality. If I were you, I'd get a Rodan or a Kabar Becker BK2 or BK7 and a 7 dollar tramontina machete. That will keep your costs below 100 dollars and have a full range of quality outdoor/wilderness/survival cutlery.
 
ka-bar d2 or rat 5
if you are going in wet like wash. OR oregon coastal areas
take a marine tuff cloth or remoil
any type cloth needs to be kept dry
empty vitamin bottles work great
 
You can pretty much survive with Mora 2000 in the woods. It all depends your skills though. With enough skill, singe good knife is enough. A lot depends on season and duration of the being in the woods. In extended period during cold season a good knife like Mora 2000 combined into bigger fixed blade that can work as hatchet and you're good to go... Like USMC Ka-Bar + Mora 2000 and you're covered.
 
Harayasu said:
I think it depends on what you will be doing. My way of camping and hiking doesn't require very big and heavy blades. I can do everything with a Mora, a SAK and an Opinel number 8. The only reason that I also take other kinds of knives with me, is just because knives are a hobby. Other people who do other things when camping may need heavier knives or more specialized knives.
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This says everything about the way one should go choosing their knives. I have gone to the woods with a handmade Finnish puukko and my Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet and I had all my needs covered. On certain other occasions though, I had a 9"-10" blade chopper with me. In case you need to split larger wood, I strongly recommend that you go for a big chopper. The reason is that batoning is much safer and much more accurate than swinging an axe. Yes you can baton with a Mora but, try to do that on a 7" diameter log. You definitely need the real estate of a large chopper to be able to clear your blade through.

People might wonder why someone would want to split wood that it's so thick. Well, if you are ever caught in a rain while in the forest or, if it had been raining heavily right before you got to your location, this is a rather safe way to get dry wood: the inner part of a log will most likely be dry. There is another reason for which you need to split wood: you need those sharp edges to facilitate the building of a fire.

In short, I think that you have to decide about the intended use of the knife that you need and then talk about which one to buy.
 
iyn said:
I'm looking for a "economical" large survival/wilderness fixed blade knife for my bug out kit. I do not have much experience in using large blades in the wilderness. my largest blade now is a 6" cold steel SRK.
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Unless your CS SRK is broken, the truth is that you could probably survive just fine with it.

Much of the answers you are looking for depend on your 'theory' of survival and 'bugging out'. Many will tell you that they can do anything they have ever needed with a little trapper pattern folder. Others will tell you that they are unwilling to go outside without 3 fixed blade SURVIVAL knives.

Really, there is no one answer, and the journey, including buying a knife or ten until you find what you really prefer, is the answer.

iyn said:
The cold steel Trailmaster has been recommended by a friend as a "bet your life" large blade but it's feels too "big" to carry around
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The Trailmaster is really not that big. It just depends on which end you are comparing it to..... If you compare it to nail clippers, then it is a sword, but if you compare it to a sword or a machete, then it is small....

A proper carrying system will go all the way to making a knife that size carry well.

Unless you are speaking about the way you feel in response to the way you think people are thinking about you, in which case only long experience or therapy will help.

iyn said:
and an expensive blade sitting in storage seams wasteful
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But, you said that this was for a bug out bag, in which case, the greater risk would be not having the appropriate tool for the job when the whole enchilada is on the line.

Like carrying a firearm daily, is seems ridiculous, logically, until you consider how stupid you will feel if you need it, and don't have it.... At which point, it starts to feel pretty good.

iyn said:
I live near the ocean so storing a carbon blade in a leather sheath is not good.
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Corrosion (rust and staining) is a fact, and the sooner you get past that, the sooner you will be able to truly your knives. But proper care will go a long way to keeping corrosion to a minimum, regardless of your climate.

iyn said:
I saw video recomendations for 7" blades a a minimum wilderness knife size knife, like the Ka bar Short heavy bowie, RAT 7 and cold steel recon scout. anyone have experience or recommendations?
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Not the briar patch, not the briar patch.....

Short answer, the RAT Cutlery RAT 7 is a good knife, from good guys, who have went and done that.... That model has essentially no compromises, which cannot be said about the other two.

The long answer is.....

I would suggest you do some reading in the Wilderness Skills and Survival sub-forum, and maybe re-post there, with some more information....
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=692
 
Whatever you get, throw in a 10-20 dollar Mora knife. They are light weight and will handle most of your needs with ease.
 
Glock also makes a few very economical knives that are low cost and effective. The G81 for example. I wouldn't want it to be my only or main blade, but for a backup bug out bag for a girlfriend or family member, game on.
 
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