Survival with a slipjoint

That guy is pretty strong! My hands would be agony doing that with a little slipjoint. Respect to him!
 
Sorry, don't know how to use portions of quotes... I'm an embarrassment to my generation, we're supposed to be good at this.
bt93 - glad to hear you liked it as well. I liked this guy's video enough to want to promote him, which is unusual for me. Gideons tac, nutnfancy, and the like get tons of views, seems like this guy deserves some exposure.
Grateful - I know how you feel. I always want to use the big ol' badass survival knives, but don't feel like I can justify them. I think we're just too self-concious.
 
Just being able to cut something in a survival situation is important for me. I would feel perfectly comfortable with a folding knife. For heavy work I would rather have a moderate sized fixed blade, but I could get by just fine with the folder. I just wouldn't be cutting any 4" trees down.
 
I guess I'm showing my age but back in the day , having a slip joint on you was the norm and we did everything thats done today . Sure , we had fixed knives too . But how many of us " seasoned " guys got by with a knife like this most all the time ...
VwrIzMQ.jpg


The guy is absolutely right about the use of a slip joint . If used as intended , it's a formidable knife . This old Schrade walden is quite capable of most anything . I think we are a bit spoiled with our modern knives , not that that is a bad thing .. I carry a liner lock every day anymore . Ya dont have to be as mindful as you do with a slip joint but they are good safety lessons to learn
 
A little secret, you can survive even without a knife! Wow, shocking, I know! ;)
 
I forgot about this thread, saw it in my bookmarks, and came back to find... that Ruso had murdered my first ever forum thread with his sarcasm... damn you, Ruso ; p. It can't end this way... so slip joints for survival, huh guys? Guys?
 
Sorry for double posting, if it's bad etiquette, but I thought about your post after my dumb joke. Its a good point and speaks to my original intent - that chest-beating "gear elitism" is silly. Of course some tools are better in certain applications, but skills pay the bills and Vinnie makes cool videos. Last bump from me, promise :thumbsup:
 
I posted this elsewhere positing the same question about folders:

For the sake of discussion, I think most here would agree that a fixed blade will always trump a folding knife for serious use. However, folders are often more frequently carried due to their “folding” nature for compact/pocket carry and oftentimes out of habit due to legal restrictions. So, for this discussion, push fixed blades (including axes, saws, and tomahawks) to the back of your mind despite how difficult that may be.

Could you survive with minimal gear and a folding knife; the type you EDC every day? I know some carry a pocket folder and even a multitool. Some carry a slip-joint folder, others carry a Swiss Army Knife. I know several "seasoned" gentlemen that religiously carry their Buck 110 in a belt pouch. Yes, some, including me, carry a fixed blade as part of my EDC, but I’ll avoid that for the sake of assessing the actual use of a folder for “survival”. I’m not sure why, but I’m really intrigued with this exercise. I remember many years ago the now defunct “Tactical Knives” magazine did an article doing exactly that…a guy used a Benchmade AFCK as his only cutting tool to build a shelter, prep and process wood for a fire, process some meat, and make some other tools, etc. Also, the late Ron Hood, an advocate for the larger survival fixed blades, said he was never without his trusty Victorinox SAK, the Rucksack model (with locking blade).

I’m unfortunately not in a position where I can run out and test my skills over the weekend, but for the sake of argument, focus on your immediate area during the normal backpacking/day-hiking season. Could you do the necessary functions needed from a cutting tool with just your EDC folder? I would opine that you could, but requiring different techniques, more patience, and of course less efficiency Following that Tactical Knives article, I did go out and build a debris hut with my folder (it was a Benchmade/Emerson CQC-7). I recall using saplings for the frame and thinking a Swiss Army Knife (or multitool) saw would have been much easier. It did take much longer, but still feasible.

Now, I know a few might say they EDC two Cold Steel Rajah knives (folding kukri), but for the rest of us mere mortals, how comfortable are you with your EDC folders if pressed into a situation of having to “survive” a short time during your typical backpacking season (if a remote enough area exists) with only minimal equipment? Your knife should be able to help with shelter, preparing a fire and processing firewood; on the more “extreme” side, making cordage, making other tools such as a spoon, wooden bowl, fire-bow and drill, manufacture traps/snares, processing small game and fish, etc. Most are what I would consider “bushcraft” tasks, but is your current EDC tool(s) up to the challenge and are you confident they could handle the tasks...or do you even care? Granted, this is more of an academic and personal assessment exercise, but I would like to do a couple days with a very minimal kit where my tools are mostly what I would consider as part of my on-person EDC. I have some heavy duty folding knives that don’t get much more than minor cutting chores, so it would be good to see how they perform outside of the typical EDC working-world.

I do try to always EDC a multitool (either a Leatherman Sidekick or Victorinox Spirit), and my “EDC” is usually two different folders where one is a heavy-duty folder (I'm actually carrying four different folders right now along with a multitool...and a fixed blade. It would be interesting to see how much a folder can accomplish in such an environment (given of course a few other critical items such as a fire starter, appropriate clothing, water bottle/metal cup, etc.).

Given the size of some folders, skill plays a much bigger role in using such a small blade with the inherent weakness all folders have. Is your non-fixed blade EDC up to the challenge and are you comfortable with the size and design if pressed into such a situation? Or is this whole question pointless and stupid (I have thick skin, you won't hurt my feelings...)?

I'll follow up with a few blades I've been rotating through. I really don't get to test them much right now...hacking on wooden pallets, cutting pallet banding material, fending off cardboard invaders, etc., but there are a few that I would feel pretty confident in if it was a folder pressed into more difficult cutting tasks.

On the larger-end, far from a typical EDC slip-joint:



For more "pocketable" folders, I rotate through these:



There are few that work well for weak-side (left) pocket carry as I routinely carry two larger folders (Military, Hogue X5, ParaMil, 100-Pacer, ZT 0909, and the LionSteel SR-11A)

Still, I wouldn’t feel “under-knifed” with a locking slip-joint like a SAK:
Victorinox-Forester-Swiss-Army-Knife-Multi-Tool-Black-BHQ-74486-er-large.jpg


One of my personal preferences for a folder is simply the folded size. I wear body armor daily when I fly to an Afghan camp for advising. While I have a fixed blade on my plate carrier, I also use a “battle belt” that rides below my plate carrier and a longer-handled fixed blade (if mounted vertically) just doesn’t integrate well. A folder is just a better choice for me in this case.







So, I’ll end with the fact that a fixed blade is always a better choice, but a fixed blade may not always be an option or the most optimum. Choices are good and having a folder either as a primary or backup that can be used hard is never a bad choice.

ROCK6
 
I've used slipjoints for skinning and lots of other camp use. I could definitely build a shelter with a slipjoint. But I wouldn't really want to unless I had to. When I'm going into the woods I bring a fixed blade and either have an axe in the car or bring one or a folding saw.
 
I agree that for a practical survival situation, there isn't much you can't accomplish with a sharp Vic Farmer. The One Handed Trekker would be better in my book but of the same genre, just larger. Rock6 gets into the tactical applications simply because of his career and the potential importance of such. But is an avid hiker, he understands what the rest of us might deal with. For most of us city folk, the SAK works pretty well. But I would like to have at least a 4" fixed blade with me just in case. Hence, the two knife approach.
 
"Survival" is far more about technique and skill set, than about equipment.

In fact if you need or rely on certain equipment for survival, then you are in trouble.

Though

1) I would prefer to have a fixed blade;
2) I have seen trees taken down with a Case peanut
 
When I go hiking or backpacking, in addition to my primary knife, I always have an SAK (with saw and punch) an my little SOG in my first aid kit.
 
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