System of blades for camping

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PlanoDano

Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
9
Hello all, I am a new member.

I have been searching through the forum archives and reading a lot of the one knife vs the other knife threads. I am changing the way I camp an looking for a system of blades which will serve me as I change.

Former setup:
Lightweight backpacking interested mostly in miles, photography and fishing.Rarely built a fire as I cooked over and alcohol stove. Never really staying in the same camp more than one night.
knives and tools
Benchmade Griptillion
Victorinox Climber
hemostats and fishing pliers

other knives owned
SOG huntspoint in S30V(Game processing)
(old) Gerber Gator (i do not use it)

Target setup
semi-lightweight backpacking. Hiking in and setting up a base camp. Practicing some woodcraft and survival skills along with fishing and photography.

On my lightweight trips I use my BM Grip for most things. Victorinox is unused on most trips. So I am betting the Grip will continues to go with me and the Vic stays home.

Give me ideas and recommendations. I was thinking of maybe a lightweight hatchet and a belt knife but am open to suggestions as I am new to what I want to do.

Thanks in advance
 
Depends a heap on your environment, and what you can do in the location you are in. There is a big difference in building a full lean-too and just doing a bit of spoon carving obviously. Rather than a pocket hatchet, I'd recommend a silky pocketboy saw and a mora for the first bit. Nothing against hatchets, but learning those skills is best done at home, not far from digit reattachment services :D And depending on where you are, a machete might be more the big cutter of choice.

Also come out and hang in the outdoor subforums, heaps to learn!
 
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I like carrying a multitool. You mention that you don't use a fixed blade or a hatchet currently, why would you suddenly need one now? Do as you will, but you already go out so why bother carrying more stuff unless you have a specific need in mind?
 
I am from Texas and try to spend every August in the Rockies out of the heat. As mentioned before focus was on packing light and covering miles usually camping within a few hundred yards of a trail unless going off trail. I got a little intrigued looking at some of the bushcraft sites and wanted to try my hand at a little buscraft. I got to admit I have no desire to carve a spoon as I have been quite content to use plastic sporks. But I would like to acquire skill to upgrade a camp site, stay at site for days rather than hours, camp much further from trail ( I like solitude) and build a fire and cook some of the fish I catch rather than subsisting on foil bags of tuna.
 
Jhansenak47 said:
I like carrying a multitool. You mention that you don't use a fixed blade or a hatchet currently, why would you suddenly need one now? Do as you will, but you already go out so why bother carrying more stuff unless you have a specific need in mind?
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Thanks for the recommendation
I usually carry hemostats and needle nose. I have a Victorinox but rarely use it. I have been doing what I do for over 20 years, looking to change it up.
 
Everyone will have a different response to this. I would definitely recommend a folding saw like a silky or a Bahco Laplander. A fixed blade in the 4-6" range. My sweet spot is a 5" blade. Big enough without being too cumbersome. I would recommend not spending a lot of money on the knife at first. For less than $50 you can get something like a Schrade Schf 42. Really solid knife but if you decide that's not your size/style you're not out a lot of cash. Throw in a mora companion as well. They weigh next to nothing and I've always got one stashed in my pack as a backup. You will likely evolve in your knife choice as you find what works best for you. Maybe a Becker BK16 (great knife) with a 4 3/8" blade. Maybe an ESEE 6 with a 6" blade. Maybe something stainless. Time will tell. I don't really like packing a hatchet. My preference would be a machete like an Ontario 12" or a small axe like a Husqvarna 26" multipurpose or a Snow and Nealley Hudson Bay. Something packable but still big enough to do some serious work. Again, that's just my personal preference.

You'll get a ton of different suggestions. Some folks will agree with what I just said. Some will tell you my suggestions are completely wrong. It's going to be a trial and error to see what works best for you. Enjoy the ride!
 
A multitool is a good idea. You'd have to decide on a hatchet vs a good fixed blade most likely, for chopping wood. The knife would be lighter to carry than a hatchet, but you'd want one that you could baton with if need be. The CS drop forged survivalist is one of the few that can take batoning all day. Lots of knives can "handle" batoning, but with most you'd want to be more gentle, avoiding knots, hardwood, heavy strikes, using smaller logs, etc. Lots of people are against batoning altogether, but i feel there is more than one way to go about it. Your griptillian will handle most light bushcrafting tasks, and that load can sometimes be shared with your larger fixed blade. It all depends on what you want to do.
 
P PlanoDano : what's your target base packweight? You mention semi-lightweight but that can mean many different things to many different people. Also, what is your exact intended useage for the tools? I understand you're base camping and practicing certain skills, but which, exactly? Are you focusing on bushcraft-related tasks like shelter building, fire craft? Will you need to dress game? If you can give more specifics we can can be of more help with our answers. I'll give it a go making assumptions on the above.

First, at the risk of being long winded, let me give you some background on my approach and philosophy. I was coming from nearly the same situation as yourself: a backpacker, carrying as little weight as possible, with high mileage and minimal "camping fuss" being my focus. I was in the ultra-lightweight crowd and would peel off 20-25 miles, roll in to camp, set up and cook over a canister stove, then crash. If I carried anything bladed at all it was a Vic Classic. It was mostly used to trim toenails and cut down bags of freeze dried meals so my short handled Ti spoon could reach the bottom. I can count on one hand the amount of fires I started most years. My base pack weight was under 10 lbs.

I started to go out more and more with other friends who weren't so much interested in high mileage and enjoyed relaxing around a campfire at the end of the day so I began to research a way facilitate this beyond hunting for downed limbs and pecking for twigs. Where I am in the Midatlantic, many hiking destinations can be quite picked over for good firewood and you end up covering a good bit of ground to find useable wood laying about. But also, most hikers aren't equipped to deal with dead standing trees that would make easy fixings for a decent fire. My solution was a small axe so I picked up a Wetterlings Large Hunter's Axe. It's their version of the well known Gransfors Small Forest Axe. The length is about 19" and it weighs about 2.5 pounds so since my pack weight was so low, I really didn't notice it strapped to my pack if we did a 10-15 mile day. This worked great! I could easily fell a 3-4 inch diameter tree and buck it up then split as much wood as needed. I still didn't carry any more knife than the small Vic.

Then, I began to approach more of a base camp style approach for some trips and got the urge to incorporate my love for blades into the mix. Fortunately, that's basic fare for the bushcraft community so I dove down the rabbit hole, researching this knife and that saw and this axe. What I've ended up with is a fairly simple two or three tool system that looks a lot like many similar systems out there. I still sometimes carry my Wetterlings, if I intend to build big fires to supplement warmth and use for cooking large meals. If that's not a necessity for you, then you can go just saw/knife and do just fine. My selections are a Silky Gomboy 240 and and Adventure Sworn Mountaineer. In truth, I could probably do just about anything short of build a cabin with that pair. The axe just makes it easier to process large amounts of firewood.

For a winter setup, you'd probably want to step up to at least a boys axe size, with a 25-30" haft. If you're fishing a lot or processing game, then a Scandi grind bushcraft knife isn't the easiest to work with, although certainly can pull it off. Adventure Sworn makes a model called the Voyageur which is intended to bridge that gap. I'm sure there are others. Alternately, carry a pair of fixed blades- one woods blade and a lightweight, tacklebox-style filet knife. That would probably be your best option if you're not obsessing over ounces.

Budget options are plentiful as well. A Fiskars axe, Mora classic, and Bahco Laplander will set you up for under a hundred bucks and do everything that my pricey junk can.

As for folders, I still don't carry one hiking, outside of the Vic. It's one more thing to pack, keep track of, clean, etc. I should just get a small pair of scissors and ditch the Vic for trips we're discussing here.

Anywhoo, apologies for the dissertation and best of luck in your search. Like every discussion of this sort, you'll get a hundred opinions for just as many people and while some might be "more right" than others from a logical standpoint, none are "most right" and you will ultimately end up with what works for you. The rest is really splitting hairs.
 
I'm also a big fan of alcohol stoves, so fire prep is a non-issue. What are you sleeping in? Is there shelter building involved? If not, would stay light and pass on an axe or saw.

Lightweight with some fishing would lead me to carry a thinner stainless fixed blade. A Mora Kansbol (or similar) might be worth it's weight. Good for camp cutting chores and able to process fish if necessary (thin leading edge). The multi-mount sheath would allow connection to a pack strap or someplace else convenient while dealing with fishing tackle.
 
I don’t backpack but I camp and fish a lot. So I don’t really care about the weight aspect as much as a backpacker.

Having said that, my main knives this summer for camping will be an ESEE 6 (replaced last year’s old S&W Bowie), a Spyderco Pacific Salt (for fishing and kayaking), a Grohmann Model 1 (for game processing and other stuff) for hard use.

I don’t tend to carry a hatchet as a large fixed can process wood just fine IME. I’m not cutting down redwoods.;)
 
I only use wood to cook or heat so a folding saw and a small axe or a large knife to baton wood are musts for me but I don't worry so much about a real lightweight pack ... I know some want to set a limit on weight ... and understandably so ... I make sure I've got what tools I need in an emergency situation even if it adds a few pounds.

So there are as many options as people to give opinions ... sounds like you prefer a light pack ... so my first choices for that would be switch the grip and needle nose and vic for a good multitool ... it will have a replacement for all of those.

A Mora Knife doesn't cost much and performs well for bushcrafting ... and very lightweight ... and add a folding saw ... you should be able to get by with those for most any cutting chores you need ...

If you want to go with a sturdier knife I would recommend LT Wright they have lots of options and are some of my favorite knives for camping/hiking ... you can get convexed or scandi grind full flat on others ...

Esee are less expensive and their new HM line have comfortable handles ... Beckers are great knives and have several options you could check out ... there will be many more post other good options I'm sure ...

If you want to add a hatchet or small axe ... Gransfor Bruks Wildlife Hatchet or Small Forest Axe are my go-tos ... but you can look at Wetterlings or Council ... or if you want a good budget axe Estwing makes nice solid all steel Hatchets and Axes but you will have to sharpen them as they don't come with near the edge the higher priced Axes do ... but they perform ok and no worry of breaking a handle.

Good luck and safe travels JJ
 
This is a great thread. I would Love to see pics of these nice axe/hatchet systems that you are talking about. (A great thread always has great pics.) Lol
 
Welcome. I recommend the Mora Companion and Fiskars/Gerber plastic hatchet. They are light, durable enough, very comfortable for extended use, and inexpensive/expendable. They will just keep cutting and keep working in my experience. I really like that don't have to worry about loosing or breaking them (the Mora is like $12) The plastic hatchet is superior to a wood handle one in many ways, particularly durability. When backpacking I don't want my handle to crack or fail. This hatchet has been used very hard for 10+ years, even been run over by my truck, and is basically as good as new.

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Jrunr619 said:
This is a great thread. I would Love to see pics of these nice axe/hatchet systems that you are talking about. (A great thread always has great pics.) Lol
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I don't have many pictures of camping trips since most are alone ... but I'm home for a bit snapped a couple pictures of the axes since someone asked ... not great light or pics but ...

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The first are the Gransfor Bruks Wildlife Hatchet and Small Forest Axe ... the Estwing Hatchets are in my other truck which isn't home at this time ... one is a normal hatchet one is a riggers hatchet nice to pound in tent pegs or other uses. This is the Estwing 18" Axe
 
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Thank you for posting all of this. I have an interest in all of this stuff, too. Just have not pulled the trigger on axes or saws.
 
Camping? Swiss Army Knife. Might also take a small puukko, an Ahti Tikka, or a Kephart, a Condor or LTWK NextGen.

Backpacking? Swiss Army Knife. Might also carry a paring knife, a GEC, as a fixed blade.
 
I'm up here in the great Pacific Northwest. If I'm hiking, there's always plenty of wood on the ground if I need to make a fire. I don't carry a hatchet or an axe unless I'm car camping.

I'm completely enamored with this Benchmade Bugout for hiking. It weighs as much as waterproof smoke, and doesn't take up any space. I'm confident that it can handle any task I might need it to handle during a hiking / camping event.

If I really thought I needed a fixed blade, I'd take one of these Mora Companions... Stainless or Carbon, either way.

Have fun, that's the whole nature of the game anyways.
 
Thanks for all the replies they are helpful.
To answer some questions
Current base weight is between 12 and 15.5 lbs depending on sleeping system I choose

sleep systems
1( tarp and pad) JRB hex tarp, insulated air mattress, JRB HR quilt, sometimes bugtent
2. (tent) tarptent stratosphire, insulated air mattress, JRB HR quilt
3.(hang) warbonnet blackbird, JRB HRR quilt, Warbonnet torso under quilt, closed cell foam pad, JRB hex tarp
titanium stakes and cordage with all

Golite or Rei Flash pack
soda can alcohol stove with wind shield
wal-mart grease pot / spork
hiker pro filter
water bottles
compass / maps

miscellaneous things vary tenkara rod, camera, food, tools

I will be increasing my pack weight as I am getting away from putting on miles and moving to more base camp centric trips as so well described by @
rswanson. Mainly increasing weight of cook set, tools. I have a hardware store variety folding saw which I carry on my hunting trips to clear arrow lanes. I will assess on upgrading or using this saw. The small axes really appeal to me and I am tempted to get one but I don't know how fun they will be to tote. I think I will be adding a multi-tool looking at a leather skel. I will keep the hemostats as they do too many things well while fishing. I will keep the Grip.

So the choice seems to be between small axe, hatchet or approximately 5 inch heavier knife.
 
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