The Blade - Survival

dartanyon

dartanyon

Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
705
My passion for survival has led me to the ultimate question - What is the most important item for survival in an abundant environment?

After some careful thought, my choice would have to be a knife. Given my interest in primitive survival skills, the hardest fundamental survival tool to manufacture in the wilderness may be a steel knife.

What say you?
 
BTW I thought I'd add the knife I would pick. Its a 12 inch bowie / survival knife with a saw edge on the spine and a nice heavy tip for chopping.
Unfortunately I failed in trying to post a picture of it but I'll keep trying.
 
It would depend on many things, but I think I'd have to agree that having a good cutting tool is a priority as is cordage and the ability to make fire. Probably the most important things to have with us are a good knowledge of the area we are in and the necessary skills to put that knowledge to good use.
 
Hiya dartanyon,

I think most of us would agree that a blade is one of the most fundamental tools to have along in a survival situation to achieve basic shelter, warmth, fabricating other tools, etc. BTW I notice you're a Basic Member here, which will prevent you from posting pictures. If you've already got them web-accessible on a server somewhere else, you can use the vB tags to link them into a posting here. See the vB Code help here for instructions how to do that.
 
The blade, for sure. Even if you successfully fabricate a blade from natural materials, it still won't rival steel for durability and ease of use. Your blade can get you fire, and it can harvest fibers for cordage, cut material for building shelter, dig holes for water, make spears for hunting... You get the picture.

However, learn to make blades from natural materials, as you just might get caught with your sheath down one of these days.
 
I've often thought of a blade from natural materials. I am aware of knapping one from stone or perhaps a blade from bone. What else is there?
Has anyone ever researched manufacturing some form of iron blade?
 
Longbow - Just wanted to say gidday and that I am a self longbow fan, always manufacturing bows and arrows when camping.
That gherker knife ....... I have one also but its a cheap one with a crappy handle. Whats the handle on yours like?
 
Howdy! Yeah, I love a good longbow. Havn't gotten into making one yet, but hopefully someday I will.

The Khukuri has a water buffalo horn handle with brass buttcap and bolster. No cracks as far as I can see and everything seems good and tight. I've done some chopping with it and it's better than most hatchets in that it cuts well and doesn't get stuck in the wood. The temper of the blade is good too. The sheath is excellent quality and the chakma (sharpening tool) and karda (small knife) are better than average and the karda actually has a decent grind on it and holds a decent edge. I was told it's a WWII, but it actually falls in between the WWII and the Service #1 models as far as size and weight are concerned. I'm happy with it.

khukuri004.jpg
 
Dartanyon-

How about blades from bamboo? This is common in Indochina and the South Seas. Because of it's high silica content, bamboo will also hold a good edge. I assume that the american canes would have similar if not identical properties.

Some stone blades can be created by grinding, as opposed to knapping. I have made blades from slate, but the material is too soft to be truly useful beyond the most simple and lightest tasks. However, the First Nations (NW Coast tribes) used jade and other hard materials to create beautiful knives that lasted.

Regarding knapping, make your blades out of chalcedony rather than obsidian if you have that choice. It is harder to work, but will hold up much better.

If all you need is something to cut meat, then even a wooden blade, hardened over coals, would do the trick - at least until something better comes along.

For primitive iron blades, get Doc Ron's video about that very topic. I've tried smelting rough iron nuggets without much success.

You mentioned bone, but what about shell?

Hmm. Then there's the ever-present broken glass and pieces of porcelain plates that lay around old home-sites and hunters' camps.
 
coyotlviejo - Wow, you helped me think outside of my vision. Think I might even try some of those alternatives when we're camping next time. Woulden't have thought of the bamboo either.

longbow - That sure is a nice knife. Mine is a pitted soft blade with cast alloy fittings and a handle that sorta looks like plastic. Definately not one to be used or looked at closely. Even the leather on the sheath looks like paper. Oh well, I got one anyway. Don't really understand how it can be used for anything else but fighting.

Ed - An axe? Don't you think it would limit you a little? Perhaps for eating with or carving. I understand your choice but as I considered it, an axe just seemed a little too restricting and difficult to travel with. How would you carry it easily?
 
A 3/4 length Hudson's Bay ax is a very efficient tool, not that much heavier than a mega-sized knife like a kukhri. And you could use it for mundane chores such as skinning and even food cutting, in a pinch, plus it is much more useful for serious chopping. An ax has the advantage of the leverage afforded by its handle, plus you can choke up on the handle for closer work. A machete might be handier in a different climate than northern Canada, but up here the ax is the best choice, IMHO. I would carry it (sheathed) in a backpack.
 
I was going to go camping in aussie land and I looked into the knife laws and I think there was a 5" limit on blade length.

that was a while ago and I could be wrong.

I would go for a cold steel srk to keep it legal.

if I could have any length it would have to be a machete. after lots of trial and error in amatuer camping and survival, I have found a machete does everything I need to do.

I would go for a Martindale Golok

good luck
 
I havn't held one of those Martindale Goloks yet, but it sure looks like a good tool to have handy.
 
An axe allows one to split pieces of wet wood to reach the dry interior, in order to make a fire. I would hate to be without a knife along with an axe, but if placed into the hypothetical situation of choosing only one, I would choose the axe, assuming it is a good one, on the order of a Gransfors Bruks. Someone in a desert, tundra, or otherwise treeless environment, would, of course have little use for an axe.
 
I'm still with the knife, although I see the value of a good axe. The uses I've found for my axe and hatchet were more easily replicated with natural materials than the uses put to my knife. IMHO, I think that the criteria for determining a 'most valuable' item is simply which tool would do the most work, and yet be the hardest to improvise from natural materials? I could make do without a hatchet, but not without a knife.
 
chris - The knife laws here vary from state, you just need a good reason for carrying one. The argumentitive side would be that machetes have a pretty long blade or even a bread knife. The size restrictions I think are on folders. I'm not in the habbit of displaying my knives when camping but they're not going to stop me from surviving or teaching my kids campcrafts and surviving in the bush! Its a bit like our poxy fishing laws. Industry can absolutely pillage our water stocks but we have to pay fisheries to sit on their backsides and allow looters to spoil the waters. I will go to jail defending my rights to survive.

When I go camping I take a pruning saw, a machete, an axe, a selection of knives including leathermen and even a chainsaw depending on location.

Once when I was in our Northern Territories trying to open pandanas nuts for bush tucka when I asked an aborigine how they did it. The reply was "he he, we use a band saw mate"

Reg & chris - I like using an axe too. I nearly always try to include at least an axe head due to nearly always being able to make a handle. Hard to nearly always include an axe on me, just because of their size and weight. When I go off on day walks its hard to include an axe. When I use an axe around the campsite I've usually got a hammer stick nearby for splitting. I'm able to also use the hammer stick on my bowie.

Since I'm not able to show a picture of my knife I'll try and describe it. In a book I read once my camp knife was described as a parang (whatever that is). A visual of it is sort of like the khukuri without the weird bend and a bit fatter. Whenever I get it out while camping it always catches the boys eyes. Hope I don't ever snap it.
 
dartanyon, it almost sounds like your knife is a bolo.

bolo.jpg


I did a search for parang and several styles of knives came up. I liked this one.

parang.jpg
 
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