Alot of you already mentioned things I think the ideal survival knife should have, which is to be expected with all the fine knifemakers here, I'll repeat them anyway though to describe my complete package.
I'd start out with a boloesque shape, good for chopping, with a thin flat grind near the handle for fine tasks turning into a convex by the time it gets to the recurved chopping area. I'd probably then clip the point a little bit since the bolo point isn't very good for thrusting. The spine near the handle should be square and sharp for flint, and round on the half with the point for batoning. A non-elastic lanyard properly fitted to be used as a guard when thrusting in addition to wrist use for chopping. A large flat pommel for use as a hammer head, maybe a can-opener as a choil (a bit gimmicky, but hey). Stabalized non-brittle handle material, there's enough good ones that there's no need to pick "the best". Diamond hone built into the sheath somewhere, and a pocket for other survival goodies. Steel more in the tough range and differentially hardened or tempered for strength.
I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff later, but this is the best I can come up with at the moment.
edit: Yup, thought of something else, cordwrapped handle with a quality climbing cord. Having a length of strong rope can be invaluable. The kevlar ropes can be surprisingly thin for it's strength, thinner then alot of shoelaces.
I'd start out with a boloesque shape, good for chopping, with a thin flat grind near the handle for fine tasks turning into a convex by the time it gets to the recurved chopping area. I'd probably then clip the point a little bit since the bolo point isn't very good for thrusting. The spine near the handle should be square and sharp for flint, and round on the half with the point for batoning. A non-elastic lanyard properly fitted to be used as a guard when thrusting in addition to wrist use for chopping. A large flat pommel for use as a hammer head, maybe a can-opener as a choil (a bit gimmicky, but hey). Stabalized non-brittle handle material, there's enough good ones that there's no need to pick "the best". Diamond hone built into the sheath somewhere, and a pocket for other survival goodies. Steel more in the tough range and differentially hardened or tempered for strength.
I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff later, but this is the best I can come up with at the moment.
edit: Yup, thought of something else, cordwrapped handle with a quality climbing cord. Having a length of strong rope can be invaluable. The kevlar ropes can be surprisingly thin for it's strength, thinner then alot of shoelaces.
