The "Myth of the Broken Knife"

[stabman]

I was just watching a show about people surviving in polar regions, mainly looking at the descendants of those there for ten's of thousands of years, and their knife usage got me to think on this myth again. The myth is not that knives break, since they obviously do. The myth is "You better not do ________ with your knife in a survival situation, or you're right F*#ked."

But are you really?

"How will I ever cut this wood now that all I have are sharp pieces of hardened steel..."

Be calm, and be inventive if you have to; there's usually something you're wearing or carrying that you can fashion a handle with.

Quite often there's still a sizeable piece of sharp steel connected to the handle!

Those Inuit and Siberian rein-dear herders sure wouldn't miss a beat, and neither should we. They were doing stuff most people here would consider abusive (even me), and they were doing it with far cheaper knives. Don't go deliberately breaking your stuff of course, but don't buy into the myth.

 

[Travis22]

If your in a survival situation and or in remote areas then id rather not use any tool, knife included, in such a manor where it is likely to break.

My number one reason, personal injury. Obviously this doesnt apply to all situations but you get the idea.

Travis.

 

[Ravaillac]

As often answer is not childishly black and white.

First, the obvious: in a difficult situation, call it survival if you want, whenever possible, you should avoid to break your knife, so avoid unnecessary chances, or at least carefully balance risk with profit.

But no, you're not instantly screwed if you break your knife. You're just probably diminishing your chances, importantly or marginally, depending on situation.

Also if you happen to be there, freaking out won't help. Situation has changed, take a deep breath, rethink your plan and deal with it.

 

[jackknife]

I was just watching a show about people surviving in polar regions, mainly looking at the descendants of those there for ten's of thousands of years, and their knife usage got me to think on this myth again. The myth is not that knives break, since they obviously do. The myth is "You better not do ________ with your knife in a survival situation, or you're right F*#ked."

But are you really?

"How will I ever cut this wood now that all I have are sharp pieces of hardened steel..."

Be calm, and be inventive if you have to; there's usually something you're wearing or carrying that you can fashion a handle with.

Quite often there's still a sizeable piece of sharp steel connected to the handle!

Those Inuit and Siberian rein-dear herders sure wouldn't miss a beat, and neither should we. They were doing stuff most people here would consider abusive (even me), and they were doing it with far cheaper knives. Don't go deliberately breaking your stuff of course, but don't buy into the myth.

Probably those reindeer herders don't break many knives because they have developed a way of doing things over a thousand years of trial and error. They know what a tool can do, and what it can't do. Father teaches son, and so on, and things always get done a certain way for a reason. And if you thnk about it, sometimes a cheeper tool with take more abuse than a expensive tool. Lower RC hardness, more forgiving steel. Not to mention easier to replace at the trading post, so it may actually be an expendable tool, with spares on hand back at the sled or pack reindeer. Don't forget, those people are not surviving, but just going about their normal business day at the office. To them skinning a seal or herding reindeer across frozen tundra is like you catching the 7;45 commuter train to the office with you briefcase in hand.

 

[Angus McGunnigl]

If I use my knife for cutting things, I should be fine.
Most "breaks" are from when people are using the knife in an extreme manner.

 

[baldtaco-II]

I have some sympathy with your position but at the same time I am vigilant to unrealistic optimism. …...............For starters decent knives are kinda hard to break. I've broken one fixed blade ever and that was a dagger. It was a pretty good Solingen thing with a long thin blade rather like the classic Fairbairn-Sykes daggers. I was surprised at how much it took to snap something as scrawny as that. I broke it deliberately so I have a very good grasp of how much grief I had to give it to get it to break. Sure, folks seem to snap the tips off knives all the time doing dopey stuff with them but as far as threats go, after seeing accounts time and again, the biggest enemy is moronic admin leading to loss. That's the elephant in the room not some imagined catastrophic failure....................I am also of the opinion that with very rare exceptions people are more important than kit, any kit, including knives. Smart people adapt and take a hit in their stride. They make good decisions about what to do when they don't know what to do. Dim people don't. When something comes along and violates the arbitrary rules of the game they've superimposed over what is happening they crumble. You can see the same thing happening with novice game players. You can see they favour a certain piece disproportionate to its actual worth, and when you attack it they cave in a way an expert player wouldn't. Knives do seem a bit like that for some people. In addition to being a tool they are also a talisman, a magic wand, a symbolic totem of hope without which all is lost. It gives them overconfidence when they posses it whether that be in the middle of the woods or the perception of their defence against an aggressor. And without it the confidence plummets whether that be because they perceive they can't feed themselves or resist gang rape from mountain lions.......................That said, whilst I am firmly in the camp of “it's just a tool use it and if it fails think of something else” there are some aspects of this stuff I do have issues with. I think too many people have read too many BS books about survival and listened to too many BS gurus and that gives them the tendency to run off half cocked. There are acute survival circumstances that occur all of a sudden and require immediate dynamic action. And in those situations a knife, as with any other bit of kit, may be required to do something in that emergency that one would never normally consider using it for, but I think those situations are massively in the minority. My contention is that most survival situations don't start dynamically like that. They don't come labelled and clearly defined as “this is a survival situation”. They start in a more pedestrian manner and creep up on you; perhaps first as an inconvenience, then as an irritant, then as a threat, finally arriving at a point at which one recognizes “I am in danger”. Along that continuum the smart person will be taking care of their gear as much as practicable whether that be stopping rust from forming in you barrel, not recklessly cutting all the rope into short lengths, or behaving in such a way that massively compromises the effectiveness of the cutting tools, whatever. Obviously if you need a short bit of rope then cut off a short bit of rope. Similarly, if one must push a knife more than what one normally would then get on with it..............................That said, I do believe dodgy books, TV and the interwebz have paved the way for some potentially reckless behaviour and cavalier attitudes about this stuff though. I've seen loads of accounts asserting that all you need to do is find a flat rock and you can sharpen your knife back up. Or get some quartz and pound it up into a paste, encrust it onto a stick, and lo, instant sharpening apparatus! It doesn't matter about your rusting bent and chipped fek knife because if you've bought and appropriately soft low wear resistance knife nature will provide all the materials to fix it up, and a good bushman knows it. The bad new for those that would be so supercilious is that isn't always true. Sometimes you can be a hell of a long way from something that that could dub a rough edge on a spoon let alone a knife, so unless support is available to you diving in head first in a reckless manner is probably not the optimal strategy.

 

[midnight flyer]

I think it is important to remember how much a knife actually plays into an honest to Pete, real survival situation. Personally, I have made a few errors on the trail before, but have never been in a real "life or death" situation.

So I read about it.

I have read that a knife was used as a convenience, or as a tool in different aspects of the survival process by folks that were lost for days, trapped in snow banks in their cars, caught in terrible weather when camping or hunting, or in danger due to an accident from a fall, etc.

With only two exceptions in the thousands of stories I have read written by folks from all walks of life and from all ages, I have never heard anyone say after rescue that it was their "Camp Mistress Battle Dog Eliminator" that saved them from death. Broken or unbroken.

The exceptions? Metz and Ralston. Both cut off limbs with small knives and hiked to safety.

A knife, broken or unbroken has a utility value to it that other tools can replace, so breaking a knife has to be put into perspective in the grand scheme of a survival effort. If I had read even few stories from folks that have been in no-sh*t life and death situations that said their knife saved them I might worry a bit about something like that happening to me.

Robert

 

[neeman]

Accidents happen to very skilled and well travelled people
They have the advantage of both experience and equipment
And knowing where the rules end

 

[darthstrevel]

Experience & skills are probably more important than tools. The reindeer hunter cited in the OP probably has the experience of what type rocks to keep an eye out for to knap a new stone blade if his becomes un-serviceble on the hunt. He is going to be better at "survival": than most folks who live in civilization, because he lives so close to subsistance level, hunter gather lifestyle his whole life. But one bad season of hunting or game scarcity and his life is in jeopardy - as he doesn't have enough food. Most people on the earth have "specialized" in thier occupation so they can earn an income so they don't have to live in day to day subsistance existance. If their is scarcity of a resource the market finds another source of supply, an acceptable substitute (ie corn for wheat) or charges more for it ...

That being said, It's probably not best to skimp on gear that could cost you your life if it fails. I am not saying spend a fortune...but know the limits of and field-test your gear. I'd rather have 1 good knife & one good EDC pistol (Ruger, S&W, GLOCK, SIG etc..) that I train with frequently than 1000 Tauruses and "ozark trail" knives... Know how to conduct maintainence & reasonable field-expedient repairs. Know how to sharpen your blade and bring sharpening equipment into the field. If my knife snaps in two in the field, I make my folder make do...if that fails, I hike back to my car, and go home and order a new one on Amazon.com - and then someone whose job it is to make knives (in our specialized civilization) gets business.

The likelihood that anyone is going to die in the wild solely because their 2 knives failed is so low that we have never heard of it. What we do hear of is people (even well-equipped ones) panicking and making fatal mistakes, like leaving their hunting pack in their car and getting lost & disoriented while tracking a deer, not signing in at a ranger's post on a solo hike, not telling anyone their plans...etc.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

Actually, if I broke my knife in a polar survival situation, I would definitely go, "Oh... Sh** ... scared.... AAAHHHH!!"

Breaking a knife in a survival situation is 100% reason to crap your pants. Yes, you can still use the broken bits, but I would try very hard not to break my knife in the first place in such a situation.

 

[Skimo]

IF my survival hinged on having a pristine blade... then every day I survive easily.

I think it's about water and exposure.. most tasks dealing with those... knife use is a minimum.

 

[DrivebyTrucker]

The knife would make it easier to build a shelter, process wood for fire, producing charcoal to be used in a sock to help filter water.

 

[stabman]

Probably those reindeer herders don't break many knives because they have developed a way of doing things over a thousand years of trial and error. They know what a tool can do, and what it can't do.

Another thing is that they'll just go "huh, the knife broke...better fix it."
People have used sharp bits of stone to skin animals, scape bark, and cut wood. Bits of sharp metal work too.

That's basically what I was getting at.

It was interesting how their knives weren't breaking stabbing that ice repeatedly though, and they DID sharpen them with a flat rock.

 

[stabman]

Breaking a knife in a survival situation is 100% reason to crap your pants.

No, it's a reason to remember the part of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy which applies to survival: don't panic.
It's panic that'll kill you, not breaking your knife or running out of matches.

 

[Shotgun]

I think it is important to remember how much a knife actually plays into an honest to Pete, real survival situation. Personally, I have made a few errors on the trail before, but have never been in a real "life or death" situation.

So I read about it.

I have read that a knife was used as a convenience, or as a tool in different aspects of the survival process by folks that were lost for days, trapped in snow banks in their cars, caught in terrible weather when camping or hunting, or in danger due to an accident from a fall, etc.

With only two exceptions in the thousands of stories I have read written by folks from all walks of life and from all ages, I have never heard anyone say after rescue that it was their "Camp Mistress Battle Dog Eliminator" that saved them from death. Broken or unbroken.

The exceptions? Metz and Ralston. Both cut off limbs with small knives and hiked to safety.

A knife, broken or unbroken has a utility value to it that other tools can replace, so breaking a knife has to be put into perspective in the grand scheme of a survival effort. If I had read even few stories from folks that have been in no-sh*t life and death situations that said their knife saved them I might worry a bit about something like that happening to me.

Robert

Amen. Too many stories of children and little old grandmas surviving with literally nothing but the clothes on their back and too many backpackers that travel 1000's of miles in all kinds of weather with a SAK classic for me to think that a knife is a necessity. I carry it for the speed and convenience it offers, not because I think I'm going to die without it.

 

[Ravaillac]

It's panic that'll kill you, not breaking your knife or running out of matches.

Well breaking knife or running out off matches might kill you but panic is much quicker.
If you have a look at survival story, doing the right thing is often less important than not doing anything stupid.

 

[Joezilla]

I'm commonly amused by the use of broken knives with indeginous, both modern and non-modern, and how often they make do with such anyway. Alot of it is common sense. Broken butcher knives have been a chief item of bushmen world around.

 

[MVF]

No, it's a reason to remember the part of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy which applies to survival: don't panic.
It's panic that'll kill you, not breaking your knife or running out of matches.

Let's not forget Rule #2 - bring a towel!

Meant as a joke, but a very useful piece of kit. And yes, you can call it a keffiyeh if it makes you feel better.