the one knife concept

That's easy: Becker BK9.
Stout enough to chop, thin enough profile to slice, holds an edge really well, and easy to field sharpen.

Ethan outdid himself.
 
For me the decision has more to do with weather and/or time of year. For the summer or when it's dry out I'm content with just my Izula 2. No shelters need to be cut and fire is easy. If I have a sprained ankle or something the Izula 2 can be used to baton a branch for a splint or a crutch with relative ease. Really for most 3 season outings my other blades are either backups or something I bring along for fun. I do very little craft work beyond fire building and making the odd tent peg and what not.

For this time of year I don't know. I haven't gone out and tried the one knife idea in these conditions. I always go out heavy this time of year. Maybe this is something I try the next camping trip in January. :D
 
This was originally my one knife idea.
IMG_0461.jpg

but i soon realized it was far to big. So I got this
IMG_0634.jpg

But I am not sure it is stout enough. I Plan on picking up an esee 4 or 5 after the holidays. And to he honest, i have been watching far to many videos on hawks to not want one. Or at least a 19" axe
 
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Ok John, you have a couple of pages now of respones. What is your choice and knife that you would take?

You BK 7, your mora, maybe just a SAK??????? We all want to know:D.

For the last couple of months I have been using a knife design that really has been working great for me. It has a 10" blade length, but I also started on a version with a 7" blade length and I can hardly wait to get some custon handles that i ordered to get here so I can put it all together. right now in my area and for at least a 500 ,miles or so diamiter around me and my area the 7" would work just fine. I mean for every thing for my survival. shelter, food gathering, traps and the different carved triggers, skinning of fish and game, fire prep, what I could not steal, beg for and borrow I know that design would be a great help for my survival.

Bryan
 
Hmm......i love my moras, and scandis, for shear utility and keeness, and my saks for the same reason.
ALthough I have never broken a mora, and have abused them though the thought that one might give out is always present.
the saks while awesome and used by me every day, are a pita when your hands are cold an numb
if I had to pick a do all knife for an extended wilderness living scenario....
at this point it would be a BK7 tried and tested by me in all seasons and conditions... it;s far from ideal in any area, but good enough to make it work.
although I;d like something a little smaller for ease of carry.
Thanks for asking though...
 
RescueRiley said:
Hmm......i love my moras, and scandis, for shear utility and keeness, and my saks for the same reason.
ALthough I have never broken a mora, and have abused them though the thought that one might give out is always present.
the saks while awesome and used by me every day, are a pita when your hands are cold an numb
if I had to pick a do all knife for an extended wilderness living scenario....
at this point it would be a BK7 tried and tested by me in all seasons and conditions... it;s far from ideal in any area, but good enough to make it work.
although I;d like something a little smaller for ease of carry.
Thanks for asking though...
Click to expand...

I think you need to come up with a one-knife-Riley design and get Bryan to make it !:D:thumbup:
 
Based on your limit to one (1) edged weapon/tool. It would have to be Larger than normal. My normal grab would be a Hinderer XM-24 Spanto Flipper BUT based on your scenario - I will grab my Ka-Bar machete. Small enough to be "manageable" but Large enough for weapon as well as shelter uses.
It was your scenario BUT if I have to limit things to one, probably won't be my edge weapon OR my "Real" weapon which would be a Long gun and a side arm.:)
 
John, Your welcome buddy, I figured you might say your BK7, that is just right in there. not to big and not so small. You can still do some trail clearing with ease it is manageble for skinning and cleaning fish and game, fire prep etc.

If you were in a very cold area then a axe might be the better bet. But most all other places on this earth a knife for yoru survival is the way to go. Weather you want a 4" or 6" or 7' or 12" blade it is make your life so much easyer for cutting chores.

Here is the deal though up untill Rambo came out most people never even thought about just carring one knife, most out doorsmen carried the axe or hatchet there pocket or sheath knife and maybe a hand saw of some kind when they went to the woods. When the fire arm came into being man went from carrying many sharp peices of steel ( sword, battle axe, spears, smaller sheath knives, etc) The people of old were not into trying to live life by using one sharpened piece of steel, But the fire arm made it so much easyer to carry your hunting knife instead a bunch of small, medium, and large knives. Shoot your gun and make your kill and use your hunting to to skinn and butcher what you harvested.

Pitdog, John and I have chatted in the past about what he might want made up and he must still be thinking on the design for what his Grail knife would be like. I even told him on the phone I would make his design for what the material cost and not charge for my time to make it. Since I have not seen John post anything really new i think he must still be thinking on his design or he does not want me to make it lol lol lol.

Bryan
 
For on-purpose useage, or for "just in case"?
For a just in case thing, you can't really beat a regular, standard Swiss Army Knife with a saw. That saw, file, and other tools allow for getting alot done. The handle is more comfortable for knife usage than multi-tools, at least for me.
 
I think this is an interesting idea because when back packing or on patrol( work) I may not have room for an axe, large fixed blade, small fixed blade, and folder. When I am jst going out for a walk to mess around and practice field craft I can bring all of the above. But when my pack at work already weighs 80+lbs and when hiking with friends I want to enjoy the trip so i try to keep my pack under 35lbs(never happens). So for those applications I love the idea of one tool.

As it stands when hiking with a group for multi day hikes I bring
Carona pony saw(from my arborist days)
Rat-7
Rat-3 or my custom bush craft blade.
and my folder.

I am debating picking up a CS trail hawk to replace the Rat-7 as I mostly use it for chopping and splitting anyway. I think the CS trail Hawk might be more useful and maybe even lighter.
 
for me right now it would probably be my siegle camp/combat knife. or as he calls it the just right knife :) it can handle pretty much anything, isn't overly heavy and is still small enough for the little tasks. 1/4 inch thick 5160, full flat grind, 13 1/2in overall with an 8in blade. The blade is 1 3/4in wide. it's very much one of my favorites lol. probably any of the knives in my picture below will work though :) its second down from the top

DSCN0180.jpg
 
RescueRiley said:
when I first got into this stuff I was looking for the one knife to do it all ...
as I gained some experience I switched to a combo of tools (which I still use, But there is a part of me that longs for the simple grab and go good for all purposes knife..
so here;s the question.. if you had to pick a do al knife for wilderness skills, and primitive survival what would it be.?
Click to expand...

This is like asking me to limit myself to one item in my toolbox. Do you want the hammer, saw, or the screwdriver? The one do it all knife is nearly useless, with too many features that constantly get in the way, and often way too much weight. It would be far better to do what our ancestors did and carry a good assortment of tools. A machete, SAK/multitool, and axe can get you through just about anything and they are cheaper, more efficient, and safer then that one special "survival" knife.

Second up, would be anything by Bill Siegle. He really makes excellent using knives.

n2s
 
I am not sure which knife I would choose. I know the knife that has done the most for me is my Koyote bushbeater, as I have used that as much in the house as I have in the woods. Even though it is a little thick for food processing, it gets the job done with relative ease. It isn't the best knife I have at anything, but it may be the best for a general do-all knife.
 
Bryan, you nailed it brother... If I'm going to go through put some one through the paces of making me a grail knife, I better be sure I know what I want LOL
 
You know John, If you have not done this yet I highly sugguest it. Write down on a piece of paper all that you want. tip style, choil or not, thumb ramp or not, jimpping on the blade, handle shape, color of the handles, blade shape to the tip, etc etc,

If you just think about it and keep it in your mind then it seems to me ( I have done that) that if you do not write it down then it never seems to come about for real. I am visiual, I got to see it. Once you have all or most of what you want then start to draw it up on paper. One you start that it will not take long to get it all put together. that really helps me.
Use pencil and then erase what you do not want and add what you do want.


But here is the thing. I truly believe that one should NOT go with this one knife deal. Make a combo with all the features you want in a small and larger knife and. It makes like so much easyer to deal with all the cutting chores that I might do.
I tell ya if you have to skin a animal it can be done with a bigger knife but when you go to debone that animals meat a smaller narrower blade sure makes that job easyer. The other day I was cutting on a deer that kelly Girl how found
I wanted the knuckles from it and the antlers that. Both for the bearing in the bow drill set up. My smaller knife made easy work of getting the knuckles. I do not want to even think of trying to do that with my 10" Lord Greystoke knife, I mean YUCK lol. I used my leather man saw to saw the antlers off.

So to make knife easyer:D do a combo set:thumbup: LOL LOL LOL. Or do the Try set. big knife / or axe, smaller knife and then the multi tool or SAK, with that set up you will handle most if not all of your lifes cutting chores for most of what you do.
Hope this helps ya,
Bryan
 
Closest thing I've found for my tastes is the Kabar JAB Potbelly. I'll be looking to get another one as soon as I can. I'd like to get the same design in something like O1 or A2 as well as 1095CV.
 
Of course it goes without saying (although I am saying it), that a big knife typically has room on the sheath to piggyback a small knife virtually unnoticed. Wood processor + multitool would be my choice.

If I were having a grail knife made, I'd pay just as much attention to sheath design so I could include a couple of complimentary items in one package without letting it become too bulky; say, a multitool pouch and ferro rod holder.
 
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