The Survive! Never Say Die! Chat Thread

Law Dog what can I say that hadn't been spoken already I don't know. Survive! really is a stand up company and I'm sure they will right any wrong a customer feels within their power to do so. I think we all agree the wait times are killer, but the product is phenomenal and (IMHO) very moderately priced for what you'll be getting when you receive your S! blade. I ordered a 7/7 and 3.5 both in April so I know the pain of the wait. In the mean time I have acquired 5 other S! Knives and have been overly impressed with what I've gotten.
Not at all trying to convince you to stray from your personal opinion but I think if you wait it out you will be surprised. They're not a company that tends to just dismiss their customers. To me they seem to thrive on feed back, evolve and keep pushing forward. You might try finding a Survive! Knife on the exchange just to get one in hand to see what all the hype is about. Then snag a another once all the pre-orders are finished and they move to their regular sales.

Hopefully this experience hasn't turned you completely away from them. I think their product speaks volumes. Hope you find a good resolution to your situation.

Also stick around a little most of us don't bite. :D There is plenty of good experience to be shared among even bad ones such as yours. We welcome all here in the sub forum, hopefully you stick around and share some of your other stories with us.
 
Damn! I need to crawl out from under this rock, and get some TV! Since the 'BIG' switch to mandatory HD we don't get any channels. As it was we only got 1-3 depending how many fillings the person holding the antenna had. Lol. Momma_Toothpick hates it. I just don't see much since in it when we're always on the go. It may turn into a necessity now.
 
Standard78 said:
Welcome to the Survive! threads h minus and thank you for your service. I'm a Navy/Air Force brat so I understand your love for the Kabar USMC knife. That was the first fixed blade knife given to my by my dad and he still swears by them to this day. I offered to buy him a new Survive! knife but he wants a Navy stamped Kabar instead.
For really hard use, you really can't beat a Survive knife. These super steel blades with solid tangs take one hell of a beating and they sell at a bargain compared to the competition. You'll also find that the company is ran by some cool folks.
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Thanks a lot Standard78! Sounds like your dad is an old salt like me. Good for him! Don't take his decision as an ignorant one. On the contrary, older military folks understand that knives can become disposable items. Not disposable in the sense that they break all the time, but the fact is that more knives are lost than broken, and in the "fog" of military operations knives do become lost quite often. So, a decent $60 mass production knife that can be bought anytime/anywhere is a lot better than a $240 knife from a maker with with a waiting period. You have no clue the ammount of gear that I witnessed getting lost or damaged in one airborne drop. The old military thrived on simplicity.
 
Lol I'd probably lose more then my gear. I'm sure I would be losing my chow if I jumped out of a perfectly good plane. Thank God for guys that don't.
 
Alright guys, now some S!K talk, and for the record, I have no financial affiliation with Kabar knives. I'm not promoting the brand nor the pattern. I was just simply sharing my experience with the product during a critical period of my life, where I used a knife constantly. If Kabar ever changed the product, or manufactured it overseas or just simply slacked in quality control, I'll be the first one to drop them like a bad habit.

I've been navigating the S!K website and thumbing through the models and found one that tickled my fancy. It was the GSO 7/7. Here are my questions: using other knives companies for comparison, who would you consider to be in the same league/ compatible with S!K? Any body has any experience with the GSO 7/7? Does it come with a sheath?

I'm asking because I've never paid $239 for a knife in my life. Not even during my most prosperous years. The most I've ever paid was $120 for an RC6 8 years ago, and although I think it's a great knife it lives in the safe due to its weight and ergonomics compared to what I'm used to. I would love to hear any testimonials concerning this model and/or the brand. Thanks in advance guys!
 
Silver Needle said:
Thanks HK for the lesson. I'll have to try that when the situation presents itself!
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You're welcome. But I'm going to apologize to all for moving it here instead of the 'time from order to delivery' thread. Had I seen the other post there first, I would have left it there.

Texas Toothpick said:
Lol I'd probably lose more then my gear. I'm sure I would be losing my chow if I jumped out of a perfectly good plane. Thank God for guys that don't.
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Amen to that :thumbup:
 
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H Minus,

That 7/7 is going to be as big or slightly bigger than the RC6 you have. Ide say that Busse knives are also in the same quality niche as Survive!, but way more expensive and much more tactical looking. Let me ask you this question...

What is your intended use for the knofe you are searching for? Maybe we can help you decide which one to get.
 
Riz2530 said:
H Minus,

That 7/7 is going to be as big or slightly bigger than the RC6 you have. Ide say that Busse knives are also in the same quality niche as Survive!, but way more expensive and much more tactical looking. Let me ask you this question...

What is your intended use for the knofe you are searching for? Maybe we can help you decide which one to get.
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Sorry for the late reply, went on a woods hike with my 15 year old son. Out of school due to the ice storm. He wanted to challenge himself by starting a fire in cold wet conditions using natural tinder with his firesteel. No help from the Vaseline soaked cotton balls. We had a great time by the fire and lunch served in a USGI canteen cup.

Anyways guys, the 7/7 caught my eye because I prefer to pair a decent size knife with a SAK thas has a saw. Huntsman or hiker models usually. I'm a minimalist when it comes to gear. My daypack (which is also my get home bag) with all I need to survive for a minimum of 72 hrs only weighs 11.5 pounds with both canteens full. So as far as my cutlery goes I like a 5.5-7 inch blade, the SAK and a credit card size diamond plate for sharpening in a free handed style. That's all I have for tools. So my knife has to be long enough to somewhat chop, dig into rotted logs to find fish bait, prepare kindling ( not necessarily means batoning often), whittle and carve good enough to fashion whatever need that I don't have, also have enough finesse to clean bluegills, Bass, Crappie and Catfish. It will also have to be able to be used as a weapon for defense when recreating in areas that might not allow firearms. Aside from that specific criteria, the rest is just the utility mundane work of any knife; cut string, fabric, peel fruits, etc.
 
I think a 5.1 or 7/7 will fit you needs well. I do not remmeber which thread it was in but I showed a video of me filleting rainbows with my 5.1. It worked very well
 
Riz2530 said:
I think a 5.1 or 7/7 will fit you needs well. I do not remmeber which thread it was in but I showed a video of me filleting rainbows with my 5.1. It worked very well
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A video would be nice! Another question : are all S!K models of the drop point design? Don't recall seeing any clip points on the website. Also, what steel are their knives made with? Sorry to be such a bother. Thanks for your patience!
 
Not a bother at all!

No clip points here. Just varying degrees of drop. Guy designs his blades as outdoors, utility and hard use knives (I HATE THAT TERM) so he uses what he feels is a utilitarian design for the business end of his blades and I have to agree with him. I like a mild drop, like on the 3.5/4.1/5/5.1 and the 7/7. The more spear point (think swiss army knife or classic kephart design are less appealing to me.

Their go to steels are CPM 3V for an extremely tough carbon steel and CPM 20CV for their high end super stainless. 3V is my favorite. I personally belive that 3V is the best all around cutlery steel there is. If you are used to 1095 CroVan from KaBar then you will think 3V is made from alien technology when you see how it holds its edge and resists chipping and breaking from lateral forces and resists corrosion when compared to other carbon tool steels. Search some 3V test vids on youtube. Look for Dan Keffeler and Nathan the Machinist for some amazing stuff (both are custom makers that use 3V). 20CV is a high chrome stainless that gets laser sharp and is very corrosion resistant. It sharpens easily but holds an amazing edge for a stainless. There is rumor that they may make some more affordable blades out of CPM 154 and there is a mystery carbon that they are about to sund some testers out to some lucky folks. They will not reveal the steal until there is some feedback about the performance. All they will say is its a 1% carbon steel that isnt talked about very much.
 
h minus said:
A video would be nice! Another question : are all S!K models of the drop point design? Don't recall seeing any clip points on the website. Also, what steel are their knives made with? Sorry to be such a bother. Thanks for your patience!
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Guy stopped doing clip points because the added step slowed down production, so all current models are drop/Spear point. Anything you can order now is CPM 20cv or 3v. But I think the larger models like the 7/7 only come in 3v. Happy to answer questions!

I have no doubt a GSO would excel at everything you'd need it for, but I'm worried if you don't carry your Ontario due to weight, you'd have the same issue with a 7/7.
 
h minus said:
A video would be nice! Another question : are all S!K models of the drop point design? Don't recall seeing any clip points on the website. Also, what steel are their knives made with? Sorry to be such a bother. Thanks for your patience!
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Yeah, all drop-point, there are some 7/7s with a swedge but same general profile, the Necker & NeckerII are sheepsfoot with a bit of curve to the belly. Here's a pick of the 7/7-swedge blade (not mine, ganked it from the web):

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The smaller blades include stainless steels - CPM-20CV is the current standard, but you can find certain models in Elmax, M390, & CPM154. There was also a run of SK-4s in S-7 shock steel. Otherwise, the knives are CPM-3V (excluding the new "mystery-steel" test-blade SK-4.7s).

From your description, I'd recommend the GSO-5.1 (which just happens to be the one soonest available new from the shop, though you could probably find one on the exchange) - it's a bit more compact than the Kabar or the GSO-7/7, but that just makes it easier to carry. (second from the left in this pic)

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The 7/7 is harder to find, but Riz recently managed to snag this one! (his pic)

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I will like to thank you guys for all the help. I agree with silver Needle that if I don't don't carry my RC6 I will not feel like carrying the 7/7. Great valid point. Riz, thanks for the video. That was good knife handling skills filleting those trout with such a thick blade. Gorgeous knife by the way! Chiral thanks for the comparison pic along with the RC6. That was mighty helpful.

I think I will look again and reconsider my choice based on this new info. I think it's going to be between the 5.1 and the 4.1 buschraft. Whatever my choice it will be with the carbon steel. Thanks again y'all for all the great help. You guys might've just helped this old paratrooper come out of the dark ages!
 
I forgot to mention that the first two S!Ks that I got were a 5.1 and 7/7. I was set on the 7/7 before I had either in hand. Once I used them both, I realized that the 5.1 was perfectly balanced, felt nimble and as you can see could handle fine work very well. The 7/7 could do everything the 5.1 could but felt noticably heavier and balance toward the tip. I quickly realized that the 5.1 could do everything I ever needed in a more compact package with better balance and feel. The only thing a 7/7 may have on a 5.1 is some chopping advantage and the ability to baton wood that is a little bigger. I dont chop wood with knives (thats why I carry a folding saw or a 'hawk or both). If wood is so big that I cant baton it w a 5.1 then I would baton the edges off anyway. I dont really baton either, I split with an axe or hawk. So all in all, the 5.1 is my go to knife, combined with any or all of the following depending on what I am doing and where I am doing it... a 3.5 and SAK or a leatherman, a folding saw, and or a tomahawk.
 
Riz2530 said:
I forgot to mention that the first two S!Ks that I got were a 5.1 and 7/7. I was set on the 7/7 before I had either in hand. Once I used them both, I realized that the 5.1 was perfectly balanced, felt nimble and as you can see could handle fine work very well. The 7/7 could do everything the 5.1 could but felt noticably heavier and balance toward the tip. I quickly realized that the 5.1 could do everything I ever needed in a more compact package with better balance and feel. The only thing a 7/7 may have on a 5.1 is some chopping advantage and the ability to baton wood that is a little bigger. I dont chop wood with knives (thats why I carry a folding saw or a 'hawk or both). If wood is so big that I cant baton it w a 5.1 then I would baton the edges off anyway. I dont really baton either, I split with an axe or hawk. So all in all, the 5.1 is my go to knife, combined with any or all of the following depending on what I am doing and where I am doing it... a 3.5 and SAK or a leatherman, a folding saw, and or a tomahawk.
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Thanks for that last bit of information. Really helpful. I think the scales are tilting towards the 5.1
 
h minus said:
Thanks for that last bit of information. Really helpful. I think the scales are tilting towards the 5.1
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Not that you couldn't find it yourself, but this is from the site.
Tech Specs
Blade Material:
CPM-3V or CPM-20CV
Blade Length:
5.75" (tip to front of handle), 5.10" (tip to finger choil)
Blade Cutting Length:
5.37"
Blade Height:
1.50"
Blade Thickness:
.185"
Overall Length:
10.93"
Weight:
11.1 oz (knife only), 15 oz (w/ sheath)

Tell me again about your rc6. I did a quick googling, but kept getting redirected to the ESEE 6. Anyways the weight on that is listed as 11.8 oz.

As far as the GSO 5.1 it sounds like it could be perfect for your needs, but between the solid steel, micarta and kydex I think the weight will be up there.
 
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