Top 5 knife skills....

j williams

j williams

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
11,135
I am seeing alot of newer guys around here. Perhaps not new to the survival/outdoors game, but new to the WSS....

Peoples opinions differ on what skills are important to master with a knife. I have a pretty good understanding of certain members (IE regulars) styles and how they use thier blades in the woods. However, Im curious on what you believe the top 5 knife skills to master for the woods are? Im not talking sharpening either, tool upkeep goes w/o saying, or cutting(smartass:p)..... Im talking skills, fuzz sticks, notching, shelter building, batoning, cleaning game, etc....

I think this brainstorming session will be good for some of the newer guys who want an idea of what skills they need to focus on, to hone thier game, and it might be a good time for some of the newer guys to jump in and give their opinions!!

So what are the top 5 skills to master with a knife?
 
In no particular order:

shaving
notching
scraping
gouging
cleaning game/fish


BTW, I guess not cutting yourself should be in there somewhere :D

Kind regards
Mick
 
Food prep
Trail /shooting lane clearing
Cleaning game
Sparking
Batoning
Fuzz Sticks
 
depends on the knife for me, like skills with a leuku differ from what i do with an axe. but for somthing standard like a 4'' fixed blade i would say fuzz-sticks, batoning, notching, slicing and drilling. that is just for me though, if i hunted or fished regularly, i am sure that they would be different.
 
carving & shaping (spoons to fish hooks)
fire prep
shelter building
trap making/food harvesting
animal/fish skinning & food prep

depending on how long the survival incident: shoes & clothing manufacture
 
Man, you cancelled sharpening! ;)

1. Field dressing, butchering and skinning/scaling all types of game.

2. Whittling! Everyone has all of these lists of carving, shaving, scraping, shaping and all of these things are - WHITTLING! Just an old term. All of the things people are listing as separate things are just whittling to me and the more skilled you are at whittling, the better off you will be.

3. Hacking and chopping, how to do it safely and with a bit of precision instead of just hacking something to chunks. :D

4. Using one to defend your life with. Not necessarily a "knife fight." But how to fight with one, might be against a person or persons with a knife or knives, clubs, bludgeons, multiple unarmed attackers, etc. Might seem crazy and probably going to draw a lot of fire from some of the granola sect but the fact remains, the trail can be a dangerous place as well.

Don't have a #5 I reckon, I guess that can be everything else. :)
 
I'd say in order of difficulty.....

Carving ( everyone should try making a spoon at least once !)
Knotching( trap parts etc)
Drilling
Making artistic fuzz sticks !!!!
Battoning.
 
I have nothing to unique to add.. Id say that if you mastered carving, you would be in the right position to tackle most woodworking tasks. Add field dressing and you could probably stop there.. (I think with these basic skills mastered, you would be at least competent at the others mentioned). Maybe add chopping or some other large scale motor skill here:)
 
I am going to go with:

1. Knowing how to clean game
2. Knotching
3. Fuzz Sticks
4. Batoning
5. I suppose drilling?
6. For choppers only - Proper chopping technique.
 
1 Food prep
2 game and fish care
3 Wood working
4 Threat removal
5 opening packages of new knives.:D
 
How about unsheathing and sheathing..

Sounds pretty dumb, but I,ve seen people cut themselves unsheathing a knife...

There was a guy at the WLC that got a brand new FoxRiver. He put the knife right through the back of the sheath trying to sheath it.

Can't forget the basics of proper knife handling....
 
battoning, notching, feathersticks, "rosette" cuts, carving skills- ie the ability to make a controlled precise cut, as opposed to just "a cut"
 
tonym said:
How about unsheathing and sheathing..

Sounds pretty dumb, but I,ve seen people cut themselves unsheathing a knife...

There was a guy at the WLC that got a brand new FoxRiver. He put the knife right through the back of the sheath trying to sheath it.

Can't forget the basics of proper knife handling....
Click to expand...

Good stuff! Safety is definatly a top cosideration, especially in the woods, or survival situation. :thumbup:
 
Don Rearic said:
Man, you cancelled sharpening! ;)

1. Field dressing, butchering and skinning/scaling all types of game.

2. Whittling! Everyone has all of these lists of carving, shaving, scraping, shaping and all of these things are - WHITTLING! Just an old term. All of the things people are listing as separate things are just whittling to me and the more skilled you are at whittling, the better off you will be.

3. Hacking and chopping, how to do it safely and with a bit of precision instead of just hacking something to chunks. :D

4. Using one to defend your life with. Not necessarily a "knife fight." But how to fight with one, might be against a person or persons with a knife or knives, clubs, bludgeons, multiple unarmed attackers, etc. Might seem crazy and probably going to draw a lot of fire from some of the granola sect but the fact remains, the trail can be a dangerous place as well.

Don't have a #5 I reckon, I guess that can be everything else. :)
Click to expand...


#4 might draw fire, but I agree 100% :thumbup:
 
tonym said:
There was a guy at the WLC that got a brand new FoxRiver. He put the knife right through the back of the sheath trying to sheath it.
Click to expand...

I did this with my F1 well almost.... and to this day, I say there is something wrong with the sheath lol. Honestly, there seems to be a groove that will accept the knife that brings it to slice the back (not straight through, but does make it see daylight).

Anyhow, so then that shows you how skilled I am in all things survival.
 
Hmm... I don't know if you can break knife skills up into categories it's lie breaking up eating into categories which is more important? chewing? mastication? parastalsis? digestion? they're all essential for the facilitation of life. The same is true with knife craft..
What is important is learning how to use your knife, proper grips and techniques that maximize efficiency and safety, without putting repetative stress on the body..
As you become experienced you learn how to expand your knife's ability from something that cores apples to something that skins rabbits, and than to something that frees a spoon from wood, and yet again something that can split wood to make fire. etc.etc.
In other words having a 100 dollar knife on your belt doesn't get you any closer to being a woodsman to having a hundred dollar hair dryer.. get out and use it.. and understanding of proper situational priorities will determine what the most important skills would be in a given moment... top priorities to think about would be shelter and fire depending on the situation imo..Best regards all!
 
Fire making(Firesteel scraping and shaving fatwood ect)
Shelter building
Cutting for traps, spears, fishing pole
Game cleaning, food prep
Field sharpening
Self defense
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top