Tradional Bush Craft knife

JW Knives

JW Knives

Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
566
IIRC I have read something before that discussed specific dimensions, design, etc that would qualify a knife to be a "bush craft" knife.

Does anyone here know what I am referring to?
Does such a thing actually exist?

Thanks
Jay
 
Unless there is a "Bush Craft Knife Association" that would put together such specifications I don't believe there is any official description or specification for a bush craft, or any other typical knife. At best there may be general descriptions or a list of general traits for a specific style. There may be, probably are specialty knives and registered trademark knives that have more specific design parameters.

But then again, I may be all wet. I'm just an amateur with limited knowledge.

- Paul Meske
 
There really isn't a clear definition of what a "bushcraft" knife is. However, the Ray Mears Woodlore or what was written by Mors Kochanski in his book and later brought to life in the Skookum Bush Tool by Rod Garcia would be the classical bushcraft knives by most standards.
 
When I was growing up, my Case pocketknife was a bush craft knife! LOL

I think defining a bushcraft knife would be like defining a Bowie. There's just too many people's interpretation of what a bushcraft knife is just like those who interpret what a Bowie or Tactical knife is.

You may have seen something like a challenge in one of the Bushcraft forums where they outlined how a knife was suppose to look in order to be judged in the challenge. I've seen a few of those in the past. You might check this thread out for some general guide lines.

Wilderness-Forum-Custom-Neck-Knife-Challenge!!!
 
found what i was talking about...Spyderco says this about their bushcraft model..

"Knives used in the practice of Bushcraft have specific parameters such as possessing blades between 4-6 inches..."

That is the only "parameter" they mention but the the plurality would suggest there are more...
 
MudBug is right in pointing you towards the Wilderness & Survival Skills sub-forum, and that thread in particular. Those gentlemen will have lots of good opinions on what makes a great bushcraft knife. :thumbup:
 
I'm not looking for what makes a good one, I already know that... I was more curious about what seems to be a mysterious set of parameters.
 
It would depend on the "bush" and the person you ask.. Someone in a South-American jungle is going to have a very different definition than that of an Inuit carving seal fat. But as far as design in my opinion, I would say function over form.. size is really personal preference. Like any knife it should be designed for it's intended task, and that's ultimately up to the person making it. Just my 2 cents.. more as a user than a maker.
 
Thanks all but there seems to be some confusion. As the Spyderco description reads, it implies that there is some "guideline" that THEY used when they designed their bushcraft model. I was curious if anyone else had heard of this "guideline"

I know personal preferences, geographical location, etc will be different, I'm referring to the "parameters" that Spyderco claims that they used..
 
My guess is they invented some to suit their purposes. But I'd like to see them too, if anyone comes up with them.
 
Last edited:
I agree that the phrase "Bushcraft" is associated with Ray Mears since from Wiki "Bushcraft is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears."



He has specific ideas that have been attached to the "Bushcraft" label

As others have pointed out above, it's region specific to the UK rather than the jungle.
 
JW you seem very interested in the Spyderco standard for this. Very good , of course. I"ll just bet they would willingly supply you with information. Give them an email. Frank
 
Here is what I always thought. I am probably wrong, though

A skinner is a knife that is made to skin and slice and just do stuff like that well. durability is not a huge issue.

a hunter is able to do skinning and such, but is a little more robust and is able to take a bit more abuse.

A bushcrafter is expected to do some slicing, but it more for tasks that require a heavy duty knife like batoning and light chopping

A chopper chops.
 
Bushcraft according to who?

To Mears and Kochanski? A spearpoint with Scandi grind with blade as long as your palm is wide.
To Kephart? A flat ground spearpoint with 4.5 inch blade.
To Nessmuk? A thin upswept 5" skinner with a pronounced hump on the spine.
To a French voyageur? A Hudson Bay Company's large camp knife or beaver dag.
 
Keep in mind that there are two schools of thought being talked about in this thread, and they are actually not in opposition. One group is talking about the relatively-new "bushcrafting" sport that was popularized by Ray Mears in the UK. That's what I'm talking about, too. It's a systematized sort of way of looking at traditional bushcraft activities of many cultures. Others are talking about any activity related to survival and living in the bush. That's something totally different and totally open to a million interpretations and a million different knife designs. I think the OP was talking about the first one, for the sake of clarity. Unless he says differently.

Okay, now my answer...

From what I've understood, a bushcraft knife should excel in bushcrafting tasks, which mostly involve wood: whittling traps, kindling, stakes, shelter, etc. Therefore, it should excel at holding an edge while cutting wood, be ergonomically suited for long hours of wood-whittling, and have a grind most suitable for controlled, fine cutting in wood.

I think that's why most "classic" bushcrafting knives are made of O1 (edge retention and toughness), scandi-ground (controlled cuts in wood), and have an ergonomically curvy handle with no guard or choil (long whittling chores while choked up on the handle for leverage). I've also heard the 4" blade thing, which most bushcrafting pros seem to agree on.
 
I do a lot of bush craft type activities, you can pretty much use any blade for "bushcrafting." I personally wouldn't call a knife a bushcraft knife unless it could fulfill the following.

- Small enough to be convenient to use and carry.
- A nice long comfortable handle.
- Large enough to process wood at least as thick as my thumb with a cross-pull type cut and minimal fuss (3.5-5 inches. Much longer than 5 and it becomes more cumbersome to use and not as agile for wittling type jobs)
- Easy to field sharpen. (I LOVE the scandi grind for pretty much any bush knife. Easy to sharpen, easy to touch up.)
- Good edge retention. (Carbon steel is wonderful. Give the blade a touch of bee's wax and it helps prevent rust)
- Tough enough to take some batonning. Full tang is ideal. I also like a differential heat-treat from edge to spine. (edge being very hard, spine being somewhat softer)
- A nice square spine for fire steeling and fibre stripping (you can always square the spine up on a stone if it has a chamfer on it)

Couple of knives I like
Mora clipper (cheap and it does a great job.)
Mora triflex bushcrafter (This one is my favorite h
Ahti Metsa is a sexy knife for bushcrafting. (I believe a member on here sells them. Ragweed forge or somethin like that)
Condor Bushcrafter looks decent, but I've never tried it.

At the end of the day, a bushcraft knife is a knife you will use in the bush. You can spend as much or as little as you like, so long as the knife does the job you need it to do. I've used an old 8" carbon steel chef knife with a scandi grind before. It got the job done, and in that situation...it was a bushcraft knife :)
 
Jay,

I have put a lot of thought into what a bushcraft knife is, and never came up with anything set in stone. This thread got me searching around again... I stumbled upon this link in the spyderco website forum, http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21846. It appears to be a discussion of what the community saw as the best criteria for a bushcraft knife. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but it seems to be a pretty good indication of what they based their design on.

That being said, I still have no idea if there are a specific set or parameters for a bushcraft knife, but I'm curious to see if a more definite answer emerges.
 
Frank Niro said:
JW you seem very interested in the Spyderco standard for this. Very good , of course. I"ll just bet they would willingly supply you with information. Give them an email. Frank
Click to expand...

Thanks Frank, I have emailed them purely out of curiosity. The wording that the used implied that they had used a set of parameters. I was curious if these parameters were universal to the knife industry or something that they came up with on their own.

Thanks everyone for your input into this.
 
Last edited:
JW Knives said:
Thanks Frank, I have emailed them purely out of curiosity. The wording that the used implied that they had used a set of parameters I was curious if these parameters were universal to the knife industry or something that they came up with on their own.

Thanks everyone for your input into this.
Click to expand...

They are not universal... Those are Spyderco's own set of parameters with regard to their interpretation of a "bushcraft" knife. My definition of a "bushcrafter" is any knife one deems suitable for bushcraft....... but then we get into the "define bushcraft" debate.;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top