Ultimate backpacking knife: $7.48 (for a set of four)

How well do they hold up to batoning?



On a serious note, those Victorinox are a great companion. I used to carry one as my primary fishing knife.
 
DocGP said:
Uh, sorry, but no way..... I don't want to waste a trip and not be able to take pictures. There is no such rule with me. You don't like it, the "group" can go on without me. I don't have time in my life to conform to such silly "rules".

Doc
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Silly? Sounds refreshing to me. I hate having to stop and wait for people taking pictures. Or listen to someone playing with their phone. Or listening to someone blast their eardrums out with headphones. A no electronics rule seems like a great idea.
 
No electronics is a great idea, as for cheap paring knives, I really like the idea.

For utralighters, more power to 'em, I don't really see what the deal is, its trail walking with towns nearby and I've heard of many that ship supplies to checkpoints along their routes, which to me sounds ridiculous, because with shipped supplies you're just having someone else carry your gear.
 
Shotgun said:
Silly? Sounds refreshing to me. I hate having to stop and wait for people taking pictures. Or listen to someone playing with their phone. Or listening to someone blast their eardrums out with headphones. A no electronics rule seems like a great idea.
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;)

Like I said, I considered myself lucky to be invited....not everyone was.
 
If someone can't afford to spend $5-10 more to get a quality knife then they probably don't have any business trying to do ultralight backpacking. Ultralight equipment is typically expensive so I don't see why it's somehow preferable to carry a $2 knife of questionable quality rather than a $10 Mora that you can actually depend on. UL backpackers usually have an expensive pack, shoes, sleeping bag and other expensive gear, so bragging about carrying a $2 knife instead of a $10 one is just silly.

Taking razor blades as a primary cutting tool seems kind of ridiculous to me. They dull fast and can't do many (any?) heavy tasks. I don't think processing fish or game would be very practical with a razor blade. Plus the amount of time and energy to do the more difficult task of using a razor instead of a knife seems like you'd end up burning more calories than you would have if you had carried the extra couple ounces.
 
I think it's a novel idea, but it's not for me. Take it with a grain of salt since I'm no UL backpacker, but I'd much rather have a SAK or a small neck knife like pitdog suggested. I have a Victorinox 3.5" paring knife and while I like it I wouldn't want to rely on it -- just doesn't feel very sturdy to me.

The way I look at it, for the marginal increase in weight, the SAK has more functionality and a neck knife is going to be sturdier.

Heck, the Ritter RSK MK5 for example is listed at 0.9 ounce knife + 0.3 ounce sheath = 1.2 ounces
 
Skimo said:
No electronics is a great idea, as for cheap paring knives, I really like the idea.

For utralighters, more power to 'em, I don't really see what the deal is, its trail walking with towns nearby and I've heard of many that ship supplies to checkpoints along their routes, which to me sounds ridiculous, because with shipped supplies you're just having someone else carry your gear.
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well the deal is thru hiking and if you've never done one then you probably don't know what it's like to hike 2500+ miles in a single trip, the only way to make these kind of trips is to have your food (and additional gear) forwarded- pretty hard to carry four + months of food on your back (~ 1.5 # x 120 = ~ 300 #'s) and if you mean close to town as in seven-10 days away- yeah they're pretty "close" to town

as far as a paring knife it would probably do for most backpacking purposes- food prep, cutting open packaging, cleaning fish, etc

personally I'd take a one ounce hit and carry an Izula, oh wait a minute that is what I do :D

pintlerpassm.jpg
 
Fanglekai said:
If someone can't afford to spend $5-10 more to get a quality knife then they probably don't have any business trying to do ultralight backpacking. Ultralight equipment is typically expensive so I don't see why it's somehow preferable to carry a $2 knife of questionable quality rather than a $10 Mora that you can actually depend on. UL backpackers usually have an expensive pack, shoes, sleeping bag and other expensive gear, so bragging about carrying a $2 knife instead of a $10 one is just silly.

Taking razor blades as a primary cutting tool seems kind of ridiculous to me. They dull fast and can't do many (any?) heavy tasks. I don't think processing fish or game would be very practical with a razor blade. Plus the amount of time and energy to do the more difficult task of using a razor instead of a knife seems like you'd end up burning more calories than you would have if you had carried the extra couple ounces.
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A razor blade is used more for cutting mole skin, piercing blisters, digging out splinters, opening packets of food, etc. Heavy/difficult tasks is something UL'ers don't do so knives aren't all that important. They don't have carving projects, build fires, or even cut cord so in their mind knives are dead weight. If I wasn't into knives I probably wouldn't carry one either. Thank god I am though. :D
 
Morrow said:
Steven,

Those Victorinox pairing knives are a solid deal for sure. The Bakers & Chefs knives ThriftyJoe referenced in his first post are actually made in Brazil out of German steel. I don't have any additional info on what specific steel used. I've been using some Bakers & Chefs knives as kitchen beaters for quite a while now and have almost no complaints. I would put the pairing knives in the same quality range as the Victorinox.

Jason
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Good intel. Thanks.
 
Couple of other options to the Vic:

1. Kershaw 9900 series paring knife. Similar steel to the Vic (AUS-6 vs. DIN 1.1446), similar blade drop point shape and stamped profile, similar weight, but the Kershaw has a soft-grip co-polymer handle which is a little more comfortable and grippy for extended use. A touch more expensive at ~$11 but I find it a little more comfortable, especially when wet. Japanese made.

2. Ontario Knives "Old Hickory" 3 1/4" or 4" inch paring knives. 1095 steel, partial tang, riveted wooden handles. Easily found under $10 for either size, US made. Blade is uncoated but a week of constant usage in the bush you shouldn't see major rust issues. The 3/4" has a clip point, the 4" has a trailing point.
 
Pitt - love the looks of that Breeden.
on-topic - Opinel also makes an excellent paring knife that would work well for low dough lightweight carry.
 
Anyone have good suggestions for a simple cheap sheath for hte Vic paring knives?
 
Will said:
Anyone have good suggestions for a simple cheap sheath for hte Vic paring knives?
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Yep. Ask for a small edge protector at a cooking or restaurant supply store. They cost about $2-$4 and they're used for protecting the edges of cooking knives for transport. Or, you can just use a cardboard sleeve and wrap it in duck tape.
 
You can also get a few different styles of commercial fishing knives that are essentially paring knives. They come with a plastic sheath and usually run less than $10.
 
I was in the shop today and had some kydex "scraps". I really hate waste and started thinking about what I could do with these long and thin pieces of kydex. Next thing I knew I had a handy neck sheath for the Victorinox Paring Knife that I use in the shop. I put the knife under a drill press and added a lanyard hole and the result was a knife that could go in a survival kit that weighs next to nothing.

My SAK blades have always taken a razor edge and I've had the same luck with the paring knives.

I can take and post some pics tomorrow.
 
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I know people aren't going to like this as we are on BLADEFORUMS but 99% of the time backpacking unless practicing craft or hunting/fishing one of those cheap paring knives the OP posted about would be more than enough. Lots of times I hiked and camped using smaller less expensive knives. I am still alive. :)

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The Bakers and Chefs knives are made with 18/10 German stainless steel. If I remember the research I did on them last spring they are liscensced from Forschner/Victorinox, assembled in Brazil.

The handles are made from PolyPropylene, they are NSF certified. They do need to be properly sharpened as they mostly cut from a burr.

I have all 4 sets of the B&C offered from Sams. I prefer them to my Furi knives.

I put them on my WE, and they definalty will take an edge, and for kitchen duties hold it well. I think they would work well for light packing.
 
Cyblade said:
I keep a Kuhn Rikon pairing knife in my edc pack for food prep :

http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-4-...UG/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1321056630&sr=8-18

But backpacking I tend to use the Rachel Ray pairing knife for food prep and I'm sure it would handle alot of other chores as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Ray-4-Inch-Paring-Knife/dp/B000OYG9DE/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp
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The Kuhn Rikon doesn't list the steel on amazon. I'm also not a fan of painted blades. As for the Rachel Ray one, well, I can't stand Rachel Ray :)

I got a little Opinel paring knife that I really like. It's got a carbon steel blade and wood handle. It's very lightweight and the blade is very thin. It's much thinner than the #8 Opinel's blade. I think they run about $9 each or something like $14 or $15 for 2. I know there's also a stainless option as well. It's another great low cost option if one wants to carry only a paring knife.
 
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