Ultimate Survival Folder? - CS Paradox? ... What do you say?

For absolute strength in a folder, the old CS Twistmaster was hard to beat.
Simple design, locked like an Opinel, and Carbon-V to boot. I've got about 5 or 6 of them and never paid more then 25 bucks for one.
They weren't the easiest to carry and came out when the serrated edge, one handers, were the thing in the early 90's.
The folding Bushman is hard to beat now, though.
 
If money is not an issue: Extreme Ratio RAO
If you are looking for value for money-all around folder that you can baton with, occasionally, then you cannot go wrong with the CS Triad Lock on a Recon 1 or AK47.
All locks can fail - but I guess you know that, which is why you are asking in the first place :D
 
cold steels rajah and spartan both are incredably strong for folders

the spartan was my first knife from cold steel and i got it to pretty much to abuse it.
i have beaten down small pine and oak trees, improperly batond it thru a 5" bottle brush tree branch. used the pommel to hammer loose nails, pryed fence planks apart bent the blade tip and hammerd it back, beaten it backwards against stuff..
i edc'd it and a sak for almost a year but stoped because of dents in the blade that im not skilled enough to get out

i dont think they make any stronger $55 folder
 
Triad is the strongest mechanism. The Paradox and Black Rock Hunter are plenty strong, but I worry about the thinner hollow ground blades failing under the kind of abuse you are talking about.

Pocket Bushman. Cheap, large folder that will take some beatings. For the future, you should never use a folder for the task you mentioned, folding tools are best for odd jobs, not hard labor.
 
GrinderMcgee said:
Pocket Bushman. Cheap, large folder that will take some beatings. For the future, you should never use a folder for the task you mentioned, folding tools are best for odd jobs, not hard labor.
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I recall someone doing a destructive test of the PB where they broke the spring and the blade before the lock ended up failing. Can't find it now though. :o
 
For <$30 - and a trip to WallyWorld - a Buck 110 is hard to beat. A bit harder to find, and maybe a few bucks plus or minus the Buck's cost, a Victorinox SAK, like the ALOX Farmer, is a tough act to follow. For a big folding knife, if you can find one, of course, the Benchmade 610 Rukus is a brute. The ZT-301 is an awesome knife, too, and easier to find, albeit a bit more.

I camped/hiked for years with 'just' a Buck 110.

Stainz
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I recall someone doing a destructive test of the PB where they broke the spring and the blade before the lock ended up failing. Can't find it now though. :o
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That was Nutnfancy beating it like it like it owed him money. Someone intending to dish out a beating like this on a knife needs to reconsider their knowledge of knives and outdoor techniques. You want fixed blade performance, get a fixed knife.

[youtube]zn_df90ckMk[/youtube]

Form your own opinions but IMO is there are few knives that could match up to the simplicity and toughness of a $20 Pocket Bushman.

PS, the lock was fully intact after the whooping.
 
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A Svord Peasant knife can handle some light batoning if you had to. It's a friction folder though, which means no lock, and that can be a deal breaker for some.

The pocket bushman is a tank though. :thumbup:
 
Opinels can take a beating as well........just saying.....the lock looks like a cheap thing, but it is surprisingly very effective.
 
No, I owned one and the handle is much too slippery. All metal handles are questionable for Canadian winters.

As for the pocket Bushman, he isn't doing anything that Cold Steel hasn't done in their video. I've seen a good number of Cold Steel designs broken on the net. They are not impossable to break.
 
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I agree with Stainz, for the money a Buck 110 or 112 is hard to beat. you could buy four of them for what one of the newer wizbang knives.
 
There are certainly a lot of really tough folders and lock types out there, but using a folding knife to the extent where I'm worried about lock failure would scare me more than lock failure, if you know what I mean....

I worry about getting hurt if something fails, not about the fact that my knife broke. But I guess most people are thinking about failure during batoning, which is only slightly less scary to me. ;)

Anyway, I have the usual assortment of lock-backs, liner locks, and Axis locks. My only beef with lock-backs and liner locks is that the unlocking mechanism is under your grip at times, and I wonder if it might be possible to unlock one at an inopportune time. If I had to use a lock-back, I'd prefer it to have a Boye dent. If I was using a liner lock, I'd like it to be a thick, strong one, with a Hinderer button to stabilize it.

I love the Axis lock, but I wonder if it might get gunked up too easily in a survival situation, like in field dressing game?

Of the folders I own, I would say a Lone Wolf Harsey T2 Tactical w/Micarta grips or Zero Tolerance 0301 would be a tie for first choice as my "ultimate survival folder." After them, I'd take a Benchmade 710 D2 or Spyderco Manix as a tie for second choice.

So there's four knives....

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
desmobob said:
...........................
I love the Axis lock, but I wonder if it might get gunked up too easily in a survival situation, like in field dressing game?...............


Stay sharp,
desmobob
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I can say that in my experience the axis lock does not get gunked up easily. For me so far the locks that have had the least amount of issues with gunk is a framelock and axislock. A liner has not wanted to close properly due to small gunk getting under the liner and the scale and a backlock would not open with pocket lint or when there was some other gunk in the lock area. With blood alone all of them have been a bit sticky (expected) but blood alone has not caused an issue. Even for slipjoints though it does make the action very hard.
 
GrinderMcgee said:
That was Nutnfancy beating it like it like it owed him money. Someone intending to dish out a beating like this on a knife needs to reconsider their knowledge of knives and outdoor techniques. You want fixed blade performance, get a fixed knife.

Form your own opinions but IMO is there are few knives that could match up to the simplicity and toughness of a $20 Pocket Bushman.

PS, the lock was fully intact after the whooping.
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Hah--that's probably why I couldn't find it--I automatically ignored his video. :p I know everyone has their opinion, but I'm not exactly a strong follower of his if you get what I'm saying. ;)
 
I had a pocket bushman and it worked great in the wilderness. If you watch that video you will see it wasn't flawed design that took that knife out. But improper handling! Nutnfancy was constantly prying sideways with the blade, which is just a bit thin for such use.

A friend was so impressed with mine that he eventualy talked me into selling it to him.

However as someone else has noted I wouldn't reccomend the PB as the knife for arctic winter use.

Personaly folders are either a backup to a larger fixed blade or hard use knife. No folder will ever be as strong as a fixed blade.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't want to be using the PB in really cold weather unless I had gloves on. That being said I wouldn't want to be outside in really cold weather without gloves on either! :D
 
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