what 3 knives would you bring on a long backpacking trip?

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rorschah

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What do you bring on your backpacking trips, and what 3 knives would you recommend for me?

For recommendations for me: emphasis on lightness and durability - and little emphasis on aesthetics. Backpacking trips for me are either 2-3 day affairs around SoCal, and the occasional 1-2 week trip in the high sierras. Lookin' at doin' the PCT, too. So lightness is very important. There's going to be no shelter-building and low levels of wood-chopping in any but the most extreme emergency scenario. I've got tent, camp stove, and most places around here you're limited to gathering wood - no chopping down trees. There are typically many, many trout to clean every day.

The trips are getting hard enough lately that I've gone from watching every ounce to watching every tenth of an ounce.

Right now I'm packing a leatherman, a spyderco salt I, and a Frosts Clippper mora thing, but am open to change.

Recommendations?

Thanks so much.

-thi
 
looks like you've already got your light weight system in place.

but just to offer a bit of comparison i'll tell you what i carry when i'm trekking it in b.c.
the environment that i'm in requires lots of heavy chopping and knife work.


coldsteel R1
fiskars 14" hatchet
fiskars 6" retractable saw
leatherman pulse


thats about it. the rest of the gear is the usual PSK stuff.

cheers.
 
I also love to backpack at the high sierra. I carry only one knife which is a mora. If you must have 3 knifes on you then how about a red handle mora. a black handle mora and a green handle mora. Yea i know im bad lol. But realy unless you are going to take down a tree a mora would handle everything. As for me im planning right now on a trip and im thinking how can i get down to 35lb. If you realy want to take something just in case as for me it would be a small saw. Light and you can still take a fair sized tree down with it. Im 40 now and not willing to carry 85lb pack for 20miles each day.
so i would say a mora and a saw just in case.

Sasha
 
When I go backpacking I bring a Mora and a Swiss Army Knife that has a saw. That's overkill in the minds of most ultralight backpackers, but I figure I'd rather carry a few extra ounces that could save my life if need be. I think that if you're happy with the weight of the three knives you already carry, stick with them. I'd say you should probably lose the Leatherman though. I personally don't find multitools to be too useful on a backpacking trip, and they are heavier than a comparable folding knife. Screwdrivers, pliers, can/bottle openers, etc. don't seem to have very much use when backpacking.
 
I would have a SAK Super tinker w/ saw in my pocket and a Frost Mora on a double loop of Para cord around my neck. I might have in my pack either an Old-timer barehead trapper or an Old Hickory 5" boning knife,
 
The salt is a keeper on your list. I agree with Dave that the multi-tool is not real effective in your situation.
The one thing you mention is the trout cleaning. If this is the norm, consider a purpose built small folding fillet knife (maybe Alaska Knives?)
When I go packing, I always have one of my various neck knives with me. Sometimes you just need a fixed blade.
 
You list looks good to me. I was going to give my personal three...a Leatherman, SGAK, and a Frost Clipper or my new Grohmann #4. Of course I'd have a traditional slipjoint too. For me they are like a watch or fine pen, just part of getting dressed.

tjg
 
I carry a large fixed blade (BK-9, scrapper6, bk-7), a small fixed blade (rat-3,fallkniven f1), and a sak with saw (trekker or hiker) along with a multi tool and whatever I forget to take out of my pockets before the hike. If I was looking at it from an ultralight point of view, and still wanted to carry three sharps (and only three sharps counting a multi tool as a sharp) I would probably go with a rat-3, leatherman kick/crunch (pliers come in handy quite often for me anyway), and either an RTAK (if going into really bushy country where I may have to whack my way through) or a vic hiker if didn't anticipate the need to hack through undergrowth.
 
A Leathermen Wave w/ bits , Busse STRipper, and for a last resort knife a Chris Reeves Shadow IV...because of the hollow handle life supplies inside! :thumbup:

jules
 
ditto on the mora. I would probably still take some kind of multi tool. An sak tinker if nothing else.
 
A Mora (always) a fallkniven A1 for chopping and thats it for me. Maybe a small razorsharp folder for something, but I'm fine with the A1 and the Mora.
//Jay
 
Yeah - I was looking at that earlier thread on three blades - and that seems much more like a Nessmuk trio thread, oriented towards chopping down your own shelter. Much heavier than what I think I would need. I started this thread specifically for a lighter, less wood-chopping-oriented direction.

The leatherman is requisite for me because of the pliers, for fishing - smashing down hooks, unhooking deep-hooked fish, gently teasing out hooks to release the little 'uns. Also taken apart my reel and fixed it with it. But it is heavy. Any ultralight fisherman have another solution?

I was convinced to go fixed blade by some knife folks because I was tired of cleaning fish guts out of the locking mechanisms.

I was thinking of upgrading the Clipper - if there's something of greater durability/efficacy and as light or lighter - willing to spend some bucks. Unless you folks think the Clipper is *it*. Maybe a RAT-3? Is a RAT-3 much different from a mora for this sort of thing?

I may be replacing the Salt, too - it's seen some, uh, unreasonable abuse. Get another Salt? Go Endura or Delica? Something else, for variety? I picked the Salt just 'cause of the color, for the obvious dropping-in-the-river reasons. (And what do you folks think - plain edge or combo edge, for long-haul backpacking?)

I thought about packing my traditional mora, but the handle frightens me - the guardlessness. I mean, I cook with way scarier knives in controlled environments, but I've had to clean fish by headlamplight with tired, shaky, slimy hands, and I worry about slipping and gashing my hand open days from civilization. Is this silly?

One more dumb question - what do you guys cut food on while backpacking? In my pre-knife-educated days i used to gut and behead trout on a handy rock, which is hell on a blade, I hear (but I didn't notice with my old $10 wal-mart special).

Thanks so much.

Mmm... fallkniven pretty....
 
For wilderness travel, I would dump the Leatherman and spyderco, keep the Mora clipper and add a Victorinox OH Trekker lockblade SAK. When in the Sierra, take a small axe of some kind.
 
On replacing the Leatherman with something lighter:

Get a smallish pair of locking forceps. Most flyfishing suppliers will carry them. They may not do too well on fixing your reel, but they're good for everything else you mentioned, and a lot lighter.

Then carry something like a SAK Huntsman, and a basic fixed blade with a grippier or guarded handle (I second your concern with plastic handled Moras and cold, tired, slimey hands!). My recommendation would be a BRKT Aurora or Nebula - They've got the northern heritage, but with a contoured handle you can actually hold with cold slimey hands!
 
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