What blade length for bushcraft/survival knife

g123 said:
A 4" fixed blade, pocket knife, hatchet and bow saw will cover anything you are going to need unless you plan on living deep in the woods.
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Yup. This. I have done days in the woods with my "budget combo" of Fiskars X7, Mora Companion, and Bahco Laplander folding saw.
All three together only cost about $50-60, and I can't think of a task in the woods that one couldn't do with that combo.
 
19-3ben said:
Yup. This. I have done days in the woods with my "budget combo" of Fiskars X7, Mora Companion, and Bahco Laplander folding saw.
All three together only cost about $50-60, and I can't think of a task in the woods that one couldn't do with that combo.
Click to expand...

That's an awesome combo.
 
For a long time,I subscribed to the 4" maximum philosophy. "A true woodsman needs no more knife than the width of his palm" And I got by for a long time that way.

I lost my field knife one camping trip. At the time, money was very tight and I bought an 8" Old Hickory Slicer. I cut it down to a 5.5" drop point. Re ground and thinned out the bevel and sharpened 'er up.

Tasks that include cutting feed bags,feather sticks, making campfire supper, cleaning the birdsmouth when building rafters and dressing our hogs to be butchered.

I found that having a blade over 5" is almost like having two blades in one. A section near the handle for power or fine cuts and a section nearer the tip for slicing and scraping. I utilize scraping fairly often for removing bark and finishing tool handles and a bit larger blade gives me something to hold onto. A blade a little longer shines in food prep. The Old Hickory has a great hand filling handle that fits me well. A roughly octagonal shape is comfortable as I index the blade for various tasks.A longer than most handle is nice when the hands are tired and cramped or in gloves.

Moras are great. I have one by my side right now and used it all evening. The scandi grind carves nicely. But a couple weeks in the field doing the tasks I mentioned and more, give me a knife just a little longer.

For summer fire prep in my area, i just break the wood leveraged between a couple trees. Anything too large for this gets fed in as it burns as in a star type fire. Faster and safer than chopping or sawing.. Winter brings a boys size axe at minimum usually paired with a Swede saw, though the axe is king for its versatility of chopping, trail blazing, chopping ice, hammering, etc.

Turned into a bit of a long post! haha


NOT MY PHOTO. Very similar blade however. Just picture it with the stock handle.
images
 
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Buzzbait said:
That's an awesome combo.
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I've found that it really works for me. I realize it's heresy to promote all these plastic tools in the traditionals forum, but it really does work.
As mentioned, the whole bunch is about $50-60 combined, and none of them weigh much, so it's easy to carry in a pack and on the hip.

It works so well for me as a complete "do it all" woods combo that I keep it in my hiking bag, another set in my wife's hiking bag (that stays in her car to double as an emergency "get home" bag), and in the break-down kit in my car. I have used it to remove limbs that have fallen across streets that would have made for an impassable road on the drive home. I've used this combo when car camping, backpack camping etc...

I said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot think of any kind of survival/buscraft/woodcraft need that can't be met with that trio. The fact that the trio is cheap enough to buy in redundancy, and light enough to actually carry around makes it a darn near impossible to touch deal.
 
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