what is a survival knife for you?

sogflash

sogflash

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
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I see people asking for a good survival knife, but what exactly is a survival knife? what are you going to survive with it? is a survival knife meant as something serious?
 
I carry a Ka-Bar in my "Get-Home" backpack; in addition to whatever I'm carrying for EDC. The Ka-Bar's not as nice as some, but they get the job done for me.

What am I going to survive with it? Whatever needs to be survived.

Is a survival knife meant as something serious? I'd say so, ask the guy who amputated his own arm after being trapped while rock climbing. He used a dull multi-tool blade to do it. He describes it on YouTube; search for "Aron Ralston describes the amputation." It's hard to watch.

What's your life worth?
 
When I think of surviving and using a knife to do it, I think of shelter building, food prep, fire making, perhaps salvaging parts and material in urban survival. So I choose a knife that's good at those things in addition to low maintenance and field sharpenable. I have a Falkniven F1. I would not choose a sharpened pry bar for such business like some I see. Something like a uber thick tanto or something would be just about useless to me for such tasks.
 
I think people use it like "tactical". It's a term that means whatever the person using it thinks it means. I imagine a survival knife as something kept in an emergency kit in case of an emergency survival situation. This could be something as small as a fixed blade in an altoids tin or a larger knife in an emergency kit pack. I don't think of a regular outdoors knife as a survival knife. When I go camping I'm not really in a "survival situation". My Silky Super Accel isn't a "survival saw". It's just a folding saw. I don't pack it with the intention of using it only in an emergency. If I were in a "survival situation" it would still be a folding saw. Would it suddenly become a "survival saw"? At what point does an item become a "tactical" or "survival" item?

My thought is that "survival" and "tactical" are just marketing terms to sell stuff to people. I think one of the few legitimate uses of the term "survival" is when it is applied to a PSK - personal survival kit. Something with fishing line and hooks, fire steel and striker, small fixed blade like a Becker Remora, matches, maybe some first aid items, compass, small LED flashlight, water purification tablets, etc. Items that would help you survive if you lost all your other gear and needed to acquire food, water, or get out of the forest.
 
I have Rothco deluxe adventurer survival knife ($20), and even though it's not full tang, it is one of the better constructed hollow handle survival knives on the market. The items that come with the knife (matches, line, hooks, etc, ) aren't that great, but I replaced them with some better quality items and I'm overall satisfied with the package. Having said that, my salt 1 PE, or delica FFG that I carry on me all the time would most likely be the knife I had when a survival situation arises, so I guess those would be considered my "survival knife". I also find the BK-14 to be a good all-round survival blade.
 
sogflash said:
I see people asking for a good survival knife, but what exactly is a survival knife? what are you going to survive with it? is a survival knife meant as something serious?
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its a knife that you have on you when you need it.

sogflash said:
what are you going to survive with it?
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Darn good question, and I bet many of the people with the BS marketing couldn't answer it
 
sogflash said:
I see people asking for a good survival knife, but what exactly is a survival knife? what are you going to survive with it? is a survival knife meant as something serious?
Click to expand...

Survival is serious; definitely the most serious thing you'll ever consider. This knife will help you "survive" under conditions where you have little in the way of tools. The knife will provide shavings for making a fire, steel to scrape against your flint, may baton for larger firewood and to help you to build a lean-to shelter, protect you against animal and human attack.
And the list goes on. Make sure it's a good one. That means NOT a knife that you keep in your drawer at home, but in your pocket. There isn't much time to prepare for a calamity; you may be at work when it comes, or out and about in your car.
Sonny
 
Any knife you end up having to rely on will be your survival knife. So its best to be prepared with the proper blade and knife type for the possible situations that may arise. If you'll be outdoors you gonna want a strong fixed blade that you know you can build shelter and gather firewood with , etc. If your staying urban you should probably have something tactical. You dont want to snap your blade or something beating on a log or slice your own hand up defending yourself, so its up to you to decide on the exact knife for you and how much money you're willing to spend on it.

Iv always been a fan of Esee blades for outdoors survival knives. Good quality and decent price.
 
The knife in my pocket is a survival knife. It could be a SAK, a Bark River, a Spyderco... Any knife in your pocket is your survival knife when SHTF.
 
When I hear survival knife, I think Rambo knife. Big ass bowie, saw on back, handle opens up to store a small survival kit with a compass on the cap.
 
whateatsrabbits said:
When I hear survival knife, I think Rambo knife. Big ass bowie, saw on back, handle opens up to store a small survival kit with a compass on the cap.
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Don't forget the GPS unit, meat grinder and pull through sharpener.

In all seriousness, my EDC is a survival knife. A 1/8" thick, 3" blade, full size handle, scandi grind drop point fixed blade. It is a no nonesense user that can do 90% of what I would ever need to do with a knife. Cut food, carve wood, skin game.
 
Idk. I have a mora clipper, and a cree light in the glove box of both our vehicles. my edc is a leatherman blast, and a kershaw skyline...so I got the mt covered no matter what, plus an extra sharp.
 
timbit said:
The knife in my pocket is a survival knife. It could be a SAK, a Bark River, a Spyderco... Any knife in your pocket is your survival knife when SHTF.
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I think the above statement is as true as it gets. Survival is not about about knives its about the person. What happens if you wind up loosing all your gear including your knife. What do you do? Sit down and wait to die.no you get up and carry on. A knife just makes it much
easier. A good pocket knife is something you can carry just about any where. When in the woods bring the fixed blade. but a pocket knife with you even a cheap one is better then 10 Randall's sitting home in the safe.
 
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When I designed one many years ago I really wanted to get away from the saw-back sharpened pry-bars that were then at the height of their popularity. I wanted a good, simple work knife that could be used for everything from food preparation to shelter building, but that in an extreme situation was tough enough to help you escape from a plane for example. Did some brutal testing on it at the time! Might do one or two things differently if I did it again, but was pretty pleased with the results back then. I'm sure there are also plenty of other good knives out there, which would be more genuinely useful in a survival situation than a thick 10" lump of steel with a poor edge and a suspect hollow handle. There are some great designs around these days, and we all look back and laugh at the Rambo knives of the past, it's amazing how many people bought and carried them 20-30 years ago. As has already been said, the real survival knife is the one you have with you, a good reason not to carry junk.



 
In my experience, the term 'survival knife' is usually a marketing term for a knife that is capable of heavy woodwork...ie. chopping and splitting. I think that is what most people have in mind when they say, 'survival knife'. It is kind of a misnomer because heavy woodwork is probably something you would avoid in a true survival situation. These kind of knives are more designed for recreational campers/hikers who don't want to carry the weight of an axe.
 
In 1997 there was a movie called "The Edge" staring Anthony Hopkins, great movie in which Hopkins' plane crashed in very remote area of Alaska. He had a custom folding knife made by Lyttle. There was a lot of drama and stuff, but the knife scenes were realistic, something that your knife would be called on to perform and his "survival knife" was the one he had on him that moment. I think in real life, the scenario one would encounter may not afford the opportunity to pick out the biggest, baddest, or option laden blade. Whether it is a survival situation in desolate areas or urban setting it is the knife that you have on you at that moment that becomes your "survival knife". General H. Norman Schwarzkopf said it best in 1990 Dessert Storm, we go to war with the army we have right now!
 
My EDC knife and if I'm camping/hiking the fixed blade that I am carrying are my survival knives, because a survival situation can not be predicted.
 
The survival knife is somewhat of an archaic term. In the old days, it used to mean a fairly specific thing. It used describe a knife that usually had a hollow handle into which fish hooks, matches, tinder, and that sort of thing could be stored, sealed off from the elements. They came large and small, single and double edged, some had saw backs (none of which worked very well). The idea sort of pre-dated the bug-out bag concept and in theory if the going got tough, you'd grab your knife and go. Made very popular by the movie "First Blood" which was the first of how ever many Rambo movies there were.

Today, the concept is still alive, and has, in some respects, morphed into bushcrafting knives...at least in my opinion. Bushcrafting in the USA is sort of a hybrid of the Australian and UK concept with some of that good old fashioned all-Americal "survivalism" thrown in.

Today, there are some companies that still trade on the idea of the survival knife. ESEE is a good example. They are big for example on orange knives and handles...the theory being in the most plausible survival situation one might find oneself (downed aircraft will flyfishing, stranded by a huricane, trapped on the road or on the trail by a blizzard, etc,) one would a) not want to be loosing one's knife, and b) one would want to be seen, presumably by rescuers.
 
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