What is a "survival" knife?

mistwalker said:
I think this is about as succinctly, and truthfully, as this question (as it was worded) can be answered. For in order to be able to use it to survive with you have to be able to carry it on you, or acquire it within the environment in which you are surviving. A "survival knife" can range from any possible knife you may carry to a sharp stone, piece of broken glass, or a sharpened piece of scrap metal. It's always relative to the location, environment, and situation at hand at the time. I'd bet small folders and kitchen cutlery have served as "survival knives" as often as any other on a global scale.

As for "purpose-built survival knives", which is what I am thinking you may be asking about, they all seem to have certain aspects in common. All decent made ones I have used were designed to be durable, have a bit more lateral strength than sporting knives, and designed to multi-task... this is to say they are usually designed for prying, hammering, and digging with as much as for cutting.

In the end it likely won't be the design of the knife that decides one's fate in a survival situation. It is more likely that it will be the amount of knowledge within the persons head, the ability to improvise and think outside the "box", the will to live, and luck.
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Agreed, sir. You might want to check out a Nicaraguan soldier's strory in Afghanistan named Samuel Toloza. In a nutshell, the guy went back to save a friend under attack - wielding a $1 pocket knife he had bought at the base before entering theater... quite impressive story, he fended off 3 guys till rescue came for them. Now Condor made a knife bearing his last name... and the listed msrp is $80... go figure...
 
Most real survival is done in urban settings these days purely because that's where most of humanity resides. Floods, earthquakes, storms, and political unrest are genuine survival situations in the modern era. A small fraction of people comparitively find themselves in wilderness survival situations. Any knife will help in those situations, preferably a fixed blade, but not necessarily.
 
jwise said:
Eh... My training and experience seems to favor 5-6" blades for immediate incapacitation. Shorter blades are deadly, but slower to achieve the desired effect.
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Regarding most of your post, no real argument. My experience with wood and a saw back is much more negative. Aside from that, the only thing I have that I want to respond to is the blade length for self defense part.

There are several schools of martial arts that deal with the shorter blades, and with very quick incapacitation. Often this is through destruction of joints or muscle connections, not reaching a vital organ. In some cases it involves disturbing the nerve paths as well.

It's often the case that a longer blade used to disturb the deep organ functions of the thorax, whther through ribs, down behind the collar bone, or up through the abdomen, will actually be slower in immediate effects than a severing of connections in a joint. All blade lengths can accomplish the joint damage, or spinal damage to the rear of the neck, but there's no real disadvantage to the shorter blades given a reasonable training and response level.

Obviously, this isn't "combat"- the distinction between combat and self defense is blurry, but important. For combat I'd take a smatchet over any survival knife, Where for self defense I'm more likely to prefer a 3-4 inch blade for a number of reasons.

Side note, there have been and are persons who use and prefer a properly designed short blade for things like sentry removal.

None of this is the core of a survival knife, of course, but in the military side of the definition of survival knife, it is a consideration.
 
Thank you for the lesson. As I stated, per my training and experience a 5-6" blade is ideal. I have not been trained in the forms of martial arts you speak of. Mine has been more military/LEO training, not strictly martial arts. There is a WEALTH of knowledge I could learn about knife combat.

My knife is more of a tool than it is a weapon. I carry handguns and rifles as my primary weapons.

However, in a SURVIVAL situation, a knife is better than a sharp stick... ;)
 
jwise said:
Thank you for the lesson. As I stated, per my training and experience a 5-6" blade is ideal. I have not been trained in the forms of martial arts you speak of. Mine has been more military/LEO training, not strictly martial arts. There is a WEALTH of knowledge I could learn about knife combat.

My knife is more of a tool than it is a weapon. I carry handguns and rifles as my primary weapons.

However, in a SURVIVAL situation, a knife is better than a sharp stick... ;)
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Use the knife to make lots and lots of sharp sticks. That should still be covered in some training ;)

I actually first ran into the short blade techniques from some Army guys after an exercise with the 10th. I wish I could remember the names of the two sgts, they had a little bit to do with me becoming a knifemaker. I've had some orders for some of my shorter defensive blades from that service, too. (and FMF corpsmen, and USAF personnel)

The Marines who had us in their charge in the GDF were heavily focussed on the Kabar during our knife section, and a indoc with bayonets. Very much "7 inch" guys.

I have a couple relatively local customers who do train LEOs and military with knives and they both have classes on using and defending against smaller one-handed folders. The only times I've ever trained with LEOs were members of hapkido and aikido classes I was in. In both cases there's a lot of defense against knife technique- and granted, the training knives are either hori-horis or standard rubber "tantos". Fairly long, sure.

The best fun was when I was in an aikido class on a base back in the 90s and we got to use some de-militarized M14s for short staff work.

I think our poor, beloved jarheads on the rock got a bit bored at times, the training got really entertaining!



On topic- in most survival scenarios I can think of, I'd be using a 4 to 5 inch "bushie" or outdoors knife, and not doing a ton of digging with it. I'm interested in the thick large blade responses. I used a SOG government for ONE boonie trip and I'm glad I did, I make much thinner field knives because of it!!!!
 
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a survival knife is a knife that you would want by your side if you are stuck/lost away from civilization and you need to survive. a survival knife should be able to perform any job you would need, like prepping wood for a fire, killing/cutting up animals, etc.
 
all the above and has to hold its edge for a long time like an sr77, sr101, infi steel. If its gonna be only 1 knife i would go with a 10 inch blade like a Busse bushwacker .22 or a bushwacker mistress 1.87 inch .
 
Survival is in you're brain.

But... I grew up understanding that a "survival knife" was the one with A hollow handle and a sheat full of pockets to accomodate survival itens.
My early example of that is the Aitor Jungle King series...
(and RAMBO, of course... :) )

Regards,

Andre Tiba - Brazil
 
You know what it is?

It's a knife someone in marketing wants to sell. Slap the word "survival" on your blade....ka-ching. "Survival" has replaced stuiff like "Spec" and "Ops" and "Tac."

The word should be banned from knife discussions entirely.
 
marcinek said:
You know what it is?

It's a knife someone in marketing wants to sell. Slap the word "survival" on your blade....ka-ching. "Survival" has replaced stuiff like "Spec" and "Ops" and "Tac."

The word should be banned from knife discussions entirely.
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Nicely said. :D
 
Any knife is a survival knife, since you can survive with any knife, as long as you know what the hell you are doing. Funny concept that you can survive without a gps, automobile, telephone, saw, hammer, crowbar, jackhammer, hot air balloon, tent, condo, blender, etc etc etc... but you have to have a very specific and particular blade pattern for it to be worth a crap. All the ingenuity you were able to muster to make it without every other tool man has developed over thousands of years, and you might croak if the spine of your blade is the wrong thickness, the chromium content is too high/low, the point is too thick or thin, the handle is natural when it should have been synthetic, it was black when it should be blaze orange, or something else.
 
I've got a Case Peanut in my pocket right now and managed to survive the bus ride into work and a conference call onve I got to work!

Must be a "survival" peanut.

I bet a lot of people are packing up the car and cooler and kids and heading out to the woods to do some "surviving" this weekend! If you are doing that, get yourself one of these peanuts. Great survival knife.
 
singularity35 said:
Nicely said. :D
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Thanks. I know I'm being jaded about it and ruining the fun...but "survival" is pure marketing. You got a dozen "survival" shows on (whatever that means) and manufacturers are riding the wave. And they should. They'd be idiots if they didn't!

But look at all these "I want a survival knife" threads....The vast majority of people asking haven't even thought about what they are even asking. And it's not their fault....they aren't stupid or anything. They probably just watched one of the "survival" guru shows and now want a "survival" knife so they can go out and do "survival."

When what they are really wanting to do is go camping or hiking in the woods or desert or swamp or where ever.

But there's nothing sexy about a "camping knife" anymore....is there? Now it's "survival."

Nonsense.

Sorry....rant over. I'm gonna take my survival peanut over to the break room and get a cup of extreme minimalist survival coffee. Hydration is key to survival!
 
marcinek said:
I've got a Case Peanut in my pocket right now and managed to survive the bus ride into work and a conference call onve I got to work!

Must be a "survival" peanut.

I bet a lot of people are packing up the car and cooler and kids and heading out to the woods to do some "surviving" this weekend! If you are doing that, get yourself one of these peanuts. Great survival knife.
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And furthermore...

Do I want a survival knife? My one and only trusty friend that will get me through being stranded deep benind enemy lines in terrorist space alien zombie territory? That will get me through a urban technological/infrastructure/bilogical/natural disaster? That can help me return to civilization when I am somehow randomly transported into the wilderness with nothing else on me?

Darn right I do! I'd LOVE one of those.

I would name her "Ol' Betsy."

But it's all pure fantasy. Fun....but utter fantasy.
 
Old school, new school, middle school....just pick up a machete. Simple and effective, keep it tuned up and you are ready to go.
 
I think the truism that a survival knife is the knife you have on you when you hit a survival situation is more true than not, and really serves to explain why you might want a thicker blade. The thing is, you never know what kind of survival situation you're going to encounter. That's why my survival knives are, on a regular basis, my EDC's, and also why I went for beefier knives like the Manix 2, ZT 0350, and Ritter Griptilian. I want to know that my knife is sturdy enough to handle the vast majority of situations it might encounter, but still good enough to hold up as an EDC. In the woods, I take an HI Khuk with me. I don't think I need to explain how durable those are. I guess it's just a matter of knowing that you can count on your knife to hold up in most situations, and it won't break like a thinner blade might, depending on how you might need to abuse it. Yes, by and large you won't need to do something like baton through a log, or pry open a door, or something like that. But we don't plan for the ordinary, we plan for the extraordinary. I recently had to use my Ritter Grip to help pry open an elevator door when I got trapped inside, far enough that I could get it with my fingers (seriously, I laughed when I discovered I was trapped, because I could barely believe it had actually happened to me). The knife was completely undamaged. Not bad for a folder. The rest of the time, it opens boxes and various other light cutting tasks. If I carried based on what I usually do with it, I'd probably have a bent knife right now.
 
Hi guys...

Imo it´s important for a knife for such functions that it has full-tang. After my experience that´s one of the most important because of stability.

My thoughts...

Kind regards
 
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