What knife for desert island survival?

I have opened the dry ones we get over here with small knives, there are two soft spots where I assume they connect onto the tree, you can drill through them there and drain out the liquid. You can then just smash them open and use the knife to cut out the coconut inside.

Pict why would you want a stainless small knife but a carbon larger blade?

-Cliff
 
Cliff,

I have never been swimming with machete on. The belt knife on the other hand is going to spend a good bit of time in the salt water, gutting fish, getting rinsed in salt water, etc. I prefer a stainless knife in such conditions. The machete will get used on dry land most of the time. Mac
 
Rinsing would be the biggest problem, the same reasons you noted were used by some to choose Mission's MPK in Beta-Ti over stainless knives. I don't do any swimming in salt water with knives, but live next to it and work on fish with non-stainless knives, but there is lots of fresh water around, a large river runs into the ocean, and it isn't that humid that drying it well is an issue.

-Cliff
 
In the tropics you are in and out of the water all the time, swimming across inlets, out to sandbars, finding stuff in the surf at low tide, etc. Stainless knives just make sense, especially if you have a secure sheath that can handle getting soaked repeatedly. It also helps to be able to wash the sand out of the sheath easily. Mac
 
Makes sense, the Mora 2000 is a fine knife anyway, it doesn't have the typical stainless drawbacks. Does anyone know if Mears uses a stainless version of his single-bevel knife in the tropics. He talks about being wet all the time, mainly due to the rain though, I have never seen him do any significant salt water work.

-Cliff
 
I'm not saying that you couldn't take care of a carbon steel knife in such an environment, just that you'd have to. Mac
 
I was having a think about this thread and thought I'd just have to add something for us to think about.

Folders and salt water don't mix.

All my stainless dive knives rust if you don't rinse them with fresh water and if I happen to get a folder in salt water ... thats not good, more rinsing in fresh water and an oil wouldn't go astray either. As for drenching a sheath in salt water, that needs to be rinsed too so solid sheathes are the go.

Folders and salt water don't mix.
 
I didn't think about the effect salt water would have on folders, but I would still want a good machete though.
 
When I go to the beach here in Brazil I have always have a cheap lightweight folder clipped to the inside of my suit where it doesn't scare the sheeple. The knife? A Schrade Clip-hanger, IMO a very weak knife but better than nothing. It is the only folder I own that I know won't get lost in the surf (due to the secure clip) and it is the only one I'm willing to expose to saltwater soaking and massive amounts of sand. I actually wrote away to Schrade and had them send me a few extra clip/straps. I have them in all my swimsuits.

It gets pretty gritty in the surf. Before I get out of the water I like to descreetly rinse it out underwater. I have used it to open green coconuts and it works but I can tell I could break it in a coconut if I wasn't careful.

It's not the perfect knife, not by a long shot. I just mention it for the fact that surf is really hard on folders and I'm too cheap to expose a decent knife I paid good money for to it. That's just me YMMV.

If you are going to carry a folder in such a place then I would carry it in some way to keep sand out of the action, maybe in a kydex sheath or a plastic envelope or something. Mac
 
A machete, without a doubt.
My Guatemalans can shave, trim trees, clean a goat and cut the grass with a machete.. I'm serious.
You can piss on it and cardoff the light rust, creating a " browned" finish on the carbon steel just like the finish was on very, very old black powder guns.
You could card the light rust off with anything.. dirt, dry seaweed, coconut husk.

A folding fillet knife. I hate bones.
A magnifyer is a great idea.

I carry an Alpha Hunter with the rubber grips (and that chitty little no fittin Chineez sheath Chuckie ships with ;) it )
It's a tough, grippy, little knife that could stand the swimming, open shellfish, and pry oysers off of rock/coral without breaking.

A GPS and a sattelite phone would be good choices.. :)
 
Busse or Fallkniven as their toughness is accompanied by corrosion resistance.

IF you want a folder there are options for saltwater environment.

http://boyeknives.com/Index.cfm?CFID=2757&CFTOKEN=99977072

It's a shame he no longer offers the fixed kitchen fixed blade. That would have filled the role you are looking for perfectly and the new Spydercos H1's.

You can also go with Cold Steel or some other similar plastic-on-steel so you don't have the feezing of the joint. I've seen opening a coco (coconut in spanish) with a 5" CS Voyager Tanto blade like a can opener by stabbing and prying towards the edge so there forming a small rim removing the husk rim and poking at the hard shell and drinking directly from it.

From experience the SAKs have a good corrosion resistance, better than super alloys. I take them to the beach everytime and spend 2-3 days there with no rust, but I do not get them submerged.

You can always coat the machete with some baked-on polymer paint and re-apply as needed (gun kote?). At least it will save you the trouble of constantly protecting the carbon machete.

Most of the vegetation in the tropic of moist and soft so an axe might not be as useful as a machete.

And as a public service announcement use a lanyard on the carry on body knives as steel do not float very well ;) .
 
Assuming desert means deserted, A machete, a four to six inch bladed fixed or folding knife, and if to choose an axe, it would be a thin rescue type axe, mostly because of the extra possibly workable metal.
 
Ok, since we are talking about machetes I own Barteaux, Martindale, Tramontina, IMACASA, Cold Steel and Ontario but I have never actually tested one of them in a survival or even hard use scenario. What is the general consensus regarding the best brands? And who makes a stainless steel machete? Is it any good?

Thanks
 
I have seen very durable blades from Barteaux, Martindale and Tramontina, though would pick the first two over the latter based on the blades I have handled. The Barteaux gets the pick overall for extended use in that senario due to the durability of the handle. Both Ontario's I used shatted readily on wood working, but QC with Ontario was in general poor for all blades so other of their machetes are likely more durable. There are many cheap stainless steel machetes, usually with a "tactical" flair. Ross Aki used to make stainless machetes and parangs out of ATS-34 which were generally well recieved. I have not heard about him in awhile though.

-Cliff
 
I have seen tramontina machetes here that would make you laugh. Rehandled in everything from slabs of rubber tire to durapoxy. The blades are usually well past the point of no return. There's something about extreme poverty that makes folks into survivors.

I even saw one that had been rehandled in, get this, melted plastic bag. I even inquired about the technique: twist plastic bags tightly into a "rope" and wind several layers around the handle, cover with a thick layer of aluminum foil, hold over a fire until plastic inside melts, shape handle with gloved hand for custom fit, wait until cool and peel off foil. The result is ugly as original sin but it beats using a bare metal handle. Mac
 
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