What knife would you use in a survival scenario?

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master_nylo

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Nov 7, 2022
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If you were in a 72 hr+ off grid survival scenario what one knife would you trust to fill the role of a survival knife? To make kindling, to prepare food, make a spear, make a shelter or to battle a zombie (just kidding with that last part). I personally would trust the TOPS silent hero. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
 
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Shorttime said:
I like these threads because they make me think. I was five tabs deep comparing various knives when I remembered that usually means I'm overthinking, and that's usually because I don't have enough information.

So, it's gonna be the Ontario Air Force Survival knife.

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I know jack diddly about "survival', so it's sure that I would do something stupid. Doing something stupid with this knife would roll the edge or maybe bend the tip, leaving me with still a single functioning tool, instead of two pieces of cutting tool, which might or might not be useful.
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This is what stays in my get home bag that stays in my p.u.
 
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In the two environments that I’m most likely to find myself in trouble, at sea and in the woods, 72 hours would be very different. In the woods, while I wouldn’t feel unprepared with a buck 110 or 119 (especially if I had some other equipment), I’d probably want some kind of SAK with a saw. A SwissChamp would be great -- the magnifier could start a fire more easily than a bow drill or other primitive method, assuming I had little else in the way of equipment. At sea? I might prefer some sort of multitool, assuming I’m in some kind of life raft or aboard a damaged vessel. Maintenance of the craft or other equipment might supersede most cutting needs.
 
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after thinkin on this, I figure that I would probably have this knife with me. I keep it in a backpack that goes with me everywhere because the backpack has all the paperwork someone would need if I ran into real medical trouble. It is a very solid Hen and Roster, handy 5" blade, very ergonomic , holds a good edge, and would get me thru I think.

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deltablade said:
after thinkin on this, I figure that I would probably have this knife with me. I keep it in a backpack that goes with me everywhere because the backpack has all the paperwork someone would need if I ran into real medical trouble. It is a very solid Hen and Roster, handy 5" blade, very ergonomic , holds a good edge, and would get me thru I think.

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I have one nearly identical to yours. Though I wouldn't trust it much in a survival situation unless I had to.
 
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I guess it all really depends on the environment you will be trying to survive in, your skill set, and personal preference. I live in Southern Virginia, and here in the Eastern woodlands I would recommend for wood processing a good saw and small hatchet for cutting/splitting/processing wood. Feather sticking, game processing, food prep, etc. can be done with almost any knife including pocket knives. I have looked at the Marines MEU survival kits, and they used to include one of the demo knives in them. I have seen Air Force Pilot survival kits that had a Leatherman Squirt, (I am sure these are probably not current issue) however these folks would also have bayonets, ASEK knives, Kabars(Ontario 498), etc. so those wouldn’t be their only cutting instrument. I have never been in the military, but have heard that they used to issue the Air Force Pilots survival knife in SERE school but after they started teaching people to baton wood they started experiencing blades breaking, so I heard they started issuing ESEE’s instead. If you did want a heavy duty knife you could baton with then I would recommend a good full tang carbon steel knife of a proven design. However, my recommendation is still to have a hatchet for such purposes and use your knife as a knife
 
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VorpelSword said:
Anybody pack along a butane lighter routinely . . . a tri-jet cigar lighter?
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Not butane, but I bring along an old Zippo or Ronson (uses same lighter fluid, flints, cotton, and wick as the Zippo) left from my smoking days (quit after 35 years, 14 years ago. Switched to dip.), plus a bottle of lighter fluid, in one of my backpacks outside pockets.

"Someday" I might get a medieval and before flint and steel (with tinder and brass or copper carry tin) for when I want to make it a "challenge" to start a fire (on a nice late afternoon, without rain, sleet, snow ... with or without gale force winds ...) like 20th great grandparents did. 😁👍
 
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This whole idea is ridiculous to me, because I don't go anywhere with only one knife. I rarely go to church service without a fixed blade. It is usually an Esee 3 in s35vn so I can slip it in a pocket instead of on my belt, but I do have it. Along with a multitool, sak and a few smaller folders. Aside from service times I usually have a Strongarm or an SRK on my belt. Often the Esee 3 too. I'd like to assume that in a survival situation I'd likely have my edc. So I'll choose from those options. First choice would be the SRK. It's an Italian made 3v model. Awesome knife. I'm confident it can handle any appropriate knife task and much more.
 
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VorpelSword said:
When I was a Boy Scout, we made fire starters by tying a simple overhand knot in cotton cord and soaking the cut off knots in wax. One unsoaked end was frizzed out to catch the match.

Another fire starter was made from fiber board egg crates and saw dust. Hardwood saw dust was put into each egg crate hollow and that soaked in melted wax. Easch depression would be broken off to make one fire starter.
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We used dryer lint along with melted paraffin. We used a double-boiler for melting the paraffin to prevent it from catching fire.
 
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What I had on me. Which right now is a Leatherman charge, Microtech Ultratech D/E and Dozier Km25.

Survival it depends. My edc would work for most places but in some places I'd rather have my GB small forest axe than a knife as it's shaving sharp and can do everything my knives do and chop.
Rainforest areas or like the south. I'd much rather have a Machete.
Happy compromise would be a semi sword like a Swamp Rat Waki. That I can choke up on for small work and chop and semi use as a machete.
 
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