What knife would you use in a survival scenario?

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master_nylo

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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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If it had to be knife i currently own..i would go with with the SRK in 3V.
If i could choose any knife. I would go with the Barkriver Crusader or something similar
 
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I usually don't go anywhere with just one knife. I always have a larger folder and SAK on me. If I had to choose one for 72 hours I'm fairly certain it would be one of these.
 
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The knife you are most familiar with, trust, feel comfortable about. You know it's limitations and work within them. Much like discussing gun choices. My choice can depend on where I am. Some good knives do not hold up well where I am in super cold Arctic Alaska, they break in the cold. Desert sand or silt might require better edge retention for abrasion. Being around water, survival might require a knife that floats. Any knife is for sure an improvement over not having one!
 
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Didn’t read the entire thread, but at my age and present level of risk acceptance, a true “survival” situation would more than likely present itself to me unexpectedly. So the most probable answer is, “the knife(s) I had with me right then.”

Might be a Buck 110, or a traditional slip joint, or even a Stanley 499. Maybe a 4” fixed blade of some kind, if I saw it coming.

You sometimes hear people say “expect the unexpected.” The problem is, once you expect it, it’s not the unexpected any more. So I take it as “Be prepared. It’s the Boy Scouts’ solemn creed.”

The knife you have with you is the one your adventure hinges on. Choose wisely.

But sometimes it’s the Indian, not the arrow…

Parker
 
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In any "Survival Scenario" , the best knife to use is the one you have at the time.

This means that it must be an EDC that is already on your person or readily available in your gear. So probabl not one of the blades from the Ramnbo films.

Anyone remember the guy who was mountain biking and got his arm trapped under a rock on a canyon wall? He finally cut his own arm OFF to rescue himself. Anyone recall the "knife" he used? It was this bargain brand looking (to me) multitool wiiiih one short scrawny blade that he re-sharpened on the rock wall.

Whatever you have is what you use . . .and you do whatever it is you have to do with that.
 
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VorpelSword said:
In any "Survival Scenario" , the best knife to use is the one you have at the time.

This means that it must be an EDC that is already on your person or readily available in your gear. So probabl not one of the blades from the Ramnbo films.

Anyone remember the guy who was mountain biking and got his arm trapped under a rock on a canyon wall? He finally cut his own arm OFF to rescue himself. Anyone recall the "knife" he used? It was this bargain brand looking (to me) multitool wiiiih one short scrawny blade that he re-sharpened on the rock wall.

Whatever you have is what you use . . .and you do whatever it is you have to do with that.
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Yeah. But you could carry a good survival knife.

Then the best knife would also be the best knife.
 
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There is a Machete and an e-tool along with 50 ft of stout rope and other things, behind the seat of my pickup. But when I walk away from the truck, it all stays there. Depending on where you are and what you are doing, from day to day the "best" tools to have on your person may change.

Check out videos of folks who have backpacked for extended periods on the Pacific Crest Trail. Most carry an effective but minimal blade as weight is a constant issue for them. . . .and they are in the wilderness. On a different budget and wilder scale, the same is true for Everest trekkers.

If one is out on a two-week guided hunt in Montana or Idaho (I wish), the 'best" blade to have would be different. This fall, our son went on a mission trip into the Peruvian rain forest on the Amazon. I'll have to pointedly ask, but its pretty sure that he didn't bring along the gut-ripping throat cutter he wore daily as a Marine in Iraq.

There is not, nor can there be, a "best" survival knife. Bring along what you can conveniently carry or pack and rely on your caution, skills, and judgement.

And read "Deep Survival" by Gonzales. https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393326152

Then Read "To Build A Fire" by Jack London.

neither one deals with specific tools or skills. Both talk about the mental state of those who make it out alive and those who do not.
 
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VorpelSword said:
There is a Machete and an e-tool along with 50 ft of stout rope and other things, behind the seat of my pickup. But when I walk away from the truck, it all stays there. Depending on where you are and what you are doing, from day to day the "best" tools to have on your person may change.

Check out videos of folks who have backpacked for extended periods on the Pacific Crest Trail. Most carry an effective but minimal blade as weight is a constant issue for them. . . .and they are in the wilderness. On a different budget and wilder scale, the same is true for Everest trekkers.

If one is out on a two-week guided hunt in Montana or Idaho (I wish), the 'best" blade to have would be different. This fall, our son went on a mission trip into the Peruvian rain forest on the Amazon. I'll have to pointedly ask, but its pretty sure that he didn't bring along the gut-ripping throat cutter he wore daily as a Marine in Iraq.

There is not, nor can there be, a "best" survival knife. Bring along what you can conveniently carry or pack and rely on your caution, skills, and judgement.

And read "Deep Survival" by Gonzales. https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393326152

Then Read "To Build A Fire" by Jack London.

neither one deals with specific tools or skills. Both talk about the mental state of those who make it out alive and those who do not.
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"Deep Survival" is a highly recommended read. And I don't recall a single account in that book in which anyone was carrying a massive "survival" blade.
 
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AbjectTestament said:
I've found those Air Force survival knives are notorious to try and keep sharp. They're originally intended for pilots to cut themselves out of an aircraft cockpit.
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I could never keep an edge on my Jet Pilot's Knife! But I was in my teens when I had it and I hadn't yet learned to sharpen. I still struggled with it years later. Long after I misplaced it (or maybe gave it away, I can't remember) I saw the Virtouivice YouTube video in which he narrows the profile of his JPK radically. I think that's the secret to making that knife perform as we're all wanting a field knife to do.

Zieg
 
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I could be very wrong, but I think that those Pilot's Survival knives were meant to be tough rather than razor sharp. I understood they were intended enable a chopper pilot to be able to cut his way through the aluminum wall of a downed helicopter.

I had one when I was an older Boy Scout (16-ish) and it was as butch-looking a knife as any teen would want . . .but the steel was comparatively soft compared to other knives I had at the time in the mid 1960s.
 
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72 hours would be nothing to me. I've gone without food for 5 days before. I would not worry about it much depending on the weather and such. My Carothers DEK1 would do fine, and she is one my EDC knives that is always on my person. After I receive my Carothers DEK2, she would be with me also.
 
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Realistically, any scenario that puts me in a 72hr off grid situation, I'd be travelling.
If my means of travel is a plane, then I'm down to my Victorinox Alox Classic as this is the only knife I'll take with me flying. (If it doesn't get confiscated)

Otherwise I am most likely a walking cutlery shop and will be able to choose between quite some options:

A small fixed knife (BK14 - always on me+ a SAK Farmer Alox) up to a 7"-9" outdoor knife, such as:
My full sized Beckers, (7 or 9) Ontarios (SP1 or SP6) or a Terävä Skrama 200. One of these is always in rotation in my EDC Bag, as well as different 111mm SAKs with Saws or a Victorinox Multitool...
 
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