What Maker Would Make Your Survival Knife??

[EDGE!]

If you had a choice for a custom maker to make a survival knife for you, who would make it and what would it look like? If you have a picture all the better!!! What would your sheath be like also...

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Hunting?
Don't be a wise guy!
What d'ya hunt with a knife?
Name it!

 

[SALTY]

Your header was an easy question for me to answer, then I read the entirety of your post and have reservations about starting another long, long thread that diverts away from what this forum is about - knives.

Well anyway, because I think the Project 1 is such an awesome survival knife and because Chris Reeve has, in his lifetime, made custom knives, I feel as though I can make the following statement safely.

I would want Chris Reeve to make my survival knife. I would want a sheath made of Kydex with a pouch or two large enough to house a metal fire starter or even a Leatherman.

I do not work for Chris Reeve and am not related to him, but if I had to survive with just one knife, it would be the Project 1 with some modifications.

 

[J. J. Magnum]

This is easy. Tactical-Ops (TOPS) would make it. I have an Anaconda 9 which I like very much (which can be viewed at their web site, along with Ron Hood's web site). They also made the WSI Ranger which to me is the ultimate take anywhere knife. For sheath options I look to On Scene Tactical (here's to you Normark!) for any modifications or styles I may need. He is currently working on a sheath for my new Firestrike which should be a jam up/jelly tight combination for day hikes where the Anaconda might be looked at in an unfavorable manner.

 

[Hoodoo]

Geeze I'm a sucker for these threads.

I like Jeff Randall's design. Looking forward to when this knife comes out.
http://www.jungletraining.com/laser.htm

One of these built by Busse in Infi would be great (but unlikely to happen)!

Nimrod's suggestion is excellent. I'm looking forward to buying a Project knife someday, maybe something a little smaller than a Project I. Not sure if you would call them custom, though. There is a never-ending debate on this.


My preferences: around a 4 1/2-5" blade, 3/16" thick, 1 1/2" wide stock, A2, Infi, or 1095, flat ground, drop point or clip with no swedge, micarta scales bolted and epoxied, large choil, lanyard hole (close to spine), coupled with kydex sheath with pouch for metal match and SAK or Leatherman accessory. The handle should be designed so that it fits your hand well with the edge down or up.

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Hoodoo

Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV. Scene I.

 

[Normark]

Hey Nimrod....

There is Custom Concealex Available for the Project I !

If you are interested that is....

Drop Murray a note at
Proedge@home.com

I just finished making them and he should have them sometime next week...

ttyle Eric...

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On/Scene Tactical
Leading The Way In Quality Synthetic Sheathing

 

[Griffon]

Originally posted by EDGE!:
If you had a choice for a custom maker to make a survival knife for you, who would make it and what would it look like?

If I had that option, it's not at all clear I'd take it. A proven production design with controlled production has it's advantages.
My choice: F1 with slightly different handle. No diamond checkering and perhaps assymetric to fit a right hand a little better (but then again, not too much better, as it has to be usable with the left to). But same handle material, and I don't think that's something a custom maker usually does.



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Urban Fredriksson
www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/
Latest update: Calypso Jr Lightweight

"I've always been fascinated by Scandinavian knives [...] they're simple, in an advanced way".
- Bob Loveless

 

[Les Robertson]

Interesting thread, similar to others that edge has posted.

First, he has asked for the names of "Custom Knife Makers". This would remove Chris Reeve and Jerry Busse. While both excellent makers, the knives being discussed in this thread are not made by them, they are factory

Next, the Project 1, while an excellent knife at an excellent price, has its flaws. The handle is not very egronomic, the coating will come off exposing the A2 to the elements and unless you do your maintenance it will rust, quickly. Especially, if you find yourself working in a salt water environment or an area with a lot of humidity.

The project 1 is also a poor choice for Desert or Artic environments. Ever pick up a black metal knife that has been lying in the 120 degree sun for about 10 minutes, with your bare hand? Ouch. The same for artic enviroments. While the knife in the Desert will fall out of your hand in a fraction of a second (as the skin starts to turn red). The opposite will be true, you won't be able to put it down, as it will be stuck to your hand. I know you will be using gloves.

Guys under extreme conditions you are not always thinking straight. So in fact you may be working without gloves. When I went through the Army's Northern Warfare school we lost several soldier and officers to frostbite, and skin being ripped off when the tried to adjust their skis or snow shoes in sub zero tempuratures. They touched the metal and then had to have some one help remove the ski or snow shoe from their hand.

The quickest way is warm water, sadly that is all in the desert. The field expedient way is to urinate on the individuals hand. Just don't stick you tongue to that pole!

There are several custom makers out there who do excellent work on "survival" type knives.

Walter Brend
David Broadwell
RJ Martin
Trace Rinaldi
Jim Siska
Peter Bauchop
Al Polkowski
Jim Hammond
Bob Terzuola
and many others.

When planning to have a survial knife built. Consider the environment where there is a good chance you could find yourself in a survival situation.

Example, you take your boat from Florida to the Bahamas on a regular basis. A black, all tool steel knife with a leather sheath is not your best choice.

A mirror finished, 440C blade, with Stainless steel guard, and micarta, G-10 or carbon fiber scales, that have been bead blasted or serrated, with a kydex sheath.

The 440C blade will provide you with a sharp (and easily resharpened edge), the mirror finish could double as a signal mirror for search planes and helicopters. Micarta, G-10 or Carbon Fiber will withstand salt water, blood from fish, etc. Bead blasting or serrating it will give you an enhanced grip as more than likely your hands will be wet.
Lastly, leather sheaths will stretch out (allowing the knife to possibly fall overboard), also this becomes a safter hazard as the knife can poke out the bottom. This is why Army Airborne troops can no longer use leather sheaths.

Also, as with the Micarata, etc. Kydex and or kydex lined cordura nylon sheaths are impervious to salt warter and dry very quickly. Unlike leather sheaths which retain moisture and encourage the knife that is stored in it to rust. The tanic acid used to prepar the leather also has the same affect on leather. I hope your not storing your knife in your leather sheath!

Alot of people prefer to buy a cheap factory knife, as they do not anticipate being in a surviaval situation. They buy the cheap knife because that way if the lose it or it breaks, they are not out the money.

Gentlemen this is wrong thinking. I have found throug my years of travelling the world in the Army from one Sh*t hole to another. I have never lost one of my custom knives, nor have they ever failed me.

Mental well being and confidence is one of the keys to helping you to survive in a survial situation. Having the upmost confidence in your knife will go a long way.

So give a lot of thought to what you may envision what your needs will be. The person who commentend on the leatherman or SAK, was right on. Even I think those are invaluable tool. I used to carry one in the sheath pocket of my Walter Brend Model 2.

Two final thoughts:

1) Buy whatever knife you like...you know what your life is worth.

2) If you were hanging by your testicles from a tree branch, and you had two seconds to cut yourself free. Would you use the custom knif e in your right hand or the factory knife in your left. If you have a factory knife in your gear, and you chose to use the custom knife to cut yourself free, it may be time ro rethink the gear you are using!.



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Les Robertson
www.robertsoncustomcutlery.com

"If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor"
Albert Einstein

 

Interesting points, but I disagree about the black steel handled knife in hot environments. Sure, if you leave it laying in the sun it's going to get hot, but I travel to some of the hottest climates in the world several times a year. I've carried steel handled knives there and never had a problem. I always sheath my knife when I'm finished with it and don't leave it laying around. In the sheath, I don't have the heat problem on the handle. I doubt anyone who takes knife survival seriously will just leave their knife laying around.

You do make a good point about extreme cold, but for me I avoid cold weather anytime I can.

Next thing, I find the handle on a Project I to fit my hand good. I love ergonomic handles but the Project I does not give me any problems after hard use.

I also agree with you about leather. Kydex is the way to go in humid tropics.

I would have no problems putting my life in the hands of a Project I though.

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Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 

[Hoodoo]

I lived on a ship for over 3 years while in the Navy. Never had a problem with my knives rusting (and in those days I carried large carbon-blade folders such as Westerns and Schrades-and cleaned my share of sea bass). Just clean and oil your knives after use and carbon steel will hold up fine. If you mistreat your knife, it doesn't matter if it's custom or otherwise, it will rust if it's carbon steel.

And given the award-winning production quality of Chris Reeves knives, if my cajones were hanging by a thread, I would prefer a knife that's tried, true, and consistent. I don't want to be in a life-threating position only to find I have a custom knife in my hand that was sent out to a heat-treater that for whatever reason, had a bad day.

I'm not saying that custom knives aren't great, but by the same token, production knives CAN be consistently better, depending on who's doing the production. The word custom doesn't always mean better. If you don't believe that, I will be glad to sell you a knife I made.

So when you look for a custom maker, you look for consistency and a reliable track record. And the same can be said for production knives.


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Hoodoo

Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV. Scene I.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Les :

[Project I]

The handle is not very egronomic

This depends on the user, while I thought it would be useless before using it, I would now rate it as one of the best handles I have used, and in some respect (security) flat out the best.

the coating will come off exposing the A2 to the elements and unless you do your maintenance it will rust, quickly.

The coating comes off in about 2000-4000 chops based on what I have seen, depending on the type of wood, force of chopping, strength of twisting etc. . Much better than most powder coats but less than HC, and TiN. It can also be redone by Reeve if needed. And when it comes off, it wears slowly and does not chip/flake.

As well, based on what I have seen, most carbon and tool steels tend to take light surface rusting and not deep pitting like Stainless steels, which resist rust only because of the CrO formed on the surface, once this is penetrated the rate at which the rust goes into the material is usually faster than on nonstainless steels.

I have tested this using salt water soaks on INFI, M-INFI, 1095, D2, VG-10 and ATS-34. The Stainless steels and D2 pitted much more estensively than the tool and carbon steels which took a light coating which easily came off with a light scrubbing such as I would do for example to remove pine sap and other gunk.

Ever pick up a black metal knife that has been lying in the 120 degree sun for about 10 minutes, with your bare hand? Ouch. The same for artic enviroments.

While this is true, I have also compared a full bare metal handle to a partial contact one like a full exposed tang (Battle Mistress). Both knives were impossible to use if very cold or very hot. Of course you are reducing the amount of flesh burnt or frozen, but basically unless you have a full encapsulated tang (Allen Blade) I would be very careful in extreme hot/cold enviroments.

As for who I would chose, it would probably be Ed Schott in 3V or Phil Wilson if he would work on such as blade as it is not his usual fare. R. J. Martin is only excluded because of lack of availability for a personal designed custom ground blade. The new "E" Battle Mistress would be another contender depending on the handle which I havn't used. I realize it is not a "custom" in the sense that Busse does not make it himself, but I would prefer that over a lot of "custom" blades in any case and if someone is looking for a true using blade, they should not be concerned about labels but rather function.

-Cliff

 

[SALTY]

After reading all of the above, I would still choose Chris Reeve to make is for me (himself) but I might ask that he copy his production P1 and make it out of VG-10, BG-42 and, of course, a Concealex sheath.

There must be stainless steel billet available and CRK always has the tooling set up. Did I just invent a new model CRK, a whole new line?

 

[chad234]

A flat ground 6" blade, 3/16" thick BG42, coated with Robar NP3, with a Livesay #2 Mircata handle. My maker of choice would be www.newt.livesay.com (I'm pretty predictable huh?)
The Randall Laserstrike looks like a super great design, and the little bird who whispered in my ear about this and another upcoming Randall Laser design (much bigger) assures me that they will be great knives.
Be safe (or lucky)
Chad


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"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
George Orwell
"Those who hold the thin blue line keep order, and insure that anarchy and chaos will not prevail." Chad (1992)
"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. He who dies by the sword did not train hard enough" -Chad (1999)
chad234@email.com

[This message has been edited by chad234 (edited 09-18-2000).]

 

[Novadak]

Here is an interesting old thread with first-hand accounts of the Project 1/kydex sheath combo being used in a humid, swampy environment:
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/003396-2.html

It seems like a lot of people consider this to be the knife they would want, whether it is production or custom seems to be irrelevant. Probably the one-piece construction is a big part of the appeal of this knife.

That having been said, I don't think I ever want anyone peein' on my hand.

In extreme conditions, would any knife be usable without gloves? Assuming a fully covered handle, wouldn't most tasks requiring the increased dexterity of a bare hand on the knife also require you to touch at least part of the (metal) guard, or the (metal) blade? How do other handle materials fare under long-term exposure to extreme cold or extreme heat?

 

[Will Fennell]

Without getting too environment specific, I would probally order up a Simonich SRT. Actually one of Rob's VANGUARD series TALONITE fixed blade wouldn't scare me either.

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Stay Sharp!
Will Fennell
Camillus Cutlery
www.camillusknives.com