What makes a good SERE knife?

Thanks for the info, Bryan. Looking forward to more info about this blade, particularily with regards to purchasing;)
 
6 shooter you are welcome for the info. As to getting one or info on one just e-mail me or Pm and I will be happy to chat with you about. I have 2 more Already drawn out on steel.

Mistwalker thanks. I really like it too lol.

Take care all,

Bryan
 
Really nice blade Bryan. Looks like it is already getting some good use. Did you put a convex grind on it? When are they available?

In other news: I just picked up this Busse SFNO Custom Shop hottie for my new EDC/SERE. I am REALLY impressed.
P1030687.jpg
 
Hi Iboschi, Thanks, Yea I have been using it as my EDC. Yes I convexed this one.

As to when are they going to be ready. Just contact me. I am making them now. Just order more steel today infact.
Your BUSSE knife very cool looking. Jerry makes some very nice knives.
I love the handle coloring.

Take care,

Bryan
 
Ive been doing some thinking on a SERE knife lately.....Also read an interesting letter about the subject in the latest TK....


From a military side(which IMO IS SERE) If its not military SERE, its just survival.
One thing overlooked is that the cockpit of fighter planes is very small. Just enough room for the pilot in most cases. So IMO there goes a large knife. 4in or under in blade length is the ticket I believe. Also you have to look at the sheath. Definatly a MOLLE backing of some sort, to be mounted anywhere you can that is the best for said individual. It needs to be jumpproof in case ejection from aircraft is neccisary. Also the USAF survival knife has an interesting feature on the sheath. The metal plate at the base of the sheath. Its there to protect the pilot from the blade forcefully going through the bottom of the sheath and into the pilot in a crash or rough landing. Definatly a good idea.

Also, If I was in a SERE situation, I would want an etched or paitinad blade to eliminate glare. No sense walking around with a signal mirror attatched to you if you are trying to evade capture. Which, while I love Orange handles in a survival knife, I think that they have no place on a SERE knife. Again I wouldnt want a HiViz handle when Im being tracked by the enemy.

Just some random SERE thoughts.

Bryan- dude, thats a nice looking knife man! Nice work!!
 
j williams said:
From a military side(which IMO IS SERE) If its not military SERE, its just survival.
Click to expand...

I agree 100 percent on that one. If you are not military or doing something to put you in harms way, its just survival.

I think it’s been stated but every branch has their own SERE training and the limitations a pilot has will be different from someone in the Navy or the Army. As a non pilot there is no way I would want my gear limited by the size of a cockpit. Someone else mentioned a chute knife as the best option. I disagree. I like the style but the knife is outdated as far as cutting lines on you parachute if it is entangled and I wouldn’t want it as a field knife.
 
When you say "chute knife," are you talking about those god-awful spring loaded hooked things we used to be issued to cut shroud lines? The were almost useless for that purpose, and totally useless for anything else.
 
Hi all,

J. Thanks. I am pretty happy with knife so far.

I think you are right for most having orange handles on your knife for a real Military Op. or what ever is not a good idea. but for me I like it. I am not in the Marines any more. But if I was going back in or what ever I would have Green or Tan micarta for my handles.

As to the 4" or less for the blade YUCK LOL. Give my 5" or even 5.5". for my main using knife.
I like that blade length better. BUT again it is up to whomever on what they carry. Every one is different.

I have been around some Marine pilots that carried bigger than the pilots
survial knives ( some customs back then too) so it really must not have been that bad to have the 5" to 7" blade lengths. One Marine Pilot i talked with carried a custom Randall knife it had a 7" blade. I remember asking him why he chose that blade length and he said to me, have you, ever heard that seven is the perfect number? I said yes Sir I have. He said a knife with a 7" blade is a perfect knife to have. Well that was his thinking anyways. He did say that he carried a leatherman tool also. he found that both worked hand in hand and that is why he carried what he carried.

I think you are right about the sheath it would be better to have a jump type sheath. But as Harpoon41 said earlyer many man has jusmped with knife and leather sheath.

I am with if you are not a real SERE person then it is a camping knife or survival knife or bushcraft knife or what ever you want to call it knife lol.

Today I used my knife cut open my mac and chees box and then to make fuzzsticks and the to stike my firesteel for the fire for having my lunch today.

IMG_0360.jpg



No real SERE type stuff for me today, just good old having fun and lunch in the woods lol

Take care all,

Bryan
 
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Good stuff. That knife is sweet. :thumbup:


I like this thread....Some very good info presented. :)
 
dawsonbob said:
When you say "chute knife," are you talking about those god-awful spring loaded hooked things we used to be issued to cut shroud lines? The were almost useless for that purpose, and totally useless for anything else.
Click to expand...


A Loveless style knife was a small fixed blade that was about the right size to sit on top of a reserve when jumping static line chutes.
 
Horned Toad said:
A Loveless style knife was a small fixed blade that was about the right size to sit on top of a reserve when jumping static line chutes.
Click to expand...

Not at all what I was thinking of. The one I was thinking of was a switchblade with a sharp hook for a blade. This was back in the sixties and early seventies, so I don't know what they issue now, but those old hooked things were almost useless.
 
It's been a while since I've had to cut a seatbelt but I always have one of these little things nearby just in case.
FO-640.jpg
 
Hi all,

Caine you are so right lol. Just getting out in the woods is so cool.
I bought that frying pan and then made a lid for it. and wanted to try it out and see how it worked.

IMG_0359.jpg


It worked great and it is a keeper lol.

J. thanks. I agree with ya this has been a very informitive thread and seeing what every thinks and has input on what makes a SERE knife.

dawsonbob, After I got out of the Marines in 1992. I came back home and well when I went to church and while there one day there was a fellow visiting. He was a former Paratrooper from the WWII. Bob was his name also lol. Anyways he was telling me about one of his jumps that did not go as planned and he ended up in a tree and was dangling. When he said he had to cut himself down ( well of course I wanted to know what knife
he used lol) Well thankfully, Bob said, he was only about 5 or 6 feet off the ground. He used his hunting knife that was a Marbles brand. He said he had some type of pocket knife that he could open with one hand and it was a gravity knife as he called it.

I wonder if they had a curved blade like the one you are talking about. Since Bob did not use it maybe them gravity knives were not that good either.

I know Bob told me he used his Marbles knife over that gravity knife, because he did not like it as well as his hunting knife lol. I never saw Bob again so I can not ask him. But after hearing about the knife you are decribing I wonder if it was something like Bobs gravity knife. maybe later on they made them so they could be spring opened like on a switchblade or something. Any thoughts?

Protourist, those little hook cutter type knives look like they would be real handy for cutting lines and seat belts. It just goes to show that ONE KNIFE just does not do it as well as several cutting tools can. Better to have a few different types for lifes unexspected adventures lol.


Take care all,

Bryan
 
sicily02 said:
Hi all,





Protourist, those little hook cutter type knives look like they would be real handy for cutting lines and seat belts. It just goes to show that ONE KNIFE just does not do it as well as several cutting tools can. Better to have a few different types for lifes unexspected adventures lol.


Take care all,

Bryan
Click to expand...

The last time I had to cut a seatbelt it was from a Jeep that was on it's side. The driver was unconscious and the Jeep was starting to burn. Using the Gerber folder that I was carrying at the time, I was able to cut the belt but was really worried about cutting the guy. Now I carry one of those hooks.
Most of you don't put nearly as many miles on as I do and don't see as many wrecks but that wreck was when I was driving with the wife on a day off so, you never know when you may need something.
Great looking knife Bryan, I really like that blade shape.:thumbup:
 
Horned Toad said:
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4623638/89062_Full.jpg

I would tape one that looked close to this to the chute harness.
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Now that looks like a better idea, although the ones that I'm talking about were more like a gut hook; much wider at the hook part, so they would gather the lines for cutting. They were spring-loaded switchblade type things so they could be operated with either hand, and came in a pouch that was difficult to open. I never got hung up in a tree and had to cut my lines, thank goodness, but if I had, I had three other knives I would have reached for before that issue thing.
 
sicily02 said:
dawsonbob, After I got out of the Marines in 1992. I came back home and well when I went to church and while there one day there was a fellow visiting. He was a former Paratrooper from the WWII. Bob was his name also lol. Anyways he was telling me about one of his jumps that did not go as planned and he ended up in a tree and was dangling. When he said he had to cut himself down ( well of course I wanted to know what knife
he used lol) Well thankfully, Bob said, he was only about 5 or 6 feet off the ground. He used his hunting knife that was a Marbles brand. He said he had some type of pocket knife that he could open with one hand and it was a gravity knife as he called it.

I wonder if they had a curved blade like the one you are talking about. Since Bob did not use it maybe them gravity knives were not that good either.

I know Bob told me he used his Marbles knife over that gravity knife, because he did not like it as well as his hunting knife lol. I never saw Bob again so I can not ask him. But after hearing about the knife you are decribing I wonder if it was something like Bobs gravity knife. maybe later on they made them so they could be spring opened like on a switchblade or something. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Hi, Bryan,

I don't know if the thing that I'm talking about was issued that far back (I'm old, but not that old). It was really a simple, cheap, thing meant for only one thing: cutting shroud lines if you were hung up in a tree. It had orange plastic slabs, was spring loaded, and deployed a substantial sharpened hook when you pushed the button. I remember an instructor saying something like "this is the only switchblade knife authorized for use by the US armed forces. It should be enough to keep you Marines entertained for hours," which was really funny because a number of the people I served with had switchblades of one type or another, and no one paid any attention at all. In another outfit, who knows?

I don't know if the Army was issued these things, too, or whether it was only people in the Navy and Marine Corps. If they were issued to the Army, I'm sure they thought they were just as big a joke as we did.

Take care,

Bob
 
From what I've seen of most knives designated for SERE use, I'd say the ideal SERE knife is a sharpened crowbar.
 
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