What tasks should a PSK knife be capable of doing?

Joben

Joben

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May 22, 2009
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There have been a few threads in the past month or so talking about various small knives designed to fit inside an Altoids tin size PSK.

Obviously with such things there is an element of 'any blade is better than no blade' thinking; In an emergency you do your best with what you have.

But what tasks specifically do you think it's most important for such a knife to be able to handle?
 
Slashing fuzz sticks, cleaning trouts, cutting string/rope/cordage, Possibly be strong enough to baton with to make dry wood available (maybe too tall an order for an altoids sized knife), have a lanyard loop for retention.
 
Erasmus said:
Slashing fuzz sticks, cleaning trouts, cutting string/rope/cordage, Possibly be strong enough to baton with to make dry wood available (maybe too tall an order for an altoids sized knife), have a lanyard loop for retention.
Click to expand...

Those are my expectations...maybe sharpen a long walking stick to serve as an improvised weapon; notching for improvised straps...

ROCK6
 
Hi all, a small knife will/would need to help you with shelter building, fire prep, food prep, signaling, and just plain every thing you need a knife to do where there is cutting involved.
Remembering its limitaions will go a long way in keeping you PSK knife just that another tool to help you survive and live to see another sunrise.

One of the cutting chores I did with my Final Option knife was process a turkey that my newphew shot.
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They will help in trap building.

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Bryan
 
as a last resort, to get yourself out of a jam, and get yourself back to safety, what that includes, it can be a lot of things.......
 
I purchased my Alox Farmer after reading an article in Tactical Knives on one fitting in an Altoids tin...my PSK is built around it, though not in a tin...the Farmer, miniBic/button compass taped to it, hacksaw blade section with large needle and safety pins, off set screwdriver with 2 ft duck tape,15 ft mono,mini pencil, 4 quarters taped,tweezers, AAAbattery,Fox 40 mini, and firesteel fit in a Gerber multi tool pouch... rest on key ring and zip top pouch

the awl and saw were the deciding options... bore holes and fine cutting
 
I'm right there with Sicily, assist in building shelters, firecraft, cleaning game, build tools. And a big thing for me is being able to add a bigger handle to it so it can be more versatile. A PSK can be a lot easier to use with that added handle.

I have several PSKs and make sure to practice using them so I know their limits.

I do love my SAK Farmer as well, the saw, awl and blade are very useful tools.
 
I believe it should be able to do most cutting tasks, and at least be able to baton small pieces of wood to get kindling/tinder for a fire to get it going. As shown above, you can also make a handle for one to make it a 'bigger' knife.
 
Anything a larger knife can do but on a smaller scale :)

Seriously it should handle all general cutting actually required to keep one's @$$ alive. Although the handle may make it more uncomfortable than a larger knife it should be able process game (I've seen large game processed with small stone flakes) just the bigger the animal the slower it goes. It should work in fire craft as in whittling shavings or getting inside bark for fibers. I could make a bow drill set with the one Bryan made for me, perhaps I should do that. It should handle all general utility cutting with the only real sacrifice being comfort. In my case I want a good point for boring small holes. I think in most cases small PSKs are more limited by the imagination of the end user than by their size.
 
I had a couple small knives made for me and one thing I had done in all of them was a small hole, around .040'', drilled in them to break wire. Since most kits have wire in them, you need a way to cut it, at least I do. You just stick your wire in the hole and bend it back and forth a few times and it's cut.

Don't make the hole to small, because when the wire breaks, it usually has a slight bend on the end and you can't pull it back through the hole. Since most of the wire I carry is under .025'', I have found that a .040'' hole allows me the room I need to get the cut wire out.
 
as long as it can help to provide fire, food, & shelter it has sufficient and has done its intended job.
 
Now the premise of this exercise is that for whatever reason the only knife ya have with you is your Tin knife, thus in reality it would have taken me maybe 20 minutes to prep the handle. However, as I always seem to have my Booshway with me I decided to take only 5 minutes and use that !

Cut yourself a nice handle sized bit of branch. You could leave it rough but I spent a few minutes whittling mine before I started the split:

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

Splitting the handle till it was maybe 2/3 rds of the way down :

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

It really doesn't matter if ya split the stick into two halves but I prefer to leave part of it intact. Then slide ya tin knife in position and start lashing that sucker in tight ! You can use Paracord or if going the natural route you can use Cedar roots etc. I chose to use some masonry twine as it's tough stuff and ya can get it nice and tight:

And here we have it a Tin knife that is no longer a Tin knife !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

With a full size handle you can now really get some cutting done and will find it now cuts like a full sized belt knife:

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

Might as well not let those curls go to waste:

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

2 strikes of the ferro-rod with the back of the knife and we have fire !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16

Now to kick back with a cup of tea:

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-16
 
Bumping this thread back up~ Let's see some more PSK/Tin Knives in action !
 
Hi Pitdog, Good bumping idea lol.

Here is pic of my latest one. I really like this one the best over all my other PSK / tin type knives.

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The fuzz stick I made with it.
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Bryan
 
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