What was a Buscraft knife before Bushcraft

Nothing's changed since the term "bushcraft" came around.
People do what they do in the bush with a wide variety of blades. Plain and simple.
 
Wait....are you trying to imply that people did things outdoors with knives BEFORE Bear and Les and Myke and Cody and Ray and and the rest of the TV survival gurus came into our lives?!?!?

That's just crazy talk.
 
You forgot to mention Ray Mears. :) I think he started the whole survivalist TV craze. The rest are just copycats.
 
I was watching Les Hiddens many years before I heard about Mears and them other guys. The blade I saw him use the most ( as far as I can tell) was similar to a Schrade 3-blade stockman. The only others where a beat up machete and an axe. Cody's using a mora, so's Kochanski , Ray's using his own scandi , and Bear...well, now he went from a crazy expensive custom to a mass-produced plastic handled , check-my-face-out on the box , ummmm , knife.
Everyone uses what they like I guess. Some knifes make more sense than others.
 
Bushcraft knives were the stone knives of the native peoples, the Sami pattern of the Swedes, Danes and Norsemen. The butcher knives of the mountain men. The knives that the Hudson Bay company took into the Canadian bush, the knives that the Australian took into the Outback. The punal knife used by the gauchos on the pampas.

Just back then, they were called knives, used as tools, and didn't have good salesmen making a cult of the whole affair.

(Yes, I am caught up in bushcraft and woodcraft :D).
 
Here she is, the oldest bushcraft knife.
knife.jpg
 
The "in thing" today appear to be small to medium sized fixed blades with Scandinavian grinds. They're popular because they work, but the reality is that before this so-called "bushcraft" craze took off people simply used whatever knife, axe or hatchet they happened to have access to.

Naturally, cultural traditions and environmental conditions will often dictate the knife patterns generally seen among various communities around the world, but there aren't any specific rules as to the type of blades one should use outdoors. It always was (and should be) a matter of personal preference.

I personally find it amusing how all of the sudden inexpensive knives that were simply designed as general utility or woodcarving knives are now being given the "bushcraft" label. It's become a marketing term the same way the "tactical" label began to be used back in the day and you can bet lots of money will be made off this "bushcraft" title.
 
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