What would you expect your "survival knife" to do?

tknife

tknife

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Mar 18, 1999
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I think it deserves some discussion: What will you need a knife to do in a survival situation that it would not normally do in the field? Granted I am not pretending to know every instance of a wilderness emergency, but I think in general we picture the getting lost or hurt in the woods scenario.

There are SO many posts, articles etc. saying that you need an uber tough knife in order for it to be a "survival knife". Others say you need nothing more than a Mora or a SAK. My personal taste falls somewhere in between.

For decades there have been knives designed as dedicated survival knives. I like a lot of them, and have owned many. But to be honest, most of them haven't performed very well for me as general field knives. But would they suddenly become the absolute best knife to have if the situation turned ugly? I can't say for sure as I never had to use a knife as my last ditch survival tool. But if a knife is overly large, overly heavy, uncomfortable to use for long periods, too brittle, too thick, too thin, or any number of things that make it unsuitable for general use, I don't think I'd want it in an emergency.

So what may a knife have to do in an emergency? Let's use getting utterly lost in the woods as an example.
 
cut stuff, stay sharp for a long time w/o resharpening and not rust.:thumbup:

If I was going for a true "survival" knife I believe I'd go stainless and out of some sort of hard steel that could be sharpened up and then hold it's edge for a long time and not rust:thumbup:
 
I think the first thing that comes to mind for me, assuming that I am well and truly lost, expect to stay that way for some time, and don't have any man-made materials is shelter building. That is something I don't normally do, and is a task that would be made much easier with a well-suited blade. Don't think it has to be uber-tough, or very large for this task. More about skill with the blade. I'm hoping my Koster Bushcraft in 3V is the one I'm looking for. :thumbup:
 
Personally, all that I want my "survival" knife to do is cut, and at the most baton. Of course I can't image every possible survival situation, but in just about everyone that I have heard of or have been in, batoning would be the toughest job I would ask it to do, so a SAK or Mora should be fine, but the mora being a fixed blade would lend better to splitting wood. That being said, if I had the choice between a Mora and a 1/8" full tang(or nearly full tang) Scandinavian knife, I would choose the latter.
 
Thats such a hard question to answer. Getting lost in the woods being the benchmark of the post I wouldn't need my knife to do anything different really than what I might use it for in the first place.

Assuming I either did not bring adequate supplies (tent, food, water, ect...) or was separated from it, that might change things a little.

If I did not have an axe....(that would suck for me;)) I would be using my knife for two things initially.

1. Shelter (first to get you is going to be exposure)
2. Fire and signaling (warmth, signaling, preparing drinkable water and mental goodness:D)

The three knives I would have are a Mora, or a Fallkniven F1, and my Vic Farmer in pocket for sure. I could make a shelter with a Mora, my Fallkniven F1, or my Vic Farmer. Might take me longer than with a axe or a chopper, but I could do it.

The problem for me is the situation could vary so much. If one of my hands or arms were broke a folder such as a SAK will be hard to open.

I guess to really answer this properly, my knives would be used to try and keep me warm, hydrated, and visible.

All of these I could do (with varying degrees of success) with a axe, chopper, 4" fixed, or a folder.

Having my trio would put me in the best possible situation however. Axe, 4" fixed, and a folder.
 
I never go into the woods with just one knife. Don't even drive to/through the woods with just one knife. So I'll have the bases covered with my 3 or 4.
 
tarmix you make a point I was going to bring up too. I think whatever knife you are used to, you will do well with. If you always carry a big chopper into the field and use it, you can do a lot of tasks with it. It you routinely only carry a small folder, and use it, you could probably accomplish a lot with it as well.

Fire and shelter are definitely the top priorities.
 
tknife said:
tarmix you make a point I was going to bring up too. I think whatever knife you are used to, you will do well with.
Click to expand...

I agree. The more knowledgeable you are with a certain tool, the better off you will be.
 
For my use in the woods, whether hunting or hiking, I prefer to use a high carbon steel blade. Maybe it's just that I learned a lot of my woodcraft from my grandfather and he didn't like stainless? I'm currently looking at getting a HI khukhri, because those blades are big and sexy, but to be honest, I've never been in a survival situation where I couldn't make due with my 6 in drop point. It's comfortable in my hand to use for any skinning/whittling use. I've never come to a point where I had to chop anything massive. Even when I built a raft last year to do some fishing on a lake on a camping trip, I just made a fire, spread out the coals in a line and burned through the logs (about 10 6-8 in thick). Would chopping have been faster? Sure, maybe. But this was a lot easier and I can tell you that kicking my feet up by the fire and watching them burn was a lot easier to me.

To me, the most important thing you can bring with you in a survival situation is a well-prepared brain. Even if you have a small knife and know how to use it, if you can think through the problem, you can usually figure out how to do what you need to do.

None of this really answers your question, though. To that point, I expect my knives to do a combination of chopping branches, whittling points to make spear points for tent stakes or just whittling through a stick to get correct lengths for A-frames or tripods, clearing out brambles/small trees from my tent spot, gutting fish and small game, striking my fire starter, and perhaps some light batoning. I keep a convex edge on my blades which I find lasts longer and quickly comes back to sharp, which is a requirement. Full tang in case you need to do some light prying. I'd say stainless like above, but people have been using blades that weren't stainless for hundreds of years, and I suppose they will keep doing so as long as a bit more effort is given to keep it from rusting. Heck, you can just spray paint it if you have to.
 
Since were are talking knife, singular and not other tools.
I would like the following:
Making shelter - carving, cut vines/fiber,baton-ing?
Making fire - shavings, fuzz, baton-ing?
Making tools - carving utensils & bowls, spears & clubs, traps/snares
Food prep- cutting, carving, skinning, etc.

For this, the knife would need to be sharp, easily sharpened, full tang, comfortable, rust resistant, rough spine(for sparks) and a secure sheath.

For me I would like a kephart or a nessmuk that wasn't real thin.
 
Lets say you are on on a properly equipped trip in the forest and you bring a proper saw, a 6" camp knife, a multitool, a 3" for food prep and maybe more tools. You have a 4" or so in your belt. Lets say your canoe rolls over, a bear eats your pack, a dragon shows up and BBQ your tent or whatever. You have to make do with your 4" fixed and what you were carrying in your pockets.

Now your 4" have to do the work you had he saw and the other tools for. You can split wood by batoning on your knife. You can fell a tree by perforating it. You pound the knife (the edge pointing right or left) into the tree, yank it out and pound it in again next to the earlier cut. It takes some time but it works. If you need to split bigger pieces of wood you just make a wood wedge and pound it with another piece of wood. Digging tools and other items can be made from wood. If you have a too big knife you might be tempted to chop with it and that is not a very good thing to do when you only have one knife :) If you need to cut branches from a tree you can baton the knife as well.

You should have a knife with a tang that comes out the back of the handle. That way all the energy you put into the butt comes out the point.

My suggestion would be a Fallkniven F1 or S1. That is a good knife to start with that does the job, and thensome. You might like a different brand knife that has the same features as the F1/S1, well choose it if you like. The F1/S1 are not the only survival knives, but one of the best for about 100 bucks. You can even make do with a Fallkniven WM1. It is just 3" and not a protruding tang but it is like a mini F1. It is a very good neck knife and with a firesteel and a whistle attached to the neck strap you are equipped enough for the worst case.

Maybe I should make some youtubes on how to substitute tool X with a F1.
Here is how to split wood, on shelf three.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEXO30YHopw
 
"What will you need a knife to do in a survival situation that it would not normally do in the field?"

My answer is: nothing.

I want a "survival knife" to have very good handle ergonomics so that it's comfortable in prolonged use, and I want it to have good cutting performance. But then, I want this from all of my user knives.

The one difference is that I want a survival knife to be tougher, so it's more fail safe. In a survival situation, it sure doesn't hurt to have gear that can take more than regular gear can.

But any special uses I would have for a survival knife that I wouldn't have for any other knife? No such use exists.
 
There is nothing that I can type that someone hasn't already mentioned in terms that of what I'm looking for.
1)I look for ease of sharpening in the field to be the most important in my book, but still hold a decent edge. I think it can also work against me too, it might break really easy.
2) Able to handle making a shelter.
3)Fire prepping
4)Food prep. I would include skinning game and what not.
5)The ability to hunt with it if needed.
6)The ability to make tools
7)Rusting is not that important to me. As long as it gets my out that situation I'm good. I don't see it rusting away in a matter of months. Then again I don't see anyone not going out prepped for their environment with proper tools.

If it's a folder:
1)A good lock
2)To be able to clean it out easily.
3)A good saw since you can't baton with it.
4)Once again good handle erognomics
5)A sharp spine for the ferro rod.
6)multi task type like a SAK or Multi tool

I'm sure I could go on and on.
 
The only "survival" knife I have is a Becker Crewman. That one could hold up to some unknifely tasks, I think, if I had to rely on it as my only edged tool in a tough situation. I would choose it if I knew I'd be in an emergency situation ahead of time. However, I almost never use it. It is too big and heavy for my ordinary use, and is therefore not likely to be with me in an emergency.

Therefore, my realistic (for me) approach has been to think about how I would use the knives and tools I'm most likely to have at hand to do things that might be out of the ordinary.
 
i pretty much agree with everything that has been said here...

when in the woods i practice my skills with the smallest tool i can comfortably handle the task with, which i have found can often be quite a small tool.

i know that with my mora #1, i can prepare a fire (can't start it without matches etc), build a shelter, prep food (in a situation, i would likely not be concerned too much with food for the first day or two, and then stick to plants after that), it is easy to sharpen with my pocket stone or a field stone.

my mora is my primary woods knife, often supplemented with a folding saw. the folding saw is really just for the sake of convenience. if i needed to (and i have just for teh sake of doing it) i could easily do all of my tasks without the saw.
 
"However, I almost never use it. It is too big and heavy for my ordinary use, and is therefore not likely to be with me in an emergency."
That is the main point I was trying to make in my long winded post :D Most of the knives out there that have specifically been designed as survival knives are either too heavy, big or otherwise ungainly to actually carry and use.
I still love big choppers, I used to strap a big blade onto my pack and trek it all over the Sierras for a week or longer at a time. Practice and experience has taught me that I may not need such a big blade.
 
Not fail under any circumstance. What will it be used for, you will not know until you are put into a life threatening situation
Scott
 
damit scott just when i think i have my knife needs taken care of you show some of your steel. you should be ashamed of your self tempting a weak willed old man like me.

as far as the survival situations that have arisen most have been handled with a well bladed sak, there was the time when i could not get the wine opened fortunately i found my sak in my backpack, then there was the time when a full blown domestic dispute broke out over why a husband had bought cheese to drink in wine country and did not even have a knife to cut ti with, from the back seat of the car i sheepishly made note of the fact that i had my sak with me, thank god i was there to stop the mayhem.

alex
 
Skin a boar.
Pick a tick.
Slash a rope.
Dig a pit.
Down a tree.
Flip a burger.
Kill a man just to watch him die.
Pry a door.
Slit a container.
Wedge a door.
Maul an assailant.
Strike a firesteel.
Score a day count.
Fling a booger.
Shine an SOS.
Reflect my gorgeous face.
Funnel rain water to my parched lips.
Free Nelson Mandela.
Tug on Superman's cape.
Trench a ditch.
Separate bacon.
Gut a deer.
Leave a message.









I'm joking, of course. I'd never fling a booger.
 
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