What's so special about a bushcraft knife?

Steel-Junky

Steel-Junky

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Lately, I'm seeing a lot of companies and makers come out with bushcraft knives. The overall design of them seem pretty similar to that type of knife and a little unique when compared to other blade geometries? Is this a fad or does this blade geometry excel at certain tasks that other knife designs don't. When i go in the woods I take one of my Busse knives (Size and number depends on what I plan to do)... Never ran into a chore they couldn't handle... so what would make the average bushcraft blade design the ideal choice for going into the woods. Plus on many I've seen they seem to have a very small finger guard. This of course is not a judgement on all bushcraft designs... just some of the ones I've seen... doesn't seem to be a lot of real estate there to keep your hand from running up on the blade. Just curious to hear the opinions of some who use these styles of blades and find them useful.
 
A bushcraft knife is used mostly for wood carving. The lack of finger guard or choil gives great control over the best part of the blade for carving.
 
tonym said:
A bushcraft knife is used mostly for wood carving. The lack of finger guard or choil gives great control over the best part of the blade for carving.
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So is it more of a wood working tool? For like carving crafts and stuff? i'm not trying to be funny seriously... I'm trying to learn about their application. Got any sources of reading material on their use? I'm trying to figure out what they do better than say my Busse Mean Street or Busse NO-E.
 
If you mean the scandi grind in general, then the main benefit there is woodworking (which is mostly what you do when 'bushcrafting', though the term is a little commercialized now). They're also very simple to maintain. If you've not tried a scandi and want to try one out, the Mora knives are very popular and very cheap (and lots of models to choose from). If you want to experiment:
http://ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

As far as guards, I have never preferred them. They can hinder a lot of different grips and are usually just a plain ol' nuisance. I've also never had my hand slip up onto the blade, since for me only stabbing drives my hand in that direction and I don't stab things. Never understood that fear, except with kids.

Generally a good scandi grind or a good convex grind are preferred for a good wilderness blade. To each his own.

Edit: also see here for info on grinds:
http://backyardbushman.com/?page_id=13
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=547633
http://www.ragweedforge.com/grind.html
 
Steel-Junky said:
So is it more of a wood working tool? For like carving crafts and stuff? i'm not trying to be funny seriously... I'm trying to learn about their application. Got any sources of reading material on their use? I'm trying to figure out what they do better than say my Busse Mean Street or Busse NO-E.
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Yup more of a wood carving knife. It would be strong enough to handle most chores, but blade design, grind( mostly Scandi), and handle ergos make it comfortable for long wood working chores.

Go to Youtube and search bushcraft; you will spend days watching videos.

I am not too familiar with Busse's, but the ones I have handled had pretty thick edges, also alot are coated. They are obviously extremely tuff tools, but they didn't seam to excell at finer carving tasks.
 
I guess I'm just set in my ways. My Dad was never much of a knife or wilderness guy so I learned a lot of my preferences from personal trial and error. I've had my knife in some tight spaces where were it not for a finger guard my hand might have ran up on the blade... Example... if you're say in thick brush and you bring your knife blade forward to make a cut and the tip catches on a limb or such... which is an accidental stabbing motion... were it not for a finger guard I'd probably have laid a finger open. And any cut ot wound in the woods is not a good thing.
 
You will find a lot of difference of opinion around here as regards the term 'bushcraft'. Some like it and some don't.

As others have mentioned, 'bushcraft' knives tend to use a scandi grind, and are often variations on the popular Mora-type knives. They are working knives that excel at woodworking and slicing, which makes them ideal for most camp and hiking chores. Bushcraft knives also tend to have thinner blades than many of the 'hard use' knives on the market. Finally, I would note that bushcraft knives tend to be designed with a traditional aesthetic in mind, so most will feature natural materials, no blade coating, etc.

I wouldn't want to suggest that bushcraft knives will perform 'better' than a Busse in different scenarios, or vice-versa. What I would say is that there are advantages to having a scandi grind, thin stock, and no guard when it comes to certain outdoors tasks.

All the best,

- Mike
 
I have to assume that the more certain knives are discussed, like we do here, the more attention they will draw from knife companies. It doesn't take away from the design, but you will see more of them around.
 
tonym said:
Yup more of a wood carving knife. It would be strong enough to handle most chores, but blade design, grind( mostly Scandi), and handle ergos make it comfortable for long wood working chores.

Go to Youtube and search bushcraft; you will spend days watching videos.

I am not too familiar with Busse's, but the ones I have handled had pretty thick edges, also alot are coated. They are obviously extremely tuff tools, but they didn't seam to excell at finer carving tasks.
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Thank you for the info... Yeah I wouldn't say any of my Busse knives would be intricate carvers... but most of the stuff I do outside especially with wood is just rough work... I've never really needed to do a lot delicate carving. Just split it, shave it, notch it, or chop it. I'll go look at some of those videos and see what the deal is. Also... as far as the coating goes on Busse knives... I strip it on my smaller blades... i find it creates a lot of drag on small chores... I leave it on the large choppers.
 
What knife we carry is dictated to by our needs, location, season etc and also by what we find the most efficient for us. If I'm honest, then unless I also have an axe with me,I find a larger knife to be the most useful but there are many days when I want to travel light and improvise to get tasks done with a smaller, lighter blade. If a Busse has been working for you then why change, knives are a very individual thing and if a certain style works well for you stick with it !!!!
 
If what you are using works for what you are doing then there's no reason to change. If what youa re doing is rough work then the Busse excels for that IMO.

For me I dislike guards on a knife whether it's a bushcraft design or not and I like a fine cutting edge.

For me the Busses have too steep of an edge unless you reprofile them and the blades are too thick. Also I really detest choils.

I have a Game Warden and a BAD but even with reprofiling they just don't cut as good as a scandi ground knife or anything Bark River makes. Not saying they won't work or are bad knives. Just the others work better:thumbup:(for me) On the other hand if I was doing some cutting where the edge might really be challenged I'd probably go for one of the little Busse's I own.
 
hollowdweller said:
If what you are using works for what you are doing then there's no reason to change. If what youa re doing is rough work then the Busse excels for that IMO.

For me I dislike guards on a knife whether it's a bushcraft design or not and I like a fine cutting edge.

For me the Busses have too steep of an edge unless you reprofile them and the blades are too thick. Also I really detest choils.

I have a Game Warden and a BAD but even with reprofiling they just don't cut as good as a scandi ground knife or anything Bark River makes. Not saying they won't work or are bad knives. Just the others work better:thumbup:(for me) On the other hand if I was doing some cutting where the edge might really be challenged I'd probably go for one of the little Busse's I own.
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LOL... I think we have the exact opposite taste in blades... i love a V grind and hate convexe, and I love a finger guard and choil LOL. I agree that on the smaller Busse knives the edge is ground way too steep. I usually lay mine done just a tick for better slicing. But I like the thickness of them because I often wind up just bashing my knife through wood rather than taking the time to cut it perfectly LOL... and Busses are great at breaking and bashing stuff.

I will also agree that an Axe is the one outdoors tool I refuse to be caught without. I keep various wood tools in my truck just in case... but when i venture off with just my backpack... I take an axe with me.

Another great little knife that I have found to hold it's own in the woods is my Spyderco Temperance fixed blade. Wonderful blade shape and great steel (VG-10). The only folding knife I carry is my Leatherman Ti.
 
You better be careful...from the description of your gear I think you run the risk of becoming a regular around here!

Sure, it starts with "I use my Busse for everything" but give it a year and you'll be saying "Hmm, I wonder if this could be done with a scandi ground knife in 1/64th stock with a cocobolo handle? It's made from 1095 and it only costs seven bucks..."

This place can ruin expensive knives for you you know!
 
misanthropist said:
You better be careful...from the description of your gear I think you run the risk of becoming a regular around here!

Sure, it starts with "I use my Busse for everything" but give it a year and you'll be saying "Hmm, I wonder if this could be done with a scandi ground knife in 1/64th stock with a cocobolo handle? It's made from 1095 and it only costs seven bucks..."

This place can ruin expensive knives for you you know!
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You got that right. I carry a Mora. A MORA!! Unbelievable :rolleyes:.


:p
 
the "bushcraft" knife as such is primarily a offshoot of ray mears and his teachings on what sort of knife is good for the bush.

he designed the knife in conjunction with Alan Wood here in the uk, the idea of the design is to be strong, easy to maintain and good at carving wood.

As far as i can tell the only things this design really excells at are battening and feathersticks, most other things i find it a bit too clumsy for, but that being said it can do most other things better than well enough. It's a jack of all trades knife.

The scandi grind is donw to Ray being influenced( i expect) by sami peoples and their knives, but also because he wanted a knife that begginners on his courses could sharpen easily- a wide scandi grind being much easier to control on a stone than a secondary bevel or a convex ground knife.

I think their influx onto the knife scene has partly been down to a growing "bushcraft" market in the uk
 
I have a bunch of them and while I like them, I much more prefer traditional Scandi knives and wilderness survival type blade profiles (like the excellent ones made by Nick Allen and illustrated in tknife's sig line above).

I think that the 'bushcraft' design is probably more useful for our Brit members who practice their craft in more sterile woods. I think knives with a bit more belly are more useful to me here in the Pacific Northwest. All my knives cut & slice well but I need my blades to chop more than I'll ever need them to drill holes.
 
Personally I think it's a marketing fad. But whatever someone likes, that's fine, as long as they're using it! My favorite bushcraft knife? Swamp Rat Bandicoot in 52100. Great little knife!
 
At least in this subforum, bushcraft-knife tends to be lumped in more with woodwork while survival-knife tends to reflect thicker heavier duty blades. W&SS covers both of these topics and hence it consists of a mixture of users who like both types of knives. By starting this thread off asking about bushcraft knives, you tended to select a subset of users who lean towards sharper/scandi type blades knives.

Then again, there are many folks around these parts who own both bushcrafty blades and survival type blades and use both or different combinations of them in the woods. Personally, I tend to flip flop back in forth on what my preferences are, often time taking a smaller/sharp thing in combination with a thicker/heavier thing. I think Pitdog is pretty similar minded here as are many others.
 
kgd said:
you tended to select a subset of users who lean towards sharper/scandi type blades knives.
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LOL... I'll take issue with that statement. How much sharper than razor sharp can you get. I have a Busse FBMLE with a thickness of .32" and it's scary hair popping sharp and will stay that way throughout much use.

I can see why a thinner blade would be good for slicing and even fine wood working, and how a narrow blade could have it's uses as well... but sharper... I don't think so.
 
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