What's up with bushcraft craze?

I like for my edc to have wood working capabilities. I like to test different folding and fixed knife designs in the "bush". It's fun for me.
It gets minus 30+ where I live and I like the idea of being able to survive with the tool I have on me, while not being fully equipped. Practicing some bush skills with whatever. Dreaming a bit, getting some solitude.
I know how my code 4 tanto works wood and pretty much all of my knives. I know how they cut cardboard and other materials. How they can cut through plastic etc. You learn things in comparison. It's a fun way to explore the hobby for me, knowing what you can do with a certain knife, getting to use it more. Do whatever you like bro.
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p.s rarely there is a knife out of the box that will properly work wood, not even a mora. It really only starts to shine after resharpening it.
Don't want no mediocre, I don't want no mediocre...
 
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I don’t really use the term myself, but figure that folks can call it whatever they want, especially if it gets them excited to get outdoors and out into the natural places wherever they may live. Do you even really need a super purpose-designed knife to do most “bushcraft” tasks? Not really, it’s become a marketing fad, much in the way adding “tactical” to the name of something made folks want to buy it ten or so years ago. You can make fuzzsticks, and figure four traps just as easily with a $5 paring knife as you can with a $250+ “bushcraft” knife. Just get out there and do it!
 
I read bushcraft as a somewhat aspirational activity. First of all it's not a bad thing since it does focus on using a knife.

But it has mostly become about planning months in advance your trip and what you'll carry with you.

If you lived in the right type of area, a mountain town with a lot of public land with trees and you were predisposed you could start up a guiding business very much like helisking where you'd ferry small groups of aficionados into the bush for a week or so.
 
bikerector said:
There are still plenty of reviews that cover EDC knife concepts. I assume you're looking for a fixed blade because you keep getting directed to bushcraft, which is a pretty general term really. If you search for EDC fixed blades, you should get a lot of responses. I prefer to search in google and then find the bladeforums listings there, it's a lot faster for me than using the forum's search function. I'm not sure what reviewers you watch, but most are pretty realistic about a knife's use even if they test it out in various theoretical settings, because it's interesting.

Since you have an idea of what you're looking for, bladeHQ has one of the better filters for finding knives within a set of parameters. I would do some searching there if you're looking for something. If you are simply voicing your discontent with how bushcraft knives is an over-used term (my words), true. I've actually gone back to calling knives woods knives, or woodcraft knives, because bushcraft knife covers too broad a spectrum now, because it's a bit of a catchy term. Like tactical knife.

We tend to be knife guys here and so in talking about knives, we often come across tasks that use knives. Bushcraft tends to use a knife as the central tool so it makes sense that it would be a pretty popular subject on a knife board, but there are certainly many, many other uses to a knife.
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Well, I already bought my fixed blade EDC knife, CS Drop Forged Hunter, blade isn't too small or too big (10.15cm or 4inches), handle is pretty thin making it easy to conceal, and it's a one piece knife, also fairly thick and with sturdy tip, so it's good even for harder use. I took off nylon part of the sheath, and carry it in my pocket without an issue. So that's what I consider a general purpose knife.

About those filters, lots of them have been spamming me with Mora knives at "EDC" filter. Even tho handle and sheath make Mora almoust impossible to conceal as EDC. And IDK how confident would I be if I had to pry something with Mora either.
Or EDC filter would just show me loads of folders.

And most frustrating was the fact it was showing me loads and loads of Puukko's. Not only that Puukko is hard to conceal, but blades also aren't thick usually, and biggest dealbreaker of all is the fact it has no guard. So you're carrying a knife as your EDC, and if God forbid you ever had to use it to defend yourself - there's high chance you'll slice your own fingers or hand with a Puukko. Some people say "You just gotta not be a weenie when you grip the knife." ...but if your hands are wet, or you're stressed or both... it's easier to say than do. I was in such situations and my experience is that your body kinda switches to autopilot. And you likley won't remember to grip your knife especially tight if you're in a hurry to use it ASAP while your thoughts are racing.

Anyways, your guess was correct about me just voicing discontent about Bushcraft being overused, and even some knives not designed for bushcraft have been reviewed through bushcraft tasks. And you're also right on statement that it getsmore difficult to avoid bushcraft reviews when you're looking at fixed blades.

I can see appeal of Bushcraft, I can see why is knife community into it, but it did get a bit overblown latley. And for people looking to buy a knife for other purpose than bushcraft - it becomes hard thing to do since majority of reviewers and manufacturers is focused on bushcraft at the moment.
 
I think it's a fad but overall it's a good fad. What it's actually doing is getting more and more people interested in going outside and working with their hands. Its bringing a resurgence to camping and hiking. It's making kids lay down the game controller and explore the woods. This is also trickling down to other outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. That's never a bad thing to have more people interested in knives guns and the outdoors in a positive manner
 
GIRLYmann said:
its a little funny how bushcraft knives became hyped up as a legitimate knife fad. its almost as if pc types pushed their agenda to topple tactical knives for top spot as most popular knife type of the day :)

i agree that its not eveyone's cup of tea, but because it has been popularized, folks out looking for a "good knife" simply buy into it because its the trend. it would be a matter of time before some new commercial fad comes along to leave the bushcraft knife in the able hands of true hardcore practitioners of bush crafting. now if only that includes methods in which a bushcraft knife might help in dealing with marauding hungry bears in the woods...
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The thing is that there really is no such thing as a bushcraft knife. It is just a general purpose woods use knife which can be just about any design including a tactical design. People have their preferences in terms of blade profile, grind and so forth, but ultimately just about any knife will work.

If bushcraft means a chopping knife.... that's a different matter entirely. I pretty much refuse to carry a really big knife in the woods and only use the bigger ones at home or car camping or a short hike from your vehicle. A small sharp hatchet would work perfectly well for must chopping activities that a larger knife might be used for. Folks like the choppers because we're attracted to big knives in general, but using them regularly is another matter. They say that a bigger knife is more versatile; it is. But you have to be willing to carry it. Large starts at about a 7" blade for me although I can handle a thinner profile 7.5" blade just fine. But that is not a classic chopper knife.

You might try some punctuation and capital letters to begin sentences.
 
Quiet said:
I don’t really use the term myself, but figure that folks can call it whatever they want, especially if it gets them excited to get outdoors and out into the natural places wherever they may live. Do you even really need a super purpose-designed knife to do most “bushcraft” tasks? Not really, it’s become a marketing fad, much in the way adding “tactical” to the name of something made folks want to buy it ten or so years ago. You can make fuzzsticks, and figure four traps just as easily with a $5 paring knife as you can with a $250+ “bushcraft” knife. Just get out there and do it!
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I have to agree, marketing fad is a good way to express it. Those were kinda words I was looking for.

And I agree that any knife can do bushcraft tasks. Except maybe batoning.
So it's kinda strange to see people bash certain blade types over bushcraft.

I also think there was a topic about batoning on here not long time ago. Correct me if I'm wrong.
But as long as it makes people spend more time outside I agree it's positive.
 
If labeling a knife a bushcraft knife nudges a person headed for the outdoors to carry it and maybe even use it, that's a good thing. Ultimately it is all about selling knives.
 
"Bushcraft" is such a vague term.

Whittling a stick. Carving a spoon. Making wood shavings/feather stick. Batoning. Notching sticks for a trap. It's all "bushcraft."

It really boils down to non-edc outdoors cutting.

That and it's internet lingo that has now been adopted by knife retailers. Newest marketing fad.
 
S Smiling the CS dropforge hunter has appealed to me for a while, but never really saw a need for it based on what I already have. This does make me think the CS Pendleton hunter would be a good choice for you as well, though it doesn't have the best point. I think there's always a tough balance with EDC knives and self-defense or hard use as small handles don't work well for hard use, in my opinion, but are better for carry. The Bradford guardian series and esee izula are very common EDC models, as examples.

What I often consider hard use is just something that puts a lot of pressure on the hand, like cutting wood and cardboard or similar situations that really let you know about the hotspots.
 
Perhaps I am old fart, but I seem to recall that in First Blood, Rambo primarily used his knife for bushcrafting, and only used it for self-defense when pushed. There isn’t much of a distinction between tactical and bushcraft; any knife will do, so long as it’s at hand.

n2s
 
I never heard the term "Bushcraft" or "EDC" until I started visiting these knife forums 10-12 years ago after I retired. Far as I can tell Bushcrafting is what we used to call Camping. I've carried a Case or Schrade Stockman every day for more than 50 years but never called it an EDC. Most of the Bushcraft "Skills" I see on You Tube videos I learned in Boy Scouts and never needed a special badge to carry a knife.

As most of us I may get out to actually camp once a year but I do fish 3-4 time a year and when I do a carry a SAK and a 4" drop point, full hollow grind (Loveless designed) fixed blade that has NEVER been batoned. I carry a hatchet camping!
 
Seems like you have 2 questions here:

1) What's up with the bushcraft craze?; and
2) Why do people use bushcraft tasks as a standard?

1) Nothing. "Bushcraft" went nuts a couple years ago. Every knife had an orange handle. Forget if that was before or after "zombie." Certainly before "titanium framelock flipper." Now it's "so 2016."
2) I suppose because many people use their knives for outdoor recreation, and outdoor recreation tasks are what they want their knives to do. Pretty simple.
 
Depends on what I'm doing in the "bush".

If I'm hunting, I carry a hunting knife. If I'm out mushrooming, it's a mushroom knife. Fishing... well, you figure it out.

Back in the day, folks couldn't wait to get a "Survival Knife". For things like surviving I guess.

I've hiked, camped, hunted, fished, peeled bark, explored up rivers down canyons...

Never "Bushcrafted" though.

So I guess I don't need a bushcrafting knife.
 
So how come my whittling knife won’t work for making feather-sticks?

Silly marketing aside, don’t get hung up on the knife. Bush crafting can be done with just about anything. Mors Kachanski, use to buy cheap folders for his high school and college students. Then he was making bushcrafting knives for them by cold cutting knives from salvaged industrial bandsaw blades ( no heat treat - he would just cut them out and put a crude wood handle on it and sharpen it).

Bushcrafting is a low hanging branch. Enjoy the activity, and don’t get hung up on the knife. Whatever you happen to have will work well enough.

n2s.
 
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