Which Backpacking Knife?

H

HCSchluge

Joined
Nov 15, 2007
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63
EDITED: Sorry wrong group.
(edit: got that for ya.)

I am looking for a belt knife for backpacking and cant seem to decide. I need it do do everything from chopping for small campfires to slicing sausage. I want to carry one knife that does it all. I don't intend to abuse it, but it will get a real workout.

Choices:

  • Fallkniven A1
  • Chris Reeve 7" Green Beret
  • Bark River 1855 Hunting Bowie
  • Ontario RAT-7 D2

I am sure any of these would do the trick, but wanted to get some impressions.

Thanks!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i like the barkie i use the gameskeeper II it does everything for me ,,aloha
 
bark river bravo-1. srsly, dude. if that's too small you can still order a busse ash-1 if you hurry.
 
I will move this from Custom Knives to Wilderness & Survival ...

and toss in my personal assessment that unless you're going through really rough country, you could probably get by nicely with a couple of inches less blade. I have the regular Gameskeeper and you could do everything, including light chopping, with that. The 5.5" Chris Reeve's would also work well.
 
Go Aurora, Bravo-1
Fällkniven F-1
Rat RC-4

That kind of blade..
4 inch is enough, really ;)

Or Fancier,
Get a Koster Bushcraft or Bushmaster..(Koster forum)
Swamprat Ratmandu, Howling rat (exchange)


That kind of knife will do all you need to do and won't weigh or bulk you down..


0.02 eurocents
 
The Fallkniven and the RAT are the two best choices IMO for a general purpose outdoors knife.
 
Bark river makes an Excellent knife,so does Fallkniven...out of your list I would choose BRK&T but I may suggest RAT Cutlery RC 4 green/Orange awesome knife.
 
I'm no Grizzly Adams, but I almost never carry my large fixed blades. They're cool. but usually end up sitting in a drawer at home
 
All of those are pretty big to be carried on the belt, as others have said. One I keep in my pack, along with a David Farmer EDC, is my Benchmade Rant DP. Inexpensive; 440C steel; comfortable grips. It is a Red Class knife, but especially well made. Taken with me on vacation, very handy in the kitchen apt slicing scrapple (knives in the apt couldn't cut butter, literally). Used for light camping and day trips. If it wasn't for food prep, I might use it when fishing. Great knife.

As for choppers/camp knives, they are just too big for use other than at home or a permanent camp. I like the bushcraft philosophy. Doesn't mean I don't like big choppers ;).
 
I have a lot of knives I like to take backpacking but I'd have to say I've taken the Bark River Northstar a lot and it's been fine.

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The wife likes to spring on deer and take them with it ;)

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It strikes a firesteel well also
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hahahahaha HD those pics had me rollin!!!!:D

Lots of good choices here. Take a look at some of the customs too. We have alot of tallented makers here that can hook you up for a very reasonable price.

Barkies are awesome.... JK, charlieridge, fiddleback, Koster, Gossman, Koyote, breeden, are just a few.:thumbup:

Dude I think you will find that 4-5in is plenty of blade. If you like the RAT, I urge you to go with a true RAT cutlery blade. A RC4 is an awesome choice, and that orange G10 is awesome.....
 
Quill said:
That is like asking which woman to take. Everyone has their preference.
Click to expand...
hollowdweller told you which woman to take and he told you why, too! :D
But I think we better let him take her along. She looks dangerous :eek:
 
silenthunterstudios said:
All of those are pretty big to be carried on the belt, as others have said...
As for choppers/camp knives, they are just too big for use other than at home or a permanent camp.
Click to expand...

If you want a much cheaper alternative, try a Mora! They're very light, but they excel at tasks other than chopping.
 
I'd recommend the Swamprat Ratmandu.....
SaanichInlet115.jpg
or if your budget ain't quite that high then the BlackJack grunt takes some beating....
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I agree, go with a 4-5" knife for backpacking. Reserve the 7+ inch choppers for camp knives.
 
You can pick up several models of Kabar and Ontario for well under 75.00 and it will do all that needs done and never blink. I could also do well with a Buck 119. A folding Buck 110 will do most camp chores. In all my years of camping, 55 or so, I have really never needed to chop any thing while camping. However I always have a hatchet just in case.
 
For size and strength versus weight the Gameskeeper II at 6.875 ounces cannot be beat. Believe me I compared it to many others and it came out on top.
 
Thank you to Esav for moving this to the right group!

OK, thank you to all!! I had been looking to stay in the 4" range but talked myself to look bigger. So back to the drawing board for a 4-5" knife. I have been using an SOG Seal Pup, which I just don't care for at all. For this knife I wanted something more of a working top shelf knife.

I will take a look at:
RAT RC-4
Bravo-1
F-1
and many others I am sure.

I would like to look at Swamp Rats but I cant seem to find much information. Do they need to be custom ordered or something?
 
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