Which custom knife...

Lorien

Lorien

Nose to the Grindstone
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
28,145
...would you choose in a survival situation?

Let's make this fun and practical.
-I would like you to describe the survival situation most likely to happen to you.
-Then, tell us which ONE custom knife you would choose for the situation if you only had one choice.
-And equally important, WHY that knife?

*feel free to go into as much detail as you like. Graphic descriptions of zombie beheadings, uh, not so much ok?

You do not have to own it, nor do you have to own any custom knives to participate.

Please, please, please post a picture of your chosen blade. If this knife does not yet exist, a sketch would be awesome!

Do you travel? It could happen there.
Do you live on a farm? It could happen there.
Do you live in a city? It could happen there.
Do you live in a forest? It could happen there.



Those who post up things like production Busses, Randalls, Reeves etc will receive a spanking. More or less sole authorship only please.
 
I honeslty can't think of a remotely likely survival situation. Travel? Surviving a plane crash is pretty unlikely and locating my knife from my checked luggage in the wreckage is even less so. Traveling by car, I don't get very far from major highways - so making it on my own in the bush for protracted periods isn't likely an end result. I know all kinds of stuff is possible, but I can't really think of any likely survival scenario, much less a "most likely" scenario.

But if I somehow wound up with one blade and nothing else to rely upon, I'd likely choose this one:

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1) Big knife can do small knife jobs better than a small knife can do big knife jobs.
2) One of the most comfortable handles I have ever held.
3) Powder coat makes for a relatively maintenance-free carbon steel blade.
4) Sharpening stone in the sheath.
5) Can deal with zombies if required. :)

Roger
 
That is one sweet knife Roger! You didn't mention the carbon fiber handle reinforcement- apart from a great many nice features this knife has, that's one of the coolest. The only thing it doesn't have, which would be designed for surviving the current conditions in your neck of the woods, is a fan!:D

I am always assessing various scenarios, (not obsessively, but 'survivalism' is a state of mind which borders on religion for some) from being involved in a car accident to dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake.

If I were a world traveller, my survival knife might be a folding knife, but I'm more of a home body, and I can't think of a more dependable knife than my SMC for the environment I live in. Jason Knight made this knife with canvas micarta handle slabs held with aluminum pins to a very thick but tapered W2 blade. It's a little big by 'survival knife' standards, which usually call for something in the 4-6" blade length category, but the SMC would see me through to the bitter end. It's hefty, but I think it would be worth the weight when the chips were down. Ideally, I'd probably go for something a little smaller from Jason, but he's my go to guy for hard use knives. It's a mindset for him, he's always preparing for the worst, and so his knives are some of the best!

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I'm really looking forward to more feedback to this thread. Have some fun with it!:thumbup:

ps. this is a knife that I own. I can imagine a better design for survival type use that would be smaller, lighter and therefore more likely to accompany me at all times. Survival situations can occur when you least expect them, and are unprepared for them! So having a knife on you at all times will mean that at least you'll have something, and something is better than nothing! It's amazing how ingenious people can be when it comes to making a tool work for them.
 
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anyone else have anything to add? I thought this thread might see a little more traction!
 
Something like this,Blindhogg posted this? Or of course one of my own? :)

I just really like the looks of this for all things I would encounter in 90% my travel andmy spacial constraints.
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Most likely "survival situation" for me will be on or near the water, as I work for a dredging company.

Shore - ship and ship - ship transfers, bad weather, etc...

The one custom knife I have in mind is made by SAR (Spencer Alan Reiter). It's small, practical, unobtrusive. As much as I would like to have a big knife with all the bells and whistles with me at all times, it's not going to happen (legal reasons, practical reasons). I don't own one, but I really like the concept:

The Pack and Boat knife (PBK):

SARdsc0008hx.jpg


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(borrowed the pics from SAR Global Tool http://sarglobaltool.blogspot.com/?ref=nf )

Kind regards,

Jos
 
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420 molecular stainless steel... What more could you need?:p:p

[youtube]-gj9CMvwfv4[/youtube]

Sorry Lorien.. just couldn't resist. :) I actually had one of these POS's.
 
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"They are the best selling knives of their kind ever sold by us!"

:D

Roger
 
thank you Stuart, that was fantastic!
I saw ads for these POS' all the time, and at least half my friends had one, and that would have been mid eighties. I resisted, saved, and bought a Gerber BMF which my brother still has, it was his 20th birthday present, (whose bequeathment signified the beginning of my journey in custom knives).
You can bet that if any of those knives survived and remained in their original packaging they'd be worth at least $5 today. Or maybe $50, on ebay lol.
If there is ever a post apocalyptic Antiques Roadshow, and miraculously one of those knives survived, they would point to the knife, then to the apocalypse, smile knowingly and pronounce, "at auction...".
 
I'd sure like to have a knife like this!
andrews.jpg

Armaggeddon proof!
 
Hi Lorien -

I would suppose that my survival situation would be after a motorcycle accident in a remote area while on a long distance ride.

If I found myself stranded alongside a remote road and needing to set up a impromptu shelter, I would most like to have my JK Combat/Survival kit with me.

John was making these a while back with a sheath that would also hold a Vic Farmer, making this setup a very effective combo. Your rules stated only one knife, so the Farmer would have to be the one to be left behind in that case.

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I had this knife made with a piece of tang exposed on the end for prying or pounding needs. The blade is is 3/16" thick 01 steel.

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I have taken this knife with me on some of my motorcycle trips just in case. Here you can see the knife resting on my tail-pack while stopped in Bar Harbor Maine last fall -

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best regards-

mqqn
 
Honestly? Probably one of my own socket-handled numbers. In particular, this one that I sent to Ron Hood to review a few weeks before he passed away.

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I'm not sure what exactly would land me in a survival situation, but if I did I would likely be in central Texas, which is pretty much covered in a variety of types of dry, thick, thorny jungle. Just moving through the landscape can leave you torn up. The blade is 13.5" long, plenty big to do any brush chopping I need to do to get where I'm going, but still fairly compact. The big choil lets me choke up to do smaller work, and the blade is wide enough to grip it by the spine and use the tip for finer chores. The blade will sing through the thin, whippy stuff like briars that like to grow in huge masses, and can cut bigger stuff about as effectively as an ax.

If I had the knife with me, chances are good I'd have a small survival kit lashed to the scabbard, as that is one of the reasons for the holes down the side.

I understand the reasoning of the small survival knife, and would ideally have my small fixed blade that I carry daily, but for the kind of environment I would likely find myself in, the big knife would be more effective in my opinion.
 
Yep - I get that you're more likely to have a small knife on you in the first place in a survival situation - and even a little Swiss Army folder is far better than no knife at all. But if I get to choose my knife and it must be only one, I would choose a bigger knife. And a great many would serve just fine. But something like this piece made by my buddy Derrick Wulf just looks and feels right to me for a gotta-do-everything piece.

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Roger
 
that is the coolest gun I've ever seen
 
RogerP said:
.........But if I get to choose my knife and it must be only one, I would choose a bigger knife.
Roger
Click to expand...

I agree with you whole-heartedly, Roger. I know I could skin a rabbit with a Bowie, but I doubt if I could build a shelter with a little EDC.
 
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