Who makes the toughest and most useful knife?

Iam looking for an all purpose wilderness/survival knife, strong, cold weather resistant, good water resistant, chipping resistant, and proven; the Ka-Bar seems to have all of these qualities. Do you have any recommendations?
 
Kepha Gershom said:
Other forum reviews, several hands on field tests reviews have quoted this saying D2 has cracked in -degree temps.
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The bad news is is that the internet if full of garbage info as far as knives are concerned. Any knucklehead with a video camera can post anything on YouTube. Doesn't mean said knucklehead knows anything about anything.

Good news is is that you are in the right place. A lot of people here know what they are talking about. Forget what you have learned and listen to them.

They can help you if you tell them what you want to do with your knife and how much you would like to spend on it.
 
Kepha Gershom said:
Iam looking for an all purpose wilderness/survival knife, strong, cold weather resistant, good water resistant, chipping resistant, and proven; the Ka-Bar seems to have all of these qualities. Do you have any recommendations?
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The Kabar-- or any other carbon steel knife -- is extremely poor at being water/rust resistant.
 
I'm sure it isn't the toughest knife available, as that's subjective, but ESEE makes fantastic knifes. The ESEE 5 is a little too chuncky for me, but sounds like it may fit the bill for what you're looking for. They are also very reasonably priced.
 
Kepha Gershom said:
Iam looking for an all purpose wilderness/survival knife, strong, cold weather resistant, good water resistant, chipping resistant, and proven; the Ka-Bar seems to have all of these qualities. Do you have any recommendations?
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That's a start. Define "survival", please. Why are you worrried about chipping and metal breaking? How much do you want to spend? Where do you want to use this knife?

(The KaBar doesn't really have many of those qualities you listed....a Fallkniven F1 does, in my opinion.)
 
the stacked leather handle dosnt do reall well with water either. Look for something in s30v with g10 or micarta grips or one of the other higher end stainless steels. it depends on your budget too, a 50 dollar kabar is not going to stand up well to a 400 dollar custom or high end maker knife. its just not.

cricket
 
mdsmith said:
I'm sure it isn't the toughest knife available, as that's subjective, but ESEE makes fantastic knifes. The ESEE 5 is a little too chuncky for me, but sounds like it may fit the bill for what you're looking for. They are also very reasonably priced.
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I highly doubt anyone can damage an ESEE-5 by using it.
 
iam not avoiding any questions, Iam new here and its taking me some time to navigate around here. wilderness/survival is my intended function, cold and wet climate.
 
marcinek said:
That's a start. Define "survival", please. Why are you worrried about chipping and metal breaking? How much do you want to spend? Where do you want to use this knife?

(The KaBar doesn't really have many of those qualities you listed....a Fallkniven F1 does, in my opinion.)
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The F1 is a great hunting/wilderness/utility knife. But I'd never want VG-10 in a survival knife. Carbon or tool steels are much better for this purpose. The ESEE-5 for example, was designed for downed pilotet by SERE instructions. That knife to me, is the definition of a superb survival knife.
 
Outdoors Fanatic said:
The F1 is a great hunting/wilderness/utility knife. But I'd never want VG-10 in a survival knife. Carbon or tool steels are much better for this purpose. The ESEE-5 for example, was designed for downed pilotet by SERE instructions. That knife to me, is the definition of a superb survival knife.
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I guess the Swedish Air Force would disagree! :D And they do know cold, wet environments.

Also....how do you diffrentiate a "hunting/wilderness/utility knife" from a "survival knife"? I have yet to figure that one out. :confused:
 
Thank You, you are right... iam in the right place I have been given a lot of informative and useful information. All that I want is a knife that will last me years in the wild.
 
Are we talking about the classic USMC Kabar here? IMO it's a decent knife but in no way shape or form is it the toughest and best. LOL There are several knives out there that are better. As far as blade shape, it plays a more important role then you realize. I would put more preference into how the steel is heat treated and how the blade is shaped BEFORE what steel it is. Most steels like 1095, O1, 15n20, a2 etc are all solid knife steels and most people won't notice a difference between them given a good HT and blade geometry. 1095CrV is by far not the toughest however. 3V and infi spank it in every category you mention including rust issues.
 
Kepha Gershom said:
Thank You, you are right... iam in the right place I have been given a lot of informative and useful information. All that I want is a knife that will last me years in the wild.
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Excellent! How much would you like to spend? Will this be the only knife you are carrying with you in the wild?
 
knifetests.com will open your eyes.I have to say though to be fair that D2 is known for being a lil weaker but it holds an edge very well.
 
A stick tang knife like the KaBar is never going to be as abuse-resistant as a knife with a full tang. KaBars are good knives, but there are other knives that can withstand more abuse.

Outdoors Fanatic said:
The F1 is a great hunting/wilderness/utility knife. But I'd never want VG-10 in a survival knife. Carbon or tool steels are much better for this purpose. The ESEE-5 for example, was designed for downed pilotet by SERE instructions. That knife to me, is the definition of a superb survival knife.
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The F1 is the knife issued to pilots in the Swedish Air Force. They did a LOT of testing before they chose it. Has the ESEE-5 been adopted as the issue knife by any branch of the US armed services?
 
I can't believe nobody has said it yet, but it sounds like you need to get yourself a SMATCHET!
 
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