You can only have ONE with you

wow, INTEResting scenario.

TOP choices for me would be, and I haven't decided which one.

1. An axe. If it is winter this is what I would pick, just because as said fire becomes the first task.

2. Hatchet. I don't know if this would be better than the axe for fine work or just not as good as an axe.

3. Big knife: Kukri, or big chopper.
Here is an idea of my own. The problem with the big knife is that it would be hard to skin/gut small animals with it. Why not, instead of where there is a pommel, have a small- maybe like 2-3 inch blade of thinner stock sticking out. It would be covered with a screw on type of sheath that would be of hard material to protect one's self from using. In a sense part of the handle. This small blade would actually be part of the tang of the large knife. .

Or the small blade knife would fold downward. Still one knife, and you could have the pommel- just with a slot in it. i LIKE THIS IDEA BETTER.

Small knife for fine work, large knife for big work. All one knife!!!

As a side note, the same principle could be applied to the swamp rat hatchet with full tang.

3. I maybe would trust my bushman if it was the only thing I had.

4. 4 inch fixed blade. Maybe the TAK. Or F1 or Northstar.

5. Multi tool or trekker if summer.

6. Sog revolver. Bigger saw than a SAK and knife.
 
For what I own currently, I would take my Bushman for winter months and my trekker for summer. I know its sad. But the WTL helps.
 
This thread reminds of that great Robert A Heinlein book "Tunnel in the Sky".
Its set against a background of future colonization of planets via giant stargates. Basically you go through the gate and thats it you are cut off from earth for years or maybe forever. Heinlein's description of the colonists and their gear is very 19th century low tech stuff.
The main story is about a high-school kid (and others) doing a survival course thats only supposed to last a few days but ends up lasting years.
The main protagonist carries a bowie knife (Colonel Bowie) and a backup (lady Macbeth).
 
In Ron hoods primitive weapons video, he has a chopper with a 9. 5 inch blade with a small fixed blade nestled into the handle. The small blade was called a parasite blade. I don't remember the name of the knife, but I would take that as it has the big knife, small knife, all one knife concept, I think.
 
I'd choose my Busse Fat Fusion Battle Mistress. Though not the lightest or handiest knife in the world, I'm confident it would last a lifetime of hard use in the field. It would be the best choice for building shelter, cutting firewood etc, as well as a formidable SD knife. As a chopper, it would maintain a good deal of usefulness even if seriously dulled, with no access to sharpening tools. I suppose a suitable rock could be used for sharpening in a pinch. It would be awful tough to skin a squirrel with a battle mistress, but you can always use a big knife to make smaller tools with.
 
My Valiantco golok:

IMG_144.jpg
 
I'd be torn between choosing a SAK (Huntsman or Outrider or a Swisschamp) and an axe/hatchet (small Fiskars or Wetterlings or large Fiskars chopping axe).
Ideally i would take a SAK, Mora and Axe.
What would be best would also depend on whether you going to be nomadic or more sedentary and the specific climate you are in. Obviously a large axe would be better if you are staying put and needed to build a larger permanent shelter.
If you are a nomadic hunter-gather type then a "jack-of-all-trades" tool might be a better choice than a large axe.
personally I'd probably go with a SAK, i love my Alox Farmer but i'd miss the scissors, i'd probably choose the Swisschamp.

Another variation on this particular scenario might be a weight limit question like "2 pounds of cutting implements/tools what would you choose?"
 
moonwilson said:
I'd choose my Busse Fat Fusion Battle Mistress. Though not the lightest or handiest knife in the world, I'm confident it would last a lifetime of hard use in the field. It would be the best choice for building shelter, cutting firewood etc, as well as a formidable SD knife. As a chopper, it would maintain a good deal of usefulness even if seriously dulled, with no access to sharpening tools. I suppose a suitable rock could be used for sharpening in a pinch. It would be awful tough to skin a squirrel with a battle mistress, but you can always use a big knife to make smaller tools with.
Click to expand...

and vice versa , a LM wave can perform all task maybe a bit slower when compared to a larger fixed blade or an axe but it seems to be that everyones opinion is based on their tools and abilities to use that tool, :D
 
We could learn so much if we could get together, although I don't know what I would bring to the table.:o

I have never been around someone who used a knife like the battle mistress or some of the other big tough choppers a lot of people here like. I would love for someone to show me their versatility. I mean this with absolutely no sarcasm, I am honestly ignorant they look and feel big, heavy, and clumsy to me. Here a while back someone posted a picture of himself carving a turkey with two big busse or busse type knives, I'm afraid I might lose a finger. Everyone seems to need to do a lot of chopping and their tools reflect that, most of my experience is in the southeast and I very rarely chop anything. Chris
 
Alot of good points but to add my opinion in the SAK/MT vs Large blade or axe debate.

Thin blades and small tools with moveable parts are easier to break than a
3 1/16 or 1/4 thick blade with a full tang micarta handle.

I have EDC'd my Leatherman orginal supertool for 12 years. It is pretty worn out. The plier jaws are loose and the wire cutter is dimpled. That in an urban environment, I am not living in the woods with that as my primary survival tool. I just don't think it would make it.

Remember, firewood collection will be your main occupation. That could be a very long arduous task with a 3" saw.
 
chrisaloia said:
Remember, firewood collection will be your main occupation..
Click to expand...

Why? Who said you were stranded where it is cold. This thread has taken that turn, where I spend most of my time you only NEED a fire 3 or 4 months out of the year. And as I have said I think I would be on the move before all of the down wood could be consumed. Unless this scenario is really about zombies taking over the world, except for the north woods. Chris
 
Chris,
Boiling water and cooking meat would be some of my need for fire-- but that depends highly on how long you forsee existing with what you have. For 1-2 days getting out of the woods, food would not be critical but water might and giardia would seriously impede my ability to travel safely. Fire would also be my salvation for signal should I be injured beyond movement.
2Door
 
lmalterna said:
Chris,
Boiling water and cooking meat would be some of my need for fire-- but that depends highly on how long you forsee existing with what you have. For 1-2 days getting out of the woods, food would not be critical but water might and giardia would seriously impede my ability to travel safely. Fire would also be my salvation for signal should I be injured beyond movement.
2Door
Click to expand...

Agreed, but you don't need enough wood to cook meat and boil water to dedicate your one sharp tool to a wood chopper. So now being injured is part of this scenario? Chris
 
I agree. I was only addressing the question of how important fire is. You and I are in faily like environments and I could make a good fire with what is down and maybe split some small dead wood on a rainy day to get started. Some here are in wetter climates and may have to spend more time chopping/splitting to gain good wood. I like my combo of a heavy duty 6.5" and a small nekker-- I hate compromise :) that said, I could do fine in my area with my 4" from NWA.
2Door
 
runningboar said:
Why? Who said you were stranded where it is cold. This thread has took that turn, where I spend most of my time you only NEED a fire 3 or 4 months out of the year. And as I have said I think I would be on the move before all of the down wood could be consumed. Unless this scenario is really about zombies taking over the world, except for the north woods. Chris
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I think some folks are thinking of building a log cabin and living there for years on end....and I admit, an ax would very handy for that purpose.

But if I were certain that no help was coming, I would be traveling every day, steadily making my way back to civilization.
Unless I get injured and can't walk, I would not spend more than a single winter up north in snow country.
 
Fire would also be my salvation for signal should I be injured beyond movement.
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If you get injured beyond movement, then you would be able to cut more wood with a small saw than an axe.
And it's safer too.
 
Allen,
I prefer saws or a knife properly batonned to any hatchet/axe for survival. I have a couple of relatives with interesting scars on their left hands from mishaps with hatchetts. My son has been taught to use a hatchett safely just in case but we focus on a saw or the knife as they offer better control.
2Door
 
tholiver said:
This thread reminds of that great Robert A Heinlein book "Tunnel in the Sky".
Its set against a background of future colonization of planets via giant stargates. Basically you go through the gate and thats it you are cut off from earth for years or maybe forever. Heinlein's description of the colonists and their gear is very 19th century low tech stuff.
The main story is about a high-school kid (and others) doing a survival course thats only supposed to last a few days but ends up lasting years.
The main protagonist carries a bowie knife (Colonel Bowie) and a backup (lady Macbeth).
Click to expand...

Its funny you mention this book. I just read it about a month ago. Maybe it was subconsciously responsible for me proposing this scenario in the manner that I did:)
 
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