You can only have ONE with you

In the secenario you present (northern woods ala Hatchet) I'd pick my GB Small Forest Axe. If it was here in southern CA type terain, I would pick my F1 or SAK Rucksack. Don't need a big chopper as much down here, in my personal and limited experience.

Mike
 
Fallkniven. I just grab a white box from my shelf. Most likely it will be a F1.
F1 or S1 would be my choice. The F1 is the Airforce choice, The Norwegian Navies choice. The S1 is Mr Fallknivens choice, and both are the Naval Warfare Centers choice.

I guess that if you pick a FK, a Becker, a Strider, a RAT, BR or any HIGH quality knife (and that just left out anything from CS :)) you will moste likely survise as well toolwise. The brand is mostly taste.
On the more humourous side on www.knifetsets.com the A1 in the only knife (so far) that he has not fragmented into scrap metal.
 
pitdog said:
This one can !!!!:D It can do the work of a big blade but it just takes a little longer to do it. It can also do smaller tasks which would be hard to do with a large chopper type knife. The main reason this would be my choice though is that I know I could trust my life on it !!!!:thumbup:
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I wouldn't exactly call the Dumpster Mutt a "small" knife, I was thinking more along the lines of a SAK or folder when I said small:thumbup: Not to offend all the SAK fans out there:)
 
XMP said:
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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Yeah "Tunnel in the Sky" is a great book! Its my favorite Heinlein novel. I read it first when i was about 16 and 3 or 4 times since then. I started collecting Bowies after i read that book.lol.

I must dig it out and reread it again. From what i remember there was also a bit of variation in the things each of the different characters chose to take with them on their survival test. There were the usual items like fixed blade knives but some also included heavy artillery and even a cast iron cooking pot! lol.

Different people, different perspectives, different skills. I guess there is no wrong answer really. Or at least the only way to really judge the choices made would be to really dump the person in the wilderness and then come back in 6 months and see how they are doing!

That could make a good Twilight Zone or Outer limits episode, internet forum survival experts kidnapped and dumped in the wilderness!
;)
 
runningboar said:
Is part of this scenario you can't leave, at just 5 miles a day for 5 months, April through August, I would be almost 800 miles closer to a beach in florida, or maybe just a snug cave. Lots of variables here, what time of the year are you stranded, where are you stranded, what gear do you have besides the one sharp. Chris
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That would probably work in a lot of places, but I guess it just depends where you ended up. Up here, there are plenty of places where five miles could easily take you a week during some parts of the year...if you arrived at the beginning of November, and then walked until April at that rate, you might only have gone 120 miles. In lots of places in Canada, you could walk twice that far and never see a single sign of human life.

I guess this thread, like everything else about wilderness survival, comes down to one thing: what is your environment like? The needs of somebody up in the Yukon are going to be pretty different than those of somebody in rural Georgia.
 
I'd take my Beck WSK. Blade magazine just did a story about this subject. The 3 people interviewed, are as diverse as the rest of us here.
 
misanthropist said:
I guess this thread, like everything else about wilderness survival, comes down to one thing: what is your environment like? The needs of somebody up in the Yukon are going to be pretty different than those of somebody in rural Georgia.
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Exactly the point I have been trying to make. In my native state, anytime of the year I believe I would be just fine. In the Yukon I would be dead in a week, especially if it was winter, regardless of what edged tool I have. Chris
 
I definitely agree! My approach is always to look at what tools evolved in a particular type of environment, and go with something similar. There wouldn't be much use for an axe in the all-out arctic; no trees anyway. I would be after a leuku or ulu, I guess. Similarly, the machete or parang seems best for the tropics - that is at least what the locals are using to my knowledge. My part of the world is suited to axe users, but not because axes are the inherently best tools ever designed by man (although they are, as we all secretly agree) but because primitive life here revolves around chopping up large amounts of wood!
 
North American woodland got me thinking of Colorado-Montana-Canada.

Maybe I limited the area?
 
Not to be a protagonist but...I think the knowledge base on alot of how to stuff, making fire, skinning game, building ingenuity comes into play with the knife chosen. I think with the will to survive any sharp knife will be better than nothing. If in a pinch I had to manage with whatever I had so be it, I would feel good about having that than nothing at all whether it be a stockman, folder or fixed blade. By no means am I any sort of survival expert or anything but I think alot of posts are considering their knife as their only tool source, where as with a creative mind a person can build tools to do some primitive chopping, hammering etc. not just use the knife or axe to do it all.
 
agreed knives are like money in that you can use them to get other tools to help you improe your situation....sure battoning is great but if i'm indefinitely stuck some where the last thing I want is a broken knife..carve a digging stick, take a stab at making a primitive axe
 
Exactly.
I would not want to risk breaking the only knife that I had by doing extreme stuff with it, like batoning.
You can split logs with a rock and a carved wood wedge, or a rock wedge.

And again, in all my 40 years of camping, hiking, and practicing survival skills, I've never had the need to chop.
 
allenC said:
Exactly.
I would not want to risk breaking the only knife that I had by doing extreme stuff with it, like batoning.
You can split logs with a rock and a carved wood wedge, or a rock wedge.

And again, in all my 40 years of camping, hiking, and practicing survival skills, I've never had the need to chop.
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Kinda funny me and you are from the same area and think alike, well actually not funny at all. I would like to visit other areas and learn what is applicable there, from reading books, on line and TV I am sure there is a reason people like their choppers and batoning. I am actually very well traveled because of what I do for a living, however I do not get the chance to study bushcraft when I am there.:o Chris
 
allenC said:
Exactly.
I would not want to risk breaking the only knife that I had by doing extreme stuff with it, like batoning.
You can split logs with a rock and a carved wood wedge, or a rock wedge.

And again, in all my 40 years of camping, hiking, and practicing survival skills, I've never had the need to chop.
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That's interesting, do you use a saw? I used to chop very rarely, but with a decent hatchet I have grown very accustomed to chopping my firewood, sharpening stakes, carving, etc. with it. My Fiskars was certainly the MVP on my overnight last night.

I agree that it would be dangerous to risk harming your only knife by batoning or prying with it.
 
i guess i would choose my fehrman hoodhunter 10. it is light, fast, strong, and easy to carry in a normark sheath.
 
I would go with my 26" Estwing camp ax. It isn't the best ax for chopping, and it isn't the best ax for splitting but it takes a keen edge and I feel pretty confident in its design not failing. In the end there is all most always glass or sheet metal objects some where to be found, or natural materials that can be used for smaller cutting tasks. In new england the winters can be long and cold, and any thing that helps gather wood, and build shelter fastest is my top choice. Joe
 
Depends. It might be my Leatherman Crunch, or my SAK, but this one I finished is looking good.....

http://sietchtabr.googlepages.com/image2.jpg
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1/8 O-1 stock, scandi grind, just shy of 4 inches of blade, black dymondwood scales. This is pretty much the finalized "woodcraft" version of the Sierra hiker I've been working on, the "hiker" version is much thinner, a biut shorter in blade, and flexible enough to use as a filet.
 
XMP said:
So here is my scenario/question: you are in a long term survival/bush-living situation. Imagine Robinson Crusoe or Paulsen's Hatchet story in a North American woodland setting. You aren't going to be rescued in 48 hours; in fact, it may be months or never. You'll need to construct shelter, prepare firewood, start fires, trap, fish, and do whatever else it takes to thrive in this situation. In other words it is a longterm, but unplanned wilderness living situation.
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Hmmmm, only one. Probably the Roselli Hatchet. Or a small Gransfors or Wetterlings hatchet. For making a permanent shelter there would be no way in hell I'd cut down a tree with a multitool.
 
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