Survival Rock Knife

[AirborneEagles]

Anyone mention anywhere on this forum how to make a rock knife? If they have, someone can remove this thread then.

If no one has, then here it is.

Nice thing about rocks is they can be found anywhere. A rock is just a rock until you do something with it, which you can make a simple knife out of a rock that is strong enough to be honed down with another rock.

Now it depends how big of a rock knife you want and what you will be using it for. If you are going to use it to gut fish, you will want something small and sharp and shale provides many types of nice small sharp rocks that will cut flesh and small bones for cutting up meat just as they are found on the ground. Other types of rocks may need to be split with another larger rock and see what comes out of it. Sometimes a sharp edged smaller rock will chip off a larger rock to be used as a knife.

You can also use these knives (larger ones are preferred) to tie on the end of a stick (using vines or string or shoe strings, etc) to make a spear.

You can also use large sharp edged rocks and tie them to a sturdy stick to make an axe. You can use long pointed sharp rocks to make a spade to dig with. (Depending how hard those rocks are.) Trial and error at times until you find one strong enough.

Sharpening rock knives is taking another rock with a rough edge and grinding the sides of the rock blade knife to get a desired thickness, then using another smoother rock (that is strong) to hone it like you would any other knife blade and give it a nice sharp edge.

Then we can get really fancy and make throwing rock knives. Either in the form of a double pointed throwing knife or 3 or 4 pointed throwing knife.

For a great self defense weapon that does a lot of damage to any wild animal or unwelcome guest is simply tie several 4-5 inch rock knives to the top of a wooden club. Pointing out from all directions the club is now a deadly weapon or at least will leave anything you hit with it looking like instant hamburger.

If you break one knife, there are plenty of rocks to find another to turn into a knife. It is free and they are everywhere. Every size, thickness and hardness. Great to remember when you lose a knife while out in the bush and simply want a knife to make survival that much easier.

[crashdive123]

We've talked a bit about stone things. I'd love to see pictures of your work.

[AirborneEagles]

We've talked a bit about stone things. I'd love to see pictures of your work.

I don't have photos, but I can fix that as well. Will take some photos and post them. I have only one rock knife as it is now, but it takes nothing to make more. Will post a few of each that I make in the next day or two as well too. =) Goodness, the more I say things on here the more work I make for myself. haha

[your_comforting_company]

I must have a dozen single-strike flakes I use as hand knives. some for carving, some for cutting, some for scraping.. the possibilities of each rock is almost limitless. Every time I find a big rock, I have to stop and check it out to see if it is of good enough quality to be a resource, or if it's an anchor lol.
Often I'll put my knife back in my pocket and pick up a flake from knapping from the floor/ground and use it for carving triggers, or opening packages, or just whatever I'm doing. There are things I prefer to use rocks for, so I don't damage my knife.

It takes a bit of "backward thinking" to get into the right mode for using rocks instead of modern tools, but in my mind, it is a skill that would be invaluable should you find yourself in a situation where modern items are no longer available.

I also would like to see some of your work; see how you "get your rocks off" hehe. I'll snap a few pics of some of my rock hand tools, too.
Good post AE!

[canid]

i've got a few pieces of basalt flake i use, even around the shop, as blades, fine saws, abrasives, etc.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

it makes a fair material for smoothing, shaving, sawing nocks/notches, etc. this piece is just barely sharp enough to cut myself with [i've been using it, so it is dulled], but due to the grain, it is essentially micro-serrated, and it's fairly hard and durable. if you didn't need anything fancy, just a hand-held piece like this would accomplish many tasks, from slicing to scraping, etc. as mentioned. a heftier piece would have not trouble at all with chopping against green wood.