Famous Survival knives...by the experts.

[Sarge47]

I must confess, I've always thought it interesting that every Survival teacher has to have a knife that they recommend to the public as well as their students.

Cody Lundin has his famous Mora which is very modestly priced compared to the others.

Mykel Hawke has some weird-looking blade that costs over $200.

Les Stroud has recently come out with a knife that's under $200.

Bear Grylls started out with the Bailey S-4 but ran into a snag as these knives were made by hand, one at a time, which made it unable to fill a large demand. The cost was 350 pounds in UK currency, or around $700 US! So wise old Bear went to Gerber and now you can score a BG Survival knife for about $45!

Even the late Dr. Ron Hood started out by recommending The Busse line of knives...which were all hand made & ran well over $300. Then he went to the Fehrman knives but again, these knives are all hand made. The prices ranged from about $350 to $450. Finally Ron got together with Buck Knives and designed a new knife with a 10 inch blade that runs about $180. For myself, if I wanted any knife with a 10" blade, I'd probably go with Ontario's RTAK-II for under $100. To be fair Dr. Hood did design the Sheath so that it also carried some survival stuff he added with it.

All that being said, the hard truth of the matter is that while fancy so-called "survival" knives may look cool hanging somewhere on your person, I think that Bob Newman hit it best in his video "The Ultimate Outdoorsman" where he shows the best knife for the outdoors that's not very expensive. It's a plain Buck Vanguard with no gut hook, a rubberized handle, & a drop point blade. In other words, any knife can help save your life; even one on a multi-tool. Even a good kitchen knife could get the job done.

[BENESSE]

Even a good kitchen knife could get the job done.

Sure thing...just ask Lorena Bobbitt.

[Old GI]

OK, B: I was going to say something and changed my mind in the interest of forum decorum.

[Winter]

Buck Vanguard? To each their own but I like to be able to resharpen my knife in the field.

[Sarge47]

I understand what you're saying Winter, that's your Preference & there's nothing wrong with that. However, ANY knife can save your life, it doesn't have to be large enough to gut an elephant. That's not to say that we can't buy the toys we like, however.

[Sarge47]

Why couldn't you sharpen a Buck Vanguard in the field?

http://www.amazon.com/Buck-192BK-Van.../dp/B000EHUYQ4

[Winter]

Bucks proprietary 420 modified is a bear to sharpen.

[canid]

Aron Ralston knife: typical $5 fare

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[JPGreco]

I wouldn't look at it as any knife can save your life to mean any knife will do, as true as that statement can be. In an emergency and depending on the situtaion, any knife can save your life, but some instances it may be completely useless too. Any item on you at any given time 'can' save your life in the right situation.

As for the expensive knives those guys first recommended, they are probably exceptional knives. The kind that they would want with them in the bush. I would doubt that they would take one of the cheap ones they advertise for though. Thats just marketing. Attach a popular name to a cheap product to push it, thats all. Some people will buy it and think it's better because BG said he likes it, where as the knives some of the guys make here at home may be of the same or better quality depending on what you are looking for.

[Sarge47]

I wouldn't look at it as any knife can save your life to mean any knife will do, as true as that statement can be. In an emergency and depending on the situtaion, any knife can save your life, but some instances it may be completely useless too. Any item on you at any given time 'can' save your life in the right situation.

As for the expensive knives those guys first recommended, they are probably exceptional knives. The kind that they would want with them in the bush. I would doubt that they would take one of the cheap ones they advertise for though. Thats just marketing. Attach a popular name to a cheap product to push it, thats all. Some people will buy it and think it's better because BG said he likes it, where as the knives some of the guys make here at home may be of the same or better quality depending on what you are looking for.

Let's look at something that's mislabeled; stropping a knife on a piece of leather, or a "butcher's steel" doe snot SHARPEN it, it realigns the microscopic teeth. In 99% of the time this is all your knife will need if it has the proper edge. Cody goes afield with his cheap Mora as did his teacher, Mors Kochanski, before him. Former Marine, Bob Newman, uses a Buck Vanguard. I would be just fine using either of these two knives. Unless it's being used for a specific purpose, anything else is "overkill." True, my location & terrain might warrant a longer blade, say, to hack through brush, for example, but that's for comfort. I can plow through brush if I have to. Awhile backI bought a professional kitchen knife at a yard sale for a buck. The blade is thick & holds an edge pretty good. I could use it in the outdoors if I had to without worry.

[crashdive123]

Shouldn't this thread be merged wit this one

[Sarge47]

Shouldn't this thread be merged wit this one

This isn't a thread about SURVIVAL knives, but outdoor knives in general.

[crashdive123]

This isn't a thread about SURVIVAL knives, but outdoor knives in general.

Famous Survival knives...by the experts.

I didn't pick the title.

[Winter]

Let's look at something that's mislabeled; stropping a knife on a piece of leather, or a "butcher's steel" doe snot SHARPEN it, it realigns the microscopic teeth. In 99% of the time this is all your knife will need if it has the proper edge.

Say what? Stropping removes the burr you created , hopefully, sharpening it. But, a strop with buffing compound will sharpen a knife because it removes steel.


Most outdoor oriented knives I have made are zero ground convex to make stropping the ideal way to sharpen them. Most of my other knives are slowly converted to convex secondary bevels just through use and sharpening them with a stropping technique.

On to knives. Let me throw out a metaphor.

A mora is like a cheap hammer. It works and it's all you may ever need, but how many carpenters you see framing houses up with a cheap little claw hammer?

Flip flops or barefooted allows me to walk but I like other footwear for the field.

Maybe it's vanity. Sometimes I have my Mora #1 in the bush, but it's this one.
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I am a serious knife nerd though since forever.

[Sarge47]

Say what? Stropping removes the burr you created , hopefully, sharpening it. But, a strop with buffing compound will sharpen a knife because it removes steel.


Most outdoor oriented knives I have made are zero ground convex to make stropping the ideal way to sharpen them. Most of my other knives are slowly converted to convex secondary bevels just through use and sharpening them with a stropping technique.

On to knives. Let me throw out a metaphor.

A mora is like a cheap hammer. It works and it's all you may ever need, but how many carpenters you see framing houses up with a cheap little claw hammer?

Flip flops or barefooted allows me to walk but I like other footwear for the field.

Maybe it's vanity. Sometimes I have my Mora #1 in the bush, but it's this one.
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I am a serious knife nerd though since forever.

Very cool Mora. I learned about the steel in a resturant where I worked. Maybe it's semantics but that's what the knife expert told me. You "sharpen" the knife on a stone by actually removing steel from the blade. You realign the teeth by using the steel.

As far as Moras go, they're the only knife used by both Mors & Cody, that tells me something. Mors' playground is the Boreal forest in Canada. You can find Mors' books here: http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderne..._Bushcraft.htm

Crash, I was making a point that most of the experts try to sell folks large, expensive knives, weather they call them "survival" knives or not. You can check out the Buck knife the late Dr. Hood designed here: http://survival.instantestore.net/pd...dlum-blade.cfm Though it looks like they pulled the autographed models. Give it a week, then I'll merge the thread if you like, fair enough?

[crashdive123]

Just mildly giving you a hard time. It's a thread about knives in the knife sub-forum. That's where it belongs - no merging needed.

[JPGreco]

Yeah I guess the concept of cheap I didn't really mean cost. There are cheap knives that suck and their are good knives that are inexpensive. The question is always the quality of the knife, not the cost.

I mean, I would want a full tang, but more often than not, that will cost more, though there are knives that aren't full tang that will cost more because of whatever reason, especially if somebody's name is attached to it.

[Sarge47]

Yeah I guess the concept of cheap I didn't really mean cost. There are cheap knives that suck and their are good knives that are inexpensive. The question is always the quality of the knife, not the cost.

I mean, I would want a full tang, but more often than not, that will cost more, though there are knives that aren't full tang that will cost more because of whatever reason, especially if somebody's name is attached to it.

I know what you mean. The thing that I'm trying to get at is that if you use your knife properly & don't abuse it then it'll last a long time, & the cost factor isn't all that important.
Also, where I come from, outdoors folks tend to look down on the folks carrying the bigger blades as a regular "go-to" knife. The bigger the blade, the newer the person is to the woods. I tend to keep my Becker Combat Bowie out of sight with those folks.

[Winter]

Greco, I hear alot about the durability of the full tang knife. It's solid, no doubt, but there is always a chance of the scales coming loose.

That new psychedelic knife that Crash did is more durable then a full tang. The peened end means the handle can never pull off.

The direct casted handle is solid as possible. The only weak point in that whole knife is the hole in the tang for the pin in the guard. The tang is thick enough that it still retains enough meat to be no concern.

I have and use a few full tangs that are top of the line nice ones. In the winter, I find a full tang to be cold due to exposed steel. Simple remedy for that is 550 cord. This does 2 things, it makes the handle warm and increases the handles size for use with gloves.

Anything I say regarding knives is never to offend, btw, a used $9.95 survival knife beats a $300 dollar brand new one.

[Rick]

I agree, Winter. Especially since that $300 knife will remain in the store and I won't have it. Yeah, I'm cheap, I admit it.