Choosing a Survival Knife

[Jonesy]

High Carbon steels such as 1095, O1, and 5160 will all make a useful knife. 154cm, D2, S30V, 3V, CPM 154, BG42, and various forged stainless and carbon steels, etc are all good steels for a knife. There are some I left out but these are fairly common knife steels. What makes each of these steels perform is the heat treatment process that gives balance to the ideal impact resistance and wear resistance desired for optimum performance of the individual steel. Poor heat treatment of expensive CPM steel will give you a bad blade. You get the idea. The proper heat treat process is really the foundation of a good blade.

Handle
The handle shape and material are important to me. I want to be able to have a lanyard. The handle material should allow me to retain my grip if the handle is wet or covered in blood. If my hand should slide forward there should be a guard system of some sort so I am not easily able to slide onto the sharpened edge and cut myself. You may also want to be able to easily tether the handle to a large stick?

Blade
I prefer a hollow ground blade 6-8 inches long and approx 2 inches wide. Some prefer a flat ground blade. Both styles are very serviceable. Grinds I would avoid are the single sided grinds. They cut directionally and the edge becomes thick after use and a few sharpening sessions. Steel thickness of 3/16" is ideal for me. A profile of semi spear point is my ideal shape. While serrations are not for me it is a matter of preference to the user.

Sheath
The sheath needs a secure retention system both for the blade and the belt. I prefer Kydex or Concealex for the sheath material. It is all weather, durable and easily configurable to different carry styles and retention systems.


If sharpening in the field is important then make sure you have what you need with you. A stone, ceramic rod, diamond hone etc just make sure it works on your knife. A stone on a knife of CPM 3V at 60 Rockwell C is not going to get the job done like it will on a blade of 1095 at 58 Rockwell C. Get the right sharpener for the field and figure it out before you need it. Over compensating for a dull knife really will get you hurt faster than a sharp one.

[BigB]

I have been through a few blades, but these days I only carry knives based on what I mostly do, hunt and fish. I admit to being one of those guys that would buy a certain knife and say "I can chop down a small tree, build a shelter, clean a deer, squirrel, and a fish, and handle all camp chores with one knife." But I than realized I dont really do stuff that requires that. What I mean is, my hunting is done on private land, with others, where we all have radios and so forth so theres no chance of me gettin stuck in the woods alone. I fish in a river thats got a lot of boaters and I always have a gps, cell phone plus a boat full of gear. So what Im saying is that unless you plan to hike and camp with nothing BUT a knife, buy what you'll get the most use out of.
Oh, one last thing, Like Jonesy said, make sure you have a sharpening method in the field. Ive found my knives are to my liking for for no more than 1 deer, and I ve gotten into situations where I need to do more than one in an outing without going back to camp so a nice field sharpening setup is something I always have when big game hunting.

[Rick]

"No chance" is a pretty risky attitude. Just sayin'...

[BigB]

Rick, I get what ur saying, I should clarify, my dad and I only own 25 acres which we hunt. If I cant find camp, ive got bigger problems than which knife I took.

[canid]

hahaha! that puts things into perspective.

[COUESAZ]

I like my combo of the North star by Bark River and my SAK. they seem to be good for what i do. The North Star is a great bush craft knife with the spear point shape. The sak is great for what ever you need it for. Out of all my sheath knives that is the one that always finds its way on my hip.

[Rick]

Hey, Couesaz. Why not cut bush whack your way over to our Introductions section and tell us a little about yourself?

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=7813

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Stainless doesn't throw sparks at all.

So would I. But he's right. Carbon throws sparks.

Love that knife. Super comfortable, takes all the abuse I can throw at it, stays sharp, and carves nice big fat sparks off my fire steel every day, lighting my cook fire on the first or at most, second swipe.

Just reading through this and wanted to maybe help with a misconception/misunderstanding.... a FIRE STEEL can throw sparks with both Carbon steel AND Stainless steel knives.... there are some who have even gotten sparks with a piece of broken glass using a FIRE STEEL. I think everyone was thinking Flint as opposed to fire steel. Had it been about FLINT I would have had to agree with both CS and Rick. I too can get sparks with a fire steel and stainless. If you want I can even do a short video using my SAK and the Fire steel I got from SafeZoneLLC, or even other Fire steels as I have several.

[JPGreco]

a new type of steel called "carbon steel"

This comment made me laugh. I guess something that has been used for a few thousand years is still considered new huh?

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

This comment made me laugh. I guess something that has been used for a few thousand years is still considered new huh?

Yeah I saw that too. Comment was made by a younger member. They'll get it figured out.

[shiftyer1]

I also like that newfangleld carbon steel stuff. And i'll also go with the older kabar.
As far as the spec plus by ontario, I just gave the one i've owned for 15 years or so to my 15 year old son for his birthday. It's a good knife also. It would be nice if the kabar had the rubber grip of the spec.