So You're Looking For The Best Survival Knife... What Do You Do?

Bark River Bravo-1
Rat Cutlery RC-4

My 2cents

-JRJ

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Originally Posted by Lost Lebowski

As a "NEWBIE" I must apologize to Beowolf who earlier took umbrage to some of my comments regarding bladecraft. I'm impressed by some of your comments. I would suggest everyone buy the best blade they can afford. Buck makes great knives that are relatively inexpensive. Benchmade in my opinion is a better knife but you also pay more. A strong locking folder is as functional in many cases and plenty strong for bushcraft. I personally like fixed blades in the woods. In a truly unexpected survival situatiion I would fall to my knees and thank god if I have ANY knife at all...or I'd just flint knapp a crude blade i CAN GET AWAY WITH. My favorite knife (and I have a whole drawer filled with all kinds some crap some custom works of art) is the Fallkniven f1.

Beo...I like the picture I have a beautiful custom bowie forged from an old nicholsen file ( D2?) with a whitetail handle and a 10" blade you would absolutely fall in love with. The back of the blade has a tooled spine in a pheasant feather pattern and the handle has a nise curve to it that falls into your palm perfectly. I recently moved so once I set up my computer I'll post a picture for you. Its a little too big for my purposes. I backpack a lot. It's actually a little lighter than my fallkniven but too bulky to fit under my pack's hip belt and it has a full hilt though it does not protrude anteriorly any more than the half hilt in your photo. ( the hilt has dovetailed inlays of copper and brass and is stainless. If you are interested I'd consider selling it fairly cheap, though it was an expensive custom (think I paid $375)

Also in general hollow handle knives are poor quality but Chris reeve makes some from one solid piece of steel he machines they are boku expensive though like 3-400 bucks! My 2 cents is you cannot pack a good survival kit into the handle of a knife so make a nice little one in a stuff sack and carry a good strong knife you are skilled with.

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The coldsteel bushman has a hollow handel i think, It is made of one piece of carbon steel (It might be stainless though) and costs alot less than that, I suggest you take a look at it.

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Originally Posted by Tony uk

The coldsteel bushman has a hollow handel i think, It is made of one piece of carbon steel (It might be stainless though) and costs alot less than that, I suggest you take a look at it.

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You are right, the bushman is made from a single sheet of metal (I don't know if it's carbon or stainless either), with the handle rolled to form a hollow. There is certainly more room in the bushman handle than in a cheap-o rambo "survival" knife but I wouldn't store my emergency items in my knife.

I reviewed the Bushman and I certainly did not like the bowie edition. It was just too large to accomplish anything but whacking. It was too thin to baton effectively and couldn't pry. It did, however, a better job at cutting off a frozen tinder fungus from a birch than my SRK, lol. I hear there's a non-bowie edition and I think that would be a better buy.

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Originally Posted by mitch.chesney

You are right, the bushman is made from a single sheet of metal (I don't know if it's carbon or stainless either), with the handle rolled to form a hollow. There is certainly more room in the bushman handle than in a cheap-o rambo "survival" knife but I wouldn't store my emergency items in my knife.

I reviewed the Bushman and I certainly did not like the bowie edition. It was just too large to accomplish anything but whacking. It was too thin to baton effectively and couldn't pry. It did, however, a better job at cutting off a frozen tinder fungus from a birch than my SRK, lol. I hear there's a non-bowie edition and I think that would be a better buy.

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On their site there is the non-bowie one for sale, http://www.coldsteel.com/fixed-blades-bushman.html

Its high carbon steel, Looks very good :D

Does anyone have a Christy knife in their survival kit?

http://christycompany.net/ChristyBro....20.07-web.pdf

Or the Stanley folder?

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...Id=24752912533

Never used a stanley blade in the bush, got a few at home tho

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Originally Posted by Sarge47

I have both the Vanguard and the 120/Buck General. The General is the longer version of the 119. I gave MY 119 to my younger son, who really likes it, BTW
I view both the 119, 120, and Ka-Bar as good all-around "hunting knives". But the balance on the Buck VG is great and it makes a great "Survival" knife.:cool:

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i agree - this was my first hunting knife 11 years ago and i still use it frequently. great knife - holds a great edge and does everything ive ever asked of it.

i curently have the cold steel srk that seemed to take a few weeks of consistant stone work to get a good razor edge that i can apreciate. but once done it has worked well. and the cydex sheath has worked great to add 550 paracord wrap around it. i also had an old multi tool sheath laying around that zip tied on to and fit great to the outside - thus storing a few comon use stand bys such as small bick lighter, small magnesium/steel fire starter, light, and smaller folding knife.

as a few have said on this thread my main survival knife has to be my kershaw scallion. not because it is the best by anymeans but because it is always with me from the time i put my pants on in the morning until they come off at night.

I've been looking into the 3 7/8" and 4" Frosts Mora knives, laminated steel, over the past week. Mors Kochanski swears by them so I figure I'd spend the $16 and try one out. Yes you heard me right, $17 for a knife that the bush craft legend swears by. There's a video of him somewhere pounding the knife into a tree, up the to hilt, and prying it back and forth across the trunk, eventually cutting a 10-12" tree right in half! Likewise he's always seen doing bush craft with his Mora be it shelter construction, skinning, crafting (bows, spears, baskets), etc. Might be something to look into if you're not ready to spend $100 on a knife yet :)

Several people on the forum have them. Some have posted their pictures.

The Mora's are being a little tricky in my research, however, so I hope some members can enlighten me with their experience. The difference between the laminated steel and the carbon steel, from what I have gathered, is the former is harder (60), more flexible, but more brittle on abrasive materials. The latter is somewhat softer (57-58), holds an edge better, but does not bend (could be an issue with such a thin knife). So I'm a little lost between the two choices. I think I'll settle on the S-1, seems like the traditional, tried-and-true, knife but I don't know if I want laminated or carbon.

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Originally Posted by Nativedude

First off. . .Welcome to the insanity Scott!

The Frost Mora model S1 i a great survival knife. Cost is around $18. They hold an incredible edge, are big enough to handle all you will need it fr in the wilds, yet are small enough to keep you out of trouble with the law and the anti-knife zealots (it won't scare them into oblivion)!

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...mora03_jpg.jpg

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Mitch - here's some info from Nativedude from post #27 of this thread.

Thanks. I found out I was looking at some off-brand site selling the S1 in carbon or laminated versions. After checking the official site, I see they only come in laminated, so I'm going that route. :)

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Originally Posted by mitch.chesney

I've been looking into the 3 7/8" and 4" Frosts Mora knives, laminated steel, over the past week. Mors Kochanski swears by them so I figure I'd spend the $16 and try one out. Yes you heard me right, $17 for a knife that the bush craft legend swears by. There's a video of him somewhere pounding the knife into a tree, up the to hilt, and prying it back and forth across the trunk, eventually cutting a 10-12" tree right in half! Likewise he's always seen doing bush craft with his Mora be it shelter construction, skinning, crafting (bows, spears, baskets), etc. Might be something to look into if you're not ready to spend $100 on a knife yet :)

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if your willing to part with around $300 cold steel has come out with a finn blade with the san mi III stainless steel.

if your only willing to pay $10-$20 cold steel also has an in expensinve version with stainless steel and zytel handle. check on ebay under cold steel, i think its either under finn bear sisu and one i just looked up was 10.99 buy it now with 5.95 shipping.

so far i havn't seen anything bad come out of cold steel. i havn't owned anything from frost but i also havn't heard much good about them either.

I have a couple of CS products and I haven't been too happy with them. A machete I got from them warped out of place while I was using so that it can't be straightened. The metal on the riflemans hawk I got seems too soft, and the hammer poll on my friend's riflemans hawk broke off while he was chopping (not hammering). There has been a comparitiive review of a Mora and a CS Finn Bear. The Mora out performed the Finn Bear hands down. http://http://www.bladeforums.com/fo...mora+finn+bear

Daniel

$300 is ridiculous to pay for a knife, unless it's a lightsabre...

even then, you'd better look for sales.

i've gotten every fine knife i've needed for $10-20. though admittedly i've paid more form many i didn't.

You say you're looking for a survival knife? I think that this may be a flaw. I think you should be looking for survival "knives," meaning plural. Yes, one can survive with a single knife, but wouldn't it be much easier to have a couple? A lot of people use a trio of blades when out and about in the woods. A chopper for cutting down trees for shelter/fire, a smaller fixed blade for general cutting, and yet a smaller knife (fixed or folding) for fine delicate tasks. I would like to carry a HI khukuri or a tomahawk for my chopper, a mora for general knife usage and some delicate work, and a multi-tool for whatever (blade for food prep, scissors for skinning game, saw for knocks or cutting small limbs). With one survival knife, if it fails, you have no blade. When it comes to survival, it's always good to have a back-up.

Daniel

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Originally Posted by RangerXanatos

You say you're looking for a survival knife? I think that this may be a flaw. I think you should be looking for survival "knives," meaning plural.

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I'm not insulting your philosophy, but I giggle a little inside when I see people carrying multiple knives on the trail. I agree it's better to carry a chopper if you intend to chop, but then why a kukri instead of a small felling axe? Kukri's are meant to be your general purpose knife with a chopping function. If you are carrying a mora and multitool as well, carry an axe instead.

I mention a Khukuri just because I recently got one and love it. :D But some people feel that they out chop hatchet and the like, I haven't gotten mine to the edge I feel sufficient with so I don't know for myself yet. Yes, khukuris are meant to be a general purpose knife, but with them being so big, it's much easier just to carry a small, lighter knife for many of the tasks. On the trail, such as day hikes, I really don't see the need for choppers, so no, I would even think about carrying anything that big (kuhk/t-hawk/ax) with me. But I'm thinking about "surviving" in the wilderness. Something that may take a couple of days or more. Then I'd want something like that trio, whether it's a khuk or a felling ax as my chopper. Hope to have cleared any confusion.

Daniel

Here are a few of my Favorites :D
Ontario TAK (4" blade)
[IMG]http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c.../KNIFEROCK.jpg[/IMG]
Here are some of my favorites that I choose from when I go out :D
[IMG]http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...r05/Blades.jpg[/IMG]