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

[Lamewolf]

The best survival knife I've found so far is my ESEE Laserstrike. While its not perfect for every task, I feel that it is a good simple design made of 1095 carbon steel with good solid handles, full tang, and 1/4 inch at the spine with a full flat grind. Again, its not perfect for every task, but I do believe I could denpend on this knife not to fail under very harsh conditions and I would turn to it in a heartbeat when the chips are down !

[Wildthang]

OMG I just found this on Amazon, and it's tactical too! Is this a gotta have it or what!

http://www.amazon.com/TAC-FORCE-POLI...es+fixed+blade

[hunter63]

What a find....need to order a dozen or so......

[Lamewolf]

I have a perfect survival knife !

The ESEE Laser strike:
LS.jpg

Is it the "perfect survival knife" ? No, but there is no such creature in existence - use whatever you feel comfortable with and be done with it !

(And I could survive with a 12" Bowie if need be)

[Rick]

Nah. It's not expensive enough to be perfect. If it cost double then it would be close.

[Enigma]

I have a perfect survival knife !

The ESEE Laser strike:
LS.jpg

Is it the "perfect survival knife" ? No, but there is no such creature in existence - use whatever you feel comfortable with and be done with it !

(And I could survive with a 12" Bowie if need be)

I got one of these off a mate, last weekend, and I am looking forward to trying it out. The fire starting kit in the handle is a nice touch. The 'feel' of how it sits in the hand is nice, but it'll be interesting how well the edge holds. I once tried a little Esee knife for skinning, as it came from the factory, and was quite dissapointed at how crap the edge held up before needing stropping , when skinning a goat. A flake of Obsidian held up way better.

[Wildthang]

If I had to choose one folding knife as the perfect survival knife, it would be the old classic Buck 110! It is big enough to quarter out a dear with ease, it is well made, locking mechanism is flawless, and it is a beautiful no frills knife.
I have one that is probably 30 years old and it works like new, holds a great edge, and feels like an old friend.
These knives can be had for around 38$ and are better than a lot of knives costing much more.
It is probably the most copied knife in existence and for good reason!

[SurvivalTips]

I like the SOG Seal Pup and Rat 5. Realistically in a survival situation you're mostly going to be using your knife for prying rather than cutting. I want something that I can pry my way out of a downed aircraft cockpit with.

[crashdive123]

I like the SOG Seal Pup and Rat 5. Realistically in a survival situation you're mostly going to be using your knife for prying rather than cutting. I want something that I can pry my way out of a downed aircraft cockpit with.

While I like (and own) both of the knives you listed, I really have to disagree with the rest of your statement. Out of the myriad of survival situations that we could all be thrust into at any time - unless you are a bush pilot, prying our way out of a downed aircraft is so far down on the list of possibilities that it doesn't even deserve consideration.

[Tokwan]

However, a note to ponder..I owned many knives, folding, hunting and survival...from MORA, Benchmade, EKA, Spyderco to Ontario....however, when does one carry one? To me, ..the best would be what you have at hand at that time, and it works...if it didn't...its not worth to be on you!

[hunter63]

I like the SOG Seal Pup and Rat 5. Realistically in a survival situation you're mostly going to be using your knife for prying rather than cutting. I want something that I can pry my way out of a downed aircraft cockpit with.

I guess it would depend what you are surviving?
Don't get into may aircraft cockpits......Most folks here spend more time in the woods and are interested in wilderness survival, not warcraft survival

Seems you have a different view....There are forums for that.

[Rick]

Why wouldn't you use an egress tool for getting out of downed aircraft? It's designed specifically for that and should be in the aircraft.

[kyratshooter]

All who have been in a downed aircraft raise your hand???

Now, everyone that has had to slice Spam, cut string, spread peanut butter, cut duct tape, open a tough plastic bag, whittle chopsticks, remove a splinter or scrape a fire steel raise you hand ???

The only real blade feature of a survival knife I insist on is that it be able to reach to bottom of the peanut butter jar!

[hunter63]

All who have been in a downed aircraft raise your hand???..........

Been in a upside down car, hanging by the belts.........Radio knobs are backwards....and it loud.
Was thinking...this is gonna hurt with I punch the button...hope it works.......so in that case a belt cutting tool/glass breaker may have been handy.
https://www.google.com/search?q=car+...ml%3B200%3B200
Aircraft...no so much.

[Lamewolf]

I got one of these off a mate, last weekend, and I am looking forward to trying it out. The fire starting kit in the handle is a nice touch. The 'feel' of how it sits in the hand is nice, but it'll be interesting how well the edge holds. I once tried a little Esee knife for skinning, as it came from the factory, and was quite dissapointed at how crap the edge held up before needing stropping , when skinning a goat. A flake of Obsidian held up way better.

I have both the Esee Laser Stike and the little Izula, and after a hard workout all I need to do to the edge is a minor stropping as the edges hold up really well on them. Your factory edge probably has a burr edge and needed a stropping before ever being used. In fact, no matter what brand of knife I'm using, the first thing I do to it when I get it out of the box is a good stropping to rid it of any burrs. After that the edge holds really well - even on a lot of the cheaper knives !

[finallyME]

The next time I am in a small aircraft, I will make sure and take a crow bar. They are much better at prying.

[Lamewolf]

I agree with Sarge, Mitch ... Super Post! And I do see your "point" (pun intended), about the cumbersome nature of a Bowie style knife. Having larger hands, myself, I still like carrying my USMC Ka-Bar. It wouldn't be the "only" knife I'd have, if I had my druthers. A 4-1/2 inch full tang fixed blade sheath knife of good carbon steel would be my second. Thanks for the great post! NorthWind

With all due respect for the Ka-bar and the USMC, I have torture tested a few knives through the years just to see what it took to make them fail. The USMC Ka-bar did not fair very well in my test as it broke right where the stick tang starts up into the handle ! Don't take me wrong, I love the old Ka-bar and still own one. But a $15 Mora clipper actually withstood more abuse than my old Ka-bar did. What made the Ka-bar fail was batonning wood and then twisting the knife to force the wood apart. The blade in the Mora just flexed a little. Then I beat the hell out of the little Mora's handle to see if it would break off and never did. It looked so bad when I got done I sawed the handle off just to save the blade for a rehandle project. Again, I really love my old Ka-bar, but the are other knives out there that I would be more confident in not failing when the chips are down. I don't consider the Mora a survival knife, its more of a wood carver,but my Esee Laserstrike is built like a tank and I would trust it completely not to fail !

[Lamewolf]

I like the SOG Seal Pup and Rat 5. Realistically in a survival situation you're mostly going to be using your knife for prying rather than cutting. I want something that I can pry my way out of a downed aircraft cockpit with.

I've been in survival situations before and the only things my knife did was to process wood for fire and shelter building to keep my butt warm which didn't require any prying. I was just stuck in the woods when a snow squall came so bad I couldn't see to navigate out. I had hiked in, so I didn't have to cut myself out of an aircraft. The knife I had at the time was a simple 4 inch bladed Case sheath knife and I used it to cut pine boughs to build a wind blind under a huge pine tree so I could keep dry and then use pine needles from under the tree and some deadwood to build a small fire until the storm was over. Cutting yourself out of a downed aircraft would be very important if you happen to still be alive and able to do so, but I don't think most of us will be in that situation.

[-FinnSurvivor-]

Personally I prefer Mora knives...Light weight,durable,keeps an edge pretty well,easy to sharpen and low cost.
My Mora HQ Robust cost 7.95 or 8.95 EUROS...thats like 15 dollars or so?
Only modification I had to do was to grind the spine a bit to get it working with my ferro rod.
It serves its purpose well enough...Someone might say it's not good for batoning,but it is...not for very thick wood but thats why theres the chainsaw and an axe

I have the impression that Moras are considered as a beginners knives?
Even though many many people use them...contruction workers,bushcract dudes etc.

Can anyone recommend a knife that has a similar quality vs. price ratio than Mora?

[MrFixIt]

I have the impression that Moras are considered as a beginners knives?
Even though many many people use them...contruction workers,bushcract dudes etc.

Can anyone recommend a knife that has a similar quality vs. price ratio than Mora?

I think that Mora knives are a gateway to higher end knives, but I like and use them.

Check out "Condor Tool and Knife". Nice stuff with an inexpensive price.