At this point and time I'm in different places . I've read and tried all popular thoughts , my latest trend know is the Kukri blade . I'm sorting out what or whatnot I think would better serve my needs in the event of a survival scenario . My first was a AOEF which was purchased solely based on price because I didn't know if I would appreciate the Kukri style of blades . It was less than was impressive to say the least . Thick edge that just bounced of most targets and terrible handle IMHO .
My second is a Panawal Angkhola Farmer , great out the box other than removing the burr it was ready for hard work and confidence inspiring and proved it's worth quickly with my limited experience with the Kukri . But I am working with the AOEF again , I've had the edge thinned a great deal and reshaped the handle dramatically to my preference and am finding that I must have prefer the less dramatic curve of this blade along with slightly thinner 3/8 thick spine . Which is in my opinion more than I'll ever need for large knife task in a woodland scenario . Now in an urban environment I still put my money on my BK2 . And this I can say with extensive experience I have pryed open doors , stabbed through them and used the pommel to slowly but surely break through masonry walls . Was it easy ? Nope but it did it with no damage that would make the tool unserviceable . But if it was easy I wouldn't be a survival scenario would it .
In the less curved near Kukri style, there is the Ontario SP-52 or 53, which are called "bolo" style I think...
I don't quite get how all the sub 9" blades are supposed to be "Survival Knives" either, since the main and fastest threat is hardly starving at all, but exposure... Exposure can be fatal in minutes, while starvation takes 2-3 weeks...
I guess the minimal assumption, with all of those small knives, is that a folding saw or hatchet is brought along, but then I don't understand how the knife deserve the "survival" label at all, as it then becomes only a complementary component of a "Survival Kit"...
With a competent thin-edged hollow grind (0.020 to 0.030" at the edge shoulders, the lower end being marginal in toughness but good enough, and typical of what you find on the hollow ground Randall Model 12 for instance), a big blade can still do some fine tasks, and be somewhat more than a weirdly shaped ax... The biggest problem I have found when chopping wood with a fine knife edge (say 15 dps on 0.025" shoulders) is the involuntary sideway motion when pulling the blade out: This can twist and damage a fine edge that survives perfectly intact the initial chop, but not the involuntary twisting of the pulling out motion...
Deep hollow grinds with low sabre grinds tend to protect the edge, because any side movements is resisted by the rapidly expanding blade thickness (unlike with a Full Flat Grind), and when deeply buried, any side movement also makes the hollow grind "pull" the edge out its initial vulnerable wood-pinched position, avoiding apex damage even at fine edge angles: Full flat Grinds with fine edges tend to be more vulnerable, as the edge is more "exposed" to the involuntary "twisting" of pulling-out motion, which in this case does not "unstick" the edge but instead
bends the vulnerable edge apex: Full Flat Grinds do perform slightly better as choppers, and
especially are
much lighter than a comparable low sabre hollow grind, so it is a bit of a quandary: In a similar 10" chopping blade, do you prefer a feather-light 17 ounces (but more twist-vulnerable) Full Flat Grind, or a less efficient but more burly 21-25 ounces low sabre hollow grind, both with similarly fine edges?
My high-sabre hollow ground Randall Model 12 has a very slight "swell" just above the V-edge bevel, which seems to make the edge invulnerable to chopping/"twisting out" damage, despite the edge being still thin at under 0.025" at the shoulders. The knife is only slightly over 20 ounces (once the hugely oversized "Commando" handle was severely ground down into something useable), and overall it seems close to the best possible compromise. I feel the 8.9" blade is on the short side however, but this knife is certainly a good try at something I consider close to ideal; combining chopping with fine edge cutting ability.
Gaston