Bushcraft knife tests?

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May 16, 2013
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what tests or tasks would you rcommend using to figure out what's a great bushcraft knife?

I'm thinking....

Try Stick
One Stick fire

What else would you recommend? Thanks
 
Yah that was a good thread...sad to see all the pics are dead now.

The evaluators did a really good job of putting each blade through its paces. I think there was another challenge like this later...can't remember, but I will look for the link.

If it helps the pics below are of Bruce Culberson's knife that won.

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I make a bow drill fire testing a knife. Also lots of shavings and just whittling to see how I like the handle .
 
One thing I will mention for those rookies who are looking at bushcraft knife reviews, consider what woods the tester is using, and what you will be encountering. While in North America you might not see a terrible amount of variation, internationally that is not the case. I'm still wondering what kind of bushcraft knife is up to the task of aussie hardwoods, but with new battery tech, I think it may be a cordless angle grinder! But in all seriousness, if you are going to be using a knife in a oak forest, but only read reviews from a guy who only cuts birch, it might not go so well.
 
I havent found anything that last any length of time agaisnt mulga , mallee or any decent seasoned hardwood here .. theres a really good reason that those woods were used by the Aborignals to make their wear weaponry .. you can put a decent cutting edge on the weapons made from them , and go kill each other very effectively .

I look for a knife thatll hold an edge when skinning stuff in sorta adverse conditions , like sheep / goat / roo thats been in a sandstorm .. not the stereotypical bushcraft test .. but a thing that I ran into a bit living in the bush was sand loaded pelts wrecking blade edges ..
Its nice if the geometry allows for stuff like feather sticks , or shredding tinder / kindling to make fire lighting easy .. but is also robust enough to allow for batoning .. not so much as in batoning to split sawn lumps of firewood .. but for tasks like getting witchety grubs out of tree trucks and roots .. I likes my treats :)
A good patina or just corrsion resistance is a bonus .. blood and water / fish muck have a way of making a blade mark up and rust .. not a biggie till it affects the actual cutting edge .. but then ts damned annoying ..
When bad things happen .. its a big big bonus to have an edge that deforms rather than chips out .. you can straighten an edge easy enough to make it useable again if it deforms ... but chips are a pita .. and not so easy to fix on the go .
To work out what *you* need .. youre likely going to have to go spend some time doing what you do ... and take note of what gives you problems , what works well , and go from there .. I know a lot of the usual blade tests are fun , but they dont tell me much about stuff I want to know or that applies to me and what I actually do .
 
Check out Dutch bushcraft knives. They have a lot of videos for testing bushcrafting.

Heres a funny one they did.

They will also destroy a knife tonight too. So stay tuned to tonight's episode.
 
You are right Myal Myal you do need to "Know thyself" when it comes to knowing what you are really going to put a knife through. All the destruction tests and feather stick videos don't mean much without context. I would not have even thought of a sand-paper roo as a consideration, but it certainly makes sense.
 
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