The General said:
Yes Cliff, clear knife use situation there.
Had I had one on me it would have been nicer than my fingers. Chas described the exact same situation where he had a knife (not water, but same mechanics) and he did have the knife and used it like I used my hand. Why don't you try implying he has no knife skills, it would be really amusing. Go on rec.knives and do so. It worked really well for the last guy.
I have been in many iffy situations where my tools did not fail me even though I was cold to the point where fire would stave off hypothermia and death.
Excellent. You were able to retain fine motor skills in a situation were the vast majority of people would not. That puts you in a very small minority. When exposed to extreme cold, for most people the body quickly shuts down blood flow to the limbs, with the fingers going almost immediately because the core body temp has to stay up. Your body will throw away, fingers, toes then feet hands, etc. quite rapidly to preserve the internal organs.
As an example, me and a group of friends were camping awhile back (long time back) and one of them was idiotic enough to go far out on a river where the ice level was far too thin. It cracked and he went for a swim, it was subzero. We were miles hiked inland, and didn't bring extra clothes and such (really young). What we did was get rid of his wet clothes in a hurry and swap off part of ours. Now however we were all starting to get cold fast having gotton wet getting him out and back to camp, and now only partially clothed ourselves, and it was cold out, like <-20 C ,and had to build a fire as by cold fast I mean starting to lose sensation already.
Once you go numb it isn't long after that frostbite sets in, so we had to get a fire in a hurry, so I set off getting tinder while the rest started gathering firewood and breaking it up. Now all of us grew up with axes and cutting firewood so we were far from ignorant of blade skill. But with numb fingers and a half frozen friend, and a heavy stress level, we leaned on the axes pretty hard and did things we would not do while spending saturday in the woods behind your house cutting some trees.
Yes, Busse builds his knives for extreme situations for extreme people. This doesn't mean just ignorant gorillas like you implied, but yeah they work well for them as I have first hand experience with my brother and his friends. Can I get by with lesser knives, yeah I have chopped, cut, split with everything from a fillet knife to a butter knife to learn how to make due with what I have. I also did it all without breaking the knives to. This does not mean that is what I would pick in those situations as my tool of choice or endorse them as survival knives.
I have a long puuko'ish knife that I have split wood with. All the wood I split with the Fehrman I could have used that other knife for. However it would have taken me a lot longer because the number of hits would have been much greater for each split, I would have had to split smaller sections, and completely ignore knots so chisel plank the sides around them. Now I ask myself, which of those knives would I rather have in a situation where I needed to split wood in a hurry. it isn't much of a debate for me.
Even beyond physical stress, just think of mental stress, imagine being so angry or scared or depressed that you lose focus. I have seen acts of physical exertion from really angry people that were hell for impressive. In ideal situations I can make due with just about anything however in extreme situations it isn't ideal, this is pretty much by defination so I will take a knife which can handle what I can dish out in a high stress situation in worse case senarios, not splitting clear cedar in the backyard, but busting a piece of knotty spruce with quickly numbing fingers.
Is this common? No. However it only needs to happen once for it to matter. I have a lifejacket on when I am out on the water. I have never have had to use it. Neither has anyone else I know, with familes on both sides being fisherman, none of them ever went overboard that I can remember. Does this mean I would not wear them, or would wear one that only worked if I was conscious and the seas were calm - no, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Doesn't matter how well you can swim either if you are knocked out or the seas hell for rough.
Beyond this, just go back to the basic principle. The more a knife can take, the more productive it is at heavier work. Yes you can cut, chop and spit with anything if you go light enough. Or you can get a knife which allows work at a much heavier load. This isn't a difficult concept. If you have a wheelbarrow to move crushstone, do you get one which is made from plastic and can carry a few gallons, or a big one made of steel which can hold what you can lift. One way you spend the entire day going back and forth, another way you finish in a half an hour.
Concrete does not burn so well in our parts...
Wow, that is really funny. I get it, you are referencing the fact that since I chopped a concrete block it would obviously make sense to imply that this is what I would use to burn in a wood stove. I'll have to ask Ray how it works for him, I usually use Pine and Spruce.
kbog said:
A scientific experiment does not use another experiment's data.
You guys who try to critize based on scientific method should be at least aware of some of the basic principles. You reference and even use other peoples data all the time as it is absolutely necessary to compare what you have found with what others have found in the same field and point out agreement or disagreement, this is one of the foundation points of research. You should even learn this in high school. You will get crucified if you don't do it at the college level, and laughed at if you try to publish work with out it. The first thing you do when you calculate anything is compare it to what is to be expected, see what someone else did. Data gets more meaningful when it is compared, the more information tabulated the stronger the inferences which can be made. Work is baised when there are no comparisons because making such comparisons destroys hype. Without it you are free to exaggerate claims and make tests sound impressive when in reality any knife could do them, and many would surpass it.
-Cliff
(that was a joke, of course)
