Most efficient blade shape for a big wilderness knife?

I would opt for a recurve design, with a little more weight forward for choping, with a choil for choking up on the larger blade...
 
Khukuri,my man. Slices,dices,hammers and chops, carries easy, excellent power to weight ratio,inexpensive,readily available in a variety of sizes/weights/blade thicknesses,most commonly recognized as a tool as opposed to a weapon by the constabulary.Will take most any limb(wood or flesh)in a single stroke.If I could have only one blade period no smaller knives or multi-tools or other survival gadgetry it would be a Kuk! hhhmmmmmmmm.......I wonder which one.
 
I am a big fan of the bowie, it stabs it chops it dices it slices
 
I have to cast my vote for the Khukuri also. Over the past couple of years I have acquired a dozen or so good khukuris. I have also had a chance to compare them to my big bowies and large recurved knives. The khukuri performs better in my opinion. It chops with far greater force than one would imagine. Chocking up onto the back of the blade you can use the belly of the blade for fine slicing and dicing in the kitchen. That same sweet spot, when swung properly will denude a tree of limbs in no time. One of my favorite Khukuris, made by HI is the YCS. It comes with two Karda (accessory knives) one is over 9" oal and the smaller is a little over 8"oal. Both of these knives are of recurve design and can perform any small task that you would find the Khukuri too large for. With this setup on your belt there is no task too great or too small to acomplish with ease. Have fun in your quest. Looking for the perfect blade is almost as much fun as using it once you've found it.
 
but right now I can't afford one and I just traded for a cleaver a 1/4" thick huge cleaver that works very well for me.

being broke doesn't mean I have to go without. all I got to do is make my leather sheath. that is my new survival blade. heavy a$$ cleaver. it is heavier than my hatchett.

but I have to say a khukri seems to have it all when it come to survival and multi-usage. skinning, chopping, defensive, draw blade. I will one day have one.
 
MDP, sounds like a classical question ;)
A quick answer for me would be: drop point or wide clip point. For a BIG knife, a very fine point (like Bagwell bowie) is neither required nor desired IMO. However, some point is good but less critical than for a small utility knife. Main use of the big knife would be chopping, splitting, probing, poking and some moderate digging. The wider blade could help to make the tip less fragile too.

HM
 
I consider a big blade 8" and over, that being said I like a fairly wide blade with spearpoint tip and a touch of recurve. I like the spearpoint to dig with as the point is centered. The way I use a knife a Kukri dosent work real well for me as an all around blade. It is harder to dig in the ground or wood with for things like shelter building, root digging etc.
 
Here are a few large wilderness blades :

http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/al_bolo_bm_pab_ak_side.jpg

First, is a 18" HI Ang Khola khukuri. This is the optimal profile for heavy wood work, felling and bucking wood. The drawback is that the wrist fatigue is high for light work, greatest of all the blades.

Second is a bolo owned by Andrew Lynch. This is the finest light duty wilderness blade I have ever handled. It excels at light vegetation, and is a simply excellent all around brush cleaning and limbing blade. It is one of the very few blades that I have had a chance to look at that I would actually want to keep. However, it does not do as well as the khukuri in felling and bucking wood suffering from a more neutral balance and a curvature that is not suited for large contact areas. The blade profile will glance if you are not careful, does bind easier than the khukuri and has about a 25% lower raw performance on small wood ~3" or so. The performance dip increases as the wood gets larger.

Last is a SHBM from Busse Combat. It fits right inbetween the first two knives. It is outperformed by both in their best classes, however it out chops the bolo on heavy work, and out classes the khukuri on light work. Its strength is its versatility, it is a great blade if you are doing a combination of light and heavy work. It is also by far the easiest blade to use for regular fine cutting work.

[The PAB (third blade from the top) suffers from too great a binding on large wood, and is too much knife for smaller brush. That profile with a full convex dual grind would be a strong performer though. Full flat grind would be interesting, however wedging could again be a problem.]

The point of the above is simply that the "best" blade depends on the vegetation it will be used on. The more heavy wood work, the more you will slant towards a khukuri (and then an axe if you go far enough), and the more really light vegetation, the more you will go towards a straight back machete.

It is the combinations of the profiles to try and make a blade that has the abilities that you want (enviroment dictated) that I find interesting. This was a custom I had made awhile ago to try to reduce some of the problems I had with Andrew's blade, basically try to merge it a bit more with a bowie :

http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/parrell_parang_side.jpg

I am still undecided about it, just have not done enough work with it yet.

In regards to digging with khukuris, they are commonly used as farm tools in nepal. You dig with them as you would a pick. Fine point work is problematic though, as the point is not inline with the handle, and the knives are really blade heavy.

-Cliff
 
I admit i dont know much about the other knives brought up in here, but i carry a CS recon(tanto) and it has worked well for me, I use it to chop, skin, pry, and a hundred other things, my husband and his friend used it to dismantle a refigerator, didnt hurt the knife.....
 
Folks,

Your thoughts have helped greatly to refine my ideas.

I like the looks of a straight clip point, but I think the ropped point may be a little better.

Thank you.
 
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