Backpacking knife

The Esse and the Buck 101, becker 10 and 16 will serve you just dandy.

But for a folder, there so many great options.

For light, I really dig Opinel folders.

Especially in the stainless... light sharp, slice well.


I have a SAK that I wear in a neck sheath that gets carried a bit. Heavier than an Opinel, but bottle opener/can opener is nice.
 
Right now, I'm using an ESEE Izula as my main cutting blade. Sometimes paired with a tiny MT like the SOG Powerpint or a small SAK.
 
Right now, I'm using an ESEE Izula as my main cutting blade. Sometimes paired with a tiny MT like the SOG Powerpint or a small SAK.
I wish I could carry my izula in the office. Iā€™m on an izula kick myself. One of the best designs out there, especially for under 100 bucks.
 
Realizing that this thread is months old, but for anyone else who's lurking.
Whatever you want. Think less about what you want for knives, and more about what about your current knives you would like to change. Don't buy a camping knife yet, get a trip or two in because of two very critical things.
Carry- lots of folders and lots of hiking pants do not play nice, and so you may find that you want to keep your pockets emptier. Sheaths that work day to day may not work with your pack. I've hiked in a lot of places where shoulder-strap carry is okay, and places where its really out of place. Plus, if its attached to your pack, you may find you have to keep walking to get your knife. Neck carry may, or may not be an option.
Weight. I did a trip where I ended up with an extra pound of steel. I didn't need it, I could have gotten away with far less, and worst, it didn't add to the experience. There is a limit to lighter always being better, but think about your total carry weight and what all you really need.

I've hiked with an opinel for food prep and a multi for everything else (skeletool cx) all the way up to ESEE RC-3 and a vic farmer. Really depends on what you need to use it for. I like the benchmade bugout, for a lightweight folder, and its currently the top candidate if I'm only going to take one knife in most cases. But I've also done a lot with a mora eldris, and wouldn't be worried if I found it was all I had. Know your skill level and goals, let the tool follow that.
 
I find that it's worth carrying a separate longer saw, such as the Backcountry Access saw, just because longer saws are infinitely more effective (every inch helps) when you need to clear a downed tree limb blocking the trail or build a fire.

I have a totally different experience. I find longer saws infinitely more difficult and cumbersome to use for those sorts of tasks. But we all have different experiences šŸ˜€
Depending on the tree, I often find it difficult to find room to ā€œfull strokeā€ a larger saw, because it ends up colliding with either other branches, or the ground. Larger saws also seem to take more effort to use.
I settled on a silky pocket boy (the name still makes me snigger) about 10 years ago. It has hundreds of short and vicious limbing missions under its belt, and despite a bent tip, it still performs like a champion.
 
I pulled the trigger awhile back, but now cause of the last few posts, I'm looking at bugoutsšŸ˜‚šŸ‘Š

I bought both. The mini Bugout is quite small for a normal manā€™s hand (I class myself as ā€œnormalā€, as is my privilege). The normal Bugout isnā€™t a large knife and the weight difference to the mini is negligible at 10g. To put that in perspective, you can save 500g of weight simply by visiting the toilet before your trek. A tablespoon of pee is 10g. So unless you are an ultra-lightweight gear enthusiast, donā€™t let anyone push you from Bugout to mini-Bugout because of ā€œweight savingsā€.
 
There's a lot of options for bags, one that a gentleman on BCUSA turned me onto was the karrimor sabre 35. It seems durable, reasonably priced, and smartly lain out. The weight is actually pretty respectable too. I received mine a week or two ago and I'm in the process of seeing what I can slip in there for an over-nighter. It's a little big for a daypack but not over-weight. I like it more than my kelty redwing 50. Picked up both used so that's always a big bonus.

That's a topic for another thread.

How are you finding your Sabre 35?
I was a big Karrimor fan for 20+ years but then my 4th one (about 10 years ago) didnā€™t seem to have the quality of the earlier offerings. The closure cord was noticeably thinner and started to fray quite quickly and didnā€™t run through the ā€œlocking thingā€ very smoothly. The rucksack material felt flimsier than earlier. One seam started to fray (but didnā€™t actually fail).
I moved to Tasmanian Tiger at that point for a day pack. I think the model was combat pack or something. But it has been better than perfect for many years.
 
When I backpack I carry a 4 inch fixed blade, whatever folder I normally EDC (one of several, lol) and a SAK. If you want to shave weight, the fixed blade and SAK will be fine.
 
How are you finding your Sabre 35?
I was a big Karrimor fan for 20+ years but then my 4th one (about 10 years ago) didnā€™t seem to have the quality of the earlier offerings. The closure cord was noticeably thinner and started to fray quite quickly and didnā€™t run through the ā€œlocking thingā€ very smoothly. The rucksack material felt flimsier than earlier. One seam started to fray (but didnā€™t actually fail).
I moved to Tasmanian Tiger at that point for a day pack. I think the model was combat pack or something. But it has been better than perfect for many years.

So far, no complaints. It hasn't made too many trips recently as we've started including my 9 month old on hikes so I'm touting the deuter child carrier now.

I like deuter's products if you can get past some of the flashier colors and weight. For more "modern" stylings, they've been really durable for for the 3 packs I have. Certainly not the same aesthetic as the karrimor though.

Right now, I have the sabre 35 kitted up with my hammock gear just to see if I could pull off a full weekend with it. We were supposed to have a 4-day camping trip this weekend with some day hikes but a medical emergency for one of the participants canceled our trip. Instead we've been doing shorter stuff around where I live but I have a lot of long weekends coming up (taking off 2 months of Fridays for day care) so I think me and the daughter are going to try a lot of day hikes while the older one is in preschool. If I get the nicer bike trailer out (burley with fat tires) on the trails, which worked surprisingly well if the trails are wide enough, I will have the karrimor with me. The kids seem to sleep better in the trailer than the child carrier. I'll have to see what trails I can ride as the heavy rains and storms this year washed out a lot of hills and knocked down a ton of trees.

Anyway, so far the pack has been good and everything feels solid. There are some oddities with the straps but I honestly can't remember what it was about them that annoyed me at the moment (need more coffee maybe). Maybe it was the lack of straps, daisy chains, or molle to attach much externally for me.
 
bikerector bikerector Possibly I just had one lemon. Iā€™m still using one old Karrimor (20 Jura) as a range bag and whilst it shows some wear, itā€™s held up really well.
I have heard great things about Deuter lighter-weight stuff but for some reason never actually bought any of their gear.
And wonderful to hear about you adventures. Bird season started here today, so spent a wonderful morning in the cool forest with a Lab and shotgun. No bag today, but thatā€™s not the main reason we go.
 
!0% tools , 90% knowledge ;)
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Good morning, peeps! I have a question regarding backpacking. I would like to start backpacking soon, and ofcourse this is a excuse to purchase another knife. I do own an esee 3hm, Dpx hest fixed, Buck 101, bk16, bk10, etc..
I might be packing more weight into your bag than you want, but essentially I will either bring my axe or I won't. There's always a; fixed blade, backup folder, and pocket saw. I'd strongly suggest bringing a small fixed blade on top of a folding knife. Of course, you're talking to someone who's been a dummy and got lost in the middle of winter, off trail, at night. I didn't plan my time well and when it got dark, there was some mild cloud cover/haze preventing me from seeing the mountain peaks to triangulate off of, and the rolling hills were killing my ability to walk straight. Long story short, I settled down, built a fire, then made a shelter.

So I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions for a small pocket knife, as I'm pretty new to the backpacking world.
The best folder for wood processing I've used so far is the ColdSteel FinnWolf. It's currently 35$.

So I was wondering about other knives that are around $100 or a little less, that people have had experiences with on their journeys, and how they liked them, as to give me some other ideas on some other knives, that I'm not thinking of. Did that even make sense? Lol! I hope you all understand what I'm trying to get at. Have a great day today as well
For making a fire, I'd highly recommend bringing a pocket saw. Either Bahco Laplander or a Silky variant (I haven't tried yet).

Edit; for grammar
 
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I might be packing more weight into your bag than you want, but essentially I will either bring my axe or I won't. There's always a; fixed blade, backup folder, and pocket saw. I'd strongly suggest bringing a small fixed blade on top of a folding knife. Of course, you're talking to someone who's been a dummy and got lost in the middle of winter, off trail, at night. I didn't plan my time well and when it got dark, there was some mild cloud cover/haze preventing me from seeing the mountain peaks to triangulate off of, and the rolling hills were killing my ability to walk straight. Long story short, I settled down, built a fire, then made a shelter.


The best folder for wood processing I've used so far is the ColdSteel FinnWolf. It's currently 35$.


For making a fire, I'd highly recommend bringing a pocket saw. Either Bahco Laplander or a Silky variant (I haven't tried yet).

Edit; for grammar
For silky saws, I have the silky Gomtaro 300 (11.25ā€ saw blade, 13 oz) and the silky pocketboy 130 (4.5ā€ saw blade, 6 oz). I prefer the Gomtaro for any wood thicker than a couple inches diameter.
 
i lived in northern sweden for 5 years and this Hultafors Craftsman was with me every day. i liked it more than any mora i had.
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now that i'm back in switzerland, i mostly hike above treeline, so i carry either a Vic Farmer X,a Vic paring knife or my Fred Perrin neck bowie.




+1 for the Silky Gomtaro. i bought a Gomtaro replacement blade, wrapped the handle with paracord and made a sheath from plastic and duct tape. weighs less than 3oz. can't beat that.

you can get the Gomtaro with a shorter blade.

 
now that i'm back in switzerland, i mostly hike above treeline, so i carry either a Vic Farmer X,a Vic paring knife or my Fred Perrin neck bowie.

Anything done above the treeline is usually offlimits of BF... as there is no need to carry hunks of steel and burn three cords of wood!!!!

I feel your pain. I usually wander well above treeline and I have way too many knives I end up not carrying up there because there is nothing to cut. A shovel is usually much more convenient.

Mikel
 
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