camp knife vs survival knife vs hunting knife

[22-rimfire]

I never saw much into carrying a knife for chopping wood. I camp sometimes in very remote country in Alberta in a wall tent with a space heater burning spruce and recently replaced my Coleman naphtha stove with a Coleman propane burning the small bottles. I usually get dropped off for a week with an Argo or Quad with a little trailer for my gear. For firewood I bring along an ax and a hatchet and a small Stihl chainsaw. The Stihl to cut a dead tree and sawing it in sections the ax for splitting and the hatchet for various and sundry rough cutting I do not want to dull my hunting knife on, the back of the hatchet is used as a hammer. I do not feather stick, I spray fly dope on wood, birchbark and lichen and then lighten it. It then burns even when wet
For eating and cooking in camp, I usually carry a few kitchen knives.
The Barkriver drop point Hunter or Puukko with an approximate 4 inch blade is what I carry on my belt, for field dressing deer or moose, cutting sausage, bread, peeling fruit etc while out hunting or fine cutting chores in camp. I carry a small loaded strop with me for sharpening touch ups.
my hunting knife would double as a survival knife if needed to be, In case I get lost. I could build a leanto with it, spruce boughs for a bed and a variety of cutting chores. For firewood we always use dead spruce branches most of it lying around or ready to break of from the tree. Never saw need or desire for batonning a knife as it is called. Birchbark and dry tree lichens to lighten the fire. O well, I just do as the Stoney and Slave Indians do here.
As you guess I Do not do wood crafting for the sake of it. Camping must be comfortable,efficient and easy for me, so I can after a comfortable nights sleep and a hearty breakfast spend the better part of the day out hunting.

I like your form of camping. Sounds really fun. The Stihl comment fits my general approach although I still often camp in state parks and cranking up a chain saw is a bit of a problem due to the general disturbance and appearances primarily. This is for the most part car camping and I often carry a cross cut saw for the big cutting tasks and frankly it is mostly for fun and having a nice pile of wood for my use and often for the next camper who finds my wood after I leave.

I used a Case jack knife for many years for everything.... hunting, hiking, camping, and "survival". It always worked. It wasn't until I watched the Rambo movies that the concept of a survival knife ever came up. My survival knife was the one usually in my pocket and later both in my pocket and on my belt (fixed blade). Frankly I seldom use a fixed blade in the woods for anything but since about 1980-1985, I usually had one with me. The point is that for most of us, we aren't chopping trees down with our knives to build shelters, cutting our way out of an aircraft, needing to do any chopping with a knife what so ever, fighting off bears and mountain lions, or people with knives. But we do stuff because we like to do stuff in the woods camping, "surviving", hunting, cutting branches or trees, cutting a stake and so forth. It is mostly for the fun of it, but you DO NEED a knife if you want to efficiently cut anything. Yeah, I know... hatchets, axes etc.

I think survival knives pretty much were developed from diving knives which need to be pointy for "attacking sharks", prying open an oyster, prying anything at depth, cleaning large fish, and general cutting. One of my early "survival knives" was in fact a Randall Model 15 (Air crewman I believe in stainless) which to this day find to be a really cool. After I got it, it was the knife I would head for the woods in a SHTF situation that in most cases will never happen for me. But I like the knife and that is what's important for me. There have been many large knives since, but the Randall still makes me wow at it when I handle it.

A hunting knife is just a sharp knife to me that is fairly nimble in the hand for cutting flesh or hide. Big knives (like 7" blades) will work but are not nimble. A 5" blade is pretty much my limit for hunting and only would carry that large of a knife to straddle the multiple use category in the woods/field.

Camp knives..... I think of the classic Hudson Bay design. But if you are back packing (carrying everything), I question whether or not I want to actually carry such a knife for such limited use. But if you are camping out of a boat (canoe or whatever) or from a jeep or ATV, by all means carry the thing. Take a chainsaw, large saw, axe, hatchet or machete too. But always have the folder in your pocket in case you find yourself separated from your "supplies" or other resources.

 

[cut it out]

Wow. Lot to read. For me at the cabin I use a 7-11" blade a lot. Limbing and splitting kindling and food prep. But I also use a small fixed blade or pocket knife too. Cutting rope and making cooking sticks for hot dogs and marshmallows and what not. For Edc I always have a pocket knife and a small stout belt knife or stout neck knife. Like Bk 14 or a izula or a Busse mean street or active duty. And I believe my shtf knife is what I have on me so at least I will have a small stout fixed blade and folder and no I can get by. Let's be honest if we new we were gonna be surviving we would always have are bigger belt knife on us ready to go. But realistically we can't. Hunting in the area I do 8000 acres plus it's very possible I might have to survive a day or 2 so my hunting knife must be able to handle shelter making and alike but again I always have my pocket knife to so I always have at least 2 knives and for me between the 2 I know I can "survive" until I get help or the storm passes. Fun thread but like a lot have said everyone will have differant views and skill levels.

 

[Mrbladedude]

My camp knife splits wood and chops down limbs used to baton with. It's a 6 inch, .188 inches thick drop point blade.

I would take this knife in a survival situation any day. So for me, they are essentially the same thing.

 

[h minus]

If I'm strictly hunting I use a 4-5 inch drop point. A Buck Vanguard to be exact. For camping, canoeing, fishing, hiking/backpacking a Kabar USMC that is always paired with a Swiss army knife in my pocket is all I've used in the last 34 years. I don't baton firewood, so the USMC F/U design suffices for all my needs in my specific geographical location.

 

[DrPenguin]

Interesting thread. Shows how out of step I am.

I guess I just don't need as much knife as a lot of folks. My camp, survival knife if whatever I have in my pocket. It's usually my jack knife. 3 1/2 inches and 1095 steel. Maybe a pen knife. Same size. Hunting? I have a Bark River Highlands and you know what? I love the knife but wish it was smaller. I liked the little Frontier First knife that Battle Horse used to make. I've gotten a lot of good out of the BR but it seems like quite a lot of length for the deer it field dresses each year...

Maybe I need to shoot larger deer lol?

Will

 

[Joezilla]

The fur trade knives up here ranged from what we would call a large folder today, up through 6-9 inch knives. So there was variation even back then. And of course they went nowhere without an axe or hatchet, particularly a hatchet. But those folks lived by their tools, I don't, and an Izula 2 is usually plenty enough for most of my needs, with a hatchet if I feel like lugging it. Ok, I lied. I have knives of all sizes up the ying yang, and Lord knows what I'll be lugging from one day to the next. I also admit a soft spot for my TKC handled ESEE 4.

VERY cool photos and bridge to context

 

[ROCK6]

If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that folks have different perceptions of what is required from a knife for any given scenario.

Talk about a necro-thread! It’s amazing that topics from 16 years ago are still easily debated with differing opinions.

Perceptions reflect those differences and everybody conjures up scenarios or their own experiences to validate them. We have a whole market developed to design niche blades for every scenario under the market:

EDC
Bird & Trout
Small game hunting knife
Big game hunting knife
Survival knife (swamps, jungles, mountains, deciduous, boreal, desert, canyon/high-desert, costal…)
Bushcraft knife
Woodcraft knife
Combat knife
Combat-Survival knife
Camp knife
Backpacking knife
Primitive camping knife
And on, and on, and on…

I’m just as guilty as most. I do have a dedicated hunting knife (Dozier) that’s been my mainstay over the past decade or so. However, I’ve pretty much settled on the smaller fixed blade as my do-all knife. Whether it’s one of my custom Ed Martin knives or my modified Mora 511 (pseudo 510) that is permanently attached to my ULA Circuit pack for distance backpacking. These are my camp, survival, whatever-needed blades…design limitations acknowledged.

As another Ron Hood follower from the past, I truly love the large knives even though they don’t get much use unless it’s a specific outing of practicing primitive skills. Even then, I still find the ubiquitous SAK (most often the old Rucksack or Farmer models) a go-to for outdoors activities and used for the majority of my camp-chores.

Nice blade from the past…the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same!

ROCK6

 

[bestbushcraft]

I think of them like this:
Camp knife: a large 8" + knife suitable for
everything from slicing steaks off a deer
to chopping/splintering up wood for the campfire. When I visualize "camp knife" I
envision a large chef's knife or even a
10" machete like some of Livesley's products.

Survival knife: a generic 5-7" knife that will do most anything adequately and be nearly indestructible. Easy to sharpen and
usable for self-defense or even primitive
hunting as a spearhead. Randall model 15's
and 18's and Kabar's come to mind.

Hunting knife: any drop point knife with a
blade length of 3-5". When I visualize "hunting knife" I think of an Ontario leather
handled Quartermaster model or a Loveless DP

 

[Rick Marchand]

Ha!... this thread was revived from 2000, in 2015... then again in 2021. I'll see you folks in 2030?

I realize you are new. Just a reminder that you cannot link to a personal website, without a paid membership

 

[Currawong]

Plus that post is literally just a copy-paste of the second comment in this thread.

 

[jmh33]

 

[scdub]

Plus that post is literally just a copy-paste of the second comment in this thread.

Good catch Currawong! I thought I recognized the wording too but figured I must have started reading the last page first.

Quite the mystery we’ve got here gang!

Is bestbushcraft really gorm in disguise?

Gorm hasn’t been seen for years - was foul play involved?

Who is the illusive DP?????

 

[scdub]

I’m gonna like the post and see if anything happens..

 

[C_Claycomb]

I would bet that "bestbushcraft" is actually from Gujarat, or maybe Hanoi, and has about as much interest in bushcraft as most of us have in crochet doilies. Evidence, well, none here, but if it quacks like a duck...and experience as a moderator on another forum makes me very suspicious of young members posting on really old threads with copy/paste or otherwise low effort inane posts. Copy-paste stands a better chance of getting past a forum's manual moderator approval of new members' posts than someone trying fake interest or competence, and so many places employ manual approval now, guess it could be SOP for spammers first few posts.

Funny, Hoodoo used to moderate for the same forum I do.