Recommendation? Christmas help with a Survival knife

Danke42 said:
So with added info that it's for a kid I would say buy that nice $100 knife and pack it away.

Give him a Mora fixed blade to start out with and become seasoned on.

When he can use the more without wrecking it pull out the good one as a reward.
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He's been taking good care of a old one of mine ive been testing him with I want to surprise him with a nicer one for Christmas :)
 
Thought... instead of a "bushcamp" knife, how about a nice edc fixed blade in D2 with a very nice leather sheath, that will serve him well in 95% of all his knife needed chores every day, not just "bushcrafting", (incl. gutting and skinning)...

Coupled WITH a dedicated 1095 chopper for when he's actually in the bush...

Both w/ sheath for the machete are just over your $100 mark

Throw in a small dual sided coarse/fine DMT diamond sharpener as a stocking stuffer to help keep that D2 edge (as well as others) serviceable, and it's an all around usa made "survival kit" for $145

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If I'm in a survival situation in, say, the Rockies and need to build a shelter I'll be looking for deadfall (I've never spent any time in Rockies really so I don't know what it's like, but I do know that in the Sierras if I'm below the tree line I can find deadfall). What I can't do with deadfall I can easily cut with something smallish (pine boughs and saplings). If I can't find deadfall because there's too much snow and I need a shelter, I'm going to build a snow shelter. If I need to burn a large log for warmth I can create a fire with smaller stuff and feed the log in, but my preference is to find nothing larger than wrist thick so it's easy to carry back and easy to break apart between two rocks or two trees. If we're talking really long term here, I'd have an easier time cleaning fish and game with something smaller than a junglas and I can make a stone axe (which may or may not be better at chopping down trees that something like a junglas).

I'm looking at this from a "my plane crashed and I somehow fell out of it with nothing by my knife and need to survive the night so I can improve my situation tomorrow" standpoint. Or maybe from a "I'm out hunting and my pack, rifle, and everything else but my knife just slid down a cliff and weather is coming in fast and it's going to be well below freezing tonight" standpoint. I'm NOT looking at this from a "I've decided to take nothing buy my knife and start a new life out in the woods right now" standpoint.

To each their own, I think the SRK fits the bill (along with a lot of other stout 6ish inch bladed knives). I like big knives, but I don't like carrying them.

I mean, don't they teach SERE school with some sort of 5 inch pilot survival knife anymore?
 
Well, I'll also say that SRK is the way to go IMO. Eventually Bushman, which is really a Bushcraft blade.

As good as Moras are, I'd wish to have something beefier in case I'm really in survival situation, Mora is more of a just bushcraft knife, yes in real survival any knife would come handy, but SRK still has size advantage.

Also, deep down we all know that in the Christmas morning, most of us would have bigger smile unboxing big old SRK instead of Mora, especially at his son's age.
 
S Smiling , have him unbox the SRK and put the Mora in his stocking. Sounds like he is learning skills that will do him well when going to the woods, and when and if a situation happens, the skills learned and practiced will be his biggest asset.
 
I would go with a Becker bk9 and include a good survival/bushcraft book.

Kids that age expect survival knives to come in heroic sized. The Becker would meet his expectations and he is young and likely strong enough to get plenty of use from it; and the book should suggest a number of projects for him.

n2s
 
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not2sharp said:
I would go with a Becker bk9 and include a good survival/bushcraft book.

Kids that age expect survival knives to come in heroic sized. The Becker would meet his expectations and he is young and likely strong enough to get plenty of use from it; and the book should suggest a number of projects for him.

n2s
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Any book suggestions? He loves reading he reads for at least a couple hours a day more on rainy days
 
gerber Strongarm. It will do all around knife stuff well and is sturdy enough for a teenage boy/man to not hurt. 65 bucks
Add a folding corona pruning saw 20 bucks
Lansky blade medic 10 bucks

Send him to the woods.
 
The best "survivlal knife" is the one you have with you.

A (alleged) "bushcraft" or "survival" "specific" knife, no matter how "good" it is, won't do you a lick of good when you are afield and it is home.

I carry a Buck 110 and a couple slipjoints all day, every day.
Any one of which is more than capable of performing any "bushcraft" task, including building a shelter.

Remember: Finesse beats brute force 100% of the time, and is a lot easier on your tools.

If you are in an "emergency" situation and you break your knife Batoning fire wood, what you gonna do? You ain't gonna be able to run over to the store and buy a replacement. If you could/can, then you are not in an "emergency" situation.

For most folks (but not all) these days the closest they come to "wilderness" is a State or Federal park filled with other "people" , abounds with multi-use trails, and where you're not allowed to fell trees or start a fire (outside a provided firepit or grill.) anyway.

I hear some of these parks/forests even prohibit carrying or possessing a folding or fixed blade knife while in the park/forest.

Hefty fines and/or jail time (and loss of the knife) await those who violate the "No Knives" rule/regulation. (I'll avoid any such park or forest with such a rule/regulation.)
 
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Lepidopterablade said:
A Leatherman Signal is a good choice
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I’m not survival expert, and I’m not really into bushcraft either.

I see how Leatherman can be extremley useful in daily life, or how can it be a good EDC choice. But I’m really curious how could Leatherman be used for survival/bushcraft?
It can’t chop, or baton, it’s too small for lots of tasks. Maintaining it will be hard when it gets dirty...
 
Smiling said:
I’m not survival expert, and I’m not really into bushcraft either.

I see how Leatherman can be extremley useful in daily life, or how can it be a good EDC choice. But I’m really curious how could Leatherman be used for survival/bushcraft?
It can’t chop, or baton, it’s too small for lots of tasks. Maintaining it will be hard when it gets dirty...
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It has a firestarter and whistle. You can use the blade to fray kindling. The saw can cut limbs. The tools can come in handy if you find trash that can be disassembled for parts. But yeah, ideally you would also have a larger fixed blade as well. I don't know much about survival scenerios either, just that my buddies in the military say that a good multitool is far more useful than a single blade.
 
Lepidopterablade said:
It has a firestarter and whistle. You can use the blade to fray kindling. The saw can cut limbs. The tools can come in handy if you find trash that can be disassembled for parts. But yeah, ideally you would also have a larger fixed blade as well. I don't know much about survival scenerios either, just that my buddies in the military say that a good multitool is far more useful than a single blade.
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Now that makes sense. Thank you for answer :)
 
For the use you described, beating about the NeighborWood, I would suggest the Bucklite Max 679.

It's a light and comfortable carry, full tang, incredibly easy to sharpen.

From a great company, made in the U.S. of A.

You could even get a quality multi tool like a Leatherman Squirt or a sharpener like a Spyderco Double Stuff and have something nice for the stocking as well... and still be around $50 for the whole shootin' match.

https://www.knifecenter.com/item/BU679BKS/buck-679-bucklite-max-large-hunting-knife-4-420hc-blade
 
Consider a BK-14 and use some bicycle inner tube / "ranger bands" to make a mini survival kit. You can fit a sharpener, lighter, Ferro rod, frenzel lens, med kit, fishing line / hooks, etc.

This can be worn around the neck, any time he steps foot into the woods.

At other times, he can sheath it in either a KSF pocket sheath or a kydex holster and worn at 12:00 for cross-draw.
 
afishhunter said:
The best "survivlal knife" is the one you have with you.
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So buy a bunch of Moras and stash one every place you can think of so there is always one at hand. In your car, on your bike, at work, in your work room, in your kitchen. One in your pocket, or even on your belt if you can stand it.
 
Here the scoop from the master of survival





n2s
 
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