Confession - I hardly use my knife while camping
- Thread starter kgd
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I can see the utility of a small folding saw camping, but for me the hatchet is mostly dead weight. If you like to saw things to get straight cuts for whatever reason (stakes, walking stick, and so forth), you can get by pretty darn well with a SAK with a saw blade as long as you're not in some sort of wood production mode. The folding saw can handle this.
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Good to hear from you buddy! Just came back from China where I survived a bunch of field work and sampling lakes sans knife (way too much boarder hassle to deal with to bring one). LOL, I normally "liberate" a little steak knife from a cafeteria when I have to travel over seas for field work, but in chop-stick china, that's not even an option. Even the students I was with tended to use a scissors there. But oh well, scissors aren't very sexy but they have a point and an edge at the very least! I'm debating taking out the S-Curve on my next trip to Woodland Caribou this augist. I think it will model well in Canada's Boreal forest!
K
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I dunno, I remember about 4 decades ago spending weeks wandering the scrub with a mil surplus canteen w/ cup, a GI 2 pic mess tin, a scratchy wool blanket, and a Plumb hatchet ( and not much else) Thought I was living the high life then. Wish I had the time to do it now.
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When I go for little woods walks or snow shoeing, I rather take my multitool than my knife if I had to choose. It stabs my croissants with ease, lift pots, open knots, fix knots, fix gear, saws twigs and so and so.. I recently got myself Esee izula as outdoors knife because I thought it would be easy to just toss in your backpack or pocket and does 99% of outdoorsy tasks.
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I rarely camp while knifing......
jmh33
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That's funny!!!
Thanks ! The implied violence in my post is truly meant as a joke, as I do not regularly stab, assault or otherwise harm others.
And the winner of this contest is
Opinel #7 carbon
It cuts most anything I need it to cut, both kitchen when I travel and any wood task I can imagine when backpacking
And a SAK Classic in my FAK
At my age I do not want to carry extra weight and the Opinel is FOB (Free on Board) ie so light as not to matter
If I am traveling not backpacking then I will supplement this with a SAK Waiter that has a blade, can/bottle opener and a corkscrew/awl
Opinel #7 carbon
It cuts most anything I need it to cut, both kitchen when I travel and any wood task I can imagine when backpacking
And a SAK Classic in my FAK
At my age I do not want to carry extra weight and the Opinel is FOB (Free on Board) ie so light as not to matter
If I am traveling not backpacking then I will supplement this with a SAK Waiter that has a blade, can/bottle opener and a corkscrew/awl
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For some reason I have the opposite experience. Everything comes in a plastic enclosure that is impossible to open without a knife or scissors. I can't even open the litter box for my cats with my bare hands!
(oops, I was reading several treads at the same time. no plastic while camping for the most part
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The infernal plastic wrap!
Although I very rarely have need of much knife when camping, it's the infernal, God d--ed ubiquitous plastic wrap that defies tooth and nail that has me reaching for my SAK. And very often the little classic at that. It's no wonder that the Victorinox classic is the most popular selling pocket knife in the backpacking/mountaineering stores. I long ago lost count how many Mountain House packages of Beef Stroganoff I zipped open with that tiny thin little blade.
If not for the classic, I can only wonder how many innocent backpackers would have perished from starvation.
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I feel naked without a knife in my pocket (or on my belt) hiking, woods wandering, woods/field messing around, outdoor photography... pretty much you name it if I am outdoors. At some point I need a knife. So, I have one with me regardless of whether I "think" I am going to need it. Even the little Vic Classic is better than nothing. I prefer a more substantial Vic folder generally. The One Handed Trekker is a pretty versatile outdoors tool along with my little Leatherman Ps4. Don't care much for the OH Trekker in my pocket, but I might slip it inside a day pack or camera bag.
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what knife is that in the first picture? That has beautiful lines.I have pretty much reached the point where I start all my fires with a fire steel of other primitive way. I get a high percentage of one strike fires.
Especially this time of year. Colt's Foot and Poplar bark explode to life.
One thing I have modified is my timing. I have no problem making feather sticks and such a day or two in advance. It affords me the opportunity to fill in quiet times with knife action. And I don't have a crowd of people waiting on me to get a fire going.
I also use them for harvesting bark from downed poplar or birch trees.
But I agree there is usually a lot offered up from the forest floor, or hanging in the trees just above the ground.
Making tarp pegs, clothes pins, hiking sticks. I always seem to have some small knife project going.
I'm always forking around with my knife,
When I made long backpacking trips (in another century and with better knees) I did not carry a fixed blade, just a SAK and a largish EKA folder with a spatula tip for food prep - great for making pancakes and omelets. Nowadays, I live in an area with a lot of dense woodland, and even on a short day hike, as soon as I want to sit down on a fallen tree along the trail I need to clear the place of nettles, bramble and other nasty stuff before I can put my butt down. Some neclected trails get overgrown, and especially after a wet spring there are a lot of fresh bramble vines trying to take your eyes out. The main reason for taking a fixed blade then is brush/trail clearing, meaning a somewhat longer but not too-thick blade (a machete does a great job of course, but seems a bit over the top most of the time). It could be a 140 mm Jääkkäripuukko or a classic 175 mm Leuku blade, to have that few centimeters of extra reach that keep one's hands away from the thorns. Of course these are also excellent if one wants to make an impromptu hiking staff or similar. Not absolutely neccessary, just faster than a folder, especially when delimbing. Same for quickly making a couple of poles and pegs to prop up a poncho to sit under during a lunch break in the rain.
Camp fires are frowned upon here, I'll happily take a small thermos for hot tea in the colder season on a day hike, so I don't need to make feathersticks or split wood etc.
Of course if you want to carry and use a knife you'll find a reason to... ;-)
Camp fires are frowned upon here, I'll happily take a small thermos for hot tea in the colder season on a day hike, so I don't need to make feathersticks or split wood etc.
Of course if you want to carry and use a knife you'll find a reason to... ;-)
The longer puukko or the leuku would be just my choice from the blades I own; any mid-sized or slightly longer blade of decent quality and not too thick to make it unwieldy will do in the above situation, and there are hundreds if not thousands of such blades out there that would fit the bill. ;-)
CVamberbonehead
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I actually use a knife quite a bit when out camping. I am always using a knife for little tasks like cutting string or making food. I never baton or anything like that. I do some whittling, just basic stuff. Even if I didnt use a knife though, Id still bring one just in case of emergency (never know when a marshmallow will need to be roasted lol)
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Just went camping a couple weeks ago. Car camping, with my son and mom, for two nights. We made dinner both nights, on a Coleman stove. I brought a largish spoon, for the beans, and a spatula, and neglected to bring a kitchen knife. So, I made due with my sodbuster jr. Did just fine as a kitchen knife.
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Been my kind of experience as well unless you just want to play at the camp fire. I need to check out my Coleman Stove (gasoline type) and make sure it is still ready to use. It is probably 30 years old and has been used on many car camping outings.
Generally speaking however, I do like to have even a kitchen type Vic knife with me for cooking chores. Something like a Kephart would work well.
Generally speaking however, I do like to have even a kitchen type Vic knife with me for cooking chores. Something like a Kephart would work well.
Bigfattyt
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I usually take too many knives camping.
My favorite camping activity is to put a large chopper in either hand, hold them out straight from my body....and spin in mad circles while singing "The hills are alive with the sound if music" until I get dizzy, and fall over.
Sometimes, mid spin, I'll let go of both blades, to go helicoptering away in opposite directions.
Oh, what fun. What fond memories....
No one wants to camp with me.....ever.....
But I do usually have plenty of sharp company. I don't do much distance hiking/camping lately. Two boys and wife......it is normally car camping.
I'm not a scout leader any more, and it is long since I was an Eagle Scout going in my own adventures (back when Scouting was not anti knife).
My recent "distance" camping has been canoe, on a nice twisty waterway with scouts. An easy two day paddle with a camp over night. I do bring a machete and and a few fixed blades. A multi tool, and I have a silky saw.
Not a ton of need, but that darned waterway is Choked by invasive Russian Olive garbage trees. Nasty thorns, choking off main passages of the waterways. People do a bit of work with chainsaws occasionally to try and keep the channel clear.
When we camp, I usually do a bit of branch work to help keep the sites trimmed a bit. I really hate those Russian Olives......
My favorite camping activity is to put a large chopper in either hand, hold them out straight from my body....and spin in mad circles while singing "The hills are alive with the sound if music" until I get dizzy, and fall over.
Sometimes, mid spin, I'll let go of both blades, to go helicoptering away in opposite directions.
Oh, what fun. What fond memories....
No one wants to camp with me.....ever.....
But I do usually have plenty of sharp company. I don't do much distance hiking/camping lately. Two boys and wife......it is normally car camping.
I'm not a scout leader any more, and it is long since I was an Eagle Scout going in my own adventures (back when Scouting was not anti knife).
My recent "distance" camping has been canoe, on a nice twisty waterway with scouts. An easy two day paddle with a camp over night. I do bring a machete and and a few fixed blades. A multi tool, and I have a silky saw.
Not a ton of need, but that darned waterway is Choked by invasive Russian Olive garbage trees. Nasty thorns, choking off main passages of the waterways. People do a bit of work with chainsaws occasionally to try and keep the channel clear.
When we camp, I usually do a bit of branch work to help keep the sites trimmed a bit. I really hate those Russian Olives......