kitchen knife for survival?

B

blade_lover228

Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
62
has anyone considered using a kitchen knife for survival? i have a butchers knife at home with a 9 inch long blade and it is pretty darn thick. the blade is full tang and it seems as though it would make for a great chopper. does anyone else think this idea has some merit?


JLee
 
JLee, one of my favorite knives is an older Case butcher knife that originally had an 8" blade. I cut it down to 5" to make it a little handier to use. It's a great outdoor knife!

Ron
 
I think Siguy did a couple of tests with some small kitchen knives, I think they handled light chores ok.

The only way to find out is to give it a try, better yours than mine though.:D
 
Survival knives of the past were kitchen knives! The fact that I am now here, at the other end of the Oregon Trail, PROVES that those kitchen knives made fairly decent survival knives. ;) I have several of these fine old original carbon steel examples in my collection and they are not too different from many of the wood handled knives we find in our kitchens today. :)
 
Some other images.

Forgecraft butcher knife, modified
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Nessmuk by SteelyGunz, made from Old Hickory skinner (far right), others:modified resale shop blade and Greg Sikes Nessie from file with stag.
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Have fun. Mess with stuff.




Kis
 
A knife is a knife. A good carbon steel blade will cut and chop as well outdoors as they do indoors. My mother chopped chicken bones and all variates of products with the Old Hickory knives. I use several good stout butcher knives outdoors. Add a good old Carbon clever to the mix and you will lack nothing for outdoor/survival work.
 
I am planning on taking my Old Hickory out one day just to see what it can do. I agree with udtjim, a knife is a knife.
 
I have heard the kitchen knives are typically made of softer steel than most outdoors knives so you may have some problems with it dulling fast.
 
andrew7978 said:
I have heard the kitchen knives are typically made of softer steel than most outdoors knives so you may have some problems with it dulling fast.
Click to expand...

This also means it is much easier to re-sharpen. Look at the original Ka-Bar fighting knives, soft steel and very easy to put an edge back on. Heck, you can sharpen them with a rock if necessary.
 
i bought a $3 tramontina pairing knife at ace a while ago, and it is a pretty good blade. takes a great edge, because of the thin profile, and is really good at fuzzy sticks and notch carving
 
At the yard we were discusing having only 3 quality knives ,a EDC folder or small fixed blade ,a general purpose outdoors/hunting blade and a quality kitchen knife. While some of the guys wanted to replace the kitchen knife with a big chopper I think an first rate kitchen knife makes a great camp knife. I have a hunch a lot of those guys were married and don't do a lot of the cooking. My buddies Henkel (with the 2 guys logo) would make a fantastic fighter and camp knife with a good sheath.

The knives from the fur trade era were mostly carbon steel butcher knives.
 
I know there is a thread floating on BF where guys have modified the Old Hickory 7 and 8" butcher knives
They look like mountain men knives when they are done
I have fondness for the Old Hickory pig stickers
They have the high carbon steel that Old Hickory is known for :thumbup:
I haven't tried to find any aftermarket sheaths that would work
Maybe I'll have Robert H. make me one with a tactical hip extender some day :eek:

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You will have seen this Mora in my other post but if this ain't a kitchen knife I don't know what is. I prepared a meal with it tonight and cut up everything from Chicken and sausage to celery and peppers, it sailed through the lot like a hot knife through butter !!!
I don't just think I could manage with this knife in a survival situation it would at present be my No 1 choice !!!!!!!
P9010062.jpg
 
My old cut-down Case butcher knife is quite stiff in the blade and not as soft as you might think! In fact, it's harder steel than some of my other small fixed-blade knives are!

Ron
 
If you have one of those modern german cooking knives, i would say that they are way better than what people used during the most of our country history to survival knife wise. If you are talking about those chinese crappy knives, i would say that you could get by if you had to but they tend to be hard to sharpen, easy to break etc..
 
Ron53 said:
My old cut-down Case butcher knife is quite stiff in the blade and not as soft as you might think! In fact, it's harder steel than some of my other small fixed-blade knives are!

Ron
Click to expand...
Could you post a pic of your modified Case XX butcher knife??
I've got the "chef's" knife
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I need to get the butcher Old Forge next.....
 
A kitchen knife wouldn't be my first choice because the steel is usually not on a par with sports knives. I know there are some fantastic kitchen knives around nowadays but as a general rule of thumb I hold that to be true. Similarly kitchen knives are usually somewhat softer than sports knives. Again, as with the above, this is a generalization, I know there are some high quality pieces around. Where I think they often excel is that a kitchen knife is designed to function as a knife, and I think we can all think of instances of sports knives that have so hopeless lost their way in that department they are simply not good cutting instruments first and foremost. To that extent, despite requiring a good deal more maintenance because of inferior steel and the lack high hardness, I can think of think of a few kitchen offerings that I would take in preference to some knives marketed as “for survival”. In fact, that last time this topic came up I asserted that many of the most useful sports knives usually show a direct relationship with kitchen cutting tools, whether that be modern field knives or some of the nicer old German trench knives. I still adhere to that. Give me design evolution over hopeful monsters every time.
 
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