The Perfect Survival Knife - Finally!

jimh0220

jimh0220

Joined
Apr 15, 2008
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As found on Facebook:

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For any adventure where coming home depends entirely on you, the DAJO survivor knife should be at your side. The DAJO survivor knife contains a knife, Swedish FireSteel® fire starter, and a signal whistle. Each of these items is designed to be as light as possible while still being fully functional, all at an affordable price.Dimensions: Overall knife length: 7.5 in. (19 cm) Blade length: 3.6" (9.1 cm)
Total weight: 6.0 oz.
Stainless steel with 57 HRC, a high strength, durable, anti-slip G-10 polymer handle
Survival
contains a knife, Swedish FireSteel® fire starter, and a signal whistle. Each of these items is designed to be as light as possible while still being fully functional, all at an affordable price.
Durable nylon sheath has two belt loops to attach vertically or horizontally. Other sheath features include a Velcro® closure pocket for the FireSteel fire starter and whistle, seven eyelets for storing the paracord and a Velcro® knife retention strap.
A knife with a 1/8th inch thick, full tang, fixed blade made of 7Cr17MoWV stainless steel with 57 HRC, a high strength, durable, anti-slip G-10 polymer handle. The handle area is relieved to achieve light weight and has small holes to facilitate fashioning a spear.
Swedish FireSteel® Mini fire starter from Light My Fire offers 1500 strikes while weighing only 0.3 oz.
Lightweight aluminum emergency whistle weighs only 0.2 oz.
Five feet of paracord is incorporated into the sheath.


I know I'm buying one for all those folks I want to keep... unsafe and lost in the woods. Merry bleeping Xmas. Now take a hike with this!
 
Wow, that is goofy looking.

Regardless, I guess I'll throw away all my other "survival" type knives and buy one of these because it has velcro and lightening holes!... :rolleyes::D
 
My girlfriend grabbed me one for 35 $ last winter, and it isn't a bad cutter. The sheathe is marginal, and a bit gimmicky, as anyone can keep a firesteel and whistle on their person with, or without, the sheathe, and the steel isn't awesome. But its a tough little thing. I've harvested wrist sized branches, split small wood, and used it to comfortably and efficiently do all manner of survival and bushcraft nonsense. It lives in my truck with my "second string" setup.
 
Second string setup is a good summary of my feelings when I saw it also.

Doc
 
I've noticed that there are two main broad schools of thought about what the concept is (survival) on knives; 1st - design, specifically "purpose built" design and, 2nd - function or function according to exigency. One can argue a third which lies somewhere in between, but that's a compromise (either good or bad, YMMV).

There are a few reviews of that Dajo knife out there I've read sometime back, for example -

Woodsmonkey Dajo Survivor Knife Review

The thing is, by which lens are you looking at this particular knife thru? I think that's how to view it if you want to give it a fair appraisal of what it can actually do.
 
How many folks have actually had to rely on a 'survival' knife aside from hoping to impress city slickers, knife collectors and fantasy folks. A Swiss Army knife at very least has a can opener for those tins of sardines or can of beans you thoughtfully brought along. The awl can drill holes for lashings and twine if you're so inclined. BIC lighters (always carry two of them with you) are much more reliable for starting fires than flint steels (try it some time in damp conditions). With a pocket knife you can carve quite a thick pole should you have to whoop a bear over the nose or spear it with the sharp end. A compass and a small LED flashlight are infinitely handier than 5 feet of cord, and especially these days a lost soul can be 'found' almost anywhere in the world merely by leaving their cellphone on. Always carry a small pack, with spare jacket and woolies, with you, have a t-shirt or similar article of clothing on or on board that is International Orange in colour (for signalling) and have a few commercial garbage bags tucked in the pockets (emergency raincoat and/or shelter roof).
Just me ranting away on a Sunday morning but then again I did experience a truly miserable overnighter stranded in the forest during a late fall wet snow storm once. When the moon ain't there and it's pitch black you've got nothing to go by! A big knife does not feature in anything I do in the outdoors although during hunting season a sharp fixed blade is useful for cleaning game and a small folding saw is quick at opening rib cages on a deer, caribou or moose.
 
It is a useful setup for the price. Better than not having a knife. Maybe shopping for knives on Facebook is not a good idea, I'm just sayin'. :cool:
 
It looks like a good knife. I would shy away from the long lightening hole on the top; it looks like it could be a point of failure during batoning. I'm not a fan of nylon and Velcro sheathes as they've always been too fragile for long term use.
 
I can think of a dozen knives in the size range with better steels, blade and handle designs I like more, better durability, etc. However, if I couldn't make it with that thing I doubt any of those other factors would actually help me. From the revoews posted it sounds like it cuts things, holds some type of edge and won't fall apart through a decent amount of use. Those are all I'm gonna want in a knife in a real emergency. Won't be buying one, but I find it waaaaay more appealing than some of the 'survival' monstrosities sold by companies like Frost.
 
If one is truly buying a knife for real survival situations (meaning your life depends on it), isn't your survival worth more than $35?

I know there are probably some folks out there that are truly financially constrained and can't spend more than that on a knife, and by all means - if that's all you can afford, buy the best $35 knife you can. But the truth is that most of us can afford to spend more than that, and I've never understood the idea of buying "survival" tools, and justifying them by saying that its worth it just because it's "cheap." If I'm choosing something with the thought that this will be an essential part of a true survival kit, I'm buying the best damn knife (or whatever implement) that I can possibly afford, and that I know will be bombproof and not let me down when I need it most. Otherwise, I'm not truly buying a survival knife, in my opinion, but a cheap toy to screw around with. There's a difference.
 
If you find yourself in a true survival situation where your survival depends not on just having "a" knife but "the" knife, you have much worse problems than mere improper survival knife selection.
 
Codger_64 said:
If you find yourself in a true survival situation where your survival depends not on just having "a" knife but "the" knife, you have much worse problems than mere improper survival knife selection.
Click to expand...

Fully agreed. But isn't that the assumption of what an actual "survival" situation is? Or is this all just hypothetical forum farting around and using the term "survival" when you really mean "mall ninjas go camping?"

Or are you saying that if you find yourself in a survival situation, that things are so dire that equipment selection doesn't matter? Not sure I get your point.
 
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I have to chime in on this one. I am sure some of you have seen me around on this forum so you know I know knives and have many of them. I have also lit the fire in my two adult sons and they are getting a nice custom and quality factory knife collection going. I have read the Woodsmonkey review of this knife and thought what the hell lets buy one. I was able to find one for under 25 bucks. When I got the knife I thought for the price it was a nice little package and in fact I bought one for each of my sons and they liked them as well. We keep ours in our tackle boxes in case we need a small fixed blade when on the lake and for the price who cares of we lose it. The knives are very functional and would be perfect for a young kids first survival knife. So all I can say is don't always judge a book by it's cover.
 
Smithhammer said:
Fully agreed. But isn't that the assumption of what an actual "survival" situation is? Or is this all just hypothetical forum farting around and using the term "survival" when you really mean "mall ninjas go camping?"

Or are you saying that if you find yourself in a survival situation, that things are so dire that equipment selection doesn't matter? Not sure I get your point.
Click to expand...

Almost every one of these posts is "just hypothetical forum farting around", IMHO. I have a knife made before 1900 that would serve me just as well in most survival situations as the one made in 1928, 1936, 1944, 1967, 1978, 1990, 2000, 2008 or recently. Each has slightly different design and construction features but I cannot think of any reason any of them would not suffice in any of the 199 different survival scenarios put foreward here every year for the past ten years.

Conversely, I have been in situations where I had no knife, improvised one as distant ancestors were wont to do, and achieved my tasks just fine. I've also been in situations where no knife of any description, with me or not, would have improved the situation, solved problems, ensured my survival.
 
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