What Knives Are Better Survival Knives Than The Esee 6?

This is cool too
[video=youtube;VR3vF7K4usY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR3vF7K4usY&ebc[/video]

 

Survive knives, scrap yard, swamp rat, Fallkniven, bark river, customs from this forum. If take any of those over an ESEE 6,'not that I don't like ESEE, I just find 10XX to be mediocre. ( I do have an izula and Junglas that I don't intend to get rid of any time soon)

 

I like my Survive Knives GSO's, Infidu, Ratmandu, and Bark Rivers. The SR101 and CPM3V steels are awesome. My problem is that I have a hard time deciding what knife to bring on hiking and backpacking trips. My favorite brand right now is Survive! because they're a small American company and attention to detail is amazing. Downside is the wait time it takes to get a knife directly or you pay inflated prices on the secondary markets. I've done both and haven't regretted a single purchase.

 

Fällkniven, then the others.

 

For the price, the ESEE 6 is hard to beat and I can't wait to try out the choil-less handle mod 6.
If you're looking for a better steel option, Survive! Knives are amazing.
Fiddleback Forge makes amazing stuff and the even have a production line of knives for good prices.
Blind Horse, BHK and LT Wright are amazing also. The list can go on and on.

 

I love my Cold Steel Outdoorsman. Amazing handle and blade.

 

Having owned esee, Becker, brkt, Busse, scrap yard, swamp rat, and several customs I can confidently say my survive GSO 5.1 is my go to blade !


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I'd like to also add I had a cold steel outdoorsman and I feel that is a highly underrated knife. I regret selling the one I had.


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Honestly, I see esee as "the basic", standard full tang , micarta handled "survival/outdoor/hunting/etc" knife company. The shapes are basic, the materials are basic, to be honest there's not alot of "glam" added to it. Therefore, I feel that they are (with the exception of the izula) overpriced for what they are. You might not find a knife that works better than an esee, but you will for sure find a better value in knives like survive, ontario, kabar, etc. This is my opinion:thumbup:

 

I'd take my tglb from busse over any of the knives mentioned so far, even the infidu.

 

I'll take the battle horse knives highlander over the esee any day. Much better Ergos, more nimble and you can get it customized to your liking.

 

OP - I think I get where you're coming from. You did a bunch of research, & Esee 6 kept coming up as the best option. The thing is, you were only in your first level of knife research/knowledge....& you know this, which is why you asked us the question you asked. Once one dives deeper into the knife world, brands like SK! & Busse & FF are discovered - and any of those, & other higher end companies mentioned in above comments, make superior knives to the Esee 6 - for the uses you've described.

Some folks, myself included, take even another turn within the knife world & go the custom/hand-made route - usually via smaller &-or hobby type makers. These knives (not ALL of these knives) are also certainly "better" examples than the Esee 6.

But the thing is, the Esee 6 is not at all a "bad" knife. Well, it's a bad knife - ya know, like we used to say in the '80s - but it's not a bad knife at all, especially if you personally dig it & it works well for you...buying an Esee 6 is not a mistake brother, but yes, there are many knives of similar size/shape, designed for similar purposes, that exceed the Esee 6 in badness....& of course, I'm referring to the good bad here.

 

It is mostly personal preference and experience with the things you normally do in the woods. Don't have an ESEE 6 and don't intend to buy one. I bought an ESEE 4 and don't care for the factory sheath. Don't like it enough to get a custom sheath made. I seldom carry knives this large in the woods and when I do, it is usually larger than the ESEE 6 and for chopping. Other than for fun, I don't chop much in the woods other than with a machete of some kind. Folding saws and a smaller knife is all I normally need. My standard woods knife varies, but I carry a BK-15 a lot; carried it yesterday during my wanderings around Cades Cove. Saw four black bears which makes it fun.

 

Normally when I respond to one of these threads. And I don't respond to a lot of them. Mostly because it is a very personal choice, hand size, usage, expectations, geography and more. What works for me might not work for you.

But when I do, I usually recommend one of my Fallknivens. The S-1, or the A-1, or even the NL-4. Or the KA-Bar, or one of my too many Beckers.

But today, I am going to offer up a knife that I have owned for a few years. I just started using it this winter. It is growing on me.

It is the Spyderco Temperance 2. It comes in VG-10 Steel. Which I happen to like. It isn't on everyone's radar. And not overly well known. Quite frankly, I like it.

It does a lot well. From cutting up peppers and onions in the kitchen, to batoning, to fuzzle-berry sticks.


I batoned it through enough wood to be comfortable it is rugged enough, and in cold weather to boot.



Here it is crafting a Fuzzle-Berry,
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Legend has it, that only knives forged by witch doctors from Helsinki can craft Fuzzle-Berry sticks. But I am here to tell ya, this knife does a fine job.



All these sticks came from one piece of wood I batoned it through. It was hardwood. Cherry if I remember correctly, perhaps beech. But hardwood never the less.


It even carved the stick I used to beat it through the other sticks with,



I just thought I would throw out another option for you to consider. And for the record VG-10 is stainless. It is also what Fallkniven uses in its laminations.

I don't care much for the kydex sheath. But that is mostly because I don't care much for Kydex sheaths. Spyderco now offers up a leather sheath. It can be purchased with the knife or seperately for $29.00 which is what I am going to do.



Also, for the record , I wouldn't be the least bit nervous if something left me stranded and the only knife I had with me was that NL-5 Idun.

 

LostViking - I like your recommendation....I owned a Temp. 1 for a couple of years....I just had to try it, after staring at it for so long...I just loved the blade shape. I found it to be a great slicer, comfortable handle, but as my tastes evolved, I found the step up where the blade meets the handle to be annoying. I also find this knife to be overpriced with its VG-10 blade. If they ever produce a Temp. 3 with a flat spine, I'll be all over it, even if it's still in VG-10 & overpriced, I just love that blade shape so much - again, nice recommendation LV!

 

LostViking, do you find the thumb ramp interferes with fine wood cutting, where one may put right thumb on spine and left thumb on right thumb?

 

You know, it's an interesting design. I handled it when I first received it. I liked it, but never really did anything with it.
It sat around until this winter. I am working on a new "Use it or Lose it" philosophy with my knives. So I was planning on selling it. But every time I picked it up to photograph, something stopped me. So I decided since was going to take a depreciation hit anyways, why not take it out and give it a go.

What I have found is that it works quite well in the field. The ramp was weird at first in the wood. But I think it adds more than it takes away. The knife works well in a lot of grips. You can actually choke up and get your index finger out in front on the small choil, which allows you to get your thumb up and in front of the ramp. This changes the pivot/leverage point significantly. This allows for your thumb over thumb grip and yes it is doable. It gives good control for the finer tasks. Plus you can choke up on it for a cross lever chest pull.

I have also found that with you index finger on top, straight out toward the tip. Your thumb on the side, and middle finger and ring finger wrapped around underneath, it gives you excellent control for skinning type moves, very precise.

I find it thick enough to beat on, thin enough to to slice with, pointy enough to poke with. It is

I can shave walnuts so thin, you can almost read through them too.

It earned its right to stay the hard way. I took it out expecting, almost wanting it to fail. The fact that it is still here says a lot. I was sure it was headed to the Fixed Blades for Sale Forum.

 

I just purchased the TOPS Surv-tac 7 aka Stac 7 . A lot of people think this is a mall ninja knife I do not agree at all.

The staggered wide tooth saw is perfect for deadfall notching / shelter building notching . The spear point can channel wood or start a friction fire hole . There are lashing points EVERYWHERE for removing scales and using the tang/blade as a spear .

The flat wide glass breaker / pry implement on the rear of the tang .

And BEST OF ALL ROWEN Mfg . I believe on an old post on this website confirmed they also manufacture knives for TOPS . So it basically is an ESEE with a whole lot more blade features.

 

Unfortunately I've never handled an ESEE-6 or any of the Survive blades, but lately I have been enjoying these two Rats a lot:



Both of the above did end up getting reprofiled to 15 dps and could stand to be thinned out further, but they cut well enough for my needs.

I also have an ESEE4 that served my well until I stepped into the Swamp and a BK15 that I stripped and reground into a true slicer, excellent blade as well, imo.

Lots of great posts in this thread :thumbup:

 

You say you just purchased it. Have you gotten it and used it? Or are all these things it is "perfect" for just in theory at this point?

Also, my understanding was that the whole "lashing your knife to a stick" thing was not a real world accepted survival technique.

What is most interesting to me is that you call it "...an ESEE with a whole lot more blade features...". To me that's what makes it a worse "survival" knife than the ESEE....doing a lot of things instead of one well.