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what size knife for outdoor/survival use?
- Thread starter bladefan
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- Apr 7, 2003
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You've asked the $64,000 question. Here are the answers you'll get:
1. SAK "It was good enough for my dad, it's good enough for me. Oh, and the corkscrew looks cool."
2. Sharpened Prybar "You never know when you'll have to pry apart an abandoned bomb shelter to get to food."
3. Scandinavian knife + axe "A knife is made to CUT, not PRY, and if you are very careful and don't do stupid things, my puukovestalita at Rockwell 70 will outcut anything short of a lightsaber. The axe is for chopping."
Your question oversimplifies the issue, really. You can get wafer-thin 6" scandinavian blades, or Busses that are 4" long and 5/16" thick. A SRKW Battle Rat (9"x1/4") is a hell of a chopper, but heavy to carry up mountains. My armchair recommendation would be as follows...
1. Quality locking folder 3"-4". You can do all of your small knife tasks with this.
2. 7"-9" chopper, beefy. You can do all of your big knife tasks with this.
3. Multi-tool. All the little gadgets that an SAK has, but generally more robust.
As for self-defense/camping knife...well, I don't have any knife fighting training, but as I understand it each type of knife has different requisite qualities. The Chris Reeve Green Beret knife is supposed to be a heck of a fighter, but relatively brittle and not balanced right for chopping, thus a relatively poor camping knife. If I were you, I would lean heavily towards buying a good camping knife, as you're going to be doing a hell of a lot more camping than defending yourself.
1. SAK "It was good enough for my dad, it's good enough for me. Oh, and the corkscrew looks cool."
2. Sharpened Prybar "You never know when you'll have to pry apart an abandoned bomb shelter to get to food."
3. Scandinavian knife + axe "A knife is made to CUT, not PRY, and if you are very careful and don't do stupid things, my puukovestalita at Rockwell 70 will outcut anything short of a lightsaber. The axe is for chopping."
Your question oversimplifies the issue, really. You can get wafer-thin 6" scandinavian blades, or Busses that are 4" long and 5/16" thick. A SRKW Battle Rat (9"x1/4") is a hell of a chopper, but heavy to carry up mountains. My armchair recommendation would be as follows...
1. Quality locking folder 3"-4". You can do all of your small knife tasks with this.
2. 7"-9" chopper, beefy. You can do all of your big knife tasks with this.
3. Multi-tool. All the little gadgets that an SAK has, but generally more robust.
As for self-defense/camping knife...well, I don't have any knife fighting training, but as I understand it each type of knife has different requisite qualities. The Chris Reeve Green Beret knife is supposed to be a heck of a fighter, but relatively brittle and not balanced right for chopping, thus a relatively poor camping knife. If I were you, I would lean heavily towards buying a good camping knife, as you're going to be doing a hell of a lot more camping than defending yourself.
Unless we're talking real "last ditch effort" stuff here, I would use a gun for self defense, and a knife to cut things. When it comes to self defense, I'm a lot more comfortable with my Sig that I am with any knife.
As far as a cutting tool goes, (which is what a knife is), I believe a 5" fixed, or a 4" high quality folder will do anything you reasonably ask of it. My fixed blade SHTF blade is a BK&T Campanion, and my SHTF folder is a Swiss Army Camper.
As far as a cutting tool goes, (which is what a knife is), I believe a 5" fixed, or a 4" high quality folder will do anything you reasonably ask of it. My fixed blade SHTF blade is a BK&T Campanion, and my SHTF folder is a Swiss Army Camper.
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- May 13, 2004
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smaller fixed blades are better for SD for quickness and accuracy. For chopping, big is better. A Good 4" folder is a good camp knife.
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2002
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I chose a Becker w/7" blade that's relatively lite in weight (under 1#), which limits it's chopping ability a little, but overall it's a great all purpose knife and one I can comfortably say that I'd bet my life on. If my Mora 2000 with it's almost 4 1/2" stainless blade were a little more robust, it'd probably get carried instead of the Becker. It's a great little blade and my favorite go to under most circumstances.
I always have a Vic. SAK w/firesteel attached and a Leatherman as part of my EDC gear and will be adding a Benchmade #551 Griptilian. So, I'm going to have an assortment of blades and tools on me no matter what I'm doing.
I always have a Vic. SAK w/firesteel attached and a Leatherman as part of my EDC gear and will be adding a Benchmade #551 Griptilian. So, I'm going to have an assortment of blades and tools on me no matter what I'm doing.
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- Aug 15, 2003
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Bladefan,
Here's my humble take.
Your question is double.
1 - For camp use, it depends if I'm carrying a hawk or a large chopper or not, but figuring you want to stick on a "one edge" analysis, I like to use a 7 inches long blade. It's not too long and therefore not too awkward to use on minute tasks. It's also beefy enough to chop a little...
2 - For self-defense, it depends against what... Against a grizzly bear, I wouldn't recommend fighting back with any knife. You get the point. Anyways, to answer your question, blade geometry is probably much more important than size. You want a guard on the knofe so you can stab. You also want the point to be pretty much pointy and roughly aligned with the middle of the handle. A tanto point is good, since it provides a thick blade almost up to the very end of the point...
Conclusions : a good old ka-bar USMC fighting knife or something similar (better stuff is available) looks good to me.
Cheers,
David
Here's my humble take.
Your question is double.
1 - For camp use, it depends if I'm carrying a hawk or a large chopper or not, but figuring you want to stick on a "one edge" analysis, I like to use a 7 inches long blade. It's not too long and therefore not too awkward to use on minute tasks. It's also beefy enough to chop a little...
2 - For self-defense, it depends against what... Against a grizzly bear, I wouldn't recommend fighting back with any knife. You get the point. Anyways, to answer your question, blade geometry is probably much more important than size. You want a guard on the knofe so you can stab. You also want the point to be pretty much pointy and roughly aligned with the middle of the handle. A tanto point is good, since it provides a thick blade almost up to the very end of the point...
Conclusions : a good old ka-bar USMC fighting knife or something similar (better stuff is available) looks good to me.
Cheers,
David
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"One blade for all work" is necessarily a compromise. 6-7" and pretty stout is the typical, compromise solution. (Moine: "You get the point." 
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I lean toward large knives to use as camp knives/"survival" knives. A large knife can perform all the functions of a smaller knife (Maybe not as easily) but the reverse is not always true. I generally enjoy using large knives in the field anyway, it's all personal preference. I will always have a SAK or some other folder in my pocket as well. (But if I absolutely HAD to have one knife for survival, it would have a 9-10" blade)
A small knife 9 Inch knife is all I need, it doesn't have to be large as it will not always be easy to cary it along. A larger knife will definatly get in your way if you find yourself in a situation in which you have to flee.
Most large knife are heavy aswell and weight and size might be an critical factor when you compose your survival kit.
I know guys who walk around with 13 Inch knives but when they have to run, crawl, jump, ... their knives get in their way, some of the guys even left their knife behind because it was to big, when they walked and wondered through the woods finding themselves in a situation where they could realy use a knife! So what is the need for the biggest knife when you don't got it on you when you need it the most!
Most large knife are heavy aswell and weight and size might be an critical factor when you compose your survival kit.
I know guys who walk around with 13 Inch knives but when they have to run, crawl, jump, ... their knives get in their way, some of the guys even left their knife behind because it was to big, when they walked and wondered through the woods finding themselves in a situation where they could realy use a knife! So what is the need for the biggest knife when you don't got it on you when you need it the most!
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Quiet Bear said:
Point taken. However, if all you ever use is a slip-joint with a 2.5" blade, you may never develop the skills to use a "large" fixed-blade knife (whatever "large" is for you).
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- Oct 2, 2000
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I like a hatchet over a large knife. The GB Mini at 11 oz. can fit inside your back pocket and will out chop almost all 9 to 10" blades. The GB Wildlife Hatchet is in a class of it's own. It weighs 25 oz. with sheath. Most 9" knives with sheaths weigh at least 30 oz.
A hatchet with a BRK knife and SAK would be light and hard to beat.
Geoff
A hatchet with a BRK knife and SAK would be light and hard to beat.
Geoff
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- Oct 2, 2000
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- 201
I like a hatchet over a large knife. The GB Mini at 11 oz. can fit inside your back pocket and will out chop almost all 9 to 10" blades. The GB Wildlife Hatchet is in a class of it's own. It weighs 25 oz. with sheath. Most 9" knives with sheaths weigh at least 30 oz.
A hatchet with a BRK knife and SAK would be light and hard to beat.
Geoff
A hatchet with a BRK knife and SAK would be light and hard to beat.
Geoff
crossada
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if you are talking survival it will always be what you have on you at that time which in my case is a busse lms and a sak. the lms can handle sd and survival needs and the sak will always be the king of the woods.
if i were going on a day hike i would take a bigger blade as it can do alot more than a small blade.
if i were going on a day hike i would take a bigger blade as it can do alot more than a small blade.
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Well, chop, obviously. Take two knives that I have at hand... the Benchmade AFCK vs the original Blackjack Mamba. One is a 4"x 1/8" bladed folder, the other is 9"x1/4" fixed. Which one would you rather use to go through a 3" branch to make a shelter? I'll leave posting other, perhaps less obvious, uses to those more experienced.
I dunno, guys. If I were in a situation to believe that I would need something for chopping, I'll take something that was made to chop things, like a hatchet, for example. I assume, in this case, at least a little planning, even a few minutes, is possible. If we're talking last minute drop type stuff, I probably won't be carrying a Busse on my hip.
Improvised shelter doesn't always need to be built from the ground up, especially if you're BOB is properly stocked, and fuel for fire, (barring excessive rainfall) is usually dead branches found on the ground.
But cleaning a small bluegill with my Becker, for example, was a huge failure. Sawing 3" branches with my SAK, has been wildly successful, however.
I'll take a 5" fixed or a 4" folder or a SAK with a saw.. They're what can be counted on to be with me at all times.
Improvised shelter doesn't always need to be built from the ground up, especially if you're BOB is properly stocked, and fuel for fire, (barring excessive rainfall) is usually dead branches found on the ground.
But cleaning a small bluegill with my Becker, for example, was a huge failure. Sawing 3" branches with my SAK, has been wildly successful, however.
I'll take a 5" fixed or a 4" folder or a SAK with a saw.. They're what can be counted on to be with me at all times.
Well have urself a good knife made!! Like I said before my regular knife is a +/- 9 inch knife with a 5 inch blade and it chops like no other! Much of it has to do with the way it was build! You obviously can't use a fighter to chop wood with!
If you don't believe me, here's a picture:
It takes me about one minute to chop a 3 1/2 Inch piece of wood!!!
If you don't believe me, here's a picture:
It takes me about one minute to chop a 3 1/2 Inch piece of wood!!!