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what would you bet your life on?

strahd71

strahd71

Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
784
i couldnt sleep last night so i was thinking about what would be the best knife to have in a survival situation. what kind of knife would make Rambo, Les Stroud of survivorman, and Bear Grylls all giggle like school girls in excitment? what is the make up of the super knife? it must be able to chop down redwoods, hack through cars but yet be sharp enough to cap out that field mouse you caught using sock lint that you hand spun into a snare and ate while surviving so that you can have a mount made when you get back to civilization.

what steel? what size? what thickness? etc.

jake
 
Leatherman is what Les usually gets by with. You don't need much knife to clean game, a simple trapper will do. If I could have only one, I'd rather have a good multi-tool over a survival knife, in the woods. If I could have both, then I'd want a simple fixed blade, probably with not over 4" of cutting edge. I wouldn't really be too focused on steel type, as long as it's heat treated properly and will take an edge.
 
AcridSaint said:
Leatherman is what Les usually gets by with. You don't need much knife to clean game, a simple trapper will do. If I could have only one, I'd rather have a good multi-tool over a survival knife, in the woods. If I could have both, then I'd want a simple fixed blade, probably with not over 4" of cutting edge. I wouldn't really be too focused on steel type, as long as it's heat treated properly and will take an edge.
Click to expand...

I, on the other hand, would not want my second knife to be a shorter fixed blade. Anything you can do with the shorter fixed blade, you'll be able to get accomplished with the leatherman type knife (maybe not as easily, but easily enough). I'd want a larger chopper, for easier construction of shelter and hacking through stuff that the leatherman can't do. Building a shelter that will keep you out of the elements, warmer and keep you alive is usually of utmost importance. Building a shelter can be back breaking work in some locations, so using the least amount of calories up building it, means you'll be able to survive longer on the food that you have available. A good chopper can go a long way in reducing your expenditure of calories and ultimately increasing the length of your life until you can find help or have help find you.
 
Beck style WSK period. I've carried the one I made from 1095 for years, built shelter with it, fillet fish etc. but it is big and heavy.
 
I would have to say a lightsaber. light fires, chop trees,boilwater,open a can and the food is cooked already. think about what you could do with a lightsaber pretty much anything all with the push of a button. other than that a leatherman is close to being the ultimate?
 
Acridsaint,

i was just thinking your right Les Stroud does always just take his trusty multi tool, but every realize that Bear grylls carries a bigger knife and doesnt seem to struggle as much as Les?

maybe i'm wrong, but it seems that way to me.

jake
 
The problem with carrying around big choppers is that they can get in the way on the belt and become unweildy. If you were going to keep it in a pack, maybe it would be less of a big deal, but if you can choose a second item that's going to be used primarily for shelter then a hatchet would be a better choice in my opinion. If I were more worried about clearing brush, I think I'd rather have a machete than a heavy chopper.
 
Bear doesn't struggle as much because he has a camera crew and sets up all of his shoots beforehand, afik. I've seen survivorman episodes where Les does bring a large fixed blade knife, it didn't seem to really be the saving grace for his struggles.

By the way, Terrill Hoffman does a winter woods survival type deal every year on his property. He invites all sorts of "survivalist" types out there. Last year he spoke to us at one of the NC Guild meetings about what folks there wanted in a survial or tactical knife. He passes out surveys every year and has folks list materials, sizes, etc. As I recall, the average blade length wanted was around 4", maybe it was 5.
 
well maybe its not the knife..... maybe its because Bear is just tuffer and more manly?

and of course an ax or machette would be best but try to stick to just one knife that has to do it all. makes it more fun!

jake
 
A chopper doesn't have to be heavy. They can be light and wicked fast. I used a chopper yesterday to hack down a dying palm tree in my yard. My wife was waiting for me to come back with the hatchet, and instead I came back with the chopper I got in the Christmas gift exchange. It took huge chunks out of the trunk of the tree with ease. My wife was very impressed. The chopper was made by Rob Loveday, is light in the hand, scary sharp, lightning quick and on top of that it's a beautiful flippin' knife.
 
I drew up a knife a while ago of what I would want if I were lost in the woods, and it's like a 6" blade, double sided. The bottom edge is plain, but the top edge is fully serrated. That way I'd have a large enough serrated area to not tire too quickly.
 
I pondered this very question not long ago, and did some research into what I considered the best knife for that job. The consideration was; if I could have only one blade in a survival situation, what would it be? We all have different thoughts on the matter, of course, but for me I decided on the Becker BK2 Campanion. Here's why:

Blade length of a little over 5 inches, one quarter of an inch thick. This is a really stout blade that is heavy and sturdy enough for chopping and batonning, yet is short enough for other camp chores like making fuzz sticks, skinning game, and preparing food. It may not be the ideal size blade for any of those tasks, but it does all of them well enough.

Steel is 1095 CorVan. It may not be the perfect steel -- INFI is certainly tougher and more stain resistant -- but it's a very good steel that holds an edge well and is easy to sharpen.

The handles are the most comfortable of any I've ever held. Remember that this knife would be in your hand for much of the day performing all the tasks you require, from shelter making to food prep: handles are important. Also, in another month or so, Micarta scales will be available. The scales on the BK2 are simply changed with a hex wrench.

The sheath is very good. Not the best that it could be, but very good.

So for around $60 you can have a virtually indestructible survival knife shipped to your door that will meet all of my criteria for a one-knife survival scenario.

Those are my considered thoughts. I simply can't spend several hundred dollars on a knife for this scenario when a BK2 will fill the bill as well (for me).
 
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