Could you survive using a nonlocking folder with a 3" blade?
That is what your law allows as a daily carry implement.
Let's set the scenerio as being on that "dream homestead" that will sustain you after SHTF. (someone just walked away and left it for your use)
You are living daily identically to your "iron age ancestors".
Would a 3" blade on a slip joint folder be enough?
any NON LOCKING folding knife is dangerous, could come back and chop someones fingers off, sure we used them when we were kids but you had to be careful and we werent using them in a survival situation just normal life.
Well better than nothing , and I would fashion ( even a piece of wood ) to turn it into a fixed blade ....ok it’s not ideal ....but a survival tool worth having , in the absence of anything else .....and you could kill a charging rabbit with it .
I have a lock knife with me at all times, its my everyday tool.
Very strange! This fear of the folding knife.
Such fear that one will carry an illegal knife rather than a nonlocking knife to the same penalty they would face for owning an illegal firearm.
Whereas I have been carrying a nonlocking folder for nigh onto 70 years and still possess all of my fingers.
And the military of both our nations issues a nonlocking folding utility knife to troops for daily use.
My word, do they want troops to hurt themselves?
It depends on the knife, if you can find and old Normark locker and modify it (to non locker) then you could do a lot with it. Even the Sheffield Army folding knife has potential if you could have it customised with a slightly chunkier blade and ditch the rest.
Ideally I would have it set up pretty tight so it takes effort to close.
For chopping wood you will struggle unless it’s pretty light but it would be useful for most tasks.
My everyday day tool is a Leatherman Crunch and although the main blade locks it doesn’t look too intimidating so I hopefully shouldn’t get too much hassle. It’s worth checking out as I use it everyday, it’s even got locking pliers (very rare) and takes standard hex bits.
My hunting knowledge is very limited so my opinion on the ideal knife will be limited,
We were taught to whittle to shape and lay a piece of popsicle stick in the Mil-K-818 as an improvised liner-lock, but I never found this necessary other than to please Master Chief who was our instructor. Like MB I've been using scout knives, Case stockman's and Barlows since I was ten and still have all my fingers.
The key to using a standard pocket knife for wood craft is that strong back spring and selecting the proper tool for the job.
Plus there is the training in using the spring back safely and efficiently.
We always got big doses of that because the non-locking folders were all that was available, other than a fixed blade, and you could not drop a fixed blade knife in your pocket and forget about it until you had to peel an apple.
I was an adult before Buck came out with the 110 folding hunter. That was the first good quality locking folder on our market, and suddenly a rash of others appeared.
I still remember first seeing them. I wanted one badly but the $25 US was above my budget. Equal to around $250 today, when Minimum pay was $1.50 hr ! I was a broke university student working part time.
I got hold of a German Kat knife somewhere and hung that on my gear. They were pretty good knives, still are. They now cost as much as the Buck used to.
Odd thing was, I still had a Shrade 3 blade stockman in my pocket and used it for the real knife work.
Same thing when I was in the service; combat knife on the web gear, pilot survival knife on the trouser belt, 4 blade utility knife in the pocket and most used.
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I used what we call a Jack Knife when I was a kid, this is a folding non locking pocket knife which has the pointed spike as well, I still have one.
I still have a two blade penknife by Richards of Sheffield that I had as a kid but I have a Victorinox “camping” as my EDC, and there’s a multi tool in the car GHB and in the camper with a mora in the cutlery draw.