Knives

[Neuralsandwich]

I need to look into a small knife, I have a cold steel kukri for chopping wood, reasonably priced for something i am going to abuse.

Not trying to hi jack the thread but what sharpeners do you guys use as well? And How many knives do you suggest having?

[Timelord]

For me , in my primary kit, not including any in other packs etc, 2. One big & 1 small. Although a camp size axe will do a lot + more than the big knife on its own.

(If push came to shove, I would have 1 good camp axe and 1 quality small high carbon knife.)

[Scythe13]

In my GHB I have 1 lock knives. One is a small black leatherman, the other is GTC with belt cutter and glass punch. No sharpner, as I don't intend to use the knives much.

In my BOB I have 1 GTC, 1 Smith n Wesson R&m with sharpner stone, 1 pocket knife (Swiss Army, or replica, not sure which). Have the Gerber diamond pen shaped sharpener as well. BOB has pen holders, so I thought....ooow handy.

My EDC includes a SOG beasty lock knife. It's the one on my Flickr account.

Also, have a Gerber machete, that I try to take with me if I'm out camping, but I choose my times to carry it.

Hope that helps NeuralSandwich.

[Tonka]

For heavy work, a parang is definitely the way to go. I use machetes for woodland maintenance (clearing rogue rhododendron etc) and I have owned various military issue machetes but was unimpressed. But an old handmade Malaysian parang I picked up 20 odd years back, cuts like a lightsabre. It’s all in the shape of the blade and where the weight falls that makes it work. Even when blunt it hacks branches off like an axe. My problem is that I use this as a tool regularly, and am unsure how to replace it. Anyone know where to get hold of another… outside Malaya?

As for small knives, a half decent multi-tool is a must… just for everyday life let alone survival.
Of course if you carry one daily make sure it doesn’t have locking blades , UK law treats anything that locks as a fixed blade. After the apocalypse, you don’t need to worry about that so much.

My main medium knife is an old RAF issue survival knife. It’s OK, very strong and parkerised, but I’m sure there are better if you want to pay more.

I also use a German made M7 bayonet in a self-sharpening scabbard, which is a nicely made smaller multi-purpose knife. Only the Eickhorn made version is any good, don’t bother with the US ones.

One thing I have found is you don’t get what you pay for. For every £100 knife, there is a £30 knife that is better somewhere. There are bargains online but I believe you really need to see AND feel before you buy. The proof of the pudding is in the stabbing.

Probably.

[Paul]

(29 April 2012, 19:05)Neuralsandwich Wrote: I need to look into a small knife, I have a cold steel kukri for chopping wood, reasonably priced for something i am going to abuse.

Not trying to hi jack the thread but what sharpeners do you guys use as well? And How many knives do you suggest having?

Sharpener
Diamond flat plate for roughing out nicks in the blade and a simple 3/8 inch dia 4 inch long smooth slipstone for honing.

Two Blades.
Kukri
Graded sharpening gives you two blades in 1,(it's not just for chopping wood).

3" nothing exciting lock knife non serrated blade for ease of sharpening.
Don't you just hate it when a UK legal clasp knife folds onto your fingers?

Not knives but sharps
6 stanley blades, and a disposable sterile scalpel in my first aid kit.

[00111001]

Why use a knife for splitting wood? Get yourself a Gransfors Bruks axe. That and a mora will see you through. Plus you can do much more with the axe than you can with a machette.

Link: http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Produc...orest-Axe/

[bigpaul]

i think you need 3 blades, a knife either a lock knife or a sheath knife or both, a machette for clearing brush and an axe for chopping logs/firewood (personally i prefer a hatchet type axe as i cant see me chopping down trees at 64 years of age!)

[Skean Dhude]

Three blades? I think I might have gone a bit overboard then.

[bigpaul]

(30 April 2012, 14:02)Skean Dhude Wrote: Three blades? I think I might have gone a bit overboard then.

yeah, me too i'm saying 2 as a MINIMUM!"

[Nemesis]

(30 April 2012, 09:08)00111001 Wrote: Why use a knife for splitting wood? Get yourself a Gransfors Bruks axe. That and a mora will see you through. Plus you can do much more with the axe than you can with a machette.

Link: http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Produc...orest-Axe/

I have a gransfors bruks I find it bit soft for the amount of chopping I do soft as in I am denting the rear of it, but nothing that it can't handle, but I got an axe made by a fellow called cegga and if you ever get a chance to own a cegga axe go for it top kit is my main axe now.