Survival knives

[gaseousclay]

I wasn’t sure where to put this so here goes.

I’m looking for a survival knife that will do well in tactical situations but also for hunting scenarios. In addition to a firearm, a survival knife might be a prudent investment if I’m looking at the big picture. Any recommendations for a decent knife? I’m not looking for a $500 knife, but not a cheaply made one either. In my limited search I came across Esee survival knives which look great, but I’m curious what some of your recommendations might be.

[50 shooter]

ESEE would be one of the knives at the top of the list, their warranty is one of the best in the industry.

BK&T, now Ka-Bar are another, made out of 1095 steel. Will hold up to anything that you want them to do.

TOPS knives, definitely another company to look at. They make a lot of different knives, you should be able to find one you like.

RAT Knives, basically the little brother of ESEE knives, pretty sure they're the same company. Another quality line of knives.

These should get you started and they won't break the bank. Depending on where you shop, you should be able to stay under $150.

[skoro]

This links to a good Ka-Bar:

https://www.amazon.com/KA-BAR-1317-U...P5HTPERX13ANAF

[SerenityNetworks]

What is the main scenario for use? Is it to be primarily a hunting knife and used for survival only if necessary, or are you thinking to have more of a bush-craft type knife that you can use as a decent hunting knife?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[gaseousclay]

The knife would basically serve as an all purpose knife. So, survival stuff but also self defense if necessary. Esee ticks all the right boxes for me and being made in the USA is a plus. I want a full tang, fixed carbon or stainless steel blade that isn’t too big. I’m not looking for a giant Bowie knife

[Rangerrich99]

I recently bought a Winkler Skinner by Case as kind of my hybrid survival/hunting/camp knife.
https://caseknives.com/collections/f...walnut-skinner


Features a trailing point 5.25 inch blade (80CRV2 steel). Haven't tried to destroy it yet, but it's a very nice knife so far. I have the black walnut version, but I know it comes in a variety of handle scales, G10 being one of them.

If you're looking for something tending more towards 'survival' then I'd look at a Ka-Bar offering, but this knife is a nice go-between, and still compact and light enough to be a good hunting knife.

[44 AMP]

Did you happen to miss the bolded statement in the main contents page that says

Posts must be Firearms related.

??

moved to Gear & Accessories forum..

[ms6852]

In a survival situation one knife does not cut it as there will be more situations where you wish you had a smaller knife. But the ones mentioned above are great knives and at that point it become a matter of personal preference and one's financial budget. For survival I would recommend the following 3 or 4 to have on your person or bugout bag.

1. Anything mentioned above
2. Mora knife. Great knife and the most inexpensive knife ever for such a great product.
3 A Swiss army knife with a large and small blade, an awl, for drilling holes in wood, and a
saw for cutting wood. The saw in this knife is fantastic.
4 A buck knife model 110. This can replace the Mora if you don't like it, great for skinning easy to sharpen and I have skinned 30 deer with this knife. You can also baton small logs with it as well if you hold the knife handle at 90º from the blade.

[HiBC]

I suppose there are a lot of mental images of the ultimate survival knife.Some knife makers build them.
I've watched the videos. There is sort of a ritual. Guy with beard goes into the woods.
He has a pack meticulously outfitted for making the video. He might build a lean to,or even a chair. He gathers fuel.Makes the obligatory fuzz stick. Batons kindling. Uses knife and sparky stick to start fire. Produces dead flesh and some produce in a zip lock bag.
He lights the fire,cooks and eats,makes coffee. Then he goes to bed,wakes up,makes more coffee. Gathers things up and goes home. And of course,the knife leads the way.
Thats all well and good.
I learned fuzz stick making as a boy scout when I was about 12. I don't recall making one since.
If I'm hunting,I have very sharp knives with thin blades and a slim edge.It slides through flesh easily.Those Moras with the orange plastic sheath work pretty good,actually.
I don't pound the blade through bones,either.

I can see a Kabar as a "survival knife" But it would not be my choice for field dressing.
I have not had much luck putting a fine edge on a 1095 blade. Makes decent bayonets and machetes though.

This site has a lot of knives folks earn a living with.It will tell you about steels.Good place to buy sharpening tools

Outfits like Wusthoff,Henkels,Victorinox,etc make some good stuff.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/

IMO,generally,a knife made to do everything won't do anything very well.

I might select a cut down GI machete,maybe 15 in blade,for the rough work and maybe a chefs boning knife for flesh. (Not saying those are best.)
I just cringe at using a fine edge for a splitting wedge or digging latrines.

Now don't get me wrong!! A real nice knife is a thing of wonder and beauty.

I have a thing for old puukkos. I have 4 of them. Jarvenpeii,Finland.

I think an outfit named Kellum handles some.Get your fine knife and enjoy!! Look at a little Marbles safety ax ,or cut down a machete.

This is a elk dressing vid. I don't say its a great elk dressing vid,it just gives you one idea of what the job is.

https://youtu.be/pUZiTbAHI1c

And note this gentleman uses a boning knife. Its slim and sharp.

https://youtu.be/V-q4IVBrL0M

IMO,select what sort of job you want to do. There are different edge and steel requirements for doing surgery vs chopping firewood.

Or,just buy a cool knife because you like it.

[Hal]

Head on over to Bladeforums and ask there.

You'll get all kinds of useful advice.

Personally - I find having 3 different knives & some basic flint knapping knowledge to be the best way to go - instead of trying to get by with a one size fits all.

[jmr40]

I've have, or have had most of the ones recommended above. I pretty much stopped using all of them after trying the Bradford knives. You don't see a lot about them because they are a relatively new USA made knife. I find them to be the best combination of practical usefulness, price, quality, and aesthetics.

https://bradfordknives.com/12-guardian-series

Prices directly from Bradford can be pricy, but unless you want to order one with fancy features there are much better prices out there from Amazon among others. You may have to settle for a basic handle color, but these are the 2 I ordered from Amazon. The very small Guardian 3 which is a great small knife for a fixed blade EDC.

https://www.amazon.com/Bradford-Kniv...QJVGWHKM20A6FP

And the bigger Guardian 4 for general fixed blade use.

https://www.amazon.com/Bradford-Kniv...b-8a79de2d236f

The Guardian 4.5 may be my next. It is the same size as the 4, but with a different blade shape.

https://bradfordknives.com/25-guardian-45

They use good steel, come with a pretty good leather sheath with the option of buying a kydex sheath if you want. They make some larger models, but the Guardian 4 or 4.5 is as big as you need IMO. Certainly nothing bigger than the 5.5.

Another good source

https://www.bladehq.com/cat--Bradford--1815

[AirForceShooter]

6" K-Bar.

Proven and tested.

Nice one around $50.

AFS

[50 shooter]

I agree with others about trying to find just one knife to do everything, it just won't happen.

A big knife like the Becker BK-9 is great for batoning wood but for doing fine stuff it sucks. Likewise a small Mora is great for doing a lot of small work and then comes up short for heavy duty work.

This is why most people will carry multiple types of knives when they go into the bush. On top of that, most will also carry a multi-tool for doing other small work, including working on their knives.

If you find a couple knives that you like, post the link to them and we'll all take a look and offer an opinion. Of course we all know that opinions are like A$$h*[e$, everyone has one!

Anyway, let us know what you're interested in.

[TBM900]

Please explain “survival” and “tactical”
I mean, just what do you want to do with it?

I carry a Mora Companion as an everyday working knife
Working the ranch, hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, in town, around the house, Etc
They are the most practical and useful knifes I’ve ever owned
If there’s something it can’t do well there is a better tool than a knife
Wicked sharp, hold an edge well, lightweight, just the right size
Well under $15 so buy them by the box and leave them everywhere

[gaseousclay]

Survival: a knife that will be useful in the wild, such as for cutting wood, rope, food, etc.

Tactical: can be used for self defense. I don’t want or need a giant bowie knife or whatever it is that soldiers use. Just something on the smaller side that is easier to conceal.

I’ve narrowed my search to either the Esee 5 or 6, or the Kabar Becker Companion.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The issue with a lot of survival knives (the larger ESEEs and non-tweener Beckers) is the spine is so thick (to survive people doing stupid, rarely used things with them) that it reduces a lot of their utility for everyday tasks that are more common.

Having said that, the ESEE-4/5 and the BK15, BK16, and BK17 are all about perfect. My BK16 is shaving sharp with a 20 degree edge each side (40 total). The protective coating on them adds a lot of drag; but that is easy enough to strip off. Moras are great as well - handy little knives that are cheap and easy to replace, not that you are likely to need to replace them as they are tough as nails.

ETA: The Companion (BK2) is basically a sharpened prybar. It is the epitome of what I was discussing in the first paragraph and it is not very concealable.

[stephen426]

Cold Steel Kobun

I like a tanto blade since it is pretty versatile. The spine is nice and thick near the tip which gives it great penetration ability. The flat side allows the knife to be batoned to cut thicker pieces of wood. While AUS8 isn’t some fancy steel, all of the knives I’ve had from Cold Steel come very sharp out of the box and hold a decent edge. Unlike some crazy premium steels, they can also be sharpened fairly easily.

[Pahoo]

I’m looking for a survival knife that will do well in tactical situations

They say that a good idea is only as good as how long someone tells you, it's not. .......

Back in the 80's, I was a dedicated BowHunter. I came up with an old EstWing
Hatchet who was starting to loose some of the of the leather washers. I cut it even shorter and restacked it. Made a leather sheath for it and worked great. I could chop limbs of all kinds. Dressed deer, Elk and even on Bison. I also carried a LockBack folder. Never had to use it for self defense but you can make the measure. .....

Estwing has proven steel in it and cost is resonable. I now see that Gerber and others are also making a short hatchet. .....

Be Safe !!!

[ms6852]

Originally Posted by stephen426

Cold Steel Kobun

I like a tanto blade since it is pretty versatile. The spine is nice and thick near the tip which give it great penetration. The flat side allows the knife to be batoned to cut thicker pieces of wood. While AUS8 isn’t some fancy steel, all of the knives I’ve had from Cold Steel come very sharp out of the box and hold a decent edge. Unlike some crazy premium steels, they can also be sharpened fairly easily.

Cold steel is a great knife for the money. Wicked sharp for a mass production knife but sturdy and reliable as all heck. Love the Tantos. Was not aware of Bradford knives that JMR40 mentioned and they have a great tango there that got me drooling.

[Kreyzhorse]

I like exotic, high end steel knives for my EDC. I'm kind of a steel snob.

For a purely survival knife or woods knife, I'd go with a carbon steel. More prone to rust of course, but much easier to sharpen and that's what you need in the field.

ESEE makes fine knifes and I highly recommend them as a good starting point.

[stephen426]

Originally Posted by Krezyhorse

I like exotic, high end steel knives for my EDC. I'm kind of a steel snob.

For a purely survival knife or woods knife, I'd go with a carbon steel. More prone to rust of course, but much easier to sharpen and that's what you need in the field.

I’m a bit of a steel snob myself LOL. My preferred is M390, but I have a variety of knives including a Fantoni HB-03 with S125V, Spyderco PM2 with S110V, Cruwear, M4, and a few other models in CTS-XHP.

The funny thing is some of the “premium’ knife makers like Chris Reeve still uses S35V (which he helped formulate). Emerson still uses 154CM. I guess there is something to be said for the ability to field sharpen a knife versus having some crazy hard steel that requires specialized equipment.

[Pahoo]

For a purely survival knife or woods knife, I'd go with a carbon steel. More prone to rust of course, but much easier to sharpen and that's what you need in the field.

Have to agree as I am into knives as well and even though the SS stand up to the elements better, too many lack the heart of good steel. I regularly sharpen knives, for groups and right off I can tell how serviceable, they are going to be. In my previous working life, I used the bench mounted hardness tester and that gave me a great reference. .....

Be Safe !!!

[Wishoot]

How about a good ole' Buck 119?

[dyl]

You know that saying that goes something like: The gun in your hand is better than the one in your drawer? etc... I think the same can go for "tactical" knives or pocket knives.

I can pocket carry a tiny 9mm, and a Benchmade Mini Griptillian (among other small folding knives). Small guns are harder to shoot well. Small folders are not as sturdy as big fixed blades. But they will be on me practically every day. That's pretty tactical. If I go from being in my car to immediately being stranded on an island with nothing but a volleyball to talk to, hey! I'm prepared. If my clothes can't support the weight of a firearm (gym shorts) then I can multitask and carry a Cold Steel Recon 1 clip point to fulfill both roles of utility tool and defensive weapon.

[Pahoo]

Another option would be a Puma, White-Hunter or that blade style .....

Be Safe !!!