All around survival knife, whats your pick?

[Boats]

No. Mine was 5629-b, which is not currently listed, probably because it is out of stock.

The pic still loads though if you have the image address:

$125.00 when I got them, but Ragnar's getting bent over by the poor performance of the dollar versus the euro lately. Might have to special order if you want the best double rig.

From the catalog, extreme left of the photo:

 

[mattw]

I think I have learned more from this thread than any one single thread on THR. Thanks to all the knowledgable contributors and let's hope we can keep exploring features and contruction of survival and utility knives!

I am looking at getting a couple books and a Mora and possibly a Fallkniven F1!

I have decided against any folders for anything but a pocket knife for small chores and possibly self defense.

I anticipate being deployed to Iraq some time in the coming years because I am in the application process for the USMC PLC program and if accepted I will be a 2nd Lt. upon completion of TBS and placed in charge of an infantry unit. I think this might be the place where a Ka-Bar or a SEAL knife 2000 would be best used. For anything else I think the Moras would be more than enough.

 

[Boom-stick]

HSO,

I thing the Ritter knife spines have that angle on them to help battoning not hinder it. I wind up holding a stick at an arkward angle to hit a flat spine on a smallish blade as it is. JMHO.

 

[hso]

Boom-stick, I don't think so, but I'll ask Doug.

 

[sm]

Boats,

Great Postings, and pictures as usual from you. Thank you for sharing!

 

[rbmcmjr]

I guess I am the lone dissenter on the whole mora/helle/puuko thing. I am very uncomfortable with any heavy-use knife that doesn't have a guard. The very thought gives me the willies.

I prefer a little more beef in the blade, giving up pure slicing for some geometrical strength. My favorites are these two Kreins, the top one a TK7 in A2 and the bottom a TK5 in D2. Blades are on the order of 4.5" and 1/8" thick. Plenty of handle for good control and the rudimentary guard wards off the willies.

This one is a Charles May "Big Hand Scandi" and has a 4.5" blade of 5/32" D2 and a true scandi double grind. It is sharper than blue blazes. The Ironwood makes it almost too nice to use, but it wears well.

 

[mattw]

I love the looks of the knife in your second picture. I bet it costs a fortune.

 

[Boom-stick]

Hso, I'm pretty sure I read on Doug website about using the blade spine for battoning but I'm not sure, be good to see what he says.

I guess I am the lone dissenter on the whole mora/helle/puuko thing.

No You're not, I don't like them much either

I know they're sheeple friendly in this day and age but asfixed blades go, I'd prefer a smatchet or a Kukuri or one of these

 

[Kaylee]

I guess I am the lone dissenter on the whole mora/helle/puuko thing.

I don't get it either. I mean, the blades look good (if some are a little skinny), but I can't get over a smooth wood, guardless grip on a woodlands "using" knife. It looks like it's just begging to open up your fingers.

 

[Boats]

A guardless knife is like C&L on a 1911A1--it only looks scary and unsafe to people who don't/won't use one.

Puukkos represent thousands of years of design evolution intended to be combined with proper technique.

Just as one would employ different methods to wield a katana as opposed to a rapier, the puukko is used differently from a knife with a guard.

First, it is a tool, and only a weapon of truly last resort. Most puukko wielders also carry an axe or a folding saw. Need a weapon? Use the axe or make a spear. One does not stab with a puukko.

The puukko is designed to use a draw cut to lacerate hide, viscera, and cut meat, vegetables, etcetera--one just skips push cutting--draw, lift, draw, lift, so on. On wood, one uses a perpendicular draw cut as when whittling. If one requires penetration of something, note the generously large flat on the pommel, one literally pushes the knife with the palm into whatever is to be cut and then the knife is drawn back.

I still have and use knives with guards, but with experience I have found that guards are only necessary for stabbing. How often do you stab something?

 

[Kaylee]

I'm not talking about using it as a weapon.

I'm talking about push-cuts, boring holes, that kind of thing. Sure you can adapt by wrapping your pinky under the grip as a "stop" of sorts, but really.. why? A simple one-side only guard gives you a heck of a lot more room for error, and the only thing you lose is the ability to use a full-length sheath.

To me that guardless pattern is more like the "safety trigger" on a Glock. Sure you should be able avoid any problems by just keeping your finger off the bangswitch, but people being people and the world being imperfect, it's nice to have a little extra margin of safety when things don't go smooth.

Hence rbm's pieces look much better to me for a knife in that class.

 

[hso]

The Krein's look like FMA inspired fighters instead of utility knives.

Kaylee, I hear what you're saying about guards. There are Moras with small guards also. Not many and not considered traditional, but they are available.

Finger choils serve the same purpose as a guard without as much standoff from the edge.

 

[mattw]

Now that I think about it I have never cut myself with a knife in a way that could have been prevented by a guard. I guess I don't use my knives hard enough? I do think having a guard provides the user with a little more confidence in his knife handling, but at a trade off. Knives with guards don't look good to me.

 

[Boats]

Well, to each his or her own. I don't really like analogizing knives to firearms because they are different beasts, but in knives a dangerous design is not going to survive anywhere near as long as the puukko pattern has.

I do like "Keep your fingers off the blade and nothing bad will happen."

I would only ask that before the design is dismissed out of hand (pun intended) get a cheap one or borrow an example and put it through its paces.

I bought my first one on a lark, as an experiment, since I didn't get what the design was all about either. All I really have to say about it since is that these Scandinavian folks knew what they were up to building a knife style for one of Earth's harshest environments.

The handles are secure because they fill the hand. If one buys a kit and puts the effort in, the handle is totally customized to one's grip, just as intended.

Using the correct techniques with it serves to always keep the fingers comfortably away from the blade.

Finally, in some situations, a guard is a liability. The most frequent one I have encountered is in gutting a sizeable elk. Making a blind cut deep inside an animal, there is nothing about the puukko that gets hung up in that environment. Since one is drawing the knife back to one's self, the flairing towards the distant end of the pommel ensures one will not lose grip hauling the knife back out of the carcass. Additionally, the usual semi-convexed edge lends itself to making a generously dimensioned cut that causes the flaps to peel away from one another so the blade doesn't get hung up. The blade grind is also ridiculously easy to field sharpen as the proper sharpening angle is permanently ground into each side, meeting at a zero degree edge which is razor sharp.

What else can I say? I am a convert. Not to the exclusion of all other outdoors blades, but the puukkos especially come along when I want to keep my gloves on.

 

[Dionysusigma]

Well, I'd have to go with a portable combination of three, if I know I'm going into hostile conditions (meaning forbidding environments I'm unfamiliar with).

1) My Buck 119. Can stab nasty things with it, and it looks cool. Plus, it's got the psycological advantage... I've had it forever, and have used it a lot, so I know what it can and can't do.

2) My classic Leatherman. Been through hell and back. Used literally every day for 10 years.

3) Cold Steel Kukri machete. I've used this to dig/cut cars out of snow/ice drifts, cut down small (6" diameter) trees in blowing snowstorms to use as traction, split firewood, and a ton of other stuff. Holds an edge pretty dang well for a machete.

All three are relatively inexpensive. If I had to go with only one of them, I'd have to know what sort of "survival" was needed. Urban? Leatherman, no question. Mountains? Kukri. Desert? Kukri and/or Buck. Plains? Buck. Coastal area? Buck (it's stainless). Forest? Kukri and/or Buck.

It all just depends.

 

[Kaylee]

fighters? What makes them so, other than the false edge? Or is that it?

Dionysusigma - I think I like your approach.

 

[Skofnung]

What else can I say? I am a convert. Not to the exclusion of all other outdoors blades,

That's pretty much where I stand as well.

Now that I think about it I have never cut myself with a knife in a way that could have been prevented by a guard.

Me neither. I've cut myself more times than I care to remember, but I've never "ridden up the blade."

rbmcmjr, that "Big Hand Scandi" looks awesome.

 

[SpookyPistolero]

I just got my order or Moras from Ragweedforge.com and felt like it would be worth contributing to the thread.

Holy cow, these knives are great! I've got the green #760MG (the Swedish military one), the #780 (triflex craftsman) and the #510 (basic red, hard handled one). First of all, he got this order to me rediculously quickly. Ragweed's service is has an amazing reputation, that I see is quite fitting.

The 700 series both have the same full handle with the finger guard, but the blade is certainly noticeably thicker on the triflex. I think this it's the blade I'll test out first on my next treck.

All the blades are quite light but quite strong. There is some flex in the thinner two blades if you put what I would call 'excessive' force against them. Each blade also came razor sharp. Like shaving sharp. These are quite certainly the sharpest knives I've owned. Wicked.

The blade profile on all of them is very simple and to the point D ). They scream 'unpretentious utility'.

The 510 feels great in the hand, and the swell before the balde is enough to make up for the lack of a full guard. I wouldn't feel at all worried about slicing my hand open with this one. For some reason, this one might be my favorite. The way it handles is quite endearing.

The sheaths on the 700 series knives are lacking, to be blunt. I may look into kydex options there. I actually like the kydex on the 510, it's fairly simple and sleak.

I've only done some playing around the house with these blades, and no outdoors work (other than some carving), but would not hesitate to reccomend them. I will certainly be buying more in the not-so-distant future.

At the price, there's no good excuse not to own several!

 

[hso]

fighters? What makes them so, other than the false edge? Or is that it?

It's several things about the Kreins that remind me of FMA influence fighters. The guard is like I've seen on lots of FMA fighters. The tips. But mostly it's the angle of the blade wrt the handle. Most "working" blades will have either a relatively flat angle formed between handle and blade or will be slightly (or very) upswept. The blades angle down in these putting the handle and guard in the way of the "work". Look at your knife. Even with it's complex shape there's nothing that gets in the way of the blade being used on a flat surface. OTOH this is a very good angle for knives used in FMA and SE Asian styles. Without asking Tom I won't know for sure.

 

[Frandy]

Thanks for all the great posts!

Excellent thread here - learned a lot from so many who know far more than I do. Far more...

Until recently, I thought it would be the Marble Fieldcrest I inherited from my father. It's at least from the 1940s. (pic 1).

I now carry this Dave Vail drop point when out in the woods, along with a modest Gerber AR 3 folder with serrated edge in my pocket.

In the case of a survival knife, I really thought this 5" blade would be the ticket, but you guys have me questioning that for all the reasons mentioned in these posts. I'd still rather have it with me than not, but I think of the knives I own, the Fieldcrest or drop point might be better choices after all.

 

[hso]

That Marbles is beautiful! Great knife from a great company back when knives were made to be used. There's nothing wrong with a 5" field knife if it fits you. It's just getting into the upper reagions of length for a woods utility piece (unless you can palm a basketball like a couple of my friends).

 

[Frandy]

Me palm a basketball? I'm 5' 6" and shrinking. The Marble is looking more and more right all the time.

 

[FXR]

Boats: Thanks for the discussion about the puukko knives. I've been looking at them and wondering about the rationale behind the design. You made some good points I hadn't thought of, so I suppose now I'll have to buy one and try it out! Thanks again for the info...
K

 

[Sharps-shooter]

I have lots of knives, and many that are very dear to me. If i were to go off into the woods for an extended period of time and were going to just take one with me, I would take my old case XX "1836" bowie knife. It's heavy enough to work like a hatchet, and long and sharp enough to do just about anything you want it to. I think of it as the illegitimate child of a hatchet and a saber. It's the knife I took with me into the woods of montana for a couple months in fall/winter of '97.

Earlier that year, I spent a few weeks in arctic lappland. The knife I had with me there was a finnish knife, looked like the ones pictured above from boats' post, and had no guard. It felt really nice in my hand, and the handle is made of knice wood, burl birch, but I wouldn't have wanted to use it for thrusting. Great for butchering a reindeer or filleting a fish, though.

 

[Bill_G]

i would take my cold steel master hunter in Carbon V. and also my Vic swiss tool spirit.

oh...can't forget my spyderco Delica in my pocket!