Cheapo Surival Kit Knife

[hillbilly]

I made a cheapo survival kit knife.

Cold Steel was having a sale on their "Bushman" model....the one-piece blade with the rolled handle.


I got one for $15.

Then, I added the following:

10 feet of 550 cord at $1.00
some fishhooks I found laying around
a few split-shot sinkers.
15 feet of 15lb test monofilament line
a couple of short nails with broad heads to make the Bushman into a spear
a safety pin
a wad of dryer lint for kindling
10 "strike anywhere" matches that have been dipped in melted parafin wax
one antiseptic wipe
two bandaids.

As you can see in the photos, I wrapped the 550 cord around the handle and tied it down tight.

Then I stuffed all the goodies, wrapped in a plastic sandwich baggie, into the hollow handle.

First shot shows the knife from the side with the stuffings.

Second shot shows the knife fully stuffed, and laying across the cordura sheath that came with it.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Very cool. I keep meaning to pick up a Bushman. It would make a great addition to my GHB in my truck.

 

[hso]

Cool

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Hillbilly -- Thanks for the idea. Where was the sale?

 

[hillbilly]

The sale was advertised in Cold Steel's "Special Projects" holiday flier that I got in the mail.

They also had their "battle axe" on sale for just $25.00.

But I went for the two Bushmans for $30, instead.

hillbilly

 

[middy]

Cool.

Goop a bunch of Vaseline into that lint and it will make MUCH better kindling.

 

[gremlin_bros]

i will admit if i had only one knife to take with me this would be the one due to the kiss idea. k.i.s.s. keep it simple stupid... the one piece idea makes it durrable beyond other knives i have owned several knives in my time and the bushman beet them all for durability i plan on getting a couple for me and my wife soon as possable for our bob's nice to see a post like this one.

 

[84B20]

Hillbilly, I don't know what your life is worth to you but mine is worth a lot more than the $15.00 you spent on your survival knife. I had a K-Bar break at the hilt when I was in Vietnam and wouldn't trust my life to just any knife.

I put together a kit using the best knife I could afford. I use a Chris Reeve Nkonka Spear Point, removed the screwdriver accessories and added the fishing gear you mentioned, a compass and instead of matches, a magnesium bar with flint.

 

[gremlin_bros]

Hillbilly, I don't know what your life is worth to you but mine is worth a lot more than the $15.00 you spent on your survival knife. I had a K-Bar break at the hilt when I was in Vietnam and wouldn't trust my life to just any knife.

I put together a kit using the best knife I could afford. I use a Chris Reeve Nkonka Spear Point, removed the screwdriver accessories and added the fishing gear you mentioned, a compass and instead of matches, a magnesium bar with flint.

dont let the price fool you 84b20 the bushman is high carbon steel hardened to rockwell 52 out of 54 if my memory serves me correct it's ine piece construction of blade and handel makes it excedingly strong where most knives are weekest it holds an edge verry well and is prety easy to resharpen with a wet stone the hollow handel makes a good place to store things and makes the handel lighter in weight and excedingly strong. it dosent look prety as some knives but then again some of the best things in the world are not prety just efective like say the a-10 worthog, the hummer, the voltswagon bug, ar even the nazi Kubelwagen was ugly as sin but it was a dang good vehicle you may now know it as the v.w. thing still ugly but did its job verry well. just like the bushman ugly but works verry well.

infact i think one would be more than hard pressed to find a knife better suited to survival pound for pound and dollar for dollar. this knife has my vote for one of the best. oh and btw the knife is made by cold steel a company that has a good reputation for its knives. a side note the "bad ax" they make is nice but its made to throw not to chop wood i know i own one is alot of fun to play around with but for cutting wood give me my poland or even my grandfathers crosscut saw. lol

 

[84B20]

infact i think one would be more than hard pressed to find a knife better suited to survival pound for pound and dollar for dollar. this knife has my vote for one of the best. oh and btw the knife is made by cold steel a company that has a good reputation for its knives. a side note the "bad ax" they make is nice but its made to throw not to chop wood i know i own one is alot of fun to play around with but for cutting wood give me my poland or even my grandfathers crosscut saw. lol

You may be correct for this particular knife, but I'd be hard pressed to believe a $15.00 knife could be as well made as a $360.00 knife. I just wouldn't bet my life on it.

 

[gremlin_bros]

tell you what 84b20 go out and buy one and try it then let us know i mean after all its only 15 bucks. trust me i felt the same way when i first saw them but just try one before you judge it to be unworthy of you. i think you will be surprised. it is one hell of a knife for the price. if i had only one choice for a knife it the bushman would be it hands down. so head out and grab one and use it torture it push it to the limit see just what it will take i mean hey its only 15 bucks and at least you will know the max of what it can take which will probably be 10 times what you would be willing to put your fancy 360 dollar Chris Reeve Nkonka Spear Point through till then as the old saying goes don't knock it till you try it.
now i am not knocking Chris reeve knives i have used one once and it is a dang good knife i have also used benchmade, Gerber, buck to include the famed buckmaster and even own a buckmaster i even own one of the famed tracker knives as well as many other makes some factory made and a few custom hand forged knives and pound for pound the bushman is just great at what i does. and i am curious to see just what it will take i haven't found it yet with mine and i use it for everything from camp chores to field dressing and butchering even used it as a fro to split firewood i cant kill the thing. perhaps you can just let us know what it took to kill it.

 

[84B20]

Gremlin_bros, I'll take your advice, I'll order one today. I checked their website and they list it for $24.95. Where did you order it for $15.00? I'd like to get it from the same place you got yours; just to be sure I'm comparing apples to apples.

 

[gremlin_bros]

i was able to get one at a gun show guess the price may have went up in ten years but it's still worth the money. just be sure to let us know how it turns out when you test it oh and ask if they still send the video of the torture test they put the knives through it is very interesting to watch

 

[hso]

infact i think one would be more than hard pressed to find a knife better suited to survival pound for pound and dollar for dollar.

Have you used it in the field to make a improvised camp yet?

 

[gremlin_bros]

Have you used it in the field to make a improvised camp yet?

yes more than once as well as used it in the Navy on field exercises i was a sea bee so i stayed on land and worked with the Marines so needless to say it was used and abused and still came back for more i even put a stick in the handle and used the handle as the impact point to pound tent stakes in with and used it like a machete to cut brush for camouflaging my position i beat the tar out of the dang thing but it still kept on coming back the only thing i upgraded was i had the local shoe repair shop make a better scabbard for it. and BTW heres a link to it.
http://www.coldsteel.com/fixed-blades-bushman.html
oh one other thing i did was cut a bike intertube and stretch it over the Handel to give a better grip and hold the goodies inside until needed.
some edit to my earlier post its a Rockwell hardness of 54 not 52 my bad so its harder than i thought.and withstands over two tons of force at the transition point of blade and Handle. now that my friend is a knife as ol crocodile Dundee says

 

[SilentStalker]

Gremlin_bros, I'll take your advice, I'll order one today. I checked their website and they list it for $24.95. Where did you order it for $15.00? I'd like to get it from the same place you got yours; just to be sure I'm comparing apples to apples.

You can get one on Ebay for $15 or less.

 

[84B20]

You can get one on Ebay for $15 or less.

Too late, I already ordered one from the manufacturer. I'm kind of sorry I did so, though. Judging from the private messages I've gotten I'm afraid I might be wasting my time, not to mention my money doing the comparison test.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Thanks for the info in the original post hillbilly!

A $15-$25 knife I have along with me because I can afford to leave it in the car is a good addition to the nice knife I lock up at home and only bring out when hunting (or when zombies attack).

 

[84B20]

Got the Cold Steel

Well, it arrived today and I must say I'm not impressed! It really is a piece of junk compared to the Chris Reeve I have. Now, the CD they sent was impressive. They seem to make some fine high end knives and swords but as for this Bushman, I wouldn't use for anything more than on the end of a spear. The handle looks like it is designed to be stuck on the end of a stick.

I don't care how strong the literature says it is it's stamped from a sheet of steel and not forged like better knives. It may be flexible but that’s because it is so thin and that is not how great knives are made. My kitchen knives are better made; they are forged the way the CR knives are made.

Bottom line, I would probably use it for a camp knife with some modifications to the handle but definitely not for a survival knife.

Look at the photos and compare.

 

[middy]

84B20, are you sure CR knives are forged? I was under the impression that they are machined from bar stock. Many very high grade knives are made by stock removal. Proper steel and heat treating is far more important than "forging".

For $25 you have a piece of good steel that is properly tempered. You might want to actually use it before passing judgement.

 

[middy]

Another point: thin knives cut much better than thick ones. That's what knives are for; cutting. If you want to chop stuff, that's what a hatchet is for, it works much better.

"Survival knives" are a gimmick, IMHO.

 

[mrmeval]

It's a sheet of high quality carbon steel formed into a knife with the end rolled into a handle to allow a shaft or other goodies put in it.

There's not much to do with the steel, it's received annealed formed into a blade then heat treated and tempered. If done in mass quantities on automated equipment the final manufacturing cost would be around 5.00 or so. Cold Steel has a reputation to live up to and the experience to do the process well.

It's as tough as any other knife of similar material and thickness. I really don't much care for it as anything but a utility knife.

I have a Gerber Mark II if I felt a need for a fighting knife.

You may be correct for this particular knife, but I'd be hard pressed to believe a $15.00 knife could be as well made as a $360.00 knife. I just wouldn't bet my life on it.

 

[hso]

84B20,

Will a side by side cutting test be forthcoming like Cliff Stamp conducts (http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/reviews.html)?

I suggest 1/2" manila rope cutting, fir 2X4 shaving, and limb trimming by whittling or hacking. There's no good skinning simulant that I've seen so that comparison will have to wait.

 

[84B20]

Middy, the original bar stock is forged and after that they are machined to the final shape. There is some debate as to whether hand forging is better than machine forging. It depends on the craftsman that does the forging. As for your point about the thickness, I had a Ka-Bar break at the hilt once when I was in Viet Nam and ever since I don't trust cheap or thin knives.

Cutting is also related to sharpness and the CR is every bit as sharp as the CS. Besides, CR guarantees the knife for life and the CS only for 3 years. CR will even sharpen their knives for life for just the cost of shipping.

 

[84B20]

HSO, I wish I had the time to do the tests you suggest but unfortunately I don't. I'll have to leave it for the magazines or someone else to do that kind of comparison. Sorry.