Knife for Appalachian Trail

[Carl Levitian]

I agree about 99.999% of what has been said here. I've got a 40 year familiarness with the A.T., and for almost all that time, I could in actuality get by with a small sak or Gerber LST junnior. After I got to middle age, my backpacking knife was indeed a Gerber LST.

Out of 39 years, 11 months, and 29 days, it was all I needed, but in April of 1989 I had one incident where I was glad of the half pound of .25 Jetfire in my pants pocket. At the intersection of the Bluff trail, a few miles north of the Gravel Springs shelter, where it intersects with the trail to Big Devil Stairs, I had to fire one warning shot in the ground to get the message clear to somebody to "Back the eff off!"

One time in 40 years is pretty good odds, but even today, I think a 12 once or lighter very small pocket pistol that nobody knows about exept you, may be a nice thing to have.

Time has changed things all over the country. No reason to think the A.T. has been spared. If I were young enough to do it again, I'd have a little NAA .22 in my pocket.

Personal choice though.

 

[SniperStraz]

Arn't there a ton of legal issues with carrying on the trail?

 

[conw]

Thruhike,

I think I had confused "slackpacking" with "thru-hiking." I realize there are people offering the slackpacking service, and I also realize WD has slackpacked most of his trail miles. My bad, I thought the OP was slackpacking, not thruhiking.

There may be another one that was throwing me off, "section hiking?"

Oh well, it's clear now why he won't have a support team to carry his gun in their glove box

 

[tango2echo]

Leatherman Surge Multi-tool with a pack of Black and Decker jig-saw blades. (will fit in the file/saw holder)

Gerber Big Rock fixed blade knife. (see my review over at survivalist boards.com)

No need to pack on the AT IMHO. I'd be more worried about catching a contact high from your fellow hikers than being assaulted. I've done the AT from Stone Mnt. to the VA line. Hope to finish the rest soon. Too hard to dedicate the time to through hike right now. Have fun.

T2E

 

[M'bogo]

I'd make room in my pack for a Kershaw Outcast Bushknife, 10in D2 blade that only weighs 22oz. Its a great camp and multi purpose knife.

http://www.kershawknives.com/productdetails.php?id=167&brand=kershaw

Here is a good review of the Outcast. http://www.m4040.com/Knifemaking/REVIEWS/FieldBladeReview-KershawOutcast.htm

Real world pricing puts them under $90 also.

M'bogo

 

[Master Blaster]

A puma Bowie, one piece blade and handle from a single forged blank, with stag scales.

I have one and I like it alot,

http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=233011

 

[woodfiend]

I have this one, and it is fantastic! I got mine for like $53, and it is without doubt the sharpest knife I have ever bought aside from a Gillete razor.

This also shows what you can do with it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayU-38tIOXQ&feature=related

 

[conw]

Great looking knife, Woodfiend. I am on dialup...can you link to a place to buy?

It's a big relief to see...well...a big relief on a production knife like that

 

[hso]

conwict,

Look here -
http://www.ragweedforge.com/helle/eggen.html
http://www.ragweedforge.com/helle/h-models.html

 

[Thruhike98]

Wow Conwict, not too many people can drop those terms in casual conversation. I think you've got it:

Slackpacking is kinda like backpacking, but you hike without your gear - someone drives it ahead for you. I don't guess you can say you are backpacking if it's not on your back.

Thruhiking is hiking a long-distance trail from one end to the other in one continuous shot. Those who do this would not count slackpacking as thruhiking, even if the slackpackers went end-to-end, it just seems too much like cheating for thruhikers.

Section hiking may be the toughest of the three. It involves hiking a whole long-distance trail, but doing it in small sections over several years. This is more realistic for those who are not just out of school or recently retired. I think it may be the toughest because you have to get back in to trail shape over and over, you have to coordinate tons of logistics (thruhikers just have two; to GA and home from ME), and you have to decide over-and-over to get back out there, even after you learn how much pain is involved.

 

[Macmac]

I took the advice to follow this link: http://www.lmc.edu/faculty/DoyleW/ATBook.html

I got a good laugh from this quote.

"The more afraid you are, the heavier your pack will be"

I must say i disagree. Because I went with 2 other guys and all our girlfriends (circa 1970) up to Carter Notch AMC NH, on the 4th of July weekend. It turned out that items (not mine) had been left below in the cars, and I was selected alone to go back down and get them.

So off I went, pretty much running down the mountain, and just about 200 yards from the cars, I spooked a black bear, which spooked me since I was taken by surprise, and was still running, when it happened, so I had no idea there was any bear around.

This caused me to fall, and give my ankle a pretty fair turn. I managed to get the forgotten items, and still run back up again, but I had the incentive from that bear meeting. It has been a long time since 1970, so I won't guess what the distance was. That is what the AMC guide is for.

In this same area I have been a part time winter care taker for the RMC, sister to the AMC. The Randolf Mountain Club pretty much controlls the cabins in the northern Presidentials.

This is on a part of the AT, and I can assure you cutting any living wood with a knife of any kind will be frowned upon.

Most of my knife working is accomplished with either a swiss knife for mainly the screw driver tool and eatting, or a really sharp folder from gerber, which is thin and weighs nearly nothing.

Back in my day there were no Leather Man like tooks, and if I were going these days I would want one of these mulitools over the swiss knife, but not one of the very heavy ones. One with pliers and a screw driver, and not much else would be my ticket, which would include some sort of knife blade as they all do.

So still one more knife and a good light but very sharp folder would meet that demand.

I myself have never thru hiked the entire trail, but I have hiked some parts of it many times over.

I still live very close to the AT in NH, some what east of it, so if I could be of any assistance let me know.

Being long winded because i can, if the idea was to chop fire wood, there is no need. You can just break up what you need with no tools other than maybe gloves. I still camp and when I want dry tinder i pull a dead hemlock sapling right out of the ground which is pretty legal. It must be dead and dry, and around here the dead and dry is still standing, but we are talking about what is basicly a dead weed and not a real tree.

Add a few bigger hard wood sticks to a fire off hemlock, and it will have water boiling in under 3 minutes, and you eatting in about that much more time.

Of the few guys I know that have run this end to end all of them mention wanting more boots. What ever boots you use will wear out before the trip is done, and you will need another pair of already broken in boots to have on hand.

None of the guys I knew had a team of support in cars either. Most of them created a stash somewhere along the trail and or snailmailed ahead to be met up at some point ahead. Of course the cell phone was still 25 years away in my day.

 

[woodfiend]

Oh, thanks for posting that hso, Ragweed's Forge is a good place for knives like that. I bought mine this past summer. I wanted to buy it from Ragweed's but every place was out of it. Helle knives are so popular, that nobody seemed to have them. I finally found one on Ebay.

 

[woodfiend]

Also, since the sheath is leather, I rubbed some Nikwax into it, and it is perfectly waterproof now. You might want to do that, if you buy it.

 

[hso]

I knew folks that broke in 2 pairs of boot a full size larger than their "weekend" boots. Everyone's feet swell on week + treks and changing boots every day allowed the boots to dry and they never had the foot problems others complained of.

 

[Macmac]

Sorry if this is off topic a little, but does anyone have any pictures of the guy that runs Ragweed's Forge ? I was looking that site over and I think I know the guy. I also think I know the guy driving the mule team. But I know these guys by names they use at Buck Skinning events and not their real names so much. Hence the driver is Jim, and Ragnar is Burrito Bob.. But the pics are no where good enough for me to really know that.

Probably doing the AT the most important tool there is is boots that won't break you. A pair of ill fitting boots is the worst possible thing you can have, and a pair that will let you go up, but not down can be a possibility.

As I see it a leather Man or like tool is a must have, one that fits your gear, for doing chores like pulling a hot pan off a stove, fixing the stove, but not limited to just these chores. It needs to turn any screws you have in any types of screws you have, so as to fit any pack fittings, and other gear you have so you can fix anything that breaks.

It may have a knife, but as I see it most of this type tool, don't have a very good blade as a knife.

So one real knife should be carried, and saved for where you really need a sharp edge, but it does't need to be a big heavy knife, or even particularly strong. It just needs to be shaving sharp and stay that way.

One tool if you don't carry any sewwing tools, any thru hiker should carry is a safety pin, one for getting splinters out. I could go along a bit off topic to knives, but I fear doing so.

 

[Thruhike98]

Macmac brought up a good point. I got a lot of use out of a simple sewing needle. I took a little sample pack of dental floss from the Dentist and slid a needle in the packaging. That was my sewing kit. You can use the needle for splinters. Dental floss makes great, strong, tread for repairing important things like the seams where pack straps are pulling out.

 

[Macmac]

I live very rural in NH between water and wind... The big lake and the mountains, and have nearly all my life.

I don't trust zippers very well, and so carry a sewwing kit 'concealed' with in many articals of normal every day clothing, with a lot of other so call SHTF items.

A coil of linen thread, dental floss which can be split like sinew and or artifical sinew is a good idea so far as i see things.

I myself live in 2 worlds.. One here and now and the other a couple of centuries ago. A big heavy knife makes a lot more sence back then, than it does now.

Back then building a camp was the normal way of the day, but that is no longer as true.

In my modern world I can carry a bivy sack that provides all I need for shelter, and so I don't need a knife very big, so long as it is sharp.

Most modern camping these days the only tools you need are to tighten a loose fitting on a pack frame, the stove and crampons in winter. I would trade off a big knife in modern camping for (2) wide mouth nalgene bottles and a water filter easy. A bottle like that is probably more important than any knife at all.

The chore of a knife these days is for when something goes wrong, and you need to make a sharp stick to hunt grub with. And or when the day really gets bad and you need to do surgery alone in the woods.

Living where I do I see city folks with some wicked big belt knives and I just grin... it always leaves me wondering where their soap box is.. and what in jumpin blue blazes they are going to do with that big knife...

A big knife has a much better place 200 and more years ago, when you really needed one.

When I camp modern I carry a heck of a lot of foods, and so can't carry much else.

On the other hand when I camp primitive I don't carry any foods, or shelter, and that is where the big knife is handy, along with a axe, and other items I would never carry going modern.

In both worlds I carry sewwing materials.

 

[hso]

Excellent point on the sewing kit! Few things will ruin your day more than being 2 days out and have your old trusty pack/jacket/whatever start to blow out at the seam. For a quick fix when you can't stop and sew it back a safety pin or three will be very valuable. For keeping your gear together long enough to get back to the trailhead, that needle and thread just might be the difference between comfort or safety and discomfort or danger.