You guys want to talk about survival knives?

No.

Can’t find one small enough to fit your hand?

Similar to one of mine

[link to www.bladehq.com (secure)]

I also have cold steel recon, which is my everyday knife

Yeah that was a runner up for me. I wanted to choke down on blade though with the forward choil

Not in production anymore but I use this. I got it before going to GW1. Still have it, Think it was 90$ back then.
[link to www.ebay.com (secure)]

harbor freight has some pretty basic but useful machetes and survival knives for about 10 bucks

Ease-4 with contoured handle is what you seek

I'll say that having none at least once a month situation presents need to have it .
Small swiss type

I use this one it doesnt rust in the river.
[link to www.bladehq.com (secure)]

I just have a morakniv bushcraft knife. What more could you want. Think I paid $30 probobly 7 years ago. There are fancier knives but this is a good budget knife. Very ergonomic and very sturdy.

[link to morakniv.se (secure)]

Last Edited by Grognak the Ballbareian on 09/17/2022 09:23 AM

Back about 1995/6 I discovered Ron Hood's Hoodlums forum. Wound up buying a bunch of different Cold Steel Knives, which never got used. Had some older Gerber knives from early 90s. Sold them all over the past year and bought replacements.

Lots of great YT channels about knives. Lots of progress made in the past 30yrs with heat treating and steel. Most I've bought are 1095 variants. Have bought Several TOPS, Ontario, Becker BK-9, Junglas. Living in rural AK, 7" and larger blades offer the best utility. Of course, I have smaller knives too.

I am not a fan of the thick coatings on the carbon steel blades. I have stripped several of my knives and then used Brownells cold blues on the blades. Good results, not so concerned about using the knives for food prep now, since the bluing cannot flake or wear off.

I have also ground finger choils into several of the blades to increase their versatility.

I was able to score a TOPS Skullcrusher companion a few months back. I decided the blade was more versatile than the Tom Brown Tracker #2 for EDC. With the added choil, the knife has about same blade edge length as the Tracker, but the sweep of the forward edge is not as deep. Still have the great curved edge and about as much straight beginning at the choil.


The Silent Hero is a very cool design; Great Choice!

Great topic. Does Bushcrafting also fit into this discussion?

best blades have always been the japanese...

American steel is just for show.. no substance.

I'm old school, USMC K-Bar

Yep, love the silent Hero. My main SHTF blade is the Tops Prather War Bowie.

Another solid contender is my KA Bar Big Brother.

For mid sized, I use the Tops BOB. It’s more of an all around do everything knife.

Esee has some great knives. The Esee 5 is a great knife and for more budget friendly options Columbia Knife and Tool and Ontario are great options as well

Tops Brakimo is my go to blade, although i too have several Ontario and Mora high carbon blades. I have the Silent Hero but the grip on the Brakimo fits better in my hand, Silent Hero is a little too skinny.

I rolled the edge on those though

Sure I have a few bushcraft.

$ for $ American or German steel is just as good, problem is most American Knife makers use cheaper steels to keep costs down. CRKT make a hell of knife for 50$....but its cheap a8 steel. Takes an edge well, holds edge not so much....But if you buy a 400$ American Knife or a 400$ Japanese knife your getting very similar quality steel.

Beckerbk7 is cheaper but comes with a nylon sheath.

You can chop a small tree down with a sharp bk7 and won't care as much if you ruin or lose it

on the daily I carry a CRKT m21 Drop point, crossbones, or hootananny. Depends what pants Im wearing. In any case I wont spend more then 100$ on a pocket knife because I misplace them all the time.

I like fallkniven but most are made in Japan…

Kabar USMC, Ontario fighter, Gerber LMF II. I have a couple of Schrades, and they’re surprisingly well built and reasonably priced.

I owned a stainless Cold Steel Trailmaster, with the convex grind I just never used it. I did use my Gerber Australian Bowie; no worries about resharpening that one, though never needed to. Used it to filet some salmon, nothing much else. The CS Recon Scout was very cool, but never really used either.

The Victorinox Super Tinker was my EDC for many years. Great Knife for almost any need. Scissors, the saw works great on plastic pipe and wood, the file came in handy, small & lg blades, plus the great Phillips driver on bottom so could use as a T handle. Lost that one doing something on a truck.

I have long thought that the original Chicago Cutlery walnut handled kitchen knives made excellent survival knives. Paring knives, Chef's, and 6" Slicers. Small knives are usually overlooked, but they have great versatility.

Over the years, have found a number of excellent knives at resale shops. Usually about $3 bucks. The older Chicago Cutlery knives turn up pretty often, along with good euro name brands.


For Survival purposes, I also own several folding pocket saws, a Sven Saw and knock-off copy, plus a couple 12" Bow-Hacks that take Swedish and hacksaw blades. The diamond hacksaw blades are very useful. Never thought of using the Swedish blades on a regular hacksaw; might be more compact solution.

Then there are Axes and 30/36" bow saws. Chainsaws are so much faster...

The orig WorkSharp electric sharpener is very versatile, and cheap. No more worries about how to sharpen a convex grind.

Knives of all types are probably one of the most critical survival tools in our house. Always looking for more knives...

I also have tramontina bolo machete ill carry on adventures in the woods. Those things can take a beating.

My EDC is:

[link to www.victorinox.com (secure)]

I like the locking blade. I do wish it had scissors though...

Have you tried wrapping the handle with hockey tape or a Wilson/Head tennis racket grip tape?

Sometimes I wrap handles with paracord. A tennis racket grip tape over paracord really bulks up a too thin handle. I've even used bicycle handlebar grip foam. Not many knife handles fit big hands without some alteration.

Adding another panel of 1/4" etc to your grip might be an option depending upon fastening hardware.


Getting into modding handles also leads to modding Kydex sheaths. Anybody make their own sheaths?

Handle doesn't look big enough for the size of the blade.

For about $10 you can buy a quality kitchen knife, which will hold an edge and be good for butchering meat and filleting fish and not weigh much.

You can even fit it with a home made horn, bone or hickory stump handle to personalise it.

Lots of good ones out there. Picking up one from the Hero..

[link to armorsheaths.com (secure)]

I have a couple of collectible custom knives. Just never use them. Too valuable. Fallkniven, Randall, Chris Reeve, and other top tier blades are just worth the bigtime extra money to me.

Have thought about a Mora Granberg with full tang, but...

Bark River Knives are pretty widely acclaimed for performance at the bottom price rung of the Top Tier. There are just so many fine knifemakers now. TOPS is just an incredible resource for varied designs.

Most of the CS knives I had were replaced with Ontario models. The SP53 bolo type blade, SP5 standard Bowie, their Kukri. All excellent value. Went with the Esee Junglas over the large RAT. Becker-KaBar are very high quality basic knives.

Probably all the carbon steel knives with thick coatings would cost lots more, but using the coating, the mfrs don't have to polish and prep the blade as they would otherwise. The coating can be applied to finish quality over a blade that has many irregularities. Cheaper to spray than grind and polish.