I am reading thru survival book after book after book. Some experts say the only knife you will ever need in a true wilderness survival situation is a good solid folder.Then others say you will need both a good folder AND a full tang fixed blade. I have noticed that when I am out in the field, even on extended stays, all I seem to use is my folder or the blade on my leatherman wave. On the other hand I like the idea of having a fixed blade in my pack and carry a cold steel SRK. Then I came acrossed a ka-bar #5055 and liked the weight and size of it. Just curious on everyones take on this knife and the fixed or folder for wilderness survival situations. The weight of my pack is a concern. But have no issues carrying a fixed blade as well if its a "cant make it without it" thing. I am stress testing the seams of my "for the day" pack and dont like the idea of going to a full fledged internal frame backpack for just long day hikes.

i'm more of a pocket knife and hand axe person..but if it had to be just knives i would go for a "tool kit" knife like a SAK
or a basic Leatherman and a one of those big Lapplander knives.
they are thin enought for cutting meat and strong enought for
chopping wood..a full sheath so you don't loose it..when i look for something like a knife i try and get an idea of who really uses it..i would think a deer herder would get the best
all around knife as he really depends on it every day..i guess
i'm thinking "work knife"--not "combat--survival--tactical..ranger..fighting.."...

Well, I never go *anywhere* (other than on commercial aircraft) without a solid folder. But I don't enter the wild without a full tang fixed blade. Not only are fixed blades more reliable (no moving parts to fail), they are much easier on your hands since they are designed for comfort (not compactness).

If I'm hiking/camping/etc I only go with a fixed blade (though I might carry a folder as backup). especially in winter when it's very VERY hard to open a folder with mitts on.

A fixed blade design is inherently more durable and reliable than a folding design. That's not to say there aren't some strong folders out there, nor are they any less capable. It's just that a folding knife is usually a compromise compared to a similar fixed blade. A fixed blade also has the added advantage of usually being easier to clean than a folder, making it better for food prep or dirty jobs.

Therefore, a fixed blade is usually the way to go if you have the ability to safely and legally carry/use one.

Personally, when I can, I like carrying a multi-tool (like my Leatherman Charge) and a fixed blade. The multi-tool does most of the little stuff like a pocket knife would, while the fixed blade does the heavy duty stuff. I also usually carry a small folder like a swiss army knife just as a backup or if I might need to do something that would destroy the knife.

As far as the Kabar goes, they're pretty good knives and a classic design, but not really my favorite for a woods/survival knife. The guard on top gets in the way (though that can be ground down) and I've had the handle fall apart or break (the tang design is the weak part of the knife). I would stick with the SRK, but like I said Kabars are proven field knives, so chances are you wouldn't be disappointed if you really like the design. You could do much worse.

I love a folder but a good fixed blade can't be beat in the thick of things. I EDC a good folder like many here but will carry folding and fixed in the field. It really depends on what you are using the knife to do I guess. For any folding knife as long as you keep to its limits it will work wonders.(just dont push it) I tried using a folder once for a job that I should have used a fixed blade and it folded closed on my fingers. Lesson - buy a folder with the best dammed lock mech you can possible afford, and dont use it to dig

The first order of business is to do away with that misnomer of 'Expert.' lets look at knives, or their history. Man ( and I use the old, classic german linguistic rootword for all of humanity)first hafted a flint or obsidian blade onto a bit of bone or wood with glue and maybe cordage for one reason alone- leverage and improved dexterity with the blade. And he seems to have 'survived' in a far more wild ( lucky twit) world than we ever shall with our toys. He knew his tools, the limits and did not abuse them. If a job needed doing, he knew how to do it. It was later with the onset of metallurgy we could increase the sheer force of leverage via a tang. And guess what? Read the Iliad and old Achilles or Brad Pitt & friends were bending and breaking weapons on a daily basis.Every metallurgical and design advancement seems to be paired with increased demands pushing that envelope of structural failure.Lynne Thompson of Cold Steel stabs the door of a Buick to show how tough his product is. Thats wonderfull, if you can cook a Buick over an ESBIT stove and eat it in a survival situation.If you can step back from all this 'progress' and actually try all the possible tasks called upon for a knife you might be suprised.With a little care and improvisation you can survive with a good folder. Our ancestors did just that with aechulian handaxes for far longer than our much shorter stewardship of the earth.you might not even have to take it out of your pocket, some survival situations being more about good sleeping bags and a canteen of water than the latest Rambo knife.

That is a pretty good dose of perspective.

In choosing my knife tools, I look to folks who use their's on a regular basis and see what it is they grab. In my case, that was soldiers in Iraq, especially the mid-grade to senior enlisted fellows. These guys did use their knives daily. The most used tool was a multi-tool, which makes a lot of sense to me, and is corroborated well watching Old Man Stroud sporting his on nearly ever episode.

After that, what was carried depended on typical usage, ranging from the tough as nails Busse fixed blades, to Cold Steel SRKs, to Ka-Bar Desert Mule folders. You did not see many of the senior enlisted with issue Ka-Bar fixed blade knives. The Px would stock SRKs and they would sell out of them often. As I've no real civilian comparison for toting fixed blades in public, and only a limited amount for larger folders, I would say that for those two categories you find something you like, can afford, and makes you happy.

The higher priority, then is on obtaining a good multi tool as your primary carry/survival knife tool. In fact, I used to tote and use mine daily for the work I did prior to going to Iraq, and I would not want to be without it. That, from all I've observed and experienced, is my most unexpert recommendation. In a pinch, heck I'd settle for a good chunk of broken glass or cracked stone if that's all there was.

Not a Ka-Bar, but I've had this knife since the early 1980s when I bought it new. I always have it with me attached to my SAR pack. It's one of those useful and inexpensive knives that I'm not afraid to use and abuse in the field from cutting to chopping.

I carry folders with me all the time, including a multi-tool. But when i really think I might need a knife itself, I'd prefer to have a fixed blade hanging on my belt. When I went to sea, carrying a fixed blade in asheath was a fineable offense (old regulation to keep sailors for killing each other). I still carried one. It was much nicer to be able to just reach for it and pull it out ready to go. I really like the strength of a fixed balde and the ease of operation.

I carry the multi-tool all the time, but I also usually EDC another cheap folder that has only one blade. When I need to pull a blade and cut something, it's much nicer to pull out that cheap folder than to have to fiddle to find the right blade in my multi-tool.

Chris Kavanaugh, I agree with what I think your saying.

I'm a member of the 'smaller knife' school of survival. I figure that our distant ancestors were skinning and butchering fairly large game with stone flakes less than two inches long. Often about an inch.

An observation from a man who went big game hunting in Africa was that the guides, the people who did all dressing of the game, were using knives that were much smaller than he had expected. Often the blade was only two to three inches long. You don't need a big blade to do a big job.

A smaller folding blade knife is usually lighter and more compact. Which translated into a lighter and more compact kit and an increased chance you will have your knife with you when you really need it.

Many years ago, before it dawned on me that 95% of the work was getting done with a SAK, I carried a fixed-blade knife. Out of insecurity and tradition mostly. Young bucks are always worried about the size of their blade measuring up.

Both the full-sized and then the short version of the KaBar were my favorites. I also have one that looks a lot like the Becker BK10. Might be one. I still have them around here somewhere.

If I felt the need to buy another fixed blade knife now I would go for a Field Pup:
http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=61527

Good but nothing earth shattering AUS 8 steel and SOG usually does a good job on the heat treatment that makes or breaks a knife. Nice grip on a solid design without frills, big enough to satisfy the desire for a slightly larger blade (4") but small enough so I wouldn't be a burden. MSRP is $60 but prices are less than $35 so I could afford to buy two or three and scatter them around.

Lots of good thoughts on knife choices. I can say for myself I have been the whole spectrum on knife carry. When I was an active soldier the choice was a rather large fixed blade. I started with the classic Ka-Bar and evolved to a Randall #1 with a 7 in. blade. Military knives have to be more of a weapon as well as a survival/field tool.
After leaving the military behind, I have taken to more practical field knives. A good outdoor knife to me is one that is strong, easy in the hand and easy to sharpen. The blade is always less than 5 inches and has less recurve at the tip. That makes it easier to sharpen and a more useful tool for doing camp chores such as notching stakes or cookpot hangers. That is my perspective based on my tastes and personal experience.
I almost always carry a SAK, Farmer model too, mainly for the tools it provides and the blade is twice the thickness of the standard SAK's.
I carried a multitool while in the Army and sometimes in everyday life. I stopped depending on them after breaking an original Leatherman, USA made. I was not abusing it! I gave the replacement away. I then went to the larger Supertool and had no problems. I later gave the Supertool to a friend in Iraq, he loved it and broke it in two weeks. I sent him a Victorinox Swisstool which he still has 4 years later. I myself own a Wave but I only carry it everyday, except days in the wilderness. I prefer not to carry it in the wild because I don't trust the metal it is made of and I consider it too heavy.
Anyway, that is my take on the knife question. The Ka-Bar is great if you may need a weapon/tool.

I carry at least one folder or multi tool every where I go (leagaly). When I go into the field and during Desert Storm, I carry/carried a fixed blade knife along with my folder/multitool. In the field for hunting I carry an Anza, during Desert Storm I carried an old Boker M-3 fighting knife. I carry a fixed blade besause it is stronger that ther strongest folder and has some uses the folder dosen't.

If I can read it right, the stamp on the pummel of that knife says Camillus.

Yup, USAF pilots "survival" knife. I broke the tip off of mine trying to husk a coconut (we wanted the milk to mix with rum. Bad idea)...

I have been roaming the out of doors for 60 years and have not found the perfict knife yet . So i carry many knives at alltimes at least 5 large and small.

Breaker

MTNLVR68, I was trying to recall which KaBar the 5058 was and became inspired. I actually used the search engine of my computer. This knife has some features generally considered less than desirable in a dedicated 'survival knife.' The american version of the tanto point is for penetration.Certainly other designs can also penetrate as well if not better, but the samurai mystique has popularised the style. The drawback is you lose the gentle sweep of curve. This section on most knives is the thinnest part in cross section and produces the shaved sticks used in the staged building of a fire. A serrated section is another popular feature. At least this one is to the back and leaves a goodly breath of simple cutting surface. Using the lower guard probably also helps controlling a cut into cordage. Upper guards are for fighting and hinder choking up for finer control. The positive points are KABARS superb finish and quality for cost. The sheath is very good . A tanto point is actually pretty good at hand drilling holes and the grip style facilitates this possible duty.For splitting wood you should use Doug's method of taking slices of the edge and not trying to crack a billet in half. The final thought belongs to you. Do you like it? Is it comfortable in hand and have you mastered the eventual resharpening duties? You could do better. You could do a great deal worse.

I tend to be a minimalist in my EDC. Even more so when backpacking. Around town I'll carry a locking folder, a keychain SAK, a 2 or 3 layer 84 or 93mm SAK, and a smallish multitool (Juice, Fuse, or even a Squirt). Backpacking I carry a SAK Small Tinker, and that's all. OK, maybe a scalpel blade in the FAK. I've never had much use for large fixed blade knives when I'm camping. If I'm car camping, I'll take a small ax, or, better yet, a bow saw. But if I'm humping it on my back I pretty much stick to the 10 Essentials, and I've never found a need for any knife bigger than a 4-bladed pocket knife.

Kevin B.

The "Air Force Survival Knife", smaller version of the venerable KaBar, isn't a bad choice. It is the original compact, rugged, simple and inexpensive field knife. All those traits was why it was adopted by the Air Force.

It was a compromise and it isn't optimized for a lot of situations but its weaknesses are minor and they are usually easily worked around. Your never going to get the interest and acclaim of your fellow travelers but it is a solid choice and one you can depend on to give solid service when you need it.

Chris, I understand what you're saying about the ka-bar 5055 and agree with you. I guess I have just fallen into all the hipe about having a fixed blade on you for survival situations. I have bee hunting,hiking and backpacking for years and have always done just fine with a top shelf folder and multitool. I should mention that I do always carry in my pack a sven saw or a griz saw.(have both and prefer the griz saw due to its weight) The saw does the task of cutting larger peices of wood be it for the fire or shelter where with a larger knife you would be chopping or driving it thru a peice of would with a rock.

I rarely carry a fixed blade to the field; my SAK (Hunter, I think?) is enough for me. I did try a few times with both a kabar and short KaBar, but didn't really use them. I also bought a SOG Seal Pup on a whim (kind of a waste of money) and never use it. Probably the KaBar shorty will be my fixed blade of choice, mainly because I have it now, it's relatively inexpensive, and it fits my hand pretty well.

Many of you have said you carry only a folder, then talked about the sharpened pry bars you have tried. For day to day use in the woods, I leave most of my folders home and use a fixed blade -- with a 3 or 3.5 inch blade. The KaBar (note the second half of the name) and the Cold Steel SRK are great field tools and I have several knives of this type. Their blades are WAY too heavy for good general purpose cutting though. If I were back in the service, a clean 5 or so inch blade (the SOG pup is a good design though I would probably buy a Mad Dog ATAK) would again return to my belt. In the woods for general use this is way too big. I don't need to open cases of ammo or rations (they used to come with steel bands - now they are fiber), dig holes in the rocks, etc.

Doug Ritter has designed what I consider an excellent blade for survival use, but I would not normally carry it for every day use. One similar to it is in my aviation survival kit. I like his even better and will buy one if I have to replace mine (probably will buy one anyway :-). The additional size is excellent for some of the things I don't do normally in the woods with a knife.

My heavy hunting blade has a 3.5 inch length and a lot of sweep for good skinning. My normal field blades are in that 3 to 3.5 inch length, but more narrow like a small pareing knife or a pocket knife and not any thicker. Because they are fixed, they are stronger, lighter and easier to use (expecially as others have mentioned in cold weather). They come out and go back faster and with less fuss, particularly if you are squatting. Even my folders with clips are not as easy to remove in that position. I usually carry one of these fixed blades, a SAK (not for the blades, but as a tool kit), a saw for wood cutting and sometimes a light axe or machete when in the woods for work or play.

YMMV

Respectfully,

Jerry

My experience in the woods has been that a knife has been useful, but not critical. For years, a SAK was quite adequate; now I carry a Wave. It is just as useful in the office as it is in the field.

In my tight outdoor experiences, I have needed water, shelter, and fire. Water and shelter rarely involved knife use, and when gathering fuel, I pick up or break dead wood from standing vegetation, or bust up logs by whacking them with a rock. I either carry shelter makings or find something suitable. Rock shelters are better than any tent I have used.

If water is critical, nothing beats a good map, and/or the ability to "read" vegetation and topography.

I routinely have a sharp blade on me, either in town or in the outdoors, but modest has worked fine for me for many years.

Most of the obsessing about brand A vs brand B, the type of steel, shape, etc. is unnecessary. There are all kinds of good serviceable blades available for $50 or under. More than that, and you are typically buying hype, rather than steel.

Most of my experience has been in the western portion of the US. Other environments might have different requirements.

I remember years ago during the assault rifle craze this retired marine attended what we discovered was a very early almost pre militia militia group in Simi Valley.They were the UNITED STATES MILITIA, had more Field Marshalls than Napoleon, one old Jimmy truck stencilled 'reconersonse command vehicle' and were desperate to coordinate efforts with the US Army. The then Simi Enterprise devoted a full page spread (next to a two page spread of the FOUNTAIN OF THE WORLD cult up in Box Canyon. Simi wasn't always home to the Reagan library.)the banner read " Local commander says USSR is probably very interested in what we are doing." Anyway, this marine showed up with a match grade star stamped garand and volunteered he owned two of the things and an uncounted mess of ammo. Oh the horror! as these Field Marshals explained he needed a high capacity mag,easilly auto sear convertable battlerifle in .223 or 7.62! I was even scarier, owning then a Springfield 03 with the long pig sticker bayonet. they decided to 'go on manuevers and started deploying into the hills in a skirmish line. This marine calmy began putting rounds in rather close proximity to their feet from an eay 500 meters.They left their ammo in the truck for safety! For a good 4 hours they were pinned down by one MI and a handfull of 8 round enbloc clips. They eventually made a break for the ridgeline, only to be arrested by security guards packing Model 10 Smiths for the LITTLEHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE set, later claiming a spetsnaz unit had attacked them. So ended the glorious combat record of The United States Militia.I asked my new friend what knife he used for the field, I owning but a Shrade trapper( and my pig sticker bayonet.) He pulled out an old KABAR, admitted it could be a PITA, but " I'm just used to it." My point, is if you have something that works for you stick with it.Save your money for a good sleeping bag. And avoid community newspaper advertisements for 'outdoor group forming.'

Which knife — or knives — carried in the field has as much to do with individual skills as it does the likely tasks. Someone who really knows what they’re doing with a knife is a wonder to behold. Me? I’m somewhere in the middle, so I compensate by carrying a multi-tool and a smallish (4-inch or less blade) full-tang fixed-blade — and sometimes a folder (SAK OHT).

It’s worth noting that folks who live and survive in pretty extreme conditions rely on fixed-blade knives that aren’t terribly “sexy” by most standards (straightforward edge geometry; thin-ish, short blade; hidden tang; easy to field sharpen) — the Scandinavian knife. The venerable (and inexpensive) Mora is all some folks require — though not necessarily recommended for the Amazon region . Environment has some bearing.

That's an extremely valid point. I've seen 'bushcraft' experts whittle amazing things down from just about any sort of wood using an $8 Mora.

There's a vid on the net of Mors Kochanski making a bow out of Saskatoon. I did a double take when he started taking material off while it was strung tight to even the top and bottom halves. If that were me there's no way I'd be able to cut wood under tension like that without cutting through it...or myself!

Skills accounts for a lot...more than any knife can compensate for.