"...why would I want to split wood in a survival situation? Fuzz it up, sure. Split it? How about picking smaller sticks for kindling use..."

There is kindling, and then there is fuel. If all you have is little bitty stuff for kindling, and stuff three or more inches in diameter for fuel, you need some "go between" stuff. So you split the three inch stuff into quarters or so. Throw three inch logs on a pile of burning kindling and your fire will go out...

Isn't testing to failure a fairly standard test for scientific types?

Conclusions from the test data may be the subject for debate, but at least it is data, not just subjective or anecdotal information.


I cannot recall which of the giants of science gave us the hierarchy for grading input, or exactly all the grades, but it is something like:

Noise
Information
Data
Knowledge
Wisdom

Edit: well maybe this is it:

http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

data
information
knowledge
understanding
wisdom

Anyway, the point is that the knife tests are grist for our mental mills, and therefore of some use, but are not in and of themselves necessarily either understanding or wisdom.

From what I've read, it's considered a good survival knife but a bit over-priced.

i find it a bit too wide for peeling potatoes.

Thanks for that. I suppose not having the economy of scale of the other benchmades is bound to mean a little less 'bang per buck'.
Has anyone used it? Or the folder? or the M2 folder? Which do you think is the best?
The Sock

When one of my nephews was younger my dad would say, "Give that boy 5 minutes with an anvil and he'll break it." That applies to a lot of people.

(That's not directed towards you The Sock.)

This is something I know nothing about (I'm in the UK and can't carry anything but non-locking folders, under 3 inches blade length). So I'm glad of anyones input.
I'm planning on some backpacking in the US next year, so wanted to know what knife would be best.
The gear guide on this site recommends stainless, but some chap called Ritter was trying to sell a limited edition of carbon RSKs a few years back :-).
Wondered if the M2 was a better knife. Though of course I then need to find one!
The Sock

What part of the USofA are you going backpacking at, sock?

If you can't bring the knife back, get yourself a $9 Mora.

I agree.

If I decided to do anything else besides that it would probably be to buy only a full-tang blank and wrap the tang with paracord for a handle. However, that's not something that simply works right out of the box. A mora would work right out of the box, and it would work well. Buy two in case something happens to the first one, and you will still save money over many other knives.

Models 640 or 660 from Ragner would get you a good knife for $7 or $8. See: http://www.ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The New Jersey part of the Appalachian Trail. I take it this is somewhere I can actually use some of the fire lighting/bivouac making stuff?
The Sock