#153473 - 10/28/08 01:22 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chisel]
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Geezer
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
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"...Have you seen any sheath for two small knives?..."
I would consider contacting one of the many kydex sheath makers and have them whip one up for you...
_________________________
OBG
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#153484 - 10/28/08 04:07 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: NightHiker]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1563
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( or make your own. )
That will be ideal !!
Since my bewildered brain has started wandering in many directions, that will help me design it exactly the way I want it.
Is there a link showing how make them and what materials I need ?
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#153491 - 10/28/08 05:38 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chisel]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/09/01
Posts: 3824
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Chisel, I overlooked your initial post regarding the military survival knife and Tracker.
I know a few posters and many people carry the knife. In the interest of giving confidence in what you have, here's a review.
The knife was made by Camilllus and Ontario,now only Ontario, both fine makers. The only difference is a slightly deeper clip and @ 4+ rockwell increase in the Camillus. There are a few asian knockoffs. These are plain awfull and are readilly I.D.ed by the sheath sans metal tip guard and leather handle of different pattern.
What we have, is a knife of plain vanilla 1095 carbon, rattail tang, stacked leather handle with a hammer butcap and double guard. teh sheath is leather, sheet metal cap to prevent the blade cutting through the sheath and into us.The small pouch holds a sharpening stone and a tie down lace is included. The metal is all phosphate coated. The leather is untreated.
Our first order of business is the leather. I teated mine with a quality saddle product called Skidmores out of Montana. If you get a knioe with loose parts, the leather has dried. Drop it into water and let the leather swell, wipe down and dress.
Toss the lace out. You can use paracord if desired for a securing lanyard. You will need it! the upper strap is very ineffective.
Toss the stone out too! It is useless. You Can get a sharp edge with lots of elbow greese and proper stones. You will have a half shiny blade and need to dress it with a protective oil. You can replace the stone with another stone. I stuffed mine with a SPARKLITE and tinder.
The upper guard has two lanyard holes for lashing into a spear. We've debated this idea elsewhere. If you like upper gaurds, the location makes for a SAFER wrist lanyard. I don't and you can carefully amputate the upper guard without breaking the tack welds.The ergonomics of such a modified knife are very pleasant.
The but hammer is a functional hammer. I've used mine to crack open green bones for marrow. You have to use care with the exposed blade, or keep the sheath on which is terribly akward.Prolonged pounding can shake the knife assembly up.
The weakest part is that extreme bowie clip. It makes a splendid drill and expedient awl, cuts very nice groves and seems predestined to snap off.
As I posted above, the sawback is for egressing aluminum and plexiglass aircraft that are no longer airborne. It does work.I used mine to access crash victims in small private airplanes. It scales fish, chisels fancy lashing grooves and makes batoning lots of fun.
As a summing overview: Military issue survival gear is viewed as onetime use and then is usually considered junk. For the price you can do worse, much,much worse. I knew an entire Empire that didn't hesitate to trade for these knives. I did once. My russian counterpart was DELIGHTED. His hard to acquire AK 47 bayonet made the survival knife look like a winner, which it can be, with care.
Edited by Chris Kavanaugh (10/28/08 05:46 PM)
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#153554 - 10/28/08 10:12 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chris Kavanaugh]
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Geezer
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
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Small points. The early versions of the AF survival knive (I got mine in 'bout '65) did not have the metal tip on the sheath. I beefed mine up with an additional layer of thick leather in the hope that the tip would not poke thru and get me. And yes, the tip does tend to break off. Mine on the husk of a coconut...
_________________________
OBG
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#153580 - 10/29/08 01:40 AM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chisel]
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Cranky Geek
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 4642
Loc: Vermont
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Tom Brown created a good knife. For his purposes. But is also highly specialized- it comes with a manual for a reason. I expect any knife to have a manual- it should have in there sharpening instructions, disassembly instructions if appropriate, the warentee information, and the "it's sharp, stupid" warning. Thats all. The Tracker comes with a LOT of directions.
_________________________
-IronRaven
When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.
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#153591 - 10/29/08 03:40 AM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: ironraven]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/09/01
Posts: 3824
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In the dark corners of the survival/knife community there is argument Tom Brown did not design the Tracker.I'll leave that issue to anyone who wants to dive into the rusty archives of the various knife websites. I cannot understand paying 3 figures for anything needing A.an instruction manual and B. a complete reprofiling of the blades to useable sharpness.the knife is one of our oldest tools. It cuts and pokes holes in things. I am marketing a new wheel.The accompanying video will demonstrate which section rolls.
Most of the internet history of survival/outdoor knife threads can be easilly distilled:
Ethnic blades; Nepalese Kukhris, Golok/Parang southeast asian knives, south American machetes, Inuit ulus. These are invariably matched against our own European traditional tools of
The Axe/belt knife and subsets of small utility pocket knife/saw.When people rediscovered Nessmuck/Rumford and other earlier outdoor writers this combo put food on many a knifemaker's table and more photos in forums. It's appeal is counter to the
Death from above/behind/below 1/4" thick, epoxy low visibility ( and production cost)paracord handle ( add $10)chop till you drop tactical ( as opposd to strategic) genre. This has some shared DNA with
The hollowhandle, sawback RAMBO knife,the earlier version being the Randall designed by AN ASTRONAUT, taught survival by an airman.
the list would be incomplete without the MacGuyver SWISS ARMY Knife, a piece favoured by skiers, ultralight hikers and climbers and others for who nature is often as much another accessory to the sport than the reality that sometimes inconveniently intrudes.
We also have hte 'Bushcraft knife' with it's obligatory and minimalist sheath attached firesteel.
All of these groups, and others unlisted reflect as much our mental template and scripted outdoor experineces.The happy chance that most work reasonably well is as much to the credit of other kit; sleeping bags, a can of SPAM or a PLB.
My next survival blade is going to be a Laguile with corkscrew, ebony handle, bee and filework and riveted cross. I've been on a wine and cheese binge lately. fallknivens are lousy decorkers and cheese cutters. I'm shocked the online community hasn't addressed this vital category before!
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#153618 - 10/29/08 01:27 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chris Kavanaugh]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1563
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LOL Chris
I bought a SAK knockoff lately (intended for my younger boy) and I removed the wrapper to check things for safety. Guess what? What I saw in the photo or drawing and thought to be a small saw , was in fact a COMB.
Can you believe it ? A one-inch comb . hahahahhahha
But you know ? It will fit nicely with a corkscrew Its so small it's only good for a gentleman's moustache There ya go.
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#153621 - 10/29/08 01:59 PM
Re: Nother Q about survival knife
[Re: Chisel]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/05/05
Posts: 1563
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Thanks Night hiker for the link And thanks Chris and everyone for the review and insights about survival knives.
ahem, lesson learned about knives. The ones I have now are more than adequate for a city boy like me. What I need for prying and hacking is not a knife but another dedicated tool like a machete or something like that.
(Oh, BTW Chris did you happen to see the lazy member request?)
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