http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/DBA443-1.html

The cheaper than dirt DBA443 certainly seems to have held up really rather well (actually exceptionally well) for a $10 knife. Looks to be an absolute Chinese made bargain.

The knife I use most at home and often throw in my camp kitchen box is a 30-something year old carbon steel Old Hickory.

Worth maybe 50 cents at a garage sale?

I'll never part with it. Sentimental, like a well worn ball glove. Just have to keep it sharp, and dry.

I agree with the posts about testing it by doing the things you know you need it to do 90+% of the time. Cut rope, chop/shape sticks, peel things, gut things, or whatever. Do some controlled reality-based field testing. That will be the only way to find out. It is better to risk catastrophic failure in the backyard and end up buying another unproven knife than suffering the same in the field without the chance to replace it. Realize that risks abound. Just because it made it through your testing does not mean it won't fail in the field doing the exact same thing.

My $.02

A-F-L-M, The fixed blade is the one I have, It has proven to be very vorthy so far.

Has anyone here ever experienced a catastrophic failure with a full-tang fixed blade -- cheap or otherwise? Even the cheap ones don't crumble into dust. How often does more than a tip break off? Anyone ever have a full-tang break in half?

If one is skilled at sharpening a knife (which I am not), can't just about any full-tang fixed blade perform decently in the short term, if it's sharp? Can a $100 or $200 knife make that much difference over, say, a $10 Mora in a survival situation?

Conjecture aside, any factual history on that? Are there any accounts of someone who didn't survive because their knife was dull or broke?

Sure, my Bark River Golok or Bravo-1 could chop a tree branch easier than my Moras (are those partial or full tang?) and be better for batoning, but how well they cut rope, tinder or gut a fish (awkward with the Golok, unless it's a giant tuna) is going to depend on how sharp they are (seems to me, admittedly not the sharpest knife in the drawer on knives, despite my collection).

I've enjoyed collecting knives the last few years but confess I'm persuaded by their looks and feel more than any increased performance based on their blade grind or place on the Rockwell Hardness Scale. Their resistance to corrosion is an issue, especially for those like myself who don't pay enough attention to them (I've never used any of my Bark Rivers -- Doug's knives are my go-tos for outdoors and Mora's are my emergency car stash).

From a survival standpoint and mindful of the "One is none, Two is One - blah, blah" standard, is two cheap knives a better idea than one more expensive knife?

Am just thinking out loud here, thanks for indulging. I need to devote a lot more attention to sharpening my knife sharpening skill. Even Barkies don't stay sharp forever on their own, if you use them much.

I don't carry any kind of knife sharpener in a pack and wonder if I should. And whether that should be stressed when carrying a cheaper knife that may not hold an edge as long as others? Seem to recall there are some pretty compact knife sharpeners around.

No catastrophies to report, but I would observe that plain old carbon steel seemed to work quite well for many years, even centuries. CS just needs sharpening more often.

Knife sharpening is not that hard. The easy way is to buy a Spyderco Sharpmaker (no affiliation, just a satisfied user). It isn't that large, but it is a bit clumsy for backpacking. For the small sharpeners that are good (and there are quite a few that are not) you need to learn how to hand sharpen - a skill that can be acquired in between the commercial breaks of Dancing With the Stars, although I'll bet you are more of a PBS person.....

Ha -- I most assuredly am neither.

Fox and Rush, with some TNT and History.

And a little F/X (Sons of Anarchy -- a shameful pleasure, but I also enjoyed The Sopranos)

I must confess to watching PBS at times . I love Red/Green , English murder mysteries and even an occasional Masterpiece Theater showing .

Pete

Re sharpening:

The biggest barrier IMHO is the belief that sharpening is somehow mystical and that ordinary mortals (you and I) can't do it.

To break that barrier, when I teach someone basic sharpening skills, I'll often start them with a carbon steel Opinel or Old Hickory. These respond very quickly to the learner's efforts, giving rapid feedback and encouragement.

The other place to start them is with kitchen knives. A thin-bladed paring or utility knife is a great thing to learn on (and it's highly practical in the bargain!).

My $0.02

Yup, a butchers knife snapped in half, hammer was unharmed, frozen chicken had some scars , true story