I had a Smith and Wesson neck knife that had a skeletonized handle. Saturday, I was working in the back yard and needed to cut a few vines which were about 3/8" in diameter. I cut a couple easily and then on the next cut, the blade rotated up. What the heck, then I realized that the blade had broken. Where the blade meets skeleton section it only has about 1/8" of steel top and bottom. It shouldn't have broken, but it did.

I had trusted that knife as part of my kit. I am so glad this failure happened at home. My other neck knife is a CRKT Ryan Plan B is a more solid knife and I feel comfortable with it.

I just wanted to mention this incident to remind everyone to take a critical look at their tools. I don't think I will ever carry a skeletonized handle knife again.

David Enoch

Personally, I don't like neck knives, and I've not liked the few skeletonized handle'd ones I've bought.

However, if you'd like to buy a nice replacement, I have some items for sail in the Around The Campfire section (shameless plug!)

Smith & Wesson makes great firearms not knives. Most of their knives are poor quality cheap imports. I would never buy one.
Skeleton handles are also a problem; less material means less strength. There are some good revolutionized handle knives like the Becker Necker.
If you want a quality "neck knife" try the offerings from makers like Becker, Rat Cutlery or Benchmade.
Yes you can trust your knife but only if you start out with quality.

... and yet another reason to get out there and use your knives and other gear - rather than just stuffing them into bags.

I'm not talking about abusing gear, but using it as intended.

Of course there are some exceptions (some signal mirrors, fire starters, water purifier chemicals, ...), but in most of those cases I try to buy one to practice with and another to pack.

Post a pic of the broken knife if you can. I'd be interested in seeing if it broke at a stress riser. That said, it's good to know your limitations and those of your tools. Now you know that that tool would have been a bad choice in a real survival situation.

As for the question: yes, I do trust mine.

ditto billym...save your pennys and buy top qaulity kit,even the small do-dad items that we like...try not to buy/do'nt buy cheap import stuff or you also might suffer from equipment failure when your life may depend on it..this i preach to anyone who will listen to me...vince g.11b inf

Sorry about your accident but now you have learned the hard way why the concept of skeletonized handles doesn't work well in practice. Any stick/rattail tang knife with a solid grip is going to be far more durable. On a skeletonized handle the frame is going to be heavily stressed and likely to break where it meets the blade, especially if there are any sharp corners. More so if the steel is low quality and the heat treatment wasn't perfect.

I could never understand why people like skeletonized neck knives aside from the "cool & tactical" factor. They're a pain to use because even with a paracord wrap the grip is basically too narrow and digs into the palm too much. I certainly wouldn't carry one as a serious backup blade. If that's all you end up with in an emergency you'll be in trouble - I think you'd be better off with a SAK.

In any case, a small Mora makes an infinitely better neck knife. The size/bulk difference is negligible considering you get a much stronger knife with an excellent blade that can actually stand up to heavy duty work. But again, YMMV!

I trust my Bark River Iknives with my life. Since I use them in emergency kits that is exactly what I am doing.
For the last 3 years, I've EDC'ed a custom handled Bark River Mini Northstar as a necker with no reservations.
I also usually have a Bark River PSK knife in my pocket.

I won't trust ANY single object with my life. My life is just too precious. That's why everything I use and do has some kind of back-up plan. That's how I ended up on these forums.

>>Get me out of trouble plan - cell phone, PLB, plan given to neighbor & family

>>Truck - 4WD, seat belts, air bags, lots of care

>>Navigation - map, compass, sun, north star, watch, GPS

>>Shelter - tent, tarp, plastic bags, truck, branches & debrees

>>Fire - lighter, sparker, folder, fixed blade, usually an axe when out camping, saw (of some size)

>>Water - Miox, pot to boil water in, sometimes a Hiker filter, usually have some bleach along

You get the idea.

When I used to climb, I trusted each rope, figure 8, harness, caribienner, etc. with my life. While firefighting I trusted my airpack, mask and turnout gear with my life, as well as my brother firefighters.
All the grear I have in my emergency kits I trust with my life or it would not be there.