basic knife

I need a good basic knife to carry in my survival kit. I always have a Leatherman Wave® on me but its straight blade is not very usefull. Thanks for the tips.<br><br>Kevin

Please review Dougs article on knives. You can then do a simple search under "knives" back here on the forum. How much can you spend and what your retail resources? Where will you be using this knife, the ocean,desert,forest?

I want to keep the price under $35. It will be used in forests. I hve many different stores from which to choose...sporting goods, WalMart, etc.

How about this one?<br><br>http://www.onestopknifeshop.com/store/cold-steel-bushman.html<br><br>Someone should review this one. If it does everything it's supposed to, it would fit a lot of needs.<br><br>Just about the only other choice I can think of in that price range would be some military knives, which are essentially disposable in my experience. There is the Glock field knife, which the place above currently sells for $33. It's a good knife but has a terrible sheath.<br><br>I'd save up for a Cold Steel SRK, though. Also, getting a good folder at that price is going to be a lot harder.

As far as folders go, you could try this one:<br><br>http://216.71.158.68/webcat/CRKTSampsonsKISS.shtml<br><br>Apart from something like this, it's gonna be hard to find a folder for $35 or so with features like a frame lock, a large enough pivot pin and/or a metal handle. A lot of people like CRKT knives, and they seem well put together. However with the KISS design I strongly recommend applying loctite to the second bolt that holds the clip in place, otherwise it will come off and you will lose it and the clip will rotate on the pivot pin and make the knife hard to use. At least, if you're me.

Grim,<br><br>Tom Ayers has one. IIRC, he's pretty happy with it. I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you all about it. Tom's pretty cool that way.<br><br>Take care,<br><br>Andy

Kevin, with that budget the first thing you want to do is shop online. There are numerous dealers and I will suggest a few. You will also need to purchase a means of sharpening your knife. The Mini Bushman by Cold Steel is a very good minimalist knife. It is a one piece with a rolled handle open at both ends. You can improve the handle somewhat wrapping paracord ( a usefull reserve supply) If you make up a small container of gear, you can wrap it also and friction fit it inside. www.discount knives.com has excellent prices,service and selection of Cold Steel and many others. Scandinavian type knives often lack a guard and are more slicers than choppers. Mors Kochanski, canadian instructor and author of woodcraft books actually prefers these. Erikkson of Sweden makes a MORA2000 model with a unusual grind that actually works well, comes with a secure sheath and a hard rubber handle that provides an excellent grip. You can get one for $26 from www.ragweedforge.com Ragnar also sells a variety of small diamond hones. A two sided unit goes for $15 and he has a flat S/H fee of $5 on all orders. There are several other inexpensive knives in that line that may appeal to you. The 2000 is their idea of a survival knife and isn't bad. Barry at Blueline Outfitters sells the A/F survival knifes @ $35. I did a review in the forum that you can search. They have drawbacks, but at that price are a fair choice.

Andy, I'm trying to lurk on knives, guns, etc., <grin><br><br>We have one Bushman and two mini-Bushman knives. Bagheera has the most experience with these knives on this forum, I think. In any event...<br><br>By all means, look at these. If I was to choose one of these for a utility knife, I favor the mini Bushman. All three of these knives were quite sharp out-of-the-box, which is something I'm starting to expect from Cold Steel knives. I have read that they are not as hard as most "modern" knives, but that is not neccessarily a drawback.<br><br>Blade shape is quite functional. I have mixed feelings about the handles, but they work fine. We prefer the handles wrapped tightly with 550 cord, but it would be simpler to keep the knife clean without it. Long term I have some concerns about the standard sheaths and would consider getting a sheet of Kydex and forming a sheath for the knife (I'm trying to keep cost constraints in mind). The cost of these knives varies greatly with who one purchases them from, so it really pays to shop around. Barry may have some; he has had some other C-S stuff before.<br><br>There is a whole lot of utility in these knives but one must use them for a bit to get past the novelty of the appearance. I feel they are a bit too light for chopping wood, but then, at a certain point a hand axe beats about any normal sized knife. They split wood just fine, but a thicker-spined knife works better. As far as normal slicing tasks go, these are good knives and there is a lot to like about them, especially if you get one at a discounted price. They readily perform other tasks - with care, they make pretty handy expedient drawknives, for example.<br><br>Just to toss out another idea - there are "kitchen knives" out there that can perform a lot more tasks than simply slicing carrots. You'll know which ones when you see them... they lack sheaths, of course, but it's not hard to fashion a sheath.<br><br>I think Chris mentioned the Mora "Survival" knife - haven't seen one, but in the pictures they sure look functional to me. Lots of interesting knives at very reasonable prices at Ragweed Forge.<br><br>There are other knives to look at as well, and Chris gave some great advice IMHO. Hmmm. G_S mentioned the Cold Steel SRK. I have one and really like it - it's about 90% of what I want in a knife like that. I've been eyeing a BK&T knife lately - it costs less than an SRK and has some nifty features. The "Combat-Utility", CMBK7 is about $50 US. The "Campanion", CMBK2 at about $75 is interesting as well.<br><br>Don't know if this helps or not. Give Bagheera a shout and ask him - his scouts use the Bushman all the time, IIRC.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom

Hi Tom,<br><br>I just had a few spare moments to look at the forum and I saw your answer. <br>You're correct our Scouts are using CS Bushman knives a lot, we started with the original one years ago and I could sharpen it so easily and it kept it's edge long enough .<br>It is often used in the camp kitchen and it's cuts almost every veggie, fruit, bread, meat like Luke Skywalkers Light Sword.<br><br>I almost immediately wrapped the tapered grip with 2 mm black nylon braided line that I found at a professional fishing store and that is used for making long fishing lines that have hooks every 2 feet or so.<br>This stuff can in an emergency situation come in quiet handy.<br><br>I even fitted the Bushman to fit on the tip of my selfmade ratan hiking staff and the Bushman on fitted on the staff makes for a fearsome spear.<br><br>The Sheaths are junk, if you want a perfect fit with security and multiposition carry options contact Eric Noeldchen (Normark on the Bladeforums) he makes perfect Kydex sheaths for both the Bushman and mini Bushman even if asked with an attached holder for a Large Miliatry Firesteel from Light-My-Fires Sweden.<br><br>We have 3 Mini Bushman knives now in permanent use and I prefer this one over the original full sized one, the new epoxy coating works fine for us and again tightly wrap the grip with nylon line or paracord.<br>When wrapped with paracord I think the knife will not easilly fit in the supplied sheath though.<br><br>The scouts just love the bushman knives because they are sharp and light weight and handle easily.<br>I (we) love them because they are cheap and sharpen easily.<br>With my new DMT Duo Sharp diamond hone it takes about a minute to give it a razor sharpness if the scouts haven't used it to dig ground ovens or so .<br><br>Best Scouting wishes from Holland,<br><br>Bagheera