Montanero and Hikermor, thumbs up and thanks for a very informative discussion. This has to be one of the better threads in a long while...

To add my 2 cents, I really don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes "survival" knives (as much as I've come to dislike that term). What you need to define first is what exactly you're looking for in a knife and what trade-offs you are willing to accept. The dilemma being mainly cutting performance and overall practical utility vs robust design.

I've used Moras and more expensive Scandinavian blades all my life and never experienced one single gross failure. I've only seen one puukko break, and that was clearly a user's fault (hitting the spine of the blade with a rock when batoning through some very hard, knotty wood).

Now I'm sure I could break a Mora if I wanted to. I have made a good number of blades as an amateur knifemaker in my time, by forging or stock removal, doing my own heat treating and experimenting with different designs. But I don't see how a Mora or any comparable scandi blade could fail when used "properly" for the tasks it's been designed to.

Most of my outdoor activities requiring the use of a knife would be best described as "bushcraft". I use my knives primarily as cutting instruments for procesing wood, and to a lesser extent food. I take great care to preserve the edge as far as possible. It has to be sharp to do the kind of work I need to do regularly, so no digging, smashing cinder blocks and the like. I can use my knife to fashion a digging stick if I have to, that will work better than using my knife (and ruin the edge). If I have to smash something, I'll probably use a rock first - or maybe carve a heavy wooden club if I have to.

I guess that is the kind of logic behind bushcraft and for that purpose a relatively compact, razor sharp Mora or some more elaborate equivalent will do an excellent job. And in fact it will do much better than heavy duty "survival" knives simply because of the far superior edge geometry that comes with a thinner blade and a more acute primary grind.

That said, I can absolutely understand that in a particular situation (e.g. military, emergency response etc.) a knife might be used for very different tasks. Hence the need for a "sharpened prybar". I'm sure a CS Recon Tanto would fall neatly into that category. As would any other similar knife with a thick, heavy blade and full-tang design.

The trick is, a "sharpened prybar" type of knife is not going to perform nearly as well as a general purpose cutting tool. In my experience, that severely limits its value in a general outdoor setting. Many people these days seem to think that a good "survival" knife ought to be indestructible. Sure, if you're going to need it for prying doors and punching holes through brick walls. But IMHO something along the lines of a Mora or puukko is going to work much better for more mundane, everyday tasks normally done with a knife.

So when it comes to knives it's very much a matter of their intended function dictating the design. And there is always a compromise of some sort. BTW, the USMC Kabar has been mentioned in an earlier thread. Contrary to what many people believe, the Kabar is not really a "sharpened prybar" by modern standards. It's a traditional utility knife, and very well thought out (and executed) at that. The blade is actually fairly thin for its length and width. It has a relatively acute primary grind, can be sharpened to a very fine edge and keeps it well, which makes it a highly efficient cutting tool when sharpened correctly. It will outcut pretty much any heavy duty modern tactical bowie of comparable blade length due to its blade geometry.

Many modern "sharpened prybars" can take a lot more punishment than a Kabar. They have much thicker blades and full-width tangs heat-treated to a spring temper. The Kabar is a more traditional pattern. It has a relatively slimmer tang left soft deliberately. Functionally speaking, that helps establish a better balance (less steel in the grip) and better harmonic balance (a soft tang, e.g. not spring tempered, transmits less shock the hand when chopping, hence making it more comfortable in use). As an obvious trade-off though the Kabar cannot be expected to stand up to as much abuse as an overbuilt "sharpened prybar".