tank wrote:
I chose a fixed blade because the topic was ‘knife’ not multiple knives. A fixed blade can do anything required in an outdoor survival situation that a folding knife can’t handle such as chopping and batoning. However, you can choke up a fixed blade for control and do anything a folding knife can. If you had asked what gear I carried on my person for every outdoor excursion I went on I would of said a fixed blade, a scout/Swiss army knife, an altoid tin survival kit and my Colt 1911. That setup went with me wherever I went.
Ah, that makes perfect sense. Indeed, here is how Blue set things up...
rangerbluedog wrote:
This thread is for those of you who use your knives on extended camping or hiking trips in the outdoors.
To you, what is the perfect wilderness knife? Is it a single fixed blade you can use to chop down small trees?
Is it a hobo knife, so you can eat your beanie weenies?, is it a swiss army knife?
Doe the PERFECT WILDERNESS KNIFE even exist ????
And he followed that up by suggesting a variant of Victorinox Trekker (which is very reasonable choice, imo).
Focusing on my choice for a knife, and a knife alone, for "extended camping and hiking trips", then my choice would be a single blade locking folder with light synthetic handle and a drop or spear point blade in the 3"-4" range. For me, "extended camping and hiking trips" means that:
a) I'm carrying a pack of some sort with a hip belt and
b) The pack contains my 2 "essentials" pouches.
My essentials pouches do carry other "tools", namely a folding saw and a mini SAK, so for me, a lot of tool requirements that Blue suggested get off loaded to the other tools carried. This allows my knife to be a knife and allows me to tailor the tools carried depending on the season and what other equipment I'm using (and this need to maintain). Surprisingly, I think the approach of more tools ends up being lighter most times.
I should note that for many years I've carried a tiny key chain SAK in the 1st aid kit and a large multi-tool (first a SOG, then a Leatherman Wave) as my primary knife. I've grown dissatisfied with the weight of large multi-tools and how crappy they work as knives, but I do consider the pliers to be an essential part of my backcountry kit, primarily for making field repairs to packs and tents. The pliers can be used to fix zippers and more importantly, to drive a needle and thread through heavy fabric and webbing. I'm going to be replacing my tiny SAK with a Leatherman Squire PST soon. I've had good luck with my Micra, but want the pliers and can live with the folding scissors on the PST.
http://www.leatherman.com/product/Squirt_PS4
With my "tool" needs satisfied in the rest of the kit, I guess I'm fixed blade curious at this point. I stick with a light 3" folder instead of a fixed blade for 2 reasons. First, I've come to want a knife on my at all times and I mean really on my person and not just attached to my pack or buried in it somewhere. Another way of saying this is that I've become so used to EDC use of a knife, that I want to reach into my pocket and find my knife, even when I'm on the trail. A fixed blade just won't work for me in that way as it would require holster carry and holsters interfere with pack straps.
Second, in all my years of backcountry travel, I've never had to construct shelter out of natural materials and I've never encountered a backcountry fire making need that a folding saw and smaller folding knife didn't handle with ease.
Still, I find the allure of a fixed blade to be very strong, which is why I've been asking you, garddogg and others who prefer a fixed blade how you carry them and what you use them for.
tank wrote:I would love to see a wilderness survival and skills sub-forum added here. I visit several online. What say Ye Bryan?
I'm a relative newbie to this forum. It's a wonderful site and has quickly become one of my top picks. Great people here!!
My preference for sub-forurms is to only see them created when traffic and/or continuing conflicts demand them. In my mind, forums are best when they are in the "sweet spot" of volume and too little volume is just as bad as too much in my book. I participated in a New England backpacking forum that tried to get off the ground and the moderators went down the path of hyper-sub-forum creation to the point the entire site became unusable and never really achieved critical mass.
As much as I love backcountry travel and as passionate as I am about it, my preference would be to:
a) Keep discussions here focused on knife-craft techniques (e.g. chopping, batoning, feather-sticks) instead of general backcountry/survival skills (e.g. packing lists, route finding, declination, water purification) and
b) Allow these knife-craft discussions to continue here in the General Discussion forum until the point comes that us backcountry nuts begin to be a distraction to the general interest of the group.
'best,
What did you carry in the Altoid tin? I'm putting together a survival kit right now and trying to decide what size to make it and what to put in it.