Survival Knives

[exo]

This is a thread about survival knives. Arguably the most valiable piece of survival you can carry, it is something that every man should carry into the unknown. What are your picks? What do you look for?

I have owned a SOG Seal Team Elite for camping/civilian survival purposes. However, a knife is only as good as the material it is made out of, and that is why I've been considering a knife made with San Mai construction. What this is, is a three metal layered knife which provides a knife that is both brittle (strong) AND flexible.

When a prosepective Master Blacksmith of the U.S Blacksmith Society is performing one of his final tests, it includes taking a machete style knife and hacking through a stack of 2x4's completely through. They then test to see if the blade still has the edge to shave. They then place the end of the blade in a vice and bend the tang of the blade 90 degrees. It must then bend back without breaking. The San Mai construction style is what is used to obtain these results.

I am currently considering buying a Cold Steel San Mai Kukri (khukri in other spellings).

There are the survival knives with the hollow tang used to store survival tools. I myself would only buy a full tang knife as my primary survival knife, however I'm looking foward to hearing you opinions.

One more thing, anyone have any omments on sharpening. Methods, stones, tools for getting that razor, shave sharp edge?

 

[Gatordev]

Check out this thread...

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17000&highlight=knife

 

[Nafod]

I've been considering a knife made with San Mai construction.

ahh another victim of clever marketing...

sanmai was created for swords, which are under entirely different physical stresses than a knife. while there is nothing *wrong* with a sanmai knife, there is no performance gain. anyone telling you otherwise is selling something or has been fooled by someone who is.

temper is much more important than the steel(s) used. if you really want a fancy, high speed, knife with a performance edge (pun intended), get one with a differential heat treat. again, not that a knife needs one, but it accomplishes the soft/hard goal better and you get a cool wavy line that you can look at and go "wow, thats cool".

next youll be telling me that the next knife you find is awsome because its "battle ready" or "tactical" :sleep_125

 

[exo]

haha. Well I will agree that I don't know a ton about knives. The information I received about San Mai knives wasn't from anyone selling knives, rather it was from someone who makes their own knives and was discussing performances differences with different steels. In fact, the person actually refuses to sell the knives he makes because it is more of a hobby, which is why I tended to believe his words. What really would be recommended? I lvoe the idea of the kukri construction style, however as far as material, I guess I am clueless.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Personally, I think Rat Cutlery makes some great knives. They are 1095 steel w/ a great heat treatment on them, micarta handles, and their sheaths are considered to be some of the best you can have. They have pictures on their website with about 20 ways to carry.

Also the website has a crazy hot model and plenty of pictures of their knives batoning wood and skinning alligators. They make a 3", a 4", and a 6" knife for ~~$80-120 respectively.
--
Ranger Knives is also pretty good.
--
If you want a khukri, I would look into Himalayan-Imports as they have good selection, a lifetime guarantee, a good aesthetic look, thick tough steel, and a cult following at Bladeforums. They also post a "deal of the day" on the Bladeforums website where you can get a great high quality khukri for anywhere from $40-120.

 

[Renegade One]

You guys crack me up...which is okay. I feel the love. The frakin' issue knife in your survival vest will pretty much do whatever it is you need doing in a no-shit survival situation. If you think you're going to go to the nearest Al Queda SAM-site and slit throats before you capture UBL and hog-tie him to the nearest EXFIL site, then may I recommend either the very cool and traditional K-Bar fighting knife (accept no substitutes...) or the replica of the Sykes-Fairbairn fighting knife avail from various vendors. My personal favorite? The V-42 1st Special Service Force (the Devil's Brigade) fighting knife http://www.smithtac.com/Knives.html
Have a great day. Not only are these great for slitting bad guys throats (a really rare opportunity), but they are "tres manly" for slicing summer sausage or blocks of cheese, which is what most of you will probably actually use these for. No harm in planning for the "most likely scenario".

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Ahh...when he said survival I assumed he meant a knife that would cut, chop, baton, skin, prepare food, cut cord, and everything else you could need to survive out in the boonies.

I wasn't thinking of a tactical knife.

 

[C420sailor]

I'll be honest. I'm not an uncoordinated person, but I'd be scared as hell of accidentally cutting the $#@% out of myself with that mini-katana.

 

[a_m]

I just keep one fingernail uncut.

 

[nittany03]

Blah blah kukri yadda yadda badass yut yut tactical

Unless you're actually a Gurkha . . .

. . .

. . .

Dude. Seriously.

How would you Marines feel if someone just happened to have a Mameluke hanging on their wall because it matched the decor?

 

[Nafod]

exo, id just get a monosteel knife. Cold steel has a couple other kukris that dont cost $600+. I have always liked the design on a functional level.

Nittany, long before Marines became enamored of the samshir style swords that the Mameluke tribe carried, people throughout the region used them. So no, i dont see a problem with someone getting a samshir because they like the way it looks or whatever, if they arent trying to "play pretend" that is. So why would any Gurkha care if someone had a knife in the same style? Especially since its not a Gurkha only knife as they are very popular in the region.

 

[sickboy]

I second the KaBar.

 

[Flash]

I have to second Renegade on this one, there is really no reason to get anything more than a Ka-Bar, especially since you are not likely to be taking on Al-Qaeda sigle-handedly.

As for the Kukri, there is really no reason to be hauling around a big knife like that in a plane unless you want to be made fun of. And while it may be common to the Nepal/India region, I will leave the kukri's military use to the Gurkhas, who know how to use it.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Unless you're actually a Gurkha . . .

. . .

. . .

Dude. Seriously.

How would you Marines feel if someone just happened to have a Mameluke hanging on their wall because it matched the decor?

You do know that "khukri" is basically just a blade shape right? The primary purpose of a khukri is to chop wood, which makes it an excellent survival knife. The physics of the curve mean that you have a good sweet spot and all the weight is forward on the blade. It is basically a knife that can do knife stuff, and still chop like an axe.

Villagers in Nepal carry them around for everyday uses, so it's not as if the blade is somehow specific to Gurkhas. If someone in another country bought a blade with an American tanto design or a drop point would you complain that they aren't American and therefore shouldn't use that type of knife?
--
People are recommending tactical knives, but "survival" and "tactical" are different. The original poster never talked about busting out a kabar to go knife some terrorist in the middle of a gunfight. He was talking about "camping/civilian purposes."

 

[voodooqueen]

The best swords were made of metal folded repeatedly--the more times folded, the better the blade was supposed to be. I don't know what kind of metal they would have used on those ancient swords--

Unless you need metal to cut other metal I can't see why you would need a folded metal blade. Of course, under the right circumstances you might be glad you spent the money, like if you were to attack a guy in full armour. It would make a nice Christmas present to yourself anyway.