What knife do you carry backpacking?

[CW]

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=12%2E907%2E120&dept_id=13726

[Tohru Ohnuki]

I don't have any titanium knives but from what i've heard you can just use a diamond hone to sharpen them. I don't think it would be very difficult. I'm not sure if it would load up a stone.

[Shane S.]

I'm not too fond of folders while in the woods. Too much grit can hinder the proper function of a folder. I prefer fixed blades and here is something that I whipped up…weighs 3oz. 3" blade made from CPM S30V stainless, flared Ti tubing and canvas micarta.

[Don Montierth]

Shane – that is a nice looking piece. It looks like a very useful size and design.

On many of my outings I am responsible for my troop (scoutmaster), so I normally carry more cutlery than most ultralighters. A small folder (like a SAK Soldier) and a fixed blade (Bark River Northstar) cover the eventualities. After all, even Nessmuk always had a good complement (axe, fixed blade, folder) to cover all his needs in the wilderness despite the fact that he had his entire kit, including his canoe, down to 26 lbs. The original ultralighter did not take shortcuts with steel.

[Roger Caffin]

Shane

How did you engrave your name on the SS blade?

Cheers

[Shane S.]

Thanks guys.

I make knives for a living. My name is a formend with a steel stamp that I use before the Heat Treat of the Stainless.

Bark River makes some great knives for backpackers…and speaking of Nessmuks….

[Jay Wilkerson]

This is Backpacking LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!
1.1 oz. Knife & Compass

[Brian UL]

Just remember to remove the compass from the knife before you use it. Metal interferes with the magnetism!

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Shane

> I make knives for a living.
We have introduced a disclosure policy here at BPL which requires that the poster openly declares any commercial interest in a product under discussion.

For instance, one regular reader always mentions that he sells Valandre bags in the USA when discussing the merits of rival bags – all brands. That way everyone knows where he is coming from. (Cuts both ways of course: people then know he is an agent for Valandre!)

I would appreciate it if you and anyone else in a similar situation could also do this please.

Cheers and thanks in advance
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor, BPL

[Jon Hancock]

Unless you need to slice ropes and webbing in a hurry there's no advantage to a serrated or part-serrated blade. A good non-serrated fixed blade (or folder, if you prefer) is much easier to sharpen in the field and can be honed until it literally splits hairs. Rescue teams and climbers have good use for serrations, but not the typical woodsman.

For general purposes I like a traditional slipjoint, such as the Tidioute Beaver Tail, but if there's any amount of serious woodwork involved I find a fixed blade to be far safer and more reliable. The basic red-handled Mora is surprisingly light (80 grammes including its horrendous plastic sheath) and I'm also fond of the tiny Bark River Mikro-Canadian.

[todd]

Shane,

Can you post a link to your site? the 3" / 3oz knife is a beauty!

Todd

[Tony Wong]

Todd,

I think that this is his site.

http://www.sibertknives.com/pages/knives.htm

-Tony

[W I S N E R !]

I carry a Victorinox classic.

On a side note, does anyone actually use their knife while backpacking? (Climbing is another story)

I seriously cannot remember the last time I used it or what I used ot for…Even on long trips; I don't believe I used it once on the entire JMT.

I'm thinking of switching to a single razorblade.

[Shane S.]

Thanks for the head up…not fishing for business, just showing my light hiking knife! As you might imagine, knife related topics are my favorite!

Thanks!

[Steven Murray]

Looking for a cheap Spyderco Q, around 1 oz. sans handle. They go for $100 to $500. If you see one in ashop for about $50, grab it. I want a plain-edged (not serrated) one at that range which is even rarer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQe748PUyg

Range

[darren stephens]

G'Day
This phrase survival situation gets mentioned quite a bit around here and I am curious as to what people perceive it to mean. I have spent most of my free time in the bush in some way or another since I was a kid and being able to exist if things go bad has been an interest of mine, but I am no expert.
From a bushwalking perspective maybe the worst thing I could think of is being separated from your pack in the middle of a long solo hike. Now I really can’t imagine how, maybe you fell in a fast flowing river? Your pack would ad buoyancy so you would leave it on, maybe if you were in the U.S a bear could steal it if he ran out of picnic baskets.
I have no experience with that so lets just it happened and you are on day 5 of a 10 day hike. Now firstly as part of your survival plan you would have informed someone reliable on you approximate route and arrival time so allowing for 24 hrs late time that the authorities would give you there is 6 days to stay alive.
Depending on the temperature the first requirement would be either shelter or water. If it’s very hot you need to keep hydrated and stay in the shade, if its cold you need to prevent hypothermia. You can go for quite a while without food.
Unless your 100% sure of your position and your distance to the end or known side exit points you should just stay put and wait for assistance as you are easier to find if you are where you said you were going to be.
Don’t worry about trying to catch food as you use around (from memory) 2500 calories a day laying still and up to 4000 if you going hard. So if you run around all day chasing food and don’t succeed you have just lost over half a days calorie requirements.
The same goes for trying to build a log cabin with your fixed blade. You would be much better finding some natural shelter (even a rock or mound) and supplementing it with some snapped off undergrowth over you for insulation.
Things can still happen but planning and common sense reduces the severity.
As this is BPL we need to differentiate between a survival situation and survivalist’s.

[A. B.]

Are you saying that a fixed blade is more appropriate for a survivalist rather than a person in a survival situation? And that BPL does not apply to survivalists?

I guess I don't understand your last statement.

Maybe this deserved it's own thread as this one is about knives.

[darren stephens]

Evan
The general theme about BPL is doing more with less.
Another theme is treading lightly
The concept of BPL can be enjoyed and adapted by everyone whatever there views are

Your right though maybe it should have had a thread of it's own
I carry a victorinox classic

[Roger Caffin]

> does anyone actually use their knife while backpacking?
> I seriously cannot remember the last time I used it or
>what I used ot for…Even on long trips; I don't believe I
>used it once on the entire JMT.

I don't carry a folding or sheath knife. No need, not in serious scrub and not over our months in France.

I do carry one old metal bread&butter knife which is reasonably sharp, and I use that for chopping up bread, cheese, and sausage for meals. Because there's two of us, the other person has a plastic knife from a take-away shop, for buttering etc. That's all we need.

My first aid kit includes a sterile scalpel blade in its foil wrapper.

Cheers

[Steven Murray]

If more than a day's walk away from routes, even in apparently fair weather in daytime, a big fixed blade is the only absolute necessary. It can make shelter from bush, make fire drills, hollow out (burning takes ages) a stump into a bowl to boil water (with hot stones), defend against large animals, dig, etc. etc. Usually remoteness, turn in weather and/or injury creates survival situation. Everything else is secondary in remote areas.

Biggest use is chopping deadwood into easy fuel, that doesn't have to be carried!

Back to Victorinox and Butane.

[Sara C]

Craig,

I went from a knife to a razorblade. After a period of time, the razorblade will rust with non-use. I am searching for something lighter. I am considering carrying shaving cream as my wife refers to my facial growth as various grits of sandpaper.

Jon

[Don Montierth]

First, my situation may be different from many folks here. Having said that –

Frankly, a small blade does the tasks I have while backpacking. No problems. But I do use a knife regularly for various tasks, so I do carry at least a small one. I have gone whole trips and only used a SAK Tinker, for example.

But many times I am out with youth, for whom I am responsible (scouts). And boys will be boys. I would hate to have to try to make a splint or crutches or a litter or some other necessary camp object with a SAK Classic – it would just be untenable. For that reason I often carry a fixed blade. Nothing huge, but large enough to be useful. I don't use it that much. That is not to say that it is not used – getting dry wood from the center of medium branches for a fire after a couple of days of rain and snow, for example. But my situation calls for being prepared (as the motto says). Thus I carry more than many of you folks do.

My personal opinion is that many folks go too light in this regard. A knife is a very useful tool (ultimately the most important survival tool, along with means to start a fire), and when you are miles from any type of help a capable cutting tool would make a substantial difference if things go awry – which they do. Not very often, but things happen.

YMMV

[W I S N E R !]

I completely understand what many of you are saying concerning a knife and "survival" issues, but when I have my pack with me, I don't need to cut down branches for shelter…I have a tent or tarp and bivy, firestrating tools, warmth, rain protection, first aid, etc. Splint making? Logs don't make good splints! If a branch can't be broken by hand or foot, I figure it's too big for a splint anyhow(For what it's worth, I'm trained here- I worked as an EMT during college; I think I have good first-aid know-how).
Making bandages? A razorblade would do.
Firewood? I haven't used an axe or blade to make fire while backpacking in a LONG time.
Gutting fish? I actually prefer a tiny blade. I'm pretty confident I could even field dress a deer with nothing but a razor.

I'm not saying I have all the answers or I'm right- by all means, do what makes you comfortable. But I don't ever feel I'm lacking by carrying tiny blades backpacking. Just a different perspective.

When do I carry a "real" knife? Long trail runs, day hikes, rock climbing/canyoneering, and mountain biking- scenarios where I might actually need a bigger knife for survival because I'm not carrying other gear or need to cut rope fast.

[Tad Englund]

Sorry for this thread drift…
For years I thought that “Being Prepared” meant caring all the necessary equipment to be prepared. I use to carry over 50 lbs to make sure I had what “might be needed”. But over the years, after looking at Baden Powell’s original teaching and his idea of being prepared, I came to a better understanding of what he meant.
His idea was not to carry something for every conceivable situation, but to have the knowledge of how to make do with what is provided by nature for a given situation.

In over 40 years of being on outings with the scouts I have yet to be in an untenable situation; where knowledge and common sense was the most important item that was available. I’ve been a scout master for in my present troop for over 4 years now and I have only used my SAN classic for the scissors and one time the blade (to notch a site built stake end). As Craig alluded to above, if you are carrying the “hiking essentials” you should have everything you could need. For my scouts its 2 lbs max for all the “Hiking Essentials”.
I suggest some of you read chapter 19 of Ryan Jordan’s book “Lightweight Backpacking and Camping”. That is how to be prepared.
Also, I live in Washington and as I tell my scouts- If you get lost or in trouble, walk south. We Hike in the Cascades; and from anywhere in the Cascades you can’t go more then 20 miles south, without running into a major highway! Knowledge is the key.

[Brian UL]

A "survival" knife needs only to do one thing well-
make fire.
More precisely a survival knife needs to make wood shavings and be used with a baton to split wood. This is more important in wet environments as dry wood is more scarce. You can manage a debris shelter and other tasks without it but, it makes the work easier. So, a fixed blade is only as important in a survival situation as you think fire is.
That said, I dont think a knife used for any other reason is as useful and safe as a pair of folding scissors. The knife on the Vitronix classic seems to me to be more prone to just close on your finger than anything else.
I cant think of any task any small folder can do that a pair of scissors cant. Then there is a larger knife suitable for cutting food like a loaf of bread.
Have you ever sliced a loaf of bread with a 1 inch blade?
I would rather tear the bread and carry scissors.

Scissors : suitable on well traveled trails
can be taken on the airplane
is usually safer and easier to use than knife

Fixed blade: suitable when isolated or not carrying a full backpacking kit.
safer and more reliable than a folder
an irreplaceable tool for fire building as well as making a host of other tasks a lot easier.

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