Spyderco Survival knife?

[TomAiello]

I'd use a Bushcraft in that role.

My other choices would be Endeavor and Serratta.

Thinking about it, the Southfork would probably work, too.

[setldown]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Spyderco Hossom series. Although discontinued, they still pop up on the secondary market. I have a Fororager that's a great all around survival knife.

[LDB]

Semper Fi.

[MacLaren]

The Temp 2 is a wonderful allround knife imo.

A big High Five!! to you my friend Now my fav is the predecessor which was the TEMPERANCE 1 model which is still one of my all time favorite fixed blades. The TEMP 1 is one of the very few fixed blades for outdoor use that Spyderco made in plain edge and Spyderedge both. Both edge types on that model are just out right excellent for outdoor use. I desperately want to see a Sprint Run of those two icon Spyderco fixed blades in newer/better blade steel.

The term "Survival Knife" has in the past 10 to 12 years or so become a "catch-all" phrase for about any type of knife you can imagine. Now all of the survival type magazines I read on a regular basis all concur that fixed blades are far more advantageous for rough use. Now I personally don't agree with that 100% because I don't think these people are taking into account how well built that Spyderco, Benchmade, Boker, Zero Tolerance and several other reputable knife companies I could list.

It probably is true for your average, hardware store folder but most premium folders I've used for very brutal jobs have all held up ( mainly Spyderco units). Also you want a knife that has a blade steel that's able to work with ferro rods and other types of materials you can use to create sparks and start fires with. Some stainless alloys won't do it from what I've been told. So it would probably be wise to have one non-stainless, fixed blade in your survival gear. The Spyderco Bushcraft with 0-1 blade steel would be an excellent choice.

Hey JD!
Big high 5 right back at ya buddy :)
Sorry so long to get back.
Hope all is well man.

[Gaston444]

I am with the knife is not an axe crowd. Get a camp/bushcraft type of a knife and a good axe or hatchet.

I just don't see a plausible scenario where survival knife will be needed.
If one is on day relaxing hike I doubght you will take a masseive blade with you.
If one is going outdoor for a night or camping or a week long expedition - equip properly. That includes knive(s), axe and a saw etc...

But on a day hike bringing a hatchet is more likely? Or then bringing nothing but a folder? What about clearing a path, does it never happen on a day hike? This is where thinking in black and white terms goes way wrong...

G.

[Christian Noble]

If we are talking wilderness survival, really probably talking more wilderness living skills here, the Aqua Salt, while a great knife and I have one, does not have a comfortable handle for extended use. Hard use or not, the Aqua Salt does NOT carve wood (notches) or shave wood as well a specifically designed bushcraft knife like the Spyderco Bushcraft or other traditional Scandinavian-style knives. And so much depends on the environment you are as well as your skill level.

One of my mentor's, Mors Kochanski, definition of a survival knife as outlined in his book, Northern Bushcraft;

The knife is the smallest and most portable of the all the cutting tools. Light and unobtrusive, the knife is readily available for hundreds of everyday tasks in bush living.

The general-purpose bush knife should have a blade as long as the width of the palm, although blades half or twice this length are within acceptable limits. A blade five centimetres long would be an excellent survival knife except for being too small to fall and limb trees of wrist-thickness. A blade 10 to 15 centimetres long will do intricate work like carving a netting needle, yet be large enough to present a good target for a baton when cutting down small trees. A blade 20 centimetres long is a superior tool for heavy work.

All general-use knives should have the blade tip close to the profile center line of the handle. The back of the handle and the back of the blade should be on the same line. The back of the blade should note be thinned down or sharpened so that a baton can be used more effectively without being cut up. There is absolutely no advantage to a two-edged blade in bush living...

...The metal of the knife blade should extend for the full-length of the handle (a full tang) for strength...
...The curvature of the cutting edge should extend for the full-length of the blade..
...The knife handle should be about as long s the width of your palm. A handle that is too thick or too thin fatigues the hand and causes blisters. The cross-section of the handle should be oval instead of round or rectangular. An oval handle provides an adequate indication of the direction of the cutting edge and raises few blisters than handles with rectangular or rounded corners...
...A guard on a bush knife is in the way and detracts from many operations...
...As a test of strength, a good knife should not break when driven four centimetres into a standing tree at right angles to the grain, and the handle bears your weight as you stand on it...

Interestingly, in his later years, Mors said, and paraphrasing, a survival knife should be a pry bar that carves really well. And, of all things, the knife he designed with Rod Garcia, the Skookum Bush Tool, has a hole in the blade, not dissimilar to the small Spyderhole in the Sypderco Bushcraft -- it's purpose however, when used with a nail, was to create a shear.

For me, specific to survival, it's all about what's on your person, as chances are when bad things happen, nothing else will be available. So I always carry a knife (and fire-lighting tools) I feel comfortable enough with I can make a fire in wet weather should the need arise. If in the backcountry, that would be a fixed blade. Everyday carry, a Salt 2 or Delica 4 is more than capable-enough for me in my environment. And I always carry my lucky Ladybug too.

[sal]

Visa? American Express?

sal

[kgasp]

Falkniven knives are performance knives using premium steels at high (for production knives) hardness with decent grinds. This is to give them better edge holding properties and better cutting performance. That recipe is not the right one for building a sharpened pry bar. Simple carbon steels run at moderate hardness with thicker grinds will be tougher than higher alloy steels run at higher hardness with more acute grinds.

Lilly batonned that Falkniven through a sand covered coconut using a rock. That, in my opinion, is a very poor test of a knife. She admitted to testing it to it's limits through abuse and then said it was junk because it couldn't handle it. The Dutchbushcraftknives guys made a rebuttal video and pretty openly disagreed with her. They test knives hard and enjoy batonning knives but also value cutting ability and edge retention. They did not have any durability issues in their test. Falkniven's biggest drawback is price.

This brings up the decision between a super tough knife and a knife that has high performance cutting characteristics.

On one hand you have the offerings from Esee, Kabar/Becker, Ontario and others. On the other you have knives like the Falkniven and most Spydercos. Most of us here prefer the better cutters over the bomb proof tools. I have a lot of both and do baton and abuse knives. However I generally prefer knives that cut well. I do also enjoy flogging large Bowies made from 1095.

Spyderco focuses on cutting performance in general so you are not apt to find many Spydies that would get Lilly's seal of approval. None of them are built to be batonned with rocks through hard sand covered coconuts.

The Temperance2, Bradley Bowie, Aqua Salt, Schempp Rock/Rock Salt (which I think is a "survival" knife), Serratta, and Bushcraft are all good woods knives. None are made for the express purpose of torture testing. They will all survive being used as a knife.

Totally agree!

[ladybug93]

or you can treat your knife like a knife and just buy a mora for under $20. it's really that simple. huge survival knives are not as useful as they are heavy and dangerous. those knives are better suited for urban survival environments. for example, i have an esee 5 that i absolutely love, but i would rather bring a mora and/or machete into the wilderness and i'd rather use the esee if i were in some sort of urban survival scenario (i imagine it would be the perfect knife for forward deployed military personnel).
i don't like the sharpened prybar mentality in the wilderness. chopping with a knife consumes a lot of energy and is more dangerous than a saw. when you need to chop, even a small hatchet outperforms most large, heavy choppers. it makes sense to carry a knife to use as a knife, a saw, and a small hatchet (or machete, depending on where you are in the world). i'm fairly certain that a mora, a bahco laplander, and my ontario machete all together weigh close to the same as my esee 5 and will be far safer and capable in the jungle.

[Christian Noble]

Visa? American Express?

sal

Lol! :)

Nope, not selling anything, and unfortunately Mors passed away this past December. One of the most generous human beings ever who just happened to be a master woodsman with knife skills second to none.

[standy99]

A Spyderco Junction would do me.

Not needing a survival knife ever really. If camping it’s usually a junction and a hatchet.

Any knife is a good thing to start. But all the best Camp knife, best Survival knife, best Hike knife are all about people wanting to talk or write about knives.

[Sndmn11]

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/detail ... oomer/1157

[Dingo]

I would be all over a serratta in psf27.
One can dream