Spyderco Forums

We all have seen TV shows like man vs wild, survivorman, man,woman,wild, dual survival etc. Survival shows and equipment are nowadays a real hype.

What's your survival knife? (and remember the most important thing is not the tool, but your willingness to live, knowledge and survival skills.)

My survival knife is my Fällkniven Njord. Why? Well it has a full tang construction, iron butcap (for hammering), leather handle (even wet it has a great grip and no metal is exposed to my hand), guard and a very strong laminated VG10 blade (convex edge). It is midsized, so not to small, not to large and has the ability to chop a little.

My location is Western Europe, so that's also important to know.

Other 2 very practical outdoor knives are my böker savannah and CS kukri SM3.

I have sold my Rock Salt after realizing I don't even like camping :) . That said, the two better knives you can buy still exist in Spyderco's lineup: The Schempp Rock and Bushcraft.

Depending on your methodology either will make shelter, skin, and do food prep. The Bushcraft is probably the better all around knife if you don't have to de-limb things.

I would say if I could only have one fixed blade with me it would be my rat cutlery RC4 combo edge blade. The knife is built excellent with plenty of usable blade and its lightweight and has an orange handle which makes it super easy to spot. Its plenty thick enough to use for batoning firewood and hacking through just about anything. I also have a tom brown tracker that is an awesome survival knife with so many features but its almost a foot long and with its 1/4 inch steel blade it weighs about 1 pound 12 ouncs which is just a bit much to carry around comfortabley on your waiste. So I prefer my RC4. Everyone should check those out. very close to spydercos price range and very affordable.

Its the green and orange knife at the top of my pic :)

I haven't been camping in a while and currently don't own a fixed blade worthy of it. That said, i'm a big Survivorman fan, and Les Stroud announced a collaboration/signature knife made by Helle, called The Temagami. It's pretty similar to the Bushcraft. I love the curly birch handle.

http://shop.lesstroud.ca/product/les-st ... -pre-order

Oh, and Les Stroud is the man, no hype about it. I'd trust that man with my life in the wilderness. Bear Grylls on the other hand, while i know he himself may be a badass, his show is little more than a TV show, and those Gerber knives he's marketing are pretty gimmicky.

To be fair and forthright... I should mention that I carry 40-60 lbs of stuff when I go backpacking for a reason. I lack the skills and the incentive to survive off of the absolute bare necessities. Depending on the weather, area, and foliage wherever I am visiting, I have a variety of edged implements. Machetes, hatchets, axes, knives, you get the idea. If I had to choose one... I'd probably go with a big honkin' khukri or bowie that I could use as a second rate machete or hatchet. But, then I'd probably die :p .

I ha e a few moras I keep in my bugout bag.

I have this but I carry a 4.5 inch busse.

I think survivorman shows you how to starve to a slow death. Bear Grylls is more like a GI Joe or actionman action figure. I'm not going to say they don't know nothing about the subject, but i don't trust them.

This is the guy i would trust.(i have his book SAS survival guide)

John "Lofty" Wiseman is a British author and survival consultant, and a former member of the Special Air Service (SAS), the British special forces unit.

In 1959, at the age of eighteen, Wiseman became the youngest person ever to pass selection for the SAS, joining from the Parachute Regiment, which he had joined a year earlier. He went on to serve in the SAS for 26 years, rising to the rank of Sergeant Major.[1]

After leaving the SAS in 1985, his first book was The SAS Survival Handbook (published in 1986). Wiseman has since become a survival consultant, writing a number of other books on the subject,[2] as well as appearing on television. Wiseman has also worked a member of the instructional team at his protege's survival school Trueways Survival School.[1] He was also the instructor for the selection/training phase for the show, Castaway 2000.

I do think Les could do a lot more while he's out there, but maybe it wouldn't make for good TV. There was at least one episode where he spotted a mountain sheep not far in the distance he could have easily bagged and ate like a king but i think a big part of the show is the drama of how little he can live off of. I also think a big part of why he can do it is physical conditioning, and a guy like me would probably die in 3 days lol. But, all that aside, i still like his show. He's coming back with a new updated version where he survives for 10 days alone instead of 7.

Allways take my Fallkniven A1 with me, I like the Convex grind. It's good for most jobs and can handle a chopping job, battoning, etc. I like the Craton grip, even wet and cold it always stays grippy. As backup I often take the Fallkniven S1 or F1 along :)

I am quite fond of "The Glock Knife" for out in woods survival knife...For the price point under $30, it's a do everything knife that holds up to tremendous abuse. If I wanted something a little more expensive that would also work great I would take one of the Rats.....or maybe several.....Doc :D

Yea... Bear Grylls... free climbs wayyy too much.

Minibear453 wrote:Yea... Bear Grylls... free climbs wayyy too much.

Cuz hes a badass! Lol

Fallkniven A-1.

A Leatherman ST 200, because I do my survival in the urban jungle.

A lot of for me is where I am and what I'm doing. I keep a Leatherman Wave and SAK Pioneer in my fatboy everywhere I go. They come in handy quite a bit. If I am out camping and need something to chop, split and just be all around tough I would probably feel best with this.

There are many aspects to raw survival. The one thing I've gathered watching many survival videos and reading many of the books published. The #1 tool I hear just about all of them agree on is the KNIFE. There is so much you can do with a knife as far as wild game, firestarting as well as making several items with a knife that facilitate survival.

I guess it just boils down to which one you feel the most comfortable with and the one you can sharpen and maintain easily. Stainless blades are truly an advantage for obvious reasons and you do need some sharpening equipment to go with your knife because a dull knife is one of the most useless tools out there.

I think Spyderco's line up of the H-1 Salt Series offers many premium, high quality blades designed for hard work and survival. Personally I love my old sidekick and a fixed blade I'm truly in love with and that's my FB-05 Spyderco original Temperance model. And I wish they would bring that one back in H-1 steel. But the Temperance 2 would also be a very good survival tool as well.

Before you determine which survival knife is best for you I would advise learning as much as you can about the subject of survival before you determine that.

Mora™ Bushcraft, low cost, sandvik steel, very good handling. For sure a fixe blade will be my first choice... but your not choosing when it's time to survive...

My search for the best 'survival knife' started back in the mid-late 80s as a young enlisted solider and continues to this day. In the years since I've learned, un-learned, and re-learned what makes a good survival knife, ,or what I like to call a field knife.

For example: Early on I got a Buckmaster, and thought that was bad-***. What I soon found was it just looked bad-***, but cut like crap due to the excessively thick blade and steep grind. Plus, saw-teeth on the spine, , , what was I thinking. Suffice it to say that there were subsequent blades I've had where I've learned what works for me, in terms of ergonomics, weight, size, materials, etc. Ultimately, it's what caused me to start making my own field knives.

Today I think these things make up a good field (excuse me, ,survival) knife: First, ,bigger is not better. blade length of approx 6.5-8 inches long. No thicker than 3/16. Full tang, tapered if possible. Synthetic handle (micarta, G-10, CF, stabilized wood). Good handle ergos. Good reliable and time tested steel (1090, O-1, D2) with appropriate RC/HT for the specific steel. Screwed construction, not simply rivets and epoxy. Satin finish (just my choice in aesthetics). A good reliable, easily accessible sheath that can be carried multiple ways. Jimping on spine and no finger guard on top of handle. And, a nice deep hollow grind, with a stout clip point. And there's more I'm sure that I just can't think of off the top of my head.

Of course these are just my personal preferences. And maybe that's the point. If you are going to find yourself in a field, tactical, combat, survival situation, , , the best knife to have is the one that you feel fits your needs. Better yet, ,one that time has taught you fits your needs. Not one that marketing executives tell you is cool, and/or was designed and 'approved' by any number of special operation / black ops types. The best survival knife is one that helps your most important survival survival tool (your brain) get the job done as efficiently as possible.

I have both the Spyderco temp 2 and the bushcraft. Both are very capable in a camp or survival situation. For a larger chopper, I do have a fallkniven a1. It's a slippery slope, I don't think there is a "perfect" knife, which would explain why I have so many. I have been carrying my M390 mule with a boltoron sheath in the hills. It more than meets my camp needs. No battoning with the mule though, although I don't need it for that.