"Rambo" knife?

[Jared]

Anybody know a good quality survival knife that will hold a nice edge? I want the kind where things can be stored in the handle of it. Also, what's a BOB?
Jared

[longshot]

a couple of points, if i may, a large knife does take some extra skill and care in use. not to knock big knives, i like them myself. the problem with the hollow handle knives tend to break at the rivet connecting the blade and handle. the next biggest problem is if you lose your knife you lose your kit as well.

just a couple thoughts.

ls

[333]

Peace,

BOB is a bug out bag, for a few days of emergency survival.

333

[Rick]

As a compromise, you can get a solid tang knife and fasten a Compass pouch to the sheath. The compass pouch will accept an Altoids tin full of goodies.

I use an Air Force Survival knife. I cut off the sharpening stone pouch and include a diamond steel in the Altoids kit.

http://www.epcamps.com/Camillus_Pilot_Survival_Knife.html

[RangerRick]

Yep, the AF knife is a good balance as I have one on the wifes BOB - not too heavy - not too light and they usually come with a wet stone. It's got a nice sturdy parkerised blade well suited for use as a spear or hatchet. It also has a saw type edge with a strong heel, a servicable bolster and hand guard, good tang and usually leather scales for a sure grip with a butt that will do a fair amount of hammering.

In my opinion it is not a "meets al" kindal knife but will do a servicable job on most tasks. A good quality double bladded folder is still the tool that will get the most use around camp and most emergencies.

Ranger Rick

[Jared]

*The compass pouch will accept an Altoids tin full of goodies.



http://www.epcamps.com/Camillus_Pilot_Survival_Knife.html


So what would you put in your altoids can? i'm asking just for ideas as to what to put in.

[RangerRick]

While this isn't an Altoids tin my Whitman's tin is my preference as the dementions are just a bit different and I find it packs better for my use.

One thing uh, hows about my Whitman's Tin, I carry it in my vest pocket at all times.

Within the recesses of the magic little box I keep 2 band aids, antiseptic, 2 aspirins, 2 safety pins, 2.5" nail, needle, dental floss, 2 fish hooks, split shot, 20' of 10 lb test mono-filament line, AAA flash light, large paper clip, P38, pencil, small knife, fingernail clipper, magnifying lens, compass, magnesium striker, small bic lighter, petroleum jellied cotton ball, 2 lock pics & pressure bar, signal mirror.

Semper Paratus - Always Ready. ;D

Rick


Sorry it took so long to get back to ya but I just plum forgot about the post. *OK here's the kit, updates include 2 nails, 3 safety pins, 2 water proof matches, duck tape to keep it kinda water tight and a pack of Stiri Strips. *Seems you can always find room for a little extra. *The kit also makes a fine counterbalance for a spare 45 cal 1911, 8 round mag.

http://i16.tinypic.com/4hvfa0m.jpg

;D

Rick

[wax]

Jared- Anybody know a good quality survival knife that will hold a nice edge?

Wax- This sort of question always puzzles me.
It is almost universal so please take no offense but... um... obsidian?

Mankind has a varied past and any semi-adult should study that past closely before buying into modern myth.
Find youself a dealer like Frost Cutlery and buy 100 or 120 knives for $60.00 dollars, this will include a number of full tang and partial tang knives.

Then use them, snap them, break them, because you abuse them, and understand that what you are doing is learning basic skills concerning edged weapons.
The knives you buy in this way will be "made in China" but you know what? ... They will be more than you would ever need in a survival situation.

I'm not kidding when I tell you to abuse them, destroy them for Pete's sake!

Because what you are really looking for is knowledge concerning how an edge works and how it does not.

Then pick up a book that involves flint-napping.
And realize that there are edges all around you.
Some are better than steel and some are actually diamond!
But the point is of course that no adult male should ever concern himself too much with obtaining an edged weapon!

[wax]

333- BOB is a bug out bag, for a few days of emergency survival.

Wax- To take that further, in case the reader is a bit confused:

Way back in the early seventies the concept of modern survivalism was born. It was the idea that an emergency might occur in which a participant should be prepared for:
(Just leave it folks, I have references in the Epic of Gilgemesh but we must start somewhere!)

Now... during the seventies the country was largely defined in the way it is now: The majority of people in cities and minority in country.
The city folk realized that if there were something like a nuclear war they would ned to somehow get out of the city in order to stand a chance of survival... and thus the Bug Out Bag was born.
Now what is sort of funny is that the rural population already had such a thing prepared in a way.

If you live in rural Minnesota like I have my entire life, you already carry a BOB during the winter. So many people died by going in the ditch during a snowstorm in the early/middle part of this century that common sense dictated certain supplies be brought with while driving during winter months.

So the urban folk simply picked up the rural folks idea of simple survival essentials and declared "If I ever need to leave the city, then this is what I will take in my Bug Out Bag (or BOB)."

Those things concern everything that is common sense: A sleeping bag, firestarting supplies, water, food... as was said, a bag which will last a couple of days.

But of course when speaking about survival without a recovery... when talking about the chance that months might go by without a restoration of services (like a nuclear war or a collapse of society) the common term of BOB becomes worse than useless!

In modern terms a "BOB" will get you where you need to go! And that is very important because it requires that you know exactly where you are going to go!

On 9-11-2001 My sister activated her "BOB".
She didn't understand what was going on but she knew that her flight was not going where she expected.
She was being taken to a place in Canada called "Gander" instead.

You see, part of her BOB is to inform myself and her other brothers where she is and whether she is safe... because if we don't know for a fact that she is we may attempt to secure that safety.
My children have the same BOB as she does and understand how important it is to get a message to me at location "A" or location "B" within the shortest amount of time.
She used a third party who wrote in extremely big and bright letters, " Attention those who care: Tammi is safe in Canada and shall respond as soon as possible, do not pursue, secure your own and we shall join when possible"

Now I can not explain to you what that message means, I know you think you know but you do not! Changing a word like shall to may can change my response from elation to preperation for armegeddon!

The point is of course that a "BOB" is less a thing than a preperation. It is less an object than a plan.

[macgeoghagen]

i use either the USAF knife or a khukri, depending on how heavy i want to go. the rest of my rig is a 2 liter "camelbak" water pack with a pocket on it. the pocket has a water filter, compass, and my survival kit. the kit is in a little tupperware that is the size for 2 sandwiches.
contents:
1. wire saw. the good one from coghlans with 8 strands
2. signal mirror
3. leather square.
4. disposable lighter with duct tape wrapped around it.
5. flint/magnesium bar
6. 550 paracord
7. tinder. cotton balls and vaseline. also pine sap.
8. folding knife. the kind with a can opener on it
9. tiny knife
10. tiny boo-boo kit. has bandages, medical tape, needles, thread, tweezers, tiny compass.
11. fish hooks. stab them through some cardboard to keep them orderly
12. water purification pills.
13. brass wire. for snares, making fish hooks, attaching stuff together.
14. fishing line. both 8lb test and 50lb test.

Optional; small shovel tied to pack.

[wy0mn]

I have a various kits with most of the stuff we guys think are necessary for a BOBs, but...
Even though I carry several small knives & multi-tools, my favorite is a light axe, hatchet, or tomahawk.
I once completely, & I mean completely, processed a deer with a hatchet; just to see if it was do-able. A hawk has many more uses for me than a knife.
Right now my 'baby' is a Norse hawk from coldsteel. The rounded blade can be used as a ulu knife and is great for skinning. To my way of thinking, a hawk would be much more functional in emergency construction than many knives, but I'd hate to be without a knife too...

EDIT: I found this, if thats what you really want...
http://www.knife-depot.com/knife-6040.html

[theresehirko]

I have an AF knife that I have on a leg holster when we go camping. That thing has come in very handy. For my BOB, however, i have a leatherman and a Swiss Army utensil knife.

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Jared and Forum Members,

I, for one, am kind of averse to getting a Rambo-style survival knife with the survival gear in the handle. I have heard from too many people that the handle is too easily broken off of the knife. Unless such a knife were custom-forged and drilled out from a single piece of steel, I would stay away from such gimmicky things. Instead, get a good quality Leatherman or Schrade multi-tool as your mainstay and also learn how to make knives from metal-grinding or flint-knapping in the event that you lose that.

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Wax,

You have an excellent philosophy on knives.

I've seen lots of great articles in The Backwoodsman and The Survivor on how to make both scrap metal knives and flint-knapped knives. One article showed how you could take an old wore-out sawblade and cut it into six small knife blades. Another showed where you could taper an old hack-saw blade into a double-edged meat knife perfect for sawing bone too.

Flint-knapping I haven't tried yet because I haven't yet found any obsidian and not much pure flint in my area of North Carolina and don't know of other alternatives that would be as good as obsidian or flint. Can you make some suggestions for other kinds of rocks?

[wy0mn]

Thats the same problem I had while stationed in Florida, no flint. I learned to make functional knives from bone & shell, and learned to work flint later.
Flint has the added bonus of creating fire with steel. Lots of rocks will make incandescent sparks but few can actually be used in fire making.
Even if you learn to knap out blades, arrowheads & such, you've just traded one BOB for another more primitive one! A knappers kit will contain his favorite hammerstone, some antler & bone 'press' chisels and protective leather palm pads.
Its hard to get a workable spall from a flint nodule, but lets assume you manage it, without losing an eye, and also manage to flake out a blade. Now you've made a tool thats dangerous at both ends. So unless you have a tougher hide than I do, you need some sinew, or cord, to attach a handle of some sort... Aboriginal skills are best practiced at home, and appreciated in the field.

Knowing that I can knap stone, fletch, straighten wooden shafts, make a Flemish string, make self bows & such is really comforting; but modern convenience can save your butt, bottom line.

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Wy0mn,

You wrote:

Thats the same problem I had while stationed in Florida, no flint. I learned to make functional knives from bone & shell, and learned to work flint later.
Flint has the added bonus of creating fire with steel. Lots of rocks will make incandescent sparks but few can actually be used in fire making.
Even if you learn to knap out blades, arrowheads & such, you've just traded one BOB for another more primitive one! A knappers kit will contain his favorite hammerstone, some antler & bone 'press' chisels and protective leather palm pads.

I learned some basic flintknapping several years ago at a local rendevous called The Tribe Gathering. *The flintknapping instructor also recommended not only work gloves, but long sleeves and safety goggles. *They did come in handy because the shards flew all over the place.

:o

Primitive man definitely had it rough!

Its hard to get a workable spall from a flint nodule, but lets assume you manage it, without losing an eye, and also manage to flake out a blade. Now you've made a tool thats dangerous at both ends. So unless you have a tougher hide than I do, you need some sinew, or cord, to attach a handle of some sort... Aboriginal skills are best practiced at home, and appreciated in the field.

Knowing that I can knap stone, fletch, straighten wooden shafts, make a Flemish string, make self bows & such is really comforting; but modern convenience can save your butt, bottom line.

True. *Primitive skills, while necessary to know, are best used only as a last resort in a survival situation. *In fact, exerting too much effort in a Summertime or desert survival situation could cause a dangerous heatstroke. *Even sweating in the Wintertime could cause frostbite if it's cold enough. *I would use up and wear out all of my gear before resorting to primitive skills. *Let what's necessary for survival be the guide.

[jott]

FYI
I just got home from my once a month or so trip to walmart, in the camping section they have a knife for 94 cents. It is to look like a buck easy out but what you would expect for 94 cents. I picked one up since I have several fine knifes at home and carry one most the time but I got this one to put in the car. It can live there and that way I have it if I need it. And it is stainless steel all my good knifes are high carbon steel that will rust in the car.

[Old_John]

Bushman Knives, from Cold Steel Co. is a great Survival Knife. We have them in each of our BOB's.
I've bought several for close Friends & Kinsmen.
The Handle is Hollow, so you can wrap it with duct tape & load it up with a few little survival items to help you along the way.

The socket handle also makes it handy to use as a Spear or a short machete.
Check it out at:

http://www.coldsteel.com/fixed-blades-bushman.html

Cold Steel also has a lot of other good Knives and interesting Specialty weapons..........

http://www.coldsteel.com/

Have Fun!

[bltjr1951]

Yep, the AF knife is a good balance as I have one on the wifes BOB - not too heavy - not too light and they usually come with a wet stone. *It's got a nice sturdy parkerised blade well suited for use as a spear or hatchet. *It also has a saw type edge with a strong heel, a servicable bolster and hand guard, good tang and usually leather scales for a sure grip with a butt that will do a fair amount of hammering. *
In my opinion it is not a "meets al" kindal knife but will do a servicable job on most tasks. *A good quality double bladded folder is still the tool that will get the most use around camp and most emergencies.
Ranger Rick

I have two, one mil and one civilian model.
Yet, on the blade forums site, they're POS.
If I could, I'd post the thread, but you can't search on their site unless you're a paid member.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=692&order=desc&daysprune=14

[CarolAnn]

I once worked with a very scary chick who said, "Oooooooh . . . I LOVE sharp knives." *Hm. I must be scary too, because I also love sharp cutlery. I get mine at Goodwill for a buck each and some were very expensive stuff.

My favorite thing is a dandy old stone that I got for 50 cents at an estate sale. It looks like wood grain - coarse and fine layers, but it's a black stone and sharpens the devil out of anything I set to it.

No matter what kind of cutter you get, make sure you know how to sharpen it - and have the stone to do that with.

[bltjr1951]

Optional; small shovel tied to pack.

How small? On other sites, some post they use a trowel to get by. Unless they were going to dig a foxhole, then they would use a mil tri-fold.

[Crusoe]

Anybody know a good quality survival knife that will hold a nice edge? I want the kind where things can be stored in the handle of it. Also, what's a BOB?
Jared


Chris Reeve Knives are pretty good. Also kind of expensive. I carried their Shadow III as an all around utility knife through two tours of Iraq. My only complaint is that the end cap seems to ding pretty easily.

[bltjr1951]

Here's a site with small shovels to compare:
http://www.coghlans.com/catalogue/productList.php?catID=23

I still like a mil tri-fold etool.

[macgeoghagen]

First off, expense doesnt determine usefulness. I'm no blade snob and don't look down on regular carbon steel. I don't demand super expensive titanium alloys or damascus. a knife is a tool first and a penile compensator never. stay away from 440 stainless if you can. not that 440 stainless is bad, its just that cheap "made in china" knives made from scrap metal alloy are often labeled 440 stainless. spend for quality, not for show.

Second, the "rambo" style knives arent all bad. if its made in china with a compass in a plastic handle, stay back. At one time i had a serviceable "rambo knife". 5 inch blade, metal handle, solid butt cap with tiny compass on the INSIDE. it worked.

The leatherman/E-tool doodads are limited in their usefulness when you are hiking or backpacking. you dont find too many wires or phillips head screws out in the woods. the tiny saw is laughable. anything small enough to cut with the saw is small enough to break with your hands. get a coghlan's wire saw if you want a saw. if youre on a ATV or in a car, keep a leatherman in the car. they are very useful with minor repairs and adjustments.

A good quality knife can be a tool MAKER. you can use it to put a point on a stick, cut switches for a trap, pound a rock to a point, etc.

Before putting a knife in your BOB, grow familiar with it. if you stop using it or find it difficult to use for your every day tasks, it probably won't help you survive.

[Mike_Forrest]

Test for a good survival knife:

Hammer it into a solid wooden post, about half the blade
length then wiggle it back out. If its not broken, its a good
sturdy survival knife.
Also have a good brand multitool (Victorianox or Leatherman)
NEVER use a hollow handle knife for survival !!! Leave that
for the movies!!!

[danielb]

Here is where I respectfully disagree with some on here. I have a Rambo knife. My company had us do a test on multiple knives for an all purpose survival knife that would replace our hatchet. Our survival rigs were to be a thigh rig that would always carry the same things. The knives came down to 3 different finalists. the Reeves Poject 1, the Reeves Green Beret and the K-Bar made out of D-2 with ruberized handles. We also looked for Several folders. The Green beret was finally weeded out because it didnt have a Buttcap you could hammer with...a very impotant feature in a knife IMHO. I was very skeptical because the Project knife was a hollow handle knife. The when we did strength tests (pounding it into a tree with the blade horizontal and hanging from it with a rucksack on(appprox 300lbs total) the reeves knife stayed true and the K-Bar bent. Now we all carry Project 1 knives with a survival kit in the handle. Note this is not our only survival kit as we all have the small tin packed to our preference. The whole rig was *based on a holster that carried our sidearm and two spare magazines. It has a pouch for a tin and the Reeves knife is mounted between the holster and the thigh pad. it also has a pouch for a leatherman and a full military compass and small laminated map. *As for E-tools (read folding shovel) the best one i have found is the old vietnam era one with the spike and shovel on it. housed in a leather belt sheath this piece of art is more reliable and durable than the tri-fold. Also lots cheaper, about 18 bucks here at a mil-surplus store. The problem i had with the trifold is that occasionally the threads on the shovel would rust causing it to not lock in place properly.

The only down side to the reeves knife was price $300

[Tuckahoe]

For low cost survival knife I like the Cold Steel Bushman. I paid about $9 for mine at a gun show. It is made of very good steel, sharpens quickly and holds an edge.

[Archangel]

I am no exspert, but I have my own ideas. I recommend a K bar combat knife, the old USMC but they come in black, brown and other colors also. Plus I carry a smaller in camp knife. My favorite is the Buck Diamondback I use it for everything from cleaning fish to cutting meat at the table to cutting ropes. If a Kbar is too large for your needs look at Glock field knife. I have used it as a dive knive also. I carry my in pocket emergency gear the same as others in a tin. Visit and look around. Tuckahoe you got a good deal if it the knife I am thinking of. ;)
Michael

[bltjr1951]

As for E-tools (read folding shovel) the best one i have found is the old vietnam era one with the spike and shovel on it. The problem i had with the trifold is that occasionally the threads on the shovel would rust causing it to not lock in place properly.

Umm, the threads of your Korea/VN shovel wouldn't rust??

[MissouriFree]

I use an aqualung dive knife ( 7inch blade w 3+ inch serated at hilt end , 12 inch overall) along with a leatherman.
the aqualung is built like a tank, impossible to break, handle is strong enough to use as a hammer. maybe doesn't hold edge as good as some but strenght and size make up for it.