This forum would be boring if everyone thought the same things. I look at the forum as a meeting place of ideas. I come here for education as much as I do entertainment so no worries if you have a different opinion than me!

I grew up in the boondocks of Upstate NY so Survival knives and bushcraft are hobbies of mine. They are also a hot button of mine because there are so many false perceptions of what wilderness survival is all about. These false notions are perpetuated by Hollywood and knife distributors alike. Combine this with the fact that the majority of people never go into the bush, nor do they know what to do with a knife if they got into a survival situation!



I used to think exactly like you! When I was an adolescent, I went camping with only a Gerber Bowie with a 9" blade. My Dad on the other hand only carried a little Buck fixed blade (5" blade)-- similar to the Buck Model 119. I used to kid him that his knife was really girlie-looking compared to mine. But you know what? Even though I went camping all the time, I never really was in a survival situation where I had to depend on my knife. I always brought my tent so I had shelter and I always brought food along with me so I never had to hunt/gather it. I think this is the case for the vast majority of outdoor enthusiasts.
As I got older and my dad started teaching me about wilderness survival, I began to realize why my way of thinking was wrong.

In a real survival situation, you will need your knife for more finer cutting tasks like stripping bark (to make lashings with which you can construct a shelter), skinning animals (most likely fish and small game since you are unlikely to catch a deer with your bare hands), notching wood (this is especially important when making a bow drill platform to make a fire), and making trigger mechanisms for deadfall traps (to catch your next meal). You can use a larger knife to do these things, but stand a much higher chance of injury (since I'm sure most of you keep your blades razor sharp). In a survival situation, there are two things that you can't afford to do. One is sustain an injury and the other is lose or break your cutting tool. It's good to know that your knife can take abuse, but in a survival situation, you should never chance it.

Survival experts, almost universally, agree that a smaller 5-6" blade is a better cutting tool for a survival situation than a monster bowie (7"+ blade)

I found several good websites which offer good insight on what to look for in a survival knife:

How to Choose a survival Knife
Best Size Survival Knife
Marines' Choice for Survival Knife



From everything I've read and heard, the Scrapyard knives are top shelf and I can't wait to own one!

Thanks for responding to my post!

Maverick