What to Put in Your Hollow-Handle Survival Knife
The term “Survival knife” starts discussions! A while back, a question was asked about what to carry in the hollow handle of a survival knife. Specifically, what survival items are so important that they should be included as part of the knife?
By Leon Pantenburg
This Jim Grenfell hollow handle survival knife would be a good choice.
This leads to another question: What useful items can you actually put in that handle space? Is having that tiny bit of extra space worth weakening the entire knife? After all, the logical place for the knife to fail is where the blade meets the handle, and some hollow handle knives will break under the stress of hard use.
Then, suppose you do pack the handle with assorted items. Will you be able to get them out under the duress of a survival situation, or will the stuff have shifted and settled into a blob of useless junk? A knife handle is hardly the place to store something fragile!
What Is a Survival Knife?
Any survival knife question should start with yet another question: What do you consider a survival knife, and what do you anticipate using it for?
Rambo, according to the scriptwriters, could carry just about anything he needed in the hollow handle of his survival knife!
There seem to be some extreme views in this topic. The 1980s Rambo movies, starring a steroid-infused, testosterone-exuding Sylvester Stallone, started the whole hollow-handle Bowie-type survival knife cult.
Rambo, according to the “First Blood” scriptwriters, could apparently pack anything he needed for wilderness or urban survival in the hollow handle of his knife/sword. (Remember in the first movie, when he pulled out that suture from the handle and sewed up his arm? And where’d he get all the stuff to make booby traps? And how about that spear he made with his knife to stab a wild pig?) As the Rambo movies progressed, the knives got bigger.
The Rambo movies spawned a slew of cheap, imitation copies, and some people bought them to include in their survival kit. Don’t mistake the junk for some of the high quality products.
Some excellent hollow handle examples are made by knifemaker Chris Reeve in Boise, Idaho.
Reeve’s hollow handle knives are made of a single piece of steel, so there is small danger of breakage. The workmanship is superb.
Another excellent quality hollow handle survival knife is the Buck-184 Buckmaster. Resembling the Rambo knife, it is a hefty piece of steel and a quality piece of work.
I never bought a Buckmaster, but one of my elk hunting buddies, Phil Walker, did. An incredibly skilled hunter, outdoorsman and great friend, Phil harvested deer and elk every year with monotonous regularity. When Phil sauntered back into camp with that elaborately-casual grin on his face, it meant the rest of us had a meat-hauling job ahead.
Phil’s gear was all top quality, and had been refined over the years so it filled all his elk hunting needs. Phil’s elk rifle was a Ruger Number 1 in .338 Winchester. The hunting cutlery he carried included an 8-inch Old Hickory butcher, a Wyoming knife
and (Phil being a native Texan) an honest-to-God Bowie knife.
Those wouldn’t have been my equipment choices, but it’s hard to argue with success.
My personal philosophy on survival knives is at the other extreme. I believe that survival knife design isn’t as important as proximity and ease of carrying.
You can’t carry a Rambo knife everywhere, so when (fill in the apocalyptic acronym) happens, that tiny, keychain Swiss Army Classic on your keyring may be all you have to work with.
What design is best?
I was lukewarm, at best, about the hollow handle/storage concept until I was asked to design such a knife. My buddy, the late Dr. Jim Grenfell, of Bend, Or., took up metalworking upon retirement. Jim, a Korean War fighter/bomber pilot, with 43 combat missions, was a graduate of three military wilderness survival schools.
If he thought the idea had merit, I was willing to pay attention. Per my recommendations, the prototype blade ended up being a carbon steel, drop point design, five inches long; 3/16-inch thick, about 1-3/4 inches wide, with a straight taper edge. The handle was taken from a cheaper model and welded to the knife tang.
The completed knife works very well. I gave the prototype to my brother Mike for his 40th birthday, and it has been used extensively for deer and elk hunting. Jim passed away before he could finish my knife, so I still don’t own a hollow handle survival knife!
Space matters: Suppose you’re considering buying a quality hollow handle,
- The knife handle, left, has about as much space as the waterproof match container and Nalgene vial.
A common-sized handle, if such a thing exists, appears to be about one inch in outside diameter. Interior diameter is 7/8-inch and the depth of the cavity is about 3-1/8 inches from the bottom to the start of the threads. The space is big enough to hold about two liquid ounces, or is a little bigger than a waterproof match container.
Based on that formula, ask yourself: What items, along with the knife, would do me the most good? Here’s what I wouldn’t put in the handle:
- Waterproof Matches: I don’t trust matches as a reliable source of firemaking. You can only carry a finite number, and matches deteriorate with time. In addition, the movement and shock associated with being carried in a knife handle would eventually ruin them.
- Fish hooks and sinkers: I tie flies and jigs and make most of my own lures. I probably have too much fishing-related stuff. Even with all that gear, and a genuine enthusiasm for fishing, there are days when a fisherman can’t buy a bite. Don’t waste the handle space on something like hooks or weights you probably won’t use.
- Water Purification Tablets: These are left out because you must have a container to put the water in before it can be purified. Put water purifiers in another kit. Besides, unless properly packed, pills will dissolve, deteriorate or be vibrated into powder.
- A Swiss Army Classic: Don’t put my beloved dinky, everyday carry, do-it-all knife in the handle! A Classic doesn’t need to be kept dry, and it would take up valuable space. Besides, don’t put all your eggs in the same basket.
- Survival Instructions: If you haven’t learned survival skills by the time you need them, a booklet won’t help. Knowledge is the most important part of your survival kit!
You could include these:
- Drugs, man: If you have special medical needs, this might be one place to properly store the pills. Also, pain or allergy meds or other prescription medications could be literally at hand. (More about storage later.)
- Firemaking tools: Include a Boy Scout Hot Spark or possibly a Spark-It. There should be room for some waxed firestarter, too. Include a few inches of jute twine to stop any rattling around and use that as a firestarter.
- A glover’s needle and dental floss: In an extreme emergency, you could suture a wound with these items. But more likely, the value would be to repair equipment or clothing. . The floss could also be used to clean your teeth, which is an often overlooked sanitation issue.
So, How Do You Pack These Things? Whatever items are in the handle must be accessible. In a survival situation you may be working with cold, numb fingers, or be shaking from fear, injury or shock. You don’t want to fumble with the contents and drop them in the snow or dirt.
This works really well: Get some Nalgene vials.There is a set that chambers in the hollow handle like a shotgun shell into a shotgun. One of the vials is 3-3/8-inch high, so it is a little longer than the handle cavity. Trim the edge of the vial so it fits inside, and leave a small tab you can grab with your fingers. Put all your gear in the vial and carry it that way. The vials also allow you to divide up the space.
Pack your meds, individually in cellophane, in a smaller vial, and pack it tightly with cotton. This will keep the pills from being smashed or powdered. Stack another short vial on top in the space with other meds or necessary items.
The final decision in the hollow handle debate will end up being if the tiny bit of extra space gained is useful and worth investing in. In the end, like in most survival-related topics, the gear choice selection will be up to you!
To learn more about choosing survival and hunting knives, check out this SurvivalCommonSense.com blog!
Check Out Our Affiliate Blogs!
I don’t want a hollow handle survival knife. End of discussion.
often overlooked but Martin knives have several survival knives I have and MCEII its basically A copy of jimmy liles original knive every connection is welded I have taken large limbs from trees and dug up large stones and used it for cutlery while camping the blade holds n edge remarkably well (cmp154) I’ll take this thing anywhere there are several other makers of hollow handle knives of high quality look around open your horizons
Interesting article. I’m linking to it on my site.
Sounds like a good idea!
How about a dozen or two feet of 80lb fishing line? Not for fishing but as cordage. It will take up very little space and is light as can be.
To answer: I don’t have the vial anymore, (I gave it to my brother for his hollow-handle knife) so I couldn’t tell you what the numbers or model might be. The cap will not go back on the vial after it is trimmed, and does fit in a 7/8″ diameter handle. I would recommend you take your knife to the nearest REI and find those vials and try them out for fit.
Leon,
Which size Nalgene vial do you show in the above photo? I see that it is 3 3/8″ high, but does it have a size number or reference number on the bottom? Also, after the vial is properly trimmed to length, are you putting the cap back on it? Does the cap fit in a hollow handle that internally measures 7/8″ diameter?
Thanks!
Thanks for the info, I didn’t know the Chris Reeve knives are not available. The Rambo commemorative is gone from the post!
I agree with your article with the exception that the Rambo First Blood Licensed Bowie Knife 25th Anniversary is a “quality” hollow handle knife. It is not. It has a weak blade to handle connection, cheap steel that will not hold an edge, and the sawteeth do not work on wood as they do not have a forward slant.
If anyone is interested in a high quality, hollow handle knife consider Randall Made Knives or Bill Sanders Knives. Both of these makers know how to properly build this type of knife. Unfortunately, Chris Reeve hollow handle knives were discontinued in December 2009.
Interesting comment on that link! I carry a BIC lighter, wrapped with about 2 feet of duct tape, with me everywhere. My plan, if I have to start an emergency fire, is to tear off about 6 inches of duct tape and use it as a firestarter. Then, I’ll flick my BIC and hopefully have a fire!
It’s interesting about some people’s survival priorities: Scott B. Williams, author of “Bug Out Survival” and “Could You Get Out Alive?” ranks a metal cooking pot very high on his survival kit list. In fact, he writes, if he had to choose between a knife and a pot, he’d take the container, because he could fashion a cutting edge out of a bottle or piece of broken glass.
EVERY single piece of survival gear has advantages and limitations. All we can hope to do it realize what those might be, before we need to use them!
I agree with you on the lack of utility of the hollow handles, but the best things to fill the handle with are probably a fire steel and some petroleum jelly coated cotton balls. It seems that most of the folks who favor the Rambo knives think that the knife will be needed for a fight.
I would suggest this article, if you haven’t already seen it:
http://survival.outdoorlife.com/blogs/survivalist/2011/03/one-essential-knife-or-lighter
I don’t think the space gained in the handle offsets the potential weakness built into many hollow-handle design knives. I know there are some good models out there!
But even if they are durable, the hollow handles tend to be big, round and ergonomically not all that good.
That being said, the custom hollow handle knife I helped design a few years back is rock-solid. But I don’t believe there is enough space in any hollow handle to justify getting one. It would make more sense to integrate any survival items into the sheath!
Hollow handel knives don’t need to be bad. Take a look at the Coldsteel Bushman. I just bought some rubber stopper(Dont know an other translation ”Rubberen stop” in dutch) and know i have a hollow handle knife, and the rubber stop seems to fit quite good, and can be taken out very well also. Now i’m deciding what to put in it.
Anny suggestion are welcome: jaconijdam@hotmail.com
Jaco
Personally, I distrust the great majority of hollow handle survival knives. As the story mentioned, the space in the handle offers a poor tradeoff for the built-in weakness.
That being said, I also felt obligated to point out that there are some hollow handle knives that are quality items: The Buckmaster and the Chris Reeve come to mind.
But there are folks out there who already have the hollow handle knives, and the discussion was about the most effective items to carry in the handle. For someone considering buying one, I hoped to point out that the additional space gained is minimal, and not worth weakening the knife.
The custom hollow handle by Jim Grenfell mentioned in the story was is the testing stages when Jim passed away. Even though I designed the knife, I still didn’t like the bulk and weight, and at the time of his death we were working on eliminating some of that. But because of the quality of the Grenfell piece, I would rely on it.
My personal choice for a practical, affordable “survival” knife is the Cold Steel SRK, and I want some variation of the Swiss Army knife as a companion piece.
Eventually, I think we’ll see the hollow handle fade out, just like the Rambo movies!
Thanks for the feedback!
Hollow handled knives are intrinsically weak,yet you purport they make good survival knives ?
Sorry but I beg to differ.
In a potential survival situation,a decent full tang fixed blade knife is surely a must ? The minimal storage space they offer is easily off set by the strength,reliability of a full tang knife. Think BK2,BK7 ?
You’ve got a great knife! While I would debate a couple of your handle filler choices with you, it sounds like you have thought about what materials would be useful in a survival situation.
The gold coins are a nice touch. A thought might be to stick a 20 dollar bill in too, if there is some space that needs padding.
Thanks for reading!
I have a Chris Reeve Mountaineer 1 and filled the handle with
1x Scout Fire steel
Brass Button Compass
Fishing kit
Wire Snare
2x 1/10 Oz Gold Krugerrands
4 metres of waxed cord
Spare space filled with cotton wool.
Trendy?….Humm…