There is a lot to like about Swiss Army knives, and for decades, I have carried some variation on a daily basis. Here are my favorites.

by Leon Pantenburg

While I wouldn’t recommend a Swiss Army knife as the only choice for a survival knife, there are sound reasons for including one in your short list of survival tools.

Convenience: If a survival tool is convenient and easy to carry, it will get taken along. The best survival tool in the world is useless unless it’s available when needed.

It’s Handy: My tiny Classic model is so small as to be completely unobtrusive. But it has a small knife blade, and several tools such as a tweezers, scissors and nail file I wouldn’t want to be without. There are also all sorts of options, such as LED lights, flash drives and ink pens to make your knife choice perfect for what you need.

Low Price: You can spend a lot on a Swiss Army knife, but IMO, you’ll end up with a bunch of unnecessary options. Decide what your knife needs are, and you can find the correct combination.

Quality: For a reasonably-priced knife, the Swiss Army has good stainless steel blades, and well-made hinges. Chances are you’ll never wear one out. If you do, the knife has a lifetime guarantee, and you’ll get a no-questions-asked replacement.

Based on long-time use and everyday carry, here are my top five choices:

The Classic can do much of what a pocket knife needs to do.

Classic: This is the smallest model, and it fits on a keychain very nicely. I was given my first Classic as a performance award at the company I worked for, and initially wondered what good it would be. Later, I wondered how I ever got along without it. (To read my review of the Classic, click here.)

The Classic has the one-and-one-half inch blade that is adequate for most everyday tasks, such as cutting string or opening mail. This lets you save your other, bigger blades for more important work. The tweezers are excellent, and the nail file will be used more than you can imagine. I usually grind the tip of the nail file to fit my glasses hinge screw, which gives you another incredibly useful tool. All my survival kits include a Classic.

Tinker: A Tinker and a Classic are part of my wardrobe. Unless I’m going to a courtroom or some other restricted area, I have this duo with me. My current Tinker was given to me by the late Jim Grenfell, who carried my particular knife for years. The slim, two-layer width makes it comfortable to carry in a pocket. My son also carries a Tinker every day.

The basic Tinker generally retails for under $20, and is an incredibly useful combination, with everything you’ll typically need and nothing you don’t. (Here is a great deal on a Tinker/Classic combo.)

Deluxe Tinker: I bought this knife years ago as a backpacking knife, thinking I would use the scissors and pliers frequently. This knife went along on a nine-day Boundary Waters canoe trip, and it did everything I needed a knife to do. In several instances, the pliers were used to remove hooks from sharp toothed fish. The scissors is also useful for such things as cutting moleskin or duct tape, and this model is a good choice for a backpacker.

What I don’t like about the Deluxe Tinker the four-layer width, which makes it somewhat bulky. It is not comfortable to carry in a pocket (for me), so mine generally rides in a belt pouch. This is a great all-around knife for most outdoor activities

The Hunter is a practical knife for small and big game hunting.

Hunter: My wife bought the first Hunter model in the family prior to a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters. Except for the corkscrew, I like the knife very much. It has a large, 3-1/4- inch locking drop point blade, which makes it a viable tool for field dressing big game animals. It also has a superb saw, which is quite capable of cutting through a whitetail deer pelvis or femur.

Several years ago, I flew to Mississippi for a deer/small game hunt. Since baggage space was limited, I took my Cold Steel SRK for deer, and the Swiss Army Huntsman for small game. Both did their jobs very well.

My only change would be to replace the corkscrew with a Phillips head screwdriver. My wife, on the other hand, has a somewhat different philosophy about outdoor camping and cuisine and would never give up her corkscrew!

The Workchamp has enough gagets to please the most fervent do-it-yourselfer.

Workchamp: I have never owned one of these, and questioned the need for owning something with all those do-dads. But that was before I interviewed a member of the Idaho National Guard after his deployment to Desert Storm in 1990. The soldier’s brother handed him a Workchamp as he was boarding the plane for Kuwait.

The soldier attached the knife to a lanyard on his belt, and his whole squad used it constantly for a multitude of tasks. The pliers were in great demand, according to the guardsman, for removing cans of boiling water from their tiny backpacking stove.

The Workchamp showed some wear, but the lanyard and belt pouch kept it from getting lost or disappearing. Most, if not all, of the tools were used regularly, the soldier told me, because they were moving constantly, and didn’t have the room or space to carry much else beside food, weapons and water.

Today, that knife is undoubtedly a cherished family heirloom.

That is what most people find out about their Swiss Army knives. It is quite possible to bond with your Swiss Army knife, especially after a history of faithful service. That’s what I find with my Tinker. Jim Grenfell used it for years, it was passed on to me, and unless I lose it, that knife will be passed on again.

Until then, I’m sure Jim’s Tinker will continue to serve me well!

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Disclaimer: I have extensively tested these knives in order to review them. The knives mentioned in this post are also offered for sale as a link at the bottom of the page for your convenience. I don’t recommend any product I haven’t tested or wouldn’t personally use.

To view the complete C. T. Fischer Knives product line, click here!

By Leon Pantenburg

People interested in prepping or survival should view equipment purchases as investments. It is irresponsible to blow your budget on stuff that isn’t going to work for you.

But Christmas is coming, and maybe you want to give a cutlery gift that will be useful and used.  There is endless debate about the best knife for this or that. So what is the best Christmas gift for a prepper/survivalist who needs a knife?

The Swiss Army Classic is a handy item you'll wonder how you got along without.

Start by thinking about what the person actually needs in a knife. Here are some of my requirements: It must be practical and easy to carry. The blade has to hold an edge and be easy to sharpen. The handle should  fit your hand well.

Most importantly, the knife should fit the job. Obviously, you probably shouldn’t carry a Rambo knife while wearing a coat and tie, but on the other hand, a tiny Swiss Army knife on a key ring is not much use for batoning firewood or field dressing a deer.

My knife choices are based on years of use, and my own preferences. Here’s five favorites I use on a regular basis.

Swiss Army Classic: Calling a Classic a survival knife is quite a stretch, and I’d never carry that knife as my only survival tool. But it doesn’t matter where I am, or what I’m doing, if it is legal, I have a Classic with me.

The tiny knife has a variety of tools you will need, but that the expensive survival knives usually won’t have. In and of itself, the Classic is an inadequate survival knife. But combined with a larger knife, the Classic will prove to be worth its weight in gold.

Swiss Army Tinker: The Tinker is the other knife I carry every day. I sometimes carry a 998 Puma Bird Hunter, as the mood strikes me, but the Tinker is a more useful, no-frills bare-bones knife with tools you will actually use.

The Swiss Army Tinker, top, and Puma BIrdhunter are favored everyday carry pocket knives

With a Phillips head screwdriver (which I use frequently) instead of a cork screw (which I don’t), the knife has useful parts. It is also  narrow enough to carry comfortably in your pocket, but not so bulky as to be obtrusive. It has the tools you need, with none of the add-ons that won’t be used.

The two blades are the right size for a lot of cutting work, from skinning a rabbit or peeling an apple to whittling a wiener stick. Two of the most useful accessories that every Swiss Army knife has are the tweezers and toothpick. The plastic toothpick saves having to carve one out of a stick. The tweezers are the best in the world, and I have used them countless times to remove splinters.

Mora: Currently, the rage among some survival schools is the Mora, a small, inexpensive Scandinavian-style sheath knife with a four-inch blade and a large, easy-to-hold handle.

Personally, I think they’re great, and I generally have a Mora close at hand. (I even carry one in my briefcase. I use it at the office to open mail, and the Mora  is constantly being borrowed to slice bagels, cut up pizza or spread cream cheese.)

I bought my first Mora knife several years ago. While I will never give up my folders, I was looking for a small, inexpensive sheath knife that could be recommended to Boy Scouts.

This Mora cleaned this limit of trout and was shaving sharp at the end of the job.

This knife had to be an all-around, do-everything tool. It would be used for a variety of tasks, which could include whittling, cleaning fish and small game, meat-cutting and peeling potatoes. It needed to be lightweight and small enough to be carried conveniently.

The fact is, a folder can be dangerous in inexperienced hands, and leave it to a kid to fold one shut on his fingers. This has happened before, so I generally start out a youngster with a fixed blade knife.

Forshner boning knife: One of the most-used knives in my kitchen is a six-inch Forshner. The handle fits my hand well, and the blade is well-designed and easy to sharpen.

That same boning knife is also the one of my most-used tools when it comes to deer and elk hunting. I carry a Forshner and a skinning/gutting knife in my daypack and these tools have proven to be all you need to process a big game animal.

Every year after a successful hunt, my hunting buddies and I have a butchering party, where we cut and wrap meat. The cutting implements  that do 80 to 90 percent of the work are Forshner boning knives.

The Forshner boning knife, top and Cold Steel SRK are good choices for backcountry hunting.

 Cold Steel SRK: The initials stand for Search and Rescue Knife, but I bought it because I was looking for a do-everything knife for the backcountry.

For what I need, specifically, a survival tool that can double as a backcountry big game hunting knife, the SRK is perfect. My SRK  has field dressed well over 50 deer and been used on several elk. In one instance, the knife was used to field dress and quarter three deer without it needing sharpening. The handle never gets too slick to hold safely, no matter how messy the field dressing job gets.

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Sometimes a knife just looks right, and that’s what drew my eye to an ad for a “Nessmuk” knife. It looked like a quality workhorse.

The C.T. Fischer Nessmuk knife comes shaving-sharp with a quality sheath.

by Leon Pantenburg

(This is my opinion after testing this product. I was not paid to do this review.)

For a little background here, George Washington Sears, 1821-1890, is better known by his pen name of “Nessmuk”. He wrote one of the first wilderness survival books,  “Woodcraft,” in 1884 and was a regular contributor to “Forest and Stream Magazine.”

Sears had tuberculosis and the simple minimalist lifestyle in the wilderness, similar to that of  Henry David Thoreau, appealed to him.  Subsequently,  Nessmuk wandered widely in various forests and wilderness areas, writing very popular stories for largely eastern audiences.

Nessmuk understood the importance of cutlery. His tools consisted of a custom light axe, a fixed blade knife he designed and a quality two-blade folding pocketknife.

I prefer a quality saw over a hatchet in most survival situations. Here are three different types of saws I carry as the need dictates: From left, is a Gerber folder; a Fiskar sliding blade, and a double-edged Pac-Saw Wyo.

I carry a quality saw instead of Nessmuk’s axe and a Scandinavian Mora and a Swiss Army Classic to replace his folder. But we both agree on the value of a sturdy sheath knife. Nessmuk thought the sheath knife should be of the best quality, well suited for skinning and field dressing game, and could be used as an eating utensil.

So when I saw a Nessmuk-style knife  advertised by C.T. Fischer Knives, based in Elk City, Idaho, I just had to try one out . I called knife maker Christopher T. Fischer and asked about his product line.

Fischer makes a variety of styles of knives, and the Nessmuk he sent me for testing is made out of a piece of used circular saw blade that formerly saw duty in a lumber mill. The knife is shaped by grinding, and he didn’t do any additional tempering.

“I look at this knife as functional (though not ideal) as a bush knife, as well as functional (though not ideal) as a kitchen knife, ” Fischer wrote. ” Also, the shape is historical.”

“When I started making the knife, I knew it wouldn’t be my personal favorite.  But, it is a very simple knife to make; it is lightweight; it is sturdy (feel free to baton it); it can be used as a light chopper; it is carbon steel; unlike junky stainless, it takes a superb edge; a file will cut it, when major metal removal is needed; the blade should last for a lifetime of sharpening, without getting any more difficult to sharpen (as is the case with thick-spined knives); and it has a definite historical connection that is a WHOLE lot better than Bear Grylls!

“The final element that keeps these knives in production, is the customer feedback.  People love them!  So, the knife is profitable to produce, has a low price (for a hand-made tool), and has a connection to good batch of backwoods common sense,” he added.

The knife arrived about a week after our initial conversation. It came out the box shaving-sharp, and the first thing that caught my eye was the quality workmanship. This particular knife has a walnut handle, and the pride in craftsmanship is immediately evident. The blade is about four inches long and the smooth, flowing lines of the design are pleasing to look at. The  handle is ergonomically designed and fits my hand very well. It comes with a quality, hand-sewn leather sheath.

The Cold Steel SRK (top) and the J. Martinni Mora-style knives are good choices for all around use.

But a pretty knife that doesn’t work well is nothing more than expensive eye candy junk, IMO, and I set out to test it. My standards for knife evaluation are based on use, not abuse.  Try hard enough and  you can break anything, and I’m not sure what that necessarily proves.

So essentially, all the knives I test start out in the kitchen. They are used at every opportunity, to evaluate how the blade works for different common tasks. Also, I’ll find some lengthy cutting job, such as slicing prime rib thin, to test the handle design. The Nessmuk went on a picnic where it was used to slice up three large tri-tips and several chickens, and it came through with flying colors.

Once a knife passes the kitchen test, it goes outdoors. I did baton (pound the knife through a piece of firewood to make kindling) with it, though, quite frankly, this test is not particularly indicative of  blade  quality. If you have the right technique and piece of wood, batoning can be done with just about any knife you can image.

Then I cut up a bunch of manila rope, carved the end of a hickory hammer handle and whittled a lot of kindling to start a fire.

The blade held its edge throughout all this work, so finally, I deliberately dulled it with a rock. It was no job at all to put the edge back on it, and a few swipes with my butchering steel returned it to shaving sharp. The blade comes with a Scandinavian bevel edge to it, so re-sharpening is easy, even for a beginner.

Here’s my thoughts on the Nessmuk after testing it:

The Nessmuk  is not the best kitchen knife. While it slices and chops well and is easy to handle, it is too big for peeling potatoes, and it would be difficult to fillet fish with. It would work well for cutting the heads off small fish and gutting them, though!

And it would not be a perfect survival knife for me, because the blade is a little short (I like a five-to-six inch blade for overall use). I also prefer a non-slip handle when doing some of the messy gutting and field dressing chores. My preference in this category remains the Cold Steel SRK, with the Cold Steel Master Hunter coming in a close second.

But the Nessmuk design may without peer for skinning large game animals. I typically use a Green River or Forshner five-inch sheep

These skinners all have a similar design. The Nessmuk is on top; followed by a seven-inch butcher, a five-inch modified sheep skinner and a Cold Steel Canadian belt knife.

skinner for my elk and deer skinning chores that has been modified with a sharper point. For small game skinning, such as rabbits and squirrels, a good Mora or the Cold Steel Canadian Belt knife is my choice.

In essence, these are modified Nessmuk knives, and they have proven themselves many times over.

But here’s the final part of the Fischer Nessmuk test, and I hope to play out this scenario in the backcountry in October.

The sound of the shot echoes through the timber and canyon, and the elk drops in its tracks. After making sure it won’t get up, I walk over, remembering to be thankful for where I am and what I am doing.

Then, the fun is over. I will pull out the Nessmuk from my day pack and get to the chore of  skinning. I bet the knife will work superbly.

While the Nessmuk wouldn’t be my first choice as a survival or kitchen knife, in my hand, in that situation, it could prove to be my favorite knife!

For more information and to view the C.T. Fischer knives website, click here.

For more information about survival and backcountry knives, click here!

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by Leon Pantenburg

Elk Lake, Oregon is one of the major re-supply places for through hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. Every year, a handful of  long-distance hikers will walk border-to-border on the trail. They generally start in Mexico in April, and start trickling in to the Elk Lake Resort about August, en route to Canada.

The tiny Swiss Army Classic may end up being one of the most useful knives in the backcountry!

I was eating lunch, and noticed a young lady trekker loading her pack for the next section. She had opened her re-supply box, sliced a chunk of cheese, opened several large packages and cut a shoelace, all with her tiny, Classic Swiss Army knife.

“It’s all you need,” she commented. “I have to go lightweight and I don’t carry an ounce that isn’t needed.”

I carry a Swiss Army Classic on my keyring everywhere.   And for lightweight hikers, who go long distances with minimal equipment, a Classic may be a reasonable choice. On a well-traveled trail like the Pacific Crest or Appalachian, you’ll seldom be isolated from other hikers for very long.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t need a knife for backpacking. Get separated from the group, off the beaten path in the backcountry, or in some sort of wilderness survival situation and you may desperately need the appropriate knife.

If I could only pick one tool to take along in the wilderness, it would be a knife. The uses are limited only by your imagination. But which one is best for your backpacking needs? How do you balance weight versus practicality?

The Best Knife?

I bought a Buck folding hunting knife in 1976 and that Buck and I bonded. It was in my pack when I hiked the John Muir

My Buck folder was of this design, and was very useful, but heavy, as a backpacking tool.

Trail in California; the southern loop of Yellowstone, Death Valley and on several other long hikes in various western mountain ranges.

It rode on my hip on my  Mississippi River canoe tripfrom Minnesota to Louisiana, and also went on canoe trips through the Big Black and Okefenokee Swamps.  The Buck has been used to clean hundreds of fish, squirrels and rabbits; cut summer sausage, apples and wiener sticks and spread gallons of peanut butter on crackers and bread.

But the Buck was retired when I moved west and my needs changed.

Today, I carry two knives dayhiking and backpacking: The Swiss Army Classic and a Mora.  Combined weight of both knives is about four to six ounces (Depending on how much duct tape you wrap around the Mora sheath!)

Swiss Army Classic

If it is legal, I have a Classic with me at all times. It features minuscule size, and a collection of tools that can’t be beat. Because it is so convenient to carry, you will take it along. You will go from wondering what good the dinky knife is, to wondering how you got along without it!

The Mora Knife

Currently, the rage among some survival schools is the Mora, a small, inexpensive Scandinavian-style sheath knife with a four-inch blade and a large, easy-to-hold handle. Personally, I think they’re great, and I generally have a Mora close at hand.

This Mora cleaned this limit of trout and was shaving sharp at the end of the job.

Several years ago,  I was looking for a small, inexpensive sheath knife that could be recommended to Boy Scouts. (Be wary of folding knives, even if they’re lockblades!)  The knife had to be an all-around, do-everything tool. It would be used for a variety of tasks, and  needed to be lightweight and small enough to be carried conveniently.

Because excellent Frost brand Moro knives are available for prices ranging from $10 to $15, I bought several versions and put them through their paces.

Here is what a backpacker gets from the combination of the two knives:

Classic: The tiny blade does most of the trips mundane cutting tasks, saving the Mora’s edge for larger jobs. The knife has a tweezers, scissors, toothpick and a fingernail file (I grind the tip to fit my glasses hinges). You will use these tools much more than you ever imagined!

Mora: Backpackers will mainly use their knives for slicing bologna, spreading peanut butter and cleaning the occasional panfish. The Mora’s four-inch blade is just the right size for these jobs, and you won’t have to clean the goo out of the hinge after every use! The larger knife is also perfect for those unanticipated tasks that come up on the trail.

This very useful combo, will fill most of your backpacking needs for about $30. This combination has served me well for several years of backpacking, and is worth considering!

(Check out the SurvivalCommonSense.com “The Best Survival Knife?” blog by clicking here!)

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The topic of hunting knives is best discussed around a campfire after a day outdoors! But since we can’t do that, here is the next best thing – a special SurvivalCommonSense.com email update devoted to the topic of hunting cutlery.

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What do the experts recommend as the knife to carry for small and big game hunting? Survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt gives his choices and some advice. Randy Yow, host of  Extreme Desire TV, handles dozens of big game animals in the field every season – learn what knives he carries.

Custom knifemaker C.T. Fischer explains what characteristics a good sheath should have to keep a fixed blade knife safe.

The Cold Steel SRK (top) and Mora are favorite backcountry knives of mine, but might not suit your needs.

I’m weighing in on what knives to carry into the backcountry to handle a big game animal. You can read all these stories and see the update by clicking here.

Last week, to coincide with the opening of hunting seasons in many western states, SurvivalCommonSense.com started a series of  special email updates that deal with specific topics dealing related to  backcountry travelers.

Last week’s special edition featured navigation expert Blake Miller. In several articles, Blake discussed common concerns of backcountry travelers. If you’ve ever wondered how to make sense of a topographical map, how to set up your GPS for hunting season, or how to keep from getting lost while hunting, this is the update for you. Check it out here.

In upcoming weeks, we’ll discuss that to carry in your survival gear, how to dress, emergency shelters, foolproof survival firemaking and whatever else you want to talk about. (Well, almost anything. Zombie survival? Survive the zombie apocalyse? Best knives for zombie survival? We’ll pass on those topics!)

If you haven’t subscribed to the weekly SurvivalCommonSense.com email update…why not??? It’s free and delivered to your email every week. You won’t miss any information  and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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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 40^th 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, and you want to make the best use of the space. How much actual volume is there?

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!

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It seems like everyone has an opinion on what makes the best survival knife!

I do! And everyone who actually uses cutlery in the outdoors probably has a different perspective!

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I was recently contacted by Tim Martinez, of  “The Cutting Edge” blog for my thoughts on the topic and here is the interview.

Feel free to disagree!

Talking survival knives with  Leon Pantenburg

By Tim Martinez

The Cutting Edge recently spoke with Leon Pantenburg, who runs the fantastic site Survival Common Sense.com  and teaches survival courses, on what makes a good survival knife. To learn more indispensable survival skills, check out his site.

Leon Pantenburg

1. What are the traits of a good survival knife?

It depends on the person and where you are. In the wilderness, I would want a non-folder, fixed-blade knife with a good sheath and want the blade to be between 4 to 6 inches long. I don’t want a serrated edge, I don’t want a gut hook, and I don’t want a handle that’s going to be slippery, because this knife will be called upon to do a myriad of things.

Also, it’s critical that it’s lightweight and compact because otherwise it won’t be carried. It doesn’t matter how good of a piece of equipment it is. If it’s back in the car because it’s too heavy, then it does you no good.

2. Do you think a straight edge, serrated or partially serrated blade is best?

I don’t like serrated for a number of reasons. One, their value is limited. They’re good for sawing ropes and that’s pretty much it. Two, once they get dull, most people can’t sharpen them without special equipment. Three, the serrated edge takes away a good chunk of your knife’s usefulness because you can’t really slice with a serrated edge. Generally, I don’t see any value that warrants taking an inch or two from your blade to have serrations on it. I must point out that most of these survival knives are designed by people who work in cubicles and don’t use the equipment.

3. For those who might not know, is there a difference between a survival knife and a combat or tactical knife?

This whole tactical thing is a joke. They take a knife, blacken the blade and call it a tactical knife. In reality, a tactical knife with a blackened blade is only useful if you’re sneaking up behind someone in the dark or some fantastic situation that’ll never happen. If you look at World War II knives that were actually tactical, they weren’t all camoed up. If you look at a Marine KA-BAR knife, which was a standard tactical or combat knife, it looked like a normal knife. I never heard of anyone getting shot because someone saw their knife.

4. Does the size of a survival knife matter? Is the bigger the better?

I carry a variety of sizes of knives. The biggest one I carry is the Cold Steel SRK and that’s generally for hunting. I also carry a Mora Knife, which is a Scandinavian fixed-blade knife that has a 3- to 4-inch blade on it. Then, I carry my Swiss Army classic. Generally, those three knives go with me most places.

Leon's well-used and reliable Cold Steel SRK.

5. How essential is a knife to the survival of someone who’s lost?

That’s an interesting question. If you are lost in the woods and don’t have a tool, then you’re in a bad situation. I would recommend a knife as the best tool. However, in some situations, it might be more useful to have a signal mirror than a knife because you can signal a helicopter. Likewise, if you are in deep snow, it might be better to have a tarp as opposed to a survival knife. That being said, a survival knife would be my choice of tool if I could only have one thing to take into the wilderness.

6. What types of things could you do with a knife in a survival situation?

You might be able to whittle sticks to make a shelter or whittle sticks to start a fire. You might need to create a tool such as a pair of snowshoes or something like that. You might need to clean a fish, squirrel or small game animals. There’s any number of things you’d use the knife for. Defense would probably be right at the bottom of what you’d use the knife for in a survival situation because someone who has a survival knife can whittle a nice long staff or club that’s more effective than trying to have a knife fight with somebody.

To learn more about choosing survival and hunting knives, check out this SurvivalCommonSense.com blog!

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

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What is the best backcountry knife if you’re going to be hunting big game in remote, hard to access areas? If weight is an issue, what is the best choice in this critical survival/hunting tool? Here is what an expert chooses!

by Leon Pantenburg

Randy Yow, of La Pine, OR spends his time doing what most big game hunters can only dream about. As host of the popular “Extreme Desire” on the Pursuit channel, Randy is in the field about 60 days a year, pursuing different species of big game in several western states. In any given year, Yow’s group  may harvest bighorn sheep, bears, deer, elk and antelope

Yow’s TV show confirms  that he is a very savvy  hunter.

Randy Yow heads back to camp after a hard day at the office.

But as any successful backcountry hunter can attest, once the game animal is down, the fun is over and the hard work begins. If the meat is going to taste good several months later, the animal  must be gutted, skinned and quartered as quickly as possible, and the meat must be cooled.

The meat must also be transported back to camp. (That statement is so inadequate! If you’ve ever hiked a few miles back to camp with an elk quarter strapped to a backpack frame, you have a new definition of “hard work”!)

To the backcountry hunter, who must carry all his survival and hunting gear, while covering several miles a day over mountainous terrain, every ounce counts. That should be a consideration when choosing any piece of gear.

I already have strong opinions about backcountry knife choices. (To read the story, click here.)

Last year in the field, Yow personally took care of  “at least four or five” elk, 12 to 15 deer, bear and antelope.

What cutlery does Yow carry?

Well, he is a user, rather than a collector, and Yow relies on off-shelf, moderately-priced knives.

Yow doesn’t carry a saw in the backcountry  and relies on a medium-sized hunting knife for all his field-dressing, skinning and quartering jobs.

Randy Yow used these knives extensively on big game animals last season. From top, a Hayalan with replaceable blades; a Browning model 154RMEF, and a generic filleting knife.

“Folding knives are nice to carry, but they can hurt you, if the blade folds on your fingers,” Yow said. “My first choice for big game hunting would be some sort of mid-sized, fixed-blade knife, with a blade length between four and five inches long.”

With that criteria established, Yow also prefers a drop point design, with a pronounced curvature in the front for skinning, with a full-tang blade construction. The knife has to be lightweight and strong, he added.

“Any backcountry knife has to have good steel,” Yow said. “It it doesn’t hold an edge, it isn’t any good. A dull knife can be dangerous!”

As far as the grind in the blade is concerned, Yow doesn’t want too much taper. He likes a hollow-ground bade, but admits that style doesn’t keep a durable edge.

“I don’t know enough about steel to know what I want,” he continued, “but I like a sharp knife. You’re less likely to hurt yourself, and everything associated with cutting is easier.”

So within those perimeters, here are the knives  Yow carried and used last year:

Havalan Piranta with replaceable blades:  This is a folder with replaceable surgical steel blades. Yow uses this model when caping a head or doing  precision cutting. The replaceable blades make sure the edge is always razor sharp.

Browning Model 154RMEF: This is the knife Yow uses for skinning. He got the knife through the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but said it it could benefit from some design changes. Specifically, Yow would like the blade to be longer, so it is between four to five inches long, with no gut hook or serrations. He prefers a “solid” handle that won’t get slick during a gutting or skinning job.

Six-inch filleting knife: As a cutlery enthusiast, I was surprised that someone with Yow’s credentials would use a cheap fillet knife so extensively. (This is the knife Yow uses in his DVD “Quick Quartering Big Game.”) Using only this (Editor’s note: crappy) fillet knife, which has a broken handle and probably retailed for about $4.95, Yow reduced a bull elk carcass to four quarters and boned out the meat in about 30 to 45 minutes! As in everything, skill trumps gear every time!

To keep his knives sharp in the field Yow has carried the same diamond sharpener for about 15 years. It breaks down to store in its own handle, and is small, light, and works well to keep a usable edge on a hardworking knife. If a knife is dulled taking care of a carcass, it is re-sharpened back at camp that night.

“The less I have to take care of a knife in the field, the better off I am,” Yow said. “Always use safe knife handling techniques, and never cut toward yourself!”

 Randy Yow is the host of  Extreme Desire, and it airs on the Pursuit Channel. The website is  extremedesiretv.com, and it will have all the season’s episodes on it by about  Sept. 15.  Big game hunting in the American West is one of his passions.

Randy Yow and a trophy.

Hunting mostly  on public lands, Randy’s philosophy is that  anyone who does his homework can enjoy a big game hunting experience. (To check out the website, click here.)

As Randy says on his website:

“My Dad was an outfitter and guide as I grew up, and my whole life has always been in the great outdoors. I was raised around a family full of ethical outdoorsmen and women, where the values of  honesty, integrity and respect for the wildlife and land we hunt were instilled in me.

“I am first and foremost a family man, raising two beautiful daughters and blessed with grandchildren. My whole family is involved in hunting, and I have been truly blessed to get to spend so much time with them.

“I like to hunt big animals, but  feel that the good Lord, family, friends and comradery are still number one.”

To learn more about choosing survival and hunting knives, check out this SurvivalCommonSense.com blog!

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You can’t compromise on survival gear quality, so almost 20 years ago, I invested in a Cold Steel SRK. If I could only have one survival knife, which would also be used as a field dressing tool for big game and a meat cutting implement, it would be a Cold Steel SRK. Here’s why.

My Cold Steel SRK has had hard use for nearly 20 years and is still my first choice for a survival knife.

by Leon Pantenburg

After my first Idaho elk hunt in 1990, I had to make some gear changes. My wood-stocked BDL 7mmRemington Magnum caliber went synthetic. I got heavier boots, warmer hunting clothes, better binoculars and a Cold Steel SRK.

The upgrade was great: What hunter ever needs an excuse to buy new stuff? But  I got almost emotional upon replacing my Buck folding hunting knife. I bought the Buck new for $25 on August 31, 1976 at the Ace Hardware Store in Lovell, Wyoming, and the Buck and I have bonded.
The Buck was in my pack when I hiked the John Muir Trail in California; the southern loop of Yellowstone, Death Valley

Your backcountry tools need to be carefully chosen!

and on several other long hikes in various western mountain ranges. It rode on my hip on my  Mississippi River canoe trip from Minnesota to Louisiana, and also went on canoe trips through the Big Black and Okefenokee Swamps.  The Buck has been used to clean hundreds of fish, squirrels and rabbits; cut summer sausage and spread gallons of peanut butter on crackers and bread. I used it to gut and skin my first deer.

But after my first backpack elk hunt, I realized that a different survival-style knife was needed. Weight is an issue, and there is only room to carry minimal equipment into the backcountry. Any knife chosen would have to do everything, so it had to be virtually indestructible.

This ruled out folders. Any folder’s weak point is the hinge. Break that, and you end up with two pieces. And, a hinge attracts hair, dirt and other stuff that will eventually gum it up.

Then,  I also wanted a longer,  thicker blade for gutting and quartering a  large animal. While there are folks who regularly take care of their hunting needs with a jack knife, I prefer a four to six-inch-long blade.

My backcountry knife also needed a non-slip handle. Inevitably, the knife gets covered with blood and body fluids during a gutting operation and a slippery handle is dangerous.

And I don’t like guthooks. In my opinion, the hook is a gimmick and only good for a couple of cuts, such as the initial incision to open up the body cavity. Otherwise, the guthook dulls easily,  looks terrible on a knife blade, can hook on the sheath or your clothing and serves no other purpose.

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So I thought long and hard about the Buck’s successor before deciding on a SRK. The initials stand for “Search and Rescue Knife,” but I bought it because of  the design, the composition of the handle and the reported durability.

My SRK’s high carbon steel blade is 3/16″ thick and 6″ long; the Kraton handle is 4-3/4 inches long and  overall length is 10-3/4 inches. My SRK, without sheath, weighs eight ounces, and 10.5 with sheath wrapped in duct tape. It appears to have a full-length tang, and the sheath was reasonably good nylon.

The knife came out of its box shaving-sharp, and the steel holds an edge very well. The blade also comes with a black finish I don’t like. My first action was to take the knife to a cutlery store and have all that finish removed. There’s never been a problem with rust.

My SRK is used for everything, because it holds an edge and handles well. Over the course of its career, the knife has been carried hundreds of miles on backpacking and hunting trips. It has been used to whittle wiener sticks, been battoned through many pieces of firewood, and has been pounded through a deer’s pelvis with a rock during butchering.  It is the knife I use for beheading fish. Several scouts have learned safe knife handling, using the SRK, around campfires at Boy Scout campouts.

The only thing I'd change about the SRK is the finish on the blade! The sheath has been upgraded since I bought my SRK in 1991.

For what I need, specifically, a survival tool that can double as a backcountry big game hunting knife, the SRK is perfect. My SRK  has field dressed well over 50 deer and been used on several elk. In one instance, the knife field dressed and quartered three deer without it needing sharpening. The handle never gets too slick to hold safely, no matter how messy the field dressing job gets.

The knife’s performance is so impressive that two of my elk-hunter friends also bought SRKs. Two years ago, I bought a SRK for a hunting buddy who refused to accept my fair share of the gas money on a hunting trip.

But there are some other tasks where the SRK doesn’t particularly shine. It isn’t a particularly good camp knife, since the thick blade doesn’t work all that well for slicing tomatoes, potatoes, or summer sausage. It’s clumsy for peeling potatoes. But that’s why I also, weight permitting, carry some form of Mora knife.

The clip point design works well for gutting and most field dressing chores, but the SRK  is not the best skinner. (A Forshner five-inch Lamb Skinner is!) And there are better knifes for meat cutting. Forget about filleting fish: the knife is just too big and inflexible.

Other than a few minor cosmetic tweaks, my SRK has worked  just fine. It went along on my October elk hunt, even though I was finishing  the final field testing of two other knives: a Gerber Gator 46904 Fine Edge and a Cold Steel Master Hunter. The newbies would have done most of the work if I had killed an elk. But the SRK was at hand, if these other knives had not worked as expected. As far as the SRK is concerned, there is no replacement  in sight!

(Check out this torture test video!)
(Check out the SurvivalCommonSense.com “The Best Survival Knife?” blog by clicking here!)

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So you’ve decided what fixed-blade knife to include in an emergency survival kit or Bug Out Bag. But how will you safely carry it? Where is the best place to wear that knife on your belt? And what things should you look for in a sheath to make sure the knife isn’t lost?

Outdoorsman and knifemaker  C.T. Fischer explains the best ways to carry your fixed-blade knife, and things to look for in a sheath.

by C. T. Fischer

Even relatively frail fixed-blade knives are strong compared to folding knives. They are fast to access and tend to have more comfortable handles than folders. They are fast to access, and tend to have more comfortable handles than folders. They can also be lighter weight for their size.

Safety first: Folding knives form their own sheath. Fixed blades do not. Any knife that is to be carried must have a good sheath. Many lives and knives have been lost due to bad sheaths, which is why many experienced woodsmen refuse to carry fixed-blade knives. But, these hazards can be largely eliminated.

(Illustration by C. T. Fischer)

The primary way sheaths kill their owners is by allowing the knife to penetrate through, and cut the femoral artery or other main blood vessel. For this reason, vertical sheaths should not be worn on the belt forward of the side seam. Keep them on the side or to the rear. I’m sure many hunters have worn their knives in front as the best way to keep them from bumping against the rifle. But many have also paid the price in blood!

The second element is the sheath itself. There must be something to positively stop the knife from traveling down too deep. Remember that the knife is always harder than the sheath, and can cut metal rivets. Therefore, something must in addition to  the edge must stop the downward movement. One thing that does a good job is a guard. The next item, is the handle thickness. If a guard is present, a pouch type sheath can work, as the guard can rest on a notch in the welt.

The next option is the thickness of the handle. On sheaths that stop at the blade-handle juncture, the knife can rest securely on the edge of the leather. If the blade is significantly wider than the handle, bringing the possibility of the handle fitting in where it shouldn’t, a wood or plastic liner should be used. Kydex sheaths can be a big improvement for these knives.

Sheaths for upswept blades should have a welt all the way around the blade. If the leather is just folded, the tip tends to cut through the fold, ruining the sheath and endangering the wearer.

The next consideration is knife access and retention. Snapped-retainer sheaths tend to get the retaining straps cut when drawing and re-sheathing, and sometimes the sheath is not fastened well, or is bumped open somehow. Then, smaller, top-heavy knives are prone to falling out of the sheath. It is significant that the military requires two retaining devices on all  sheaths for airborne troops who will be tumbling out of airplanes.

One of the advantages of the snapped-down retainers is the ability to carry the knife upside down, such as attached to the

The sheath on this Cold Steel SRK is safe and effective.

shoulder strap of a backpack or web gear. This location avoids interference with hip belts or heavily-loaded web gear, while allowing rapid access.

The pouch-type sheath, if well fitted to a properly-designed knife, provides trouble-free access and eliminates the danger of leaving straps undone. The sheath should still retain the knife when turned upside down and the knife must not bounce in the sheath when running or jumping.

Various molded plastic sheaths offer many of the same benefits as the pouch sheath. They offer good retention, often with a snap-fit that is more secure than the leather pouch. Plastic does not absorb water, so in a marine environment, these sheaths are decidedly better than leather. On the other hand, plastics tend to break with less stress than leather, and may become brittle in extreme cold.

Cordura sheaths are often excellent!

(This article was originally published as part of  “Principles of Knife Selection” by C. T. Fischer, copyright 2010 by Christopher Fischer)

C. T. Fischer: Over two decades of using, sharpening, and carrying knives for food preparation, general utility work, agriculture, primitive skills, camping, wilderness survival, and woodcraft, have provided the basis for the C.T Fischer line of custom knives.

At about five years of age, Fischer began using sharp kitchen knives. At the age of 7 1/2, he was given a Boker scout knife by his grandmother.  At age 14 (after various experiences with inferior tools) an estate auction yielded a good old Collins machete (with an interesting handmade leather sheath), which he used to chop blackberry vines, poison oak, and other weeds, as well as sapplings and logs. At age 15, he  purchased his first good-quality belt knife–a Buck #619–which was his everyday companion on the homestead for several years.

Fischer started selling factory knives in 1998, and finished his first handmade knife in the summer of 1999. Three more were made in 2000, and about 17 in 2001. The 100-knife mark was reached about 2005. So far, all have been fixed-blades.

Currently, Fischer’s shop is located in Elk City, Idaho.

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