Knives

[grand]

How many knives do you bring when you go camping. Aside from the kitchen knives, do you also bring bigger knives, like a jungle bolo with you?

[woodzman]

I usually just bring the pocket knife that I carry every day. When I'm hunting big game I bring a sheath knife too.

[enzo]

I have a Swiss knife aside from kitchen knife. This pocket knife of mine always comes in handy and I use it for all purposes - cutting ropes, peeling vegetables, screwing loose screwdrivers and more.

[Newanderthal]

Leatherman Skeletool. basic multi-tool with a 3.5" blade.

No need for anything more when I'm camping.

[northernbushape]

Based on my own experiences, a good knife is probably the single most important piece of survival equipment a person should always carry, along with a good fire striker.

Any time I go into the wilderness I have my bush knife on a cord around my neck and shoulder. I wear it like a satchel or shoulder bag. This keeps it handy on my chest when I need it, and worn in this fashion it doesn't flop around when I bend or have to climb or something. It's much easier to re-sheath too. I don't have to turn half way around and fumble with an unseen sheath on my belt.

It's a heavy knife between 9 and 10 inches long with a good, thick blade that can handle splitting wood, shale knapping, pounding nails, and pretty much any other abuse I have thrown at it. Honestly, unless I lose it, I can't see this knife ever needing to be replaced. In my pack I carry a small folding Buck and a Leathermans tool which has a very good smaller blade. There is also a machete that lives in the Jeep. Lol, if the whole world broke wind at once, I can knap a sharp stone pretty quickly too.

Another small folding knife and my flint striker are in my pocket at all times. Even grocery shopping. You never know when you might need to whittle a shelter and start a small camp fire in the frozen foods aisle

[southerngal]

NorthernBushape you sound like my kind of guy! We have started trying to be prepared for anything all the time. We are actually still shopping around for our survival knife but hubby and I both carry a swiss army pocket knife everywhere we go. We have been looking at leatherman's but man are they expensive!

[duck]

Originally Posted by grand

How many knives do you bring when you go camping. Aside from the kitchen knives, do you also bring bigger knives, like a jungle bolo with you?

I carry an ESEE-5, which is thick and heavy, but not too long. It's been a good compromise between a big chopper and a handy cutter for me. A Kershaw folder goes in my pocket as soon as I get my pants on in the morning; it handles stuff where I want finer control than the big knife gives me (like skinning small game, etc.). Between the two I can do pretty much anything I need to. I keep a spare folder in my bag (an old S&W HRT). I've discovered that folders are unfortunately a bit easier to lose than I'd like them to be.

[IndianaHiker]

I backpack and often am out for days at a time. I carry only a 4 inch fixed blade knife. Never saw a time when I needed anything bigger. Really don't need anything that big. But I have it and I like it. I could do anything it can do with a smaller knife pocket knife but would just take longer.

[JRiley]

I believe you can never have enough knives when camping. I usually have a large fixed blade Buck, a folding Buck that I have carried since I was in the Army (it is very good for whittling), a Gerber multi-tool, a smaller folder pocket knife and a hatchet. Sometimes more but never any less.

[JimBarb]

I have just the one knife I take, it's an 8" bladed beast with a serration along a portion of the 'top' of the blade. It was a gift, it was hand-made by a friends' uncle. There's something about how the knife is balanced in your hand that makes it feel "comfortable".