My Survival Knife "collection"

So after trying out about a dozen "Main" Survival Knives and 5 different "secondaries", my small Survival Knife "collection" is finally reaching what I think is close to its "final" form...

I started out with knives in the 7-8" blade range for the "Mains", gradually going up to 9-10", finally upping the standard to a minimum of 10.5"/11" of blade, and a minimum of 20-22 ounces, after seeing the large chopping gains when going over 10" and 20 ounces.

The best knife in weight/performance at 9" or less was the Al Mar "Special Warfare" at 7.75", but it achieved this with a seemingly cartoonish 5.75" long handle that underscored the importance of handle bulk in lowering hand fatigue. The much larger 9.5" SMIII Trailmaster did not really chop any better, in large part because its handle was far, far too thin. Since building a worthwhile shelter could easily consume 1000 chops, anything sub par in the handle thickness area is not a small factor...

The other big discriminating factor was the tendency, or not, to micro-roll the edge apex after a few chops, as rubbing the nail away from the apex revealed. A mildly rolled apex may hang on forever, but it creates a tendency for a "skipping" bounce on one side of the V-cut, which is unacceptable on a "Survival Knife". The S30V on an RJ Martin did this even with a roughly 20 dps main edge bevel, as did CPM 154 and CPM 3V. Best geometry with other steels was 15 dps on the main edge bevel, with a 20 dps micro-bevel. 5160, D-2, Aus-6 and several makes of 440B and C passed, while D-2 could make it even without a micro-bevel, but occasionally micro-chipped on the hard core of big rotten logs in this form...

Batoning will micro-roll everything, so should be kept to an absolute minimum...

Another cause of the "skipping bounce" on the sides of a V-cut can be a low blade height of less than 1.5", combined with a thick 0.25" blade, especially with a sabre grind. The 8.75" blade Chris Reeves Jereboam Mk II was noticeably affected by this.

Some of the rejected knives below: The Neeley SA9 at the bottom performed best, but the handle kept unscrewing itself(!), and its 440C edge crumbled badly even at around 20 dps:

I narrowed down the requirements as such: Maximum amount of items on two concealed knives, one waist carried with a 10.5" blade, balanced 1/2" into the blade minimum, 1/4" stock and 20-22 ounces minimum. The other being shoulder carried, 7.5" to 8.5" blade, 3/16" stock minimum, acutely tipped yet with a very strong point, 9 ounces maximum. Kraton handle with no hard butcap (so the entire handle is removable).

The main reason for the shoulder knife is that 1-With no backpack (as is the case when cycling, and no, the bike does not carry gear either), the space is available (the straps are easily found and improved from cheap United Cutlery Karambits), 2-it can carry the required items missing on the main knife, 3-its edge is "expendable" for rough tasks, with a strong point geometry for prying, digging, drilling, throwing, spear attachment, etc.

Minimum included items, across the paired knives:

1- 2 socks (makes IWB carry of the main far easier)

2- Flat surface sharpener (preferably diamond)

3- Flashlight

4- 10-12' of 550 cord minimum

5- Thermal blanket

6- 12-15 matches plus striker in waterproof container

7- One handed wheeled sparkmaker + 1-3 cord tinder

8- 3.8 ml tube of crazy glue gel (securing knots, closing wounds or tears)

9- 6-10 Advils (secured from water, or pressure)

10- 2 hooks, 10' of fishing line, 3-5 split sinkers, needle+thread

11- 3-5 safety pins

12- 4-6 nails on the secondary knife for shaft attachment, plus an X-acto blade to help removing the Kraton handle.

13- Compass

14- 3-6 Band-Aids

Colin Cox 10 5/8" blade "Survival" + Cold Steel "Oyabun" 7.5" blade.

Missing items on main knife: None(!), except that the REK regrind moved the knife's balance point back about 1/4", right into the guard (this entirely from the higher/deeper hollow grinds, not from any loss of length...). This poor balance can be compensated with the long 5.5" handle, but is sub-optimal. The spine "chopping saw" is now about 70-80% as effective in chopping as the main edge, and is set at 25 dps for chewing hard knots.

The Tanto carries 4 nails and the X-acto blade, but no cord.

Voorhis 11.25" blade "Rambo" + Blackjack "Tartan Dirk" 8 5/8" blade.

Missing items on main knife: Flashlight, tube of glue, spark maker, compass, only 4 Advils in handle, no sharpener.

Fulfilled on secondary: All except Advils. One extra thermal blanket.

Busse 11 1/8" blade Battlesaw (>15 dps apex convex) + Al Mar "Shadow IV" 7.6" blade.

Missing items on main knife: All except socks, 20' plus feet of cord, and a Silva rotary compass.

Fulfilled on secondary: All except matches and Advils. The secondary has some thinner cord, nails, a large pin that fits the lanyard hole exactly, but the handle is hard Zytel, not Kraton, so it cannot be removed. The secondary's pouch carries a small, very light, spring loaded glass breaker/prying/rescue tool (S&W). The dagger's tip, and its 17 dps edge, are both overly delicate, to a true fighter standard, so more of an "urban" slant to this pair...

Gaston

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My Survival Knife "collection"