Don't Be a Sucker for getting hung up about blade steels!

You know THE most important thing about about knife steel is that it will do the job for you. Currently there is a paradox of choice when it comes to which blade steel. Raw material manufacturers will have you believing whatever but in most cases the top customers ("Bread and Butter" customers) for these manufacturers are NOT knife manufacturers but people in the business of Tooling and other industries. Now read those above lines again before getting on your high horse, I said "top customers" I didn't say "Only customers".

Next you have knife manufacturers all vying for pole position of their products. Re invention of all the classic blade designs: Drop points; spear points, Western Tantos'; Bowies' etc etc have been done to death. Why we re market old products under "new" fancy names like G10! Simply because it has a funky kind of scientific high tech sound to it. No one mentions this stuff has been around for donkeys years! Handles, well we see countless designs and materials being used; from synthetic to natural. I mean how many times can we reinvent the bicycle?
What has been lacking is a thorough pursuit of ergonomics in handle design, with only few manufacturers emphasising this all forgotten over blade design aspects.

THERE IS NO SUPER STEEL!

No, sorry to disappoint you there isn't. If there was there would be a clear market leader in the supply of raw materials and there isn't as yet. The reason is simple. It depends on the environment the knife is getting used in, will dictate what is the "best" alloy of choice for production and intended purpose.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I can remember very plainly when 440C was the "super steel" for knives, so much so that countless "el cheapo" knives were being labeled as such and certainly weren't made with 440C.  Then came ATS34, BTW these two alloys contrary to ALL marketing hype, are still very good knife steels. Their "goodness" didn't change. The fact is, industry marketing fuelled by ill informed social media pundits, introduced new terms to trick the unwary like:

"Chipping"
"Folding"
"Rolling edges"

I'll put these terms into perspective now.

All knife edges will either "chip" or "roll" if they undergo enough force against a harder object or an immovable object.
Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise failed physics or simply didn't do it (ok I'll excuse you if you didn't do it but not excuse you for blindly believing the market hype).

P=F/A That's pressure equals Force divided by Area.

Since the area of the actual knife edge is very very small, any significant force will produce a huge pressure on the blade edge.

Correct heat treatment regimes are paramount to achieve the same specifications that raw material manufacturers state.

Correct heat treatment costs serious money on an industrial scale. It is a science and an art but firstly a science. Just look at the making of a Katana. I've watched them being made in front of me whilst living in Japan. Nothing is done by chance or "bucket chemistry".

Certain knife alloys are marketed towards gullible (no offence intended but most manufacturers of raw stock will list all of their Technical PDF's in the public domain- much can be learnt from them even if you aren't a metallurgist or the like) end users by referring to qualities that will only ever be apparent if used to make milling tools, not knives. Milling tools are subject to repeated and repeatable forces. Knives are not. Knives are controlled by our hands and everyone's hands are different and everyone will apply forces/use the same knife in a different manner in any test (biological/mechanical variation). This is a non repeatable process. There will be much variation involved here. It is for this latter point that attempting to judge how good a steel choice is for knives based solely on non scientific tests is pretty meaningless as it simply boils done to someones' opinion. That's OK but it is exactly that opinion UNLESS.......Even when the someone ( the same someone) does many tests. UNLESS that someone uses the correct statistics to analyse their results. Otherwise it's just an opinion. (I'm wearing my scientist hat now- sorry).
Once the raw product leaves the factory, no guarantees are given about the resulting knife steel as this is beyond their control. I've had problems with "high end" steel alloys and the manufacturer simply said it's the issue of the knife manufacturer- AND they were right.

The importance of Surface treatment of Stainless Alloys.

A/ Mirror Polished

B/ Polished

C/ Milled smooth (but milling marks present to naked eye)

D/ bead blasted/shot blasted/stone washed

E/ PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition- sometimes called Sputtering)-(including amorphous diamond-  like carbon (DLC), nitriding, TiN etc etc.

F/ Teflon over milled

G/ Mil Spec blacking/chemical blacking/bluing/ etc.


For any given stainless alloy to have maximum resistance to corrosion then the type of surface finish is important.
 According to my correspondence with technical staff of a large European steel producer, other than soluble Chromium, i.e. Cr not bound up as carbides, the final surface finish is critical to achieve the optimum resistance to corrosive forces all things being equal.

Point "A" is best
PVD will confer better resistance to corrosion over a basic milled surface alone.
Teflon is ok but is will wear out. It is cheaper to apply than a PVD process.

Stone washed is not going to be as effective as a super smooth surface at resisting corrosion for identical alloys.

"D" will not confer any added corrosion resistance to the alloy.


The carbon content

Guess what, it's not necessary to have any carbon these days in knife steel alloys LOL. There are other very hard components such as nitrides. Ok these alloys are not mainstream as yet.

Certain alloy's properties are more important to the knife manufacturer than the end user.




More to come!

What should you really look for in a knife intended or otherwise for SURVIVAL

*Note I'm not necessarily advocating this particular knife. Please thoroughly read below. I'm not going to suggest any particular brand that is entirely up to the individual.

WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED TO LOOK FOR IF YOU INSIST UPON OWNING CARRYING A "SURVIVAL KNIFE"?
It's not a great thing to boast about a survival situation that one might have been in, because these stories can certainly hinge upon someone's well being, or life/lives in the worst case scenarios but being associated either directly or indirectly gives one more credibility to be talking about Survival knives etc., otherwise one is simply talking "technical". 

Let's see how many people are stating this up front. Who are you going to believe? The famous John "Lofty" Wiseman, if you have read any of his "stories" you will note he certainly doesn't add any "coolness" or "super hero attitudes" to his accounts/survival scenarios and that's because there is nothing cool about a survival situation. And while on this subject JLW is also NOT a GOD of survival despite his military background and author status (don't get me wrong who doesn't have his books?), he is just another person presenting his views.

Let's get started:

The knife construction should be simple in design. 

TIP Fewer construction parts the better, less things to fail or loose when you need to depend upon it not failing.

This thing about handles breaking and being able to tie the remaining  knife to a stick or wrap up that exposed tang, abound. I can't think for any reason that one would have a knife handle break and leave an exposed tang. However, a poorly constructed handle could part company with the tang if the screws became loose and simply fell out; the fixing screws or rivets (if not good quality stainless steel or aluminium alloy) could corrode over time, unseen by the user, only to fail at the least expected moment. If a knife handle is fixed to the tang via a bolt or bolts then one should be able to maintain the tightness of these handles in the field without having to carry or rely upon fancy torx drivers etc. In order of preference, a flat headed bolt (preferably not a standard width screw head) is going to be best, closely followed by a allen/hex key, followed by torx head type bolts as a last choice. The reasons are thus: When not in the field a flat headed screw driver is commonly found, ie in an urban environment. In the field if a flat headed screw driver can not be found then any flat bladed object can be used or a flat bladed object can be fashioned from many materials. Where are you going to be able to find a small Torx head driver?

Now this brings me to handle materials

If you find yourself in a  marine environment having to "survive" then you must be able maintain your knife and this might necessitate  soaking you blade in freshwater or being able to remove the grip in order to keep the tang free of corrosion (I say Maybe as it depends on the expected duration before rescue). ALL stainless steels will corrode over time if left exposed to salt. The resistance to corrosion is a topic outside of this blog however, the harder the Rockwell of the knife the lower the corrosion resistance, all things being equal. (see my  articles about corrosion). Loose your Torx head driver and you will not be able to undo your handle. This is OK if you happen to be in a situation for a short duration but sometimes it is not possible to determine how long one will have to wait in order to be rescued or to even rescue oneself. Lengthy stays however, are genrally not the norm for a survival situation, ie months to years of isolation.

Grips made from water absorbing materials such as  Micarta are low on my list for incorporation into "Survival knives" since they will absorb and retain salt water and definitely require to be maintained in the field (especially if the blade is not any sort of "stainless alloy". Don't believe me? Please take your standard uncoated 1095 blade and expose it to some fresh orange juice simply by cutting up a few oranges. Don't clean it and return it to the scabbard. See what it looks like the next day. My preferences would be from best to worst are: Synthetic rubbers (such as Kraton or FORPRENE); Fibre reinforced nylons, Zytel (FRN) high quality  hardwoods (either impregnated or other), G10 (depends on the finish), Micarta (as mentioned above).

What on earth am I basing this choice on?

As abuse goes, the knife which routinely suffers it (affects of corrosion) to the greatest extent, would be my diving knives ( and everyone else's diving knives for that matter I reckon). Subject to: lengthy exposure to salt water, pounding on rocks, tanks (for those of you who are not SCUBA divers- this can be used to signal others), cutting ropes of all sorts under very abrasive conditions (sand, grit barnacles etc etc), prying things etc etc. 
Strangely, no one is advocating diving knives as candidates for survival knives! Doubly strangely is that diving knives (good ones) usually sport funky but practical designs and are comfortable to use both under and above water!
Finally, synthetics require almost no maintenance, can be held with or without gloves in hot or cold environments and can't be broken (not easily).


Blade materials and construction choices.

Stainless or high Chromium content alloys will win out over non stainless in coastal survival. (Unless you can reliably wash the blade in fresh water and this could be possible in a coastal stranding.)
 A ten day hike along a rugged coastline that you have done many many times could go wrong if some party member slips and twists their ankle badly and now requires a much lengthy return to base where the food has now become exhausted. You may need that knife to gather foods from the sea. TIP: Long coastal walks  I always take a diving face mask along, it can give you great views of the interesting life in rock pools and also might save your butt if you have to do some unplanned diving for food.

If it's not happening on the coast or an island (no water) then whether it's stainless steel or not doesn't really matter. (as long as you can keep a non-stainless blade clean). And speaking of a clean blade, this is a must if the knife is being used ( and it will be) for food prep. TIP: The last thing you want to do is poison yourself and other party members from clumsy poor hygiene.


You must be able to use the knife to prepare game or fish or make implements to dig for water. You must be able to make hunting or food gathering tools so as not to damage your knife. For example, only a "Mall Ninja" would strap their only (survival) knife to a tree branch and use it for a spear. Ask me how many times I've done this to catch food. None! I made spears (using my Swiss Army knife) from natural materials to spear fish in the shallows- it worked perfectly because I knew what I was doing. On that point what do I mean here? Ok I knew where to look for fish for a start, at what time of day and what kinds of wood I could use for a spear that wouldn't break and injure me in the process. Knowing about knives is NOT enough and no matter how good your "survival knife" is if you know jack about how to survive in the environment you happen to be stuck in then you will suffer.

The last thing I want to do is to plunge what could be my only knife into the rocks on the lake bed, river bed, sea floor, ocean rocks etc. As I said you should stop reading/watching as soon as someone advocates tying knives to sticks, they simply don't know what they are talking about. Unless solely used to cut/obtain food from out of reach places.
(Well that is to say they might know how to effectively lash the given knife to stick but that's it).

You should always be prepared for the environment you plan to venture into. By this I mean I'm assuming you are proficient in first aid, if you are not then you are a liability to yourself and others in your party. 

Recently  (this happened last year) I ventured out alone to film wildlife as I normally do but this time with the exception of  walking to the filming site I decided to take a bicycle. A bit difficult with all of my gear but hey, why not? It was after all approaching 40C (over 100 F!) in the shade and the bike would surely make things easier. STOP! But I didn't. The clue should have been that temperature! Lured by the prospect of getting that once in a lifetime shot (well almost). I wasn't thinking and there was an accident where I severed an artery. 40km form nearest hospital! No car!  Know your first aid. 
Sit down, raise leg apply compression to the wound, stop blood, keep calm call for help (in my case I was lucky help was not too far away, my four year old whose dad had trained LOL). Liberally apply iodine to wound (couldn't feel the sting- too much adrenalin flowing). Removed shirt to make makeshift bandage etc etc. The point is KNOW YOUR FIRST AID and don't panic, it could get yourself killed. Don't worry about any knives coming into the story.

I taught it to my 4 year old at the time enough for him to retrieve a bottle of iodine from over 30 metres away from where I was laying to help his crazy and heat effected stupid dad! Ok I digress back to this "survival knife thing"

STAY tuned for part II.


BCT

This is a Paw Paw or Papaya in the background......Mmmm yum!

FKMD PANABAS

STILLS from Field testing.......

Wood working

Fire starting

Palm Chopping............ The FKMD Panabas does it all with ease

Ok so after using the FKMD Panabas from everything to attaching it to a pole and in the jungle/bush to cut out of reach tropical fruit,

I have to say it is easy to handle and a versatile blade. Deadly sharp and stayed sharp even after working on hardwoods etc. The N690 is very resistant to plant saps and this model with a non reflective Cerakote coating is great for not being an "attention seeker" once out of the scabbard. 

Please check out my full video review here at BushCampingTools

FKMD PANABAS

FOX KNIVES

REVIEW

You could hack down a palm if you had to!

I'm really stoked about the FKMD PANABAS or FX-509. Why? Well so far during all of my tests, this has proven to be a good design for not only cutting but chopping and preparing food. It is very ergonomic with length and balance of weight. The FX-509 sports a good sized finger choil.

A good sized choil along with two useful tie in points, see this video

and a very nice full flat grind to a thick spine. 

But none of this came as a surprise as the basis of the design of the FKMD FX-509, PANABAS rests in the lengthy cultural history of similar blades associated with the Philippine Island's inhabitants. A Panabas as it's name suggests can easily handle both offensive and domestic duties with ease. No wonder FKMD is also marketing this knife (seen here with a "black coating" and another which has had a PVD coating) with a "survival kit". Certainly, the FKMD Panabas can handle the pace.

Some YouTubers have shown videos of them modifying the spine of this knife. WHY on earth do this? The milled ridges

 form a very useful area for tinder production, finishing objects made from bamboo, ie removing splinters and rough surfaces, striking Ferro rods etc.

Because of the depth of the blade, the blade angle is nice and steep for good cutting without the drag. 

This pineapple was soon to be dispatched. A video will follow soon showing all the action, so stay tuned to BushCampingTools.

Using the spine to bash the meat, no problems. In fact this knife was very handy for food preparation.

Cutting meat off the bone no problems

How does the FX-509 do at chopping? Well I have so far processed several green coconuts with ease. It certainly has the weight but isn't too thick. Too thick a blade is a real PITA for cutting coconuts.

Do I like this knife???? YES I do, very useful blade

Stay tuned more to follow on BushCampingTools!

FKMD NEW NEW NEW PREVIEW!

FX-134 GT  GRAND TRAPPER

TRAPPER 2 from FKMD FOX KNIVES Maniago Italy.

A revised and updated slick lines version of the well known FOX TRAPPER. The FKMD Grand Trapper otherwise known as FX-134 GT or the Trapper 2 is a collaboration between MEMOTEK in Russian Federation and FKMD of Italy. 

Memotek and FKMD Collaboration

This blade design rocks! Now I'm going to tell you why.

Let's see what's new!
At a quick glance you might be saying that this is the same as the FKMD FX-132 Trapper model which I have reviewed based on thorough field tests here and here. 
The FKMD Grand Trapper or FX-134 GT has a longer blade length by 20mm! 

FKMD FOX TRAPPER 2 HRC 58/60

That means it's 160mm in a straight line (6.2 inches) from the tip to the end of the cutting edge. OR 180mm (7inches) to the guard! There has been significant but at the same time subtle geometry changes:
The obvious Tanto tip of the FOX TRAPPER has now gone and there is a drop point end to the blade. 

Overall blade geometry totally revised compared with the original FOX TRAPPER

There has been a very significant change in the distribution of spine thickness over the recurve section of the blade. 

Thinner swedge, longer acute spine 

Previously in the FKMD Trapper, the recurve section tapered almost to the spine. However, now we see that on the FX-134 GT FKMD Trapper 2, the spine descends to approximately 20mm (maximum) towards the start of the grind. This adds more "meat" to the overall design. 

Made in Italy, spells quality

The Trapper 2 FX-134 GT is NOT heavy towards the tip like the FX132 Trapper since a thinner (than the FX-132 Trapper) spine swedge is now incorporated, which gives this blade a much much better penetrating capability compared with the previous model Trapper. Although there is a slight thickening towards the tip of the FX-134 GT. 

Penetrative tip geometry

No worries about tip strength here. If you've seen my previous reviews about the tip strength of the FX-132 Trapper you know it's bomb proof in that respect. 
The FX-134 GT will excel in penetration tasks and cutting. Strength-wise there should be an increase in mechanical stability from the ricasso out towards the tip, as there is now more metal placed (remaining) here.

The spine of the FX-134 GT Grand Trapper, unlike the FX-132 Trapper's, spine is now more acute over the region of the recurve section, ie directly in front of the excellent gimping. This is easy to strike a fire steel with.

The handle has essentially remained the same, using FKMD's 3D geometry Micarta scales. 

FKMD's 3D Micarta scales provide excellent grip wet or dry in bare hands

The Butt end of the FX-134 GT is also the same. WHY change these things? The Previous model is great and these aspects would be hard to improve upon (at least based on my thorough field testing).

The functional butt just like the original Trapper and FKMD Combat Jungle

The sheath and carry system, incorporating removable leg loops is also basically the same, tough Ballistic Nylon construction, 

with a removable and reversible hard plastic liner. The belt attachment also remains the same, a dangler system or tradition belt attachment is possible.

I'm about to give this really amazing looking Trapper 2 or FX-134 GT by FKMD

FKMD's FOX Knives FX-134 GT TRAPPER 2 Now testing in AUSTRALIAN BUSH AND JUNGLE!

 a thorough workout in the Australian bush and Jungle so stay tuned to my channel for the upcoming review.

BCT

Nieto Mustang Fixed Blade

Nieto Knives Mustang. I can highly recommend this knife after thorough field testing from European conditions to the Australian bush. Miguel Nieto SL Mustang knife, with a full tang and very nice tapered Rose Wood handle. The Mustang Sports a drop point blade which has been hollow ground and a bolster, something rarely seen on modern production knives. The scabbard is also top quality. Check out te video and see what you think of the Nieto Mustang.



Hardcore Knives and tools for Wilderness Camping