What makes for a good survival knife? What should I be looking for BEFORE I Buy?

 Halfbreed Blades Large Bush Knife IS a SURVIVAL KNIFE I'm going to tell you why.

If we are talking about survival in the wilds as apposed to an urban survival situation, the latter being completely different when it comes to knives (IMHO), then let's look at some useful features in such a product intended for the bush/forest/wilderness. 

In this first part of a case study, I'll be mostly referring to just a handful of knives and to begin with let's look at Halfbreed Blades "LARGE BUSH KNIFE".

The manufacturer says the following:

"...a multipurpose field utility knife, primarily intended for use by extreme outdoor enthusiasts"

Firstly, let's deal with a definition of an "Extreme outdoor entusiast"

What's an "extreme outdoor enthusiast"? I'd say anyone who is not content with following the well walked trails and hiking routes, camping with hundreds of other campers and fishing alongside hundreds of other people fishing. I'm careful not to include hunters here, as by default, which is one of safety, they should be only operating in an environment which is remote from others for safety and common sense. Hence there are laws throughout the world of where guns and bows can actually be discharged and certainly that is not alongside hikers and campers in National parks. 

There are exceptions to this of course and I will only list one which immediately comes to mind and that is/was New Zealand where it is possible to hunt inside of a national park with a firearm.

If one is frequenting the well walked trails and campsites, there is absolutely no reason to be carrying a large knife, ie a knife with a blade over 6". Usually for such campsites, fires are not permitted and thus there is no requirement to chop or baton wood, only to cut up one's meals, if indeed they require such operations. Bringing out a big knife in such scenarios can attract unwanted attention and in some cases alert the ever present Karens, signalling them into action and soon the local ranger has descended upon the campsite and you are getting a talking to (well this depends upon where you are). Unfortunately these days Karens are everywhere because by default Karens are those who have nothing better to do than to ruin someone else's day/time but that's another story subject. However, this is not the reason not to carry a big knife into well frequented campsites and hiking trails. The real reason is common sense not to carry unnecessary equipment with you which in reality will get little if no use on such trips. If one wants to carry a large knife and or hatchet then choose the correct environment for such tools, so they actually get used, that's my advice.

So let's now talk about what kinds of environments can warrant taking a large knife. Any environment away from the general public, so this means generally off track into some wilderness area. It's that easy. Somewhere deserted as in on a deserted island. Sure there are plenty of such places and sure they are remote but knock yourself out they are a hell of lot of fun and this is definitely extreme camping. 

You will have to travel via plane, motorbike, bicycle, walk, boat etc. but accessing such places of wilderness does require a certain amount of savvy in terms of being able to exist independently for a certain amount of time without causing alarm to loved ones and friends and of course not appearing on the 6 O'clock news!

Now that you have that "savvy", which includes the right mental attitude, you can go out an get yourself a BIG KNIFE. But seriously, let's look at why the Halfbreed Blades Large Bush Knife fits the category for "extreme outdoor enthusiast".

Firstly, it must be practical and thus useful in the type of environments I have just described above. So is it? Let's see!

Halfbreed Blades describe this knife as a .......

A field knife, eh?  So is a field knife an survival knife? Or does a survival knife need to have a saw back? Come on are survival knives meant to have a saw back? I mean what is a "field knife"? Ok enough with these questions let me tell you what I think about the design of the  Large Bush Knife.

I like

• It's built like a tank, in that, I'd be hard pressed to destroy such a knife as K340 is super tough and G10 is pretty much indestructible.
• It's comfortable to use without gloves.
• It's got a non slip grip with wet hands due to the strategic milling pattern in the G10 scales.
• It can hammer wooden pegs into the ground and if need be belt steel spikes into the ground. The blade has some weight to it.
• It is not handle heavy and this is important to reduce long usage fatigue.
• K340 ISODUR steel , stays sharp, easy to sharpen, resists chipping, super tough, I mean super tough! (I know I've said it already but you get my point.
• It has a non rotatable stainless steel cup on both side of the handle and this is a total must for use in the bow drill friction fire technique, one of the easiest of the friction techniques to light a fire without any incendiary materials such as matches, cigarette lighters and or fire steels and natural flints. For the bow and drill friction fire to work a suitable "cup" or top block must be employed and often this is one of the hardest parts to find or to fabricate from natural materials. It must last (preferably) and present the least amount of friction (one doesn't want the embers from this end!).
• No vicious butt end present to injure the user.
• holes present to lash the knife to a pole to access out of reach objects (not to make a spear-although it is possible).
• Gimping in all the right places.

I don't like

I don't like the fact the blade is coated and if one looks after K340 even with a bit of care, "without going over the top" K340 will resist rusting. If the blade was uncoated then it would be totally food safe. The only version of this Large Bush Knife offered in an uncoated steel, is the one made with the more expensive CPM 3V, So I'm saying if other manufacturers can bring out uncoated K340 blades/knives (and I own them), then so can Halfbreed Blades if they want to. Non reflective coatings for maybe staying out of site out of mind, ok but even their knives marked "survival" are coated. Many of my viewers have also commented about the coated blade is not what they like in this blade.

 

If you have to, one can pound away all day long on this beast of a knife with zero ill effect other than that you will be slowly wearing off the blade coating!

 It's entirely possible to cut down small trees with this knife, although the optimal tool is of course an axe or a saw.

North American/European Forest action, no problems! But you will need some stamina on such hardwoods are seen above!

What kinds of environments can this knife work in?

Due to the belly of this knife it can be used for skinning game (although of course it is not a hunting knife). 

What about the tropics?

Easily able to hack down giant bamboo

It is heavy enough to be able to hack into dry or green

 coconuts or any of the plethora of vegetables in the tropics. 

Yam's are full of carbs and can be purchased from literally any market all around the globe in tropical regions. They store well, carry well and taste great. Note they MUST be thoroughly cooked BEFORE consuming! I've done a lot of wild camping in the tropics subsisting on nothing but coconuts and coconut water to cook rice and other vegetables and without a hefty knife you are going no where with a coconut LOL.

Peeling a large yam, no problems, the grind works well for peeling of food items. Note, not all blade grinds are suitable for peeling of vegetables and fruits, the only way to check this out is to watch someone who has done it as it is unlikely any shop will allow you to "test drive" this in order to ascertain this information prior to a purchase. Also in order to peel fast maybe a smaller knife is better but some large knives can work although note many don't. SO if you want to use this knife of yours to eat with then you had better make sure you can do exactly that. Personally, when travelling in the tropical regions of the globe I would prefer a knife such as a machete 

with a longer blade but of course this may mean you must also carry it in populated areas. We did do this on bikes and the machete was wrapped in some discarded cardboard so as not to a attract any unwarranted attraction and also as standby weapon if need be.

How about?

Dry desert environments no problems

Since the Large Bush Knife carries some weight to it and the geometry is such that it is easy to chop with, as apposed to one can chop with it, there is a difference here, it can handle chopping and processing dry hardwoods because in the scene you see above there are few trees and the smaller bushes with dead wood are very gnarled and very hard, so a knife must be able to hold an exceptional edge to be of any use in such dry and dusty environments. Most of such wood will be covered in sand and dust and these materials are abrasive, K340 holds a very good edge under such conditions. Smaller knives with little weight are useless in such environments.

Goldilocks Just Right Knife?

Extrema Ratio BFK PIXEL Full Review

Extrema Ratio's BFK Pixel  is a small fixed blade knife (but the largest in the PIXEL range) offered in several variations. Here are the basic specifications of the model seen above:

Steel: Listed as "Nitrogen"

Handle scales: (Milled) Green Carbon Fibre

Fixing bolts and fittings: stainless steel- type not listed

Kydex scabbard (standard riveted construction)

Associated nylon type "Paracord" and small plastic cord lock.

2 Malice clip/straps. Material unlisted but looks like some sort of polyurethane?)

Other versions are with Magnacut and or Aluminium scales and or G10 and or micarta.

How does the BFK PIXEL compare to other "neck type" Knives from Extrema Ratio?

From bottom to top: SATRE, VERSA (Expeditions) and BFK PIXEL

Let's discuss the Steel "Nitrogen"

On the practical front, the undesignated "Nitrogen" steel performs really well. I have cut, bashed, sideways dragged, sliced and carved my way through countless natural materials whilst out in the bush. The blade has been hardened to HRC 58 according to the manufacturer and I have never witnessed any sort of indication of corrosion on the satin surface. It is true (as the manufacturer states regarding their "Nitrogen steel"*), a simple strop and the blade remains razor sharp after working on hardwoods, and potentially corrosive food and plant saps/resins. 

How often am I stropping such a blade? Not often at all. In fact the frequency would equate to a weekend camping trip (where cutting food and preparing a fire along with gathering mushrooms and herbs, gutting and cutting up fish (no skinning or butchering ie hunting game) easily up to 2 times per month. So for most, this equates to two weekends away every month. Well that's a lot if you are working a regular weekly job. I'm not going to talk about using this knife in a professional way, ie every day like a chef for example or someone in the fishing industry or hunting game for a living. This is my third knife featuring this undesignated "Nitrogen" steel. So it is certainly not necessary to enjoy the wilds if I do not know what exactly is this nitrogen steel alloy only to know that it performs with good corrosion resistance and does not need to be sharpened the moment I use it.

Blade Finish

Highly polished Satin finish, with the edge hand ground and polished. Just incase you don't know, a polished edge will always hold up against corrosion better than a roughly milled edge regardless of the steel.

If you are one who is concerned about food safe blades, then you can't really go past the satin finish. 

Now for a (brief) Technical discussion

The purposeful addition of nitrogen into modern steel alloys has been shown to increase many favourable properties of the steel especially in terms of fine grain structure. To date, there are several acknowledged nitrogen enhanced alloys used in cutlery manufacture. For example but not limited to: Nitro B; Nitro V; Nitro X7; Vanax (although more widely known for it being a high vanadium content alloy); Sandvik's 14C28N; BD1N; X50CrMoVN15; LC 200N (Cronidur 30); Nitrobe 77; Vancron 40 etc.

This steel, simply labelled "Nitrogen" could be any of the above plus something else. In fact, for 420HC it has been shown that small amounts of Nitrogen introduced into this steel has beneficial results in terms of performance (I am not referring to ion implantation, which merely implants Nitrogen into a nano layer on the exterior of the steel and in the case of 420HC has shown definitely improvements in hardness and wear resistance). As far as nitrogen enhancement is concerned it has long been know that even very small amounts of Nitrogen have had beneficial effects upon tool steel performance (for example see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26872202_Effect_of_increased_nitrogen_content_on_the_structure_and_properties_of_tool_steels

Whatever the Nitrogen steel alloy they are using is really irrelevant because one can not be biassed as to it's performance based upon the knowledge of what is already known for currently employed nitrogen enhanced tool steels. So from the point of view of such "testers" such as myself, my findings are simply based upon real world performance and not upon a name.

If any of the above worries you and you can simply not own or use a knife where you must know the actual alloy (or at least see some numbers or name engraved upon the blade) then such a knife is not for you. 

Back in the day, many a knife company existed (and still do) just fine with no name brand carbon steels, fact! Nowadays we have convinced ourselves that unless it has the label of "Magna Star" (this is a fictitious name I invented for the next series after MagnaCut) then we simply can not function on the trail let alone in the wilderness LOL! 

Actually, I believe there are many other, than the now infamous "Bark River", who are in fact using steels other than what is laser engraved upon them and simply are yet to be caught out! In most cases many manufacturers add a premium value to their products by way of the steel designation.

Most people (again another fact) would not be able to tell the difference outside of a laboratory environment using at the very least a XRF to analyse the steel constituents of what steel is in their knives.

The Carry System

Like all Extrema Ratio carry systems (I like to say "carry systems" rather than simply call it a scabbard) the BFK Pixel is one of modular in design. It comes with a kydex sheath, which via friction alone securely locks the knife in place. The knife can be thus carried upside down around one's neck via the included paracord loop,

or on a belt via the 2 included Malice straps. There are other optional carry methods such a belt clip (not shown here but you can check it out on their site here.

Shown below is the BFK Pixel set up for lefthand carry in the horizontal postion.

Seen below is the Extrema Ratio BFK Pixel setup for right hand belt carry in the horizontal manner.

At 3.5" or 89mm blade length, the Extrema Ratio BFK PIXEL is totally at home on day hikes where one might chance upon or deliberately look for mushrooms, or lighting a fire for lunch; 

Yes, you are seeing correctly, I have lit a small fire upon a fallen tree which is basically very damp but not as wet at the forest floor.

have the need to cut up one's food for the day, do a spot of fishing or even on a well trodden hiking and camping trail, collecting materials for a fire (Or to enable one to sit upon any damp objects as birch bark is waterproof) as seen below.

                    

The BFK Pixel pictured above sitting atop of the Yanagai Matsutake mushroom otherwise known as the Poplar Mushroom, a delicious mushroom which a certain times of the yer can be found growing upon the dead parts of certain poplar varieties. I cut mushrooms for most of the day and came home with a bag an extra 5Kgs heavier after cutting mushrooms against the dirty bark of trees and their roots for most of the day. The knife held an excellent edge after such work.

Geometry of the Blade

The main blade features a gradual curvature, that while subtle, does not go unnoticed, ending in a tanto-esque tip. The grind is that of a high sabre. The spine has a gradual thinning from 3.85mm at the butt end towards the tip at 3.4mm approx 20mm from the tip, so it's clearly not a super thin tip but also thin enough to make this blade function well at any penetrative tasks.


The handle scales are minimal yet provide a totally non slip grip in ungloved hands (this version in milled green carbon fibre).

There is a generous lanyard hole for either a cord or better still some flat "climber's accessory tape".

As with all "neck-type and or EDC fixed blades", some will find if their hands are bigger than size 8.5/9, this type of blade will be simply too small for their paws.

 

On this day hike I only took the BFK PIXEL with me and it wasn't a problem to prepare feather sticks and cut birch bark  for a fire, cut into some birch wood to make a divot to start a small fire, cut up some food and chop a few small branches which were getting in the way of me picking some rather delicious mushrooms. On top of all of this the knife on the day was carried covertly around my neck under my jacket.

From the manufacturer's literature regarding their "Nitrogen" steel.
*Nitrogen is the technical specification of Extrema Ratio: dedicated steel selection, machining and heat treatment cycle.

I don't know about any of this above but from what I do know, it is paramount for Nitrogen enhanced steels, (for example Nitro X7) not to allow the edge to heat up unnecessarily during sharpening processes, maybe that's why they mention "machining" in order to emphasise their attention to details for those in the know. My point is this knife cuts well and stays sharp. 



BCT

@BushCampingTools








 

Zorro Petrol Lighters Love them or hate them what is it going to be?

 

Zorro, a Chinese brand of petrol lighters, some say are copies of Zippo lighters. When you start to look at the Zorro line up you can of course find lighters which resemble Zippo lighters. This however, is no different to bicycle manufacturer "A" bringing out a bike made from the same material as bicycle manufacturer B's bike but in a different colour and or slightly different parts. For example: bicycle manufacturer B's bike has parts which are CNC manufactured and not cast as in Bicycle manufacturer A's products. Both are built around the "A" frame, both are made from Al alloy. No one in their right mind is going to say bike company A is ripping off bike company B, fact.

The Zorro lighter you see above is nothing like the Zippo. The case in machined from a solid block of brass and the hinge is also machined into the case. The only part not made from brass is the hinge pin. (see below). Such a hinge does not display the hysteresis (sideways play) seen in every Zippo (even brand new ones!).

The outer case feels solid (because it is), the lines are smooth and it feels great in the hand. I can't rip the pocket either financially or physically because of it's smooth lines and reasonable price point.

How about the business end of things? The actual ignition and combustion chamber is of course similar to that of the Zippo. It comprises of the folded piece of metal, either titanium, brass or steel with a striker wheel, also made of steel, a flint made from ferro cerium alloy and a wick. 

The thickness of the material in the Zippo is approximately 0.49mm whereas the thickness of the Chinese made insert is closer to 0.45mm. Yes, it could be argued that there really is no difference in sheet thickness between the two, but there is and this is the way the Chinese manufacturer can cut costs. Is it less functional the Chinese insert. Absolutely no. What are the other differences? Well the Zippo wick is definitely superior in construction to that of the Zorro lighter. 

One can clearly see the woven nature of a genuine Zippo wick

The Zippo wick is of a woven construction and this helps to maintain the integrity of the wick over time. In order for the gasoline lighter to work efficiently, a wick must not unravel. 

The Zorro wick before I had a chance to cut it back and try and fix it up. The only real fix here is to replace it with a Zippo wick!

Oh by the way, before we get too far away from stuff made in China, the Zippo's butane gas insert is made in CHINA! Yes, of course it is, because of all places China is ranking number one in such manufacturing. 

Here we see the Zorro insert, and yes, it has the same number of holes (8) as a Zippo does, in this case the insert is much narrower than that of the "standard Zippo". The dimensions of the Zorro 538 HK No. 3063 are:

Height: 2.32"

Width:  1.35"

Thickness: 0.55"

The Zippo Slim dimensions

Height: 2.38"

Width: 1.13"

Thickness: 0.38"

I provide these specifications only for interest as the two lighters really can not be compared as they are manufactured with different techniques.

This Zorro model actually incorporates an O-ring seal to prevent unnecessary evaporation of the  Zippo fuel (refined petrol- white gas). There is no such feature on the Zippo lighter.  Ok, I made a custom made silicone seal for this lighter, as I felt the O-rings supplied were just not exactly right.

WURKKOS HD02 MINI EDC Flashlight. Why this is not only a cool looking EDC flashlight but why it's actually a good one.

 WURKKOS HD02 MINI

Main features:

1300LM

204m Beam

90+CRI

Plus a really useful

"Wing Light" (Flood light) for reading etc.

WURKKOS.com flashlights are made by WOKESIDA Technology Co.Ltd. (you guessed it!) in Shenzhen City. 

Wurkkos has been around since 2019. Specialising in the R and D and manufacturing of Flashlights for: EDC, Tactical,  Diving and Camping activities. Most of their flashlights are manufactured using aero space grade 6061 Aluminium alloy and engineered with durability in mind. 

The Wurkkos HD O2 Mini is simply a smaller EDC version of their very cool Wurkkos HD 02 PRO which won the prestigious IF Design award in 2026! The Wurkkos HD 02 Mini is the cut down version but not cut down in functions. To be able to fit comfortably into the pants pocket, one wing flood light is present, we have lost the UV and LASER features of the HD 02 PRO but have retained the magnetic tail cap sporting the 1/4" 20 tripod mount, a super sturdy pocket clip with an all rounded, zero acute pocket damaging design. 

Packed full of features with dimmable lighting solutions, such as red LED to preserve night vision, long run time "Moon light mode", flood and spotlight modes, USB C rechargeable removable 3.7V 900 mAh AA Lithium ion battery. The unit can also be powered via a regular AA and a NiMh AA. (Note the NiMh battery if used can not be charged via the USB C port!). The unit is made from machined 6061 aero space Aluminium alloy. 

Functionally, the HD 02 Mini uses a magnetic Hall effect switch to change modes between flood light, spot and red (660nm) LED light sources. Speaking of LEDs, Wurkkos utilise LED's from leading LED manufacturers such as Luminus, Cree and Nichia (for example the Nichia 519A).

Ok so there are plenty of reviews out there showing the operation of this EDC flashlight and I'm going to say after fully reading the manual (It is also available online too in case you were to lose the included paper copy), it IS easily understood and the light operates exactly as described. However, rather than repeat their reviews showing how this thing operated, I want to focus upon the actual usability of this small pocket sized flashlight. 

This is the stuff I really liked:

Firstly, on the design. So the big brother to this EDC version won an IF design award, so that in itself says something! 

Since this is really just a smaller version of the bigger HD 02 PRO, then one can easily see, at a quick glance it embodies a modern, feel good in the hand look. The geometric design focusing upon a basic rectangular prism gives this small EDC flashlight a look of "Tactical" appearance with a solid feel for such a small light but not a feel of being too heavy. Also despite it's prismatic appearance it is not rough feeling or has any surface which would appear to damage one's pants pocket.

PLUS because of it's design, it won't "roll off a table", since it just doesn't roll!

The magnetic battery cover has a very good thread of generous length. Why do I mention this? Because the biggest beef I have with flashlight manufacturers of EDC lights is that many produce battery covers with almost NO thread length and or of flimsy, extremely fine thread pitch which will be a definitely site of equipment failure. The threads of this small EDC light are however, not flimsy but look like miniature versions of a tungsten carbide core drill I have sitting on my desk LOL!

This EDC light uses a AA battery size, NOT a AAA. OK AAA battery powered EDC lights are ok because you can make the actual light smaller but with lower run time trade offs. One will never get the burn time from a AAA battery, fact. 

Run time for me is paramount, more so than how powerful the light is because ALL modern LED flashlights are powerful when it comes to lumen output. This light is able to produce up to 1300 LM, this is blindingly bright but seriously for EDC, I want a light to run for a long time. 

Say I get caught in the subway (yeah it has happened and the train stops somewhere between stations, all lights out, you can be the guy or gal with the mobile phone, and sure, almost everyone these days is carrying a mobile phone but their capacity for lighting is NOT their virtue, plus phones are definitely easy to drop, one can not grip it like a proper flashlight design. Ok so speaking of run times, they are pretty good.

OK, here are some pertinent specifications:

Spotlight mode Maximum setting

2, 32 and 24 minutes respectively  for the following lighting intensities: 1300 LM,510 LM and170 LM.

Floodlight mode maximum brightness: 30 and 35 minutes for: 400 and 220 LM

Minimum brightness in Floodlight mode 18 LM, 17hr and 6 minutes! Let me tell you right now that at 10 lumens one can easily follow a pathway in complete darkness, just to set the record straight. So 18 LM is more than enough and a continuous run time of 17hours is very good (this is of course with the included Lithium ion battery installed and fully charged).

Moonlight mode at 0.5 lumens is over 60 hours- you can just read a book in total darkness at 0.5 lumens-maybe if you life depended upon it and you had luck on your side 0.5 lumens might get you out of a cave if it was a simple straight line out of there LOL!

The side light The longest run time for minimum mode which is 12 lumens and this is 17 hours and 26 minutes! and the shortest on max and minimum respectively is: 320 &210 LM is 3 minutes and 1hr 28 minutes.

Transport safety

In order to safely lock out this light from accidental switching on during transport, whether that is in the pocket or in a piece of luggage, a safety switch is seen here. I note that when the light is withdrawn from the pocket the safety switch is only directed towards the OFF position if it were to encounter any fabric resistance. That's smart. For the not so attentive, there is of course a small but obvious "pictogram" of how the battery must be inserted into the unit. This of course covers the manufacturer from all those who insert the battery the wrong way, although I would imagine like many modern LED lights reverse polarity protection would be operating. Of course if you are like me travelling all the time through airports, you may actually disable the batteries like me by placing some insulating tape over the  terminals for extra safety for lights carried ONBOARD, as it is of course illegal to transport any lithium ion batteries in the cargo.

Weather Resistance

 It's only splash proof and for me, I wish it were truly IPX68  instead of just IPX6 but this is OK, it's not a light for caving  right? They do state in the manual NOT to submerge this particular model. Noting WURKKOS make many waterproof lights including some kick butt dive lights (Hopefully I will get to review some of these in the future and truly take them UW.). 

The HD 02 is drop resistant to 1.5 m and i think it might damage the concrete should I drop it LOL. 

You can tell I like the design right?

What else do I like? Well that if one chooses to use a regular AA battery, the charge light is a different colour other than green 

Showing 50-100% charge at "solid green"

Time to fully charge included battery is approximately 1.25hr if charged at 5V 0.9A

Power of this unit 13W. 112 grams.

(not that it can be charged, which it can't by the flashlight) but it signals a different battery type is in use.

The unit itself ships with 2 spare tail cap O-rings!

Lastly, this EDC flashlight other than a strobe and SOS does not feature any gimmicky RGB lights or fake cop flashing lights- sure it's probably easy for manufacturers to produce such lights but seriously, those kinds of things are total BS for an EDC light.

Stay tuned for my video discussion about this Wurkkos HD 02 EDC flashlight coming to @BushCampingTools

BCT