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| *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. |
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
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