Choosing Your Survival Knife

There are many factors that should influence your choice of survival knife. Purchasing a knife can be quite an expenditure- you can spend hundreds of dollars on a "custom made" survival knife, or you can spend the equivalent of a couple weeks' coffee money on a serviceable and functional knife. Before you go looking for your knife, ask yourself these questions: How often will you be using your knife? WIll it sit on a shelf most of the year and only come out for a couple of backpack trips in the summer? If this is the case you may want a smaller, lighter knife for a survival situation only. Will your knife be used for extended periods of time, in primitive living situations for example? If you plan to use your knife for weeks at a time throughout the year, you may want to consider something larger and more robust. Do you prefer a folding or fixed blade? A locking folder as a survival knife is perfectly acceptable especially if your knife is in a survival only kit. I keep a folding locker in my PFD survival kit for river trips. Otherwise I prefer a fixed blade. A fixed blade is safer, and often longer and therefore easier to use than a folder, and more suited to "everyday" or extended wilderness use.


Knowing what kind of a knife you need is the starting point. Whichever route you choose to go, as with all survival gear, be sure to use your knife, get familiar with it and know its limitations before you need to use it. Following is a list of considerations to keep in mind when searching for your survival knife.


- Cost
- Handle length, girth, material
- Overall weight
- Blade length and thickness
- Blade edge or style, single edge, double edge, clip pointed blade, tanto-style blade
back style- the edge of the knife that is opposite the blade, may have a sharpened edge (as in a double edge blade), a false edge (having a beveled back), or serrations (sawteeth)
- Composition, type of metal
- Construction, half tang (blade material ends shortly after entering handle), full length tang (solid piece of metal entire length of knife), rivets, screws, moving parts
-Sawteeth or serrations
- Butt or pommel style
- Guard style, may be integrated as on Frosts Mora, or separate as on USAF knife
- Sheath, material, security, tie downs, storage features




My personal choice as the ultimate survival knife especially for primitive living exercises is the USAF Survival Knife, seen in the photo to the right. The knife is a bit heavy for ultralight backpacking, but otherwise meets all of my personal requirements in a blade. It is available at most military surplus stores for about 35 dollars. Make sure you get the real thing, and not a cheap imitation. The best price I have found recently for the USAF Survival Knife is about 35 dollars at a website called Bestglide.com. The latest version is known as the SP2 Air Force Survival Knife and has a polymer handle and mostly cordura sheath. The overall knife design seems to be unchanged. It will cost closer to 50 dollars.


The sheath is leather, the snap is very secure, it has a number of holes where 550 cord can be tied for securing the knife to your body, and it has a pocket with a small sharpening stone. The raw leather sheath was kind of bright for me; mine is dyed with black shoe dye. The handle end of the knife, the butt, is a piece of solid steel and can be used as a hammer. There are sawteeth on the back of the blade- something I use a lot.


I keep a cordlock compass, a Hot Spark metal match and a piece of 550 cord tied on mine. The 550 cord acts like a sling to carry the knife over the shoulder and is long enough for use on a bow for a bow and drill fire kit. Also wrapped around the sheath and covered with a Ranger band (a 1 1/2 inch length of bike inner tube) is 30 feet of 63 pound test nylon fishing line.


Reference: SouthwestGuideBooks.com