An Overview of Outdoor Camping and Survival Knives

A good knife - actually multiple good knives or cutting tools - are essential for the outdoorsman or woman.  A good knife is necessary for cutting everything from string to cheese, making fuzz sticks or shavings for tinder, clearing small branches, and a host of other things.  While one can make do with almost any kind of knife, certain types of knives are best for certain activities and a small pocket knife probably won't do all that needs to be done.

The basic classes of outdoor knives are folding knives, small fixed blades, mid-size fixed blades, and large choppers.  Folders are easy to carry in a pocket, handy, and very useful for small chores.   They do have the downside of being weaker at the joint and considerably smaller than most fixed blades, which makes them less than ideal for chopping or battoning.  There are exceptions to this such as the recently discontinued Benchmade Rukus and the Strider folders.  In general, though, everyone should carry a pocket knife because of their small inconspicuous size, ease of carry, and overall usefulness. 

Small fixed blades or neck knives are a good option or addition to a folder.  A number of outdoorsmen prefer to carry a small fixed blade knife instead of a folder because of the strength gained with a fixed blade, while very little carryability is lost because of their small size.  Many of these knives can be carried in a pocket or around the neck, where they can be out of the way yet still readily available.  Even when carried on a belt, they are small enough to be almost unnoticeable.  Small fixed blades can do most of the work done by folding knives, but allow some batonning and other small but hard jobs to be performed.

Mid-size fixed blades in approximately the 4-6" range are an excellent all-around choice and probably make up most of the outdoor knives used.  They are large enough to do almost any job except for heavy chopping or clearing, and the larger models can even do a limited amount of that.  If one knife is to be carried, this size is often the size chosen.  The size chosen is a personal decision based on each person's preference.   I prefer a knife more towards the larger end, since most of my smaller jobs can be done with a decent size folder.  A lot of people prefer a smaller fixed blade.  The best way is to try a few sizes and see what you prefer.

Large choppers are a fascinating type of knife and can be very useful in the wilderness.  Their forte is chopping and clearing, but can be used for almost any task with the proper technique.  It is often said that a small knife can do anything a large knife can do with the proper technique.  While this is true, the large knife user is often going to do the job more quickly and easily than the person with only a small knife.  There just are jobs that a 9" blade can do, that a 4" blade cannot do.  Often, large knife users carry a smaller knife with them as well, so that the small jobs can be more easily performed.  Both sized are useful and necessary in the outdoors.

The basic idea is - carry anything you want as long as it fits you and does the job!