Ok, just for a few nights out in the sticks where one is concerned with just communing with nature, doing your thing and then heading back to civilisation, what is better than a useful SAK, or Leatherman. I mean any good SAK or leatherman has at least two useful blades and sometimes a very useful saw besides other bits of shaped metal that can be put to various uses other than their intended uses. So, wherever I go, a Leatherman Juice Xe6 comes with me, and as I always carry my wallet, there is a Swiss card in there, so that is carrying toothpick, tweezers and pin, about as much as I need for what I do. I look at it this way, if I wanted to chop a branch, for whatever purposes, hey I can saw a branch, the rather fine saw found on useful multi tool knives can be good for anything upto six inch diameter, a lot of work, but then to need a branch has got to have some desperation in it. But, when I commune with nature, my aim is to exist without customising my enviroment.
And so to a fixed blade, I do own a Frost's of Mora general purpose knife, and a Devon pattern Billhook, if I envisaged a situation where I would need heavier duty blades, then I would take my Frost's general purpose fixed blade knife, yeah, it has a Scandinavian grind, but knives from there tend to be ground that way, but the knife is a general purpose knife. Anything heavier, then the billhook comes out to play. Now, when I go out in the sticks, I resist carrying my Frosts knife on my belt, because I am kind of forgetful, and it is likely I will forget the thing hanging there and walk out into public and with this society we live in, not a good idea. Sweden, ok, no problems, they have a different attitude up there, but here, the thought scares me, so I don't wear my Mora, it is a liability. To note, I use the pintle type sheaths, where the knife is free to take on any attitude I do, so if for example I decide to mimmick a bat in a tree, the knife swings so the handle faces up, I don't lose the knife.
A survival situation, if whatever happens, then it is usually at a time you don't have your shiny bits of kit on you, so it is having the knowledge to improvise from what you may find around, that is what survival means to me, and in such cases, survival from what kind of disaster, if aircraft, well we all know the prohibitions on taking any seemingly pointed or edged tool in the cabin, we simply won't have the stuff we have learned to depend on with us, so it's knowledge that is the sharpest tool you will have.
But one thing I do see what with bushcraft and survival, is they are once again marketing ploys, something can be sold, with either name attached, and it makes a bog standard knife special in some way, and there creates a confidence in the user, which might not be otherwise there, to remember, a knife is just a cutting tool, nothing more, when push comes to shove, there are many ways to achieve your aim without the most obvious and why risk breaking a knife, or injuring yourself doing something on the edge of it's capabilities when there are bigger tools more suited to the job. Want to cut branches, take a saw.