The Elusive “One Knife” for Bushcraft…?

[JonathanD]

No such critter imo. Feel free to experiment though and deplete you bank account. Or just buy a Mora. Or a bunch of Moras. Now my idea of all-round woods knife would be something like the Victorinox Venture.

Wow. Ten years you’ve been away. And you’ve still not found a proper knife to buy

 

[jaspat3]

The Elusive “One Knife” for Bushcraft…? This is a difficult question. Over the years, I’ve used knives of different types and steels and have never come across a perfect knife. A thick, heavy Scandivex in V4E with a dull edge (5’’), a K390 Puuko with a saber grind—almost perfect but quite fragile. A high-convex 3V knife with a thick, heavy blade—a bit too large (5”) but powerful for batoning—and a Woodlore-style V4E knife, agile (3.8”) and perfect for wood carving and making feathersticks from softwood, though unsuitable for food preparation. One of the best: an LT Wright GNS saber-ground (3v) knife—a beautiful knife with a handle that’s too heavy, making it tiring to use. I thought I could split dry oak with a 5.6’’ 3v flat-ground knife, but the results were disappointing, with wave-like lateral distortions demonstrating that the 3v’s transverse toughness is average—at least for a flat-ground blade. I’ve also found that it’s easy to resell high-quality knives as long as they’re in very good condition, so the investment in bushcraft knives—which might seem unreasonable at first—ends up being reasonable after all.

 

[C_Claycomb]

No such critter imo. Feel free to experiment though and deplete you bank account. Or just buy a Mora. Or a bunch of Moras. Now my idea of all-round woods knife would be something like the Victorinox Venture.

Hey man….just seen this. Great to see you, even if only briefly.

 

[C_Claycomb]

The Elusive “One Knife” for Bushcraft…? This is a difficult question. Over the years, I’ve used knives of different types and steels and have never come across a perfect knife. A thick, heavy Scandivex in V4E with a dull edge (5’’), a K390 Puuko with a saber grind—almost perfect but quite fragile. A high-convex 3V knife with a thick, heavy blade—a bit too large (5”) but powerful for batoning—and a Woodlore-style V4E knife, agile (3.8”) and perfect for wood carving and making feathersticks from softwood, though unsuitable for food preparation. One of the best: an LT Wright GNS saber-ground (3v) knife—a beautiful knife with a handle that’s too heavy, making it tiring to use. I thought I could split dry oak with a 5.6’’ 3v flat-ground knife, but the results were disappointing, with wave-like lateral distortions demonstrating that the 3v’s transverse toughness is average—at least for a flat-ground blade. I’ve also found that it’s easy to resell high-quality knives as long as they’re in very good condition, so the investment in bushcraft knives—which might seem unreasonable at first—ends up being reasonable after all.

The lateral distortions that you ascribe to 3V’s toughness are nothing to do with the steel or its toughness. First the ability to stay straight under load is stiffness, and it is related to the modulus of the metal, (annealed 3V has same modulus as hard 3V), and steels are all very similar. More importantly, second moment of area, which relates to thickness in the direction you are bending. So, a FFG is less stiff than a Scandi, and thicker blades are much stiffer than thin ones. Stiffness is a cube function of thickness, regardless of the steel.

What you may have enjoyed with 3V is that it’s toughness meant you could hammer it into seasoned oak and neither the blade nor tang broke on you…which has been the fate of other steels in similar conditions. It’s good stuff!

 

[Toddy]

No such critter imo. Feel free to experiment though and deplete you bank account. Or just buy a Mora. Or a bunch of Moras. Now my idea of all-round woods knife would be something like the Victorinox Venture.

It's so good to see you here you have been missed.

I hadn't seen that one though....mmm....."I don't need any more shinies, I don't need any more shinies !"

 

[TLM]

The lateral distortions that you ascribe to 3V’s toughness are nothing to do with the steel or its toughness. First the ability to stay straight under load is stiffness, and it is related to the modulus of the metal, (annealed 3V has same modulus as hard 3V), and steels are all very similar. More importantly, second moment of area, which relates to thickness in the direction you are bending. So, a FFG is less stiff than a Scandi, and thicker blades are much stiffer than thin ones. Stiffness is a cube function of thickness, regardless of the steel.

What you may have enjoyed with 3V is that it’s toughness meant you could hammer it into seasoned oak and neither the blade nor tang broke on you…which has been the fate of other steels in similar conditions. It’s good stuff!

Yep, there are some engineering truths that do not care about opinions.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Hello again @jaspat3 , the knives you described sound cool. Not quite what I have drifted to, but close enough I think I would have enjoyed them too.

 

[jaspat3]

3v Is a good stuff with a transversal toughness 4 times lower than its longitudinal toughness. Only the modified 3V designed by partially replacing vanadium with niobium, which made the carbides smaller, has almost similar tranversal and longitudinal toughnesses.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Hi,
I see where you are going.

Different sort of transverse.

What you are talking about above is related to rolling direction when the steel is made and how blades are oriented for cutting in the sheet. In your example above transverse direction is spine to edge, but in the earlier example it was bevel to bevel. This rolling orientation would make no difference for the oak splitting example, assuming the blade didn’t just break on you.


Atb
Chris

 

[jaspat3]

OK, thank you. Never do batoning seasoned twisted oak with a flat grind whatever the steel. Never had problem on my side with convex, scandi(vex), or sabre. grinds.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Well, I try to avoid splitting twisty seasoned oak at all times…too much like.

There is the bushcraft conundrum, does it demonstrate more skill to use whatever wood is immediately to hand, or to recognise that what is at hand is unsuitable and to know where to get better materials? I suppose one could argue the former is more “survival” and the latter more “bushcraft”.
Then there may be options for what to do with what is around. I watched Mors split a 14” aspen round with a little Mora, he carved some wedges first. Also saw him carve feather curls direct off the side of a 4” dead standing tree, but not on his first try. The first one he picked was case hardened and even he could not get it to curl!

For anyone interested, the reference to modified 3V probably comes from

3v Modified - The Lost Crucible Steel - Knife Steel Nerds

I enjoy reading patents from steel companies, it reveals information about new products and research often not available otherwise. One thing I’m surprised there isn’t more talk about is a steel Crucible patented but never sold – an improved 3V: https://www.google.com/patents/US7615123 How was...

knifesteelnerds.com

The original, which is what we have to work with, is very tough. I don’t go in for extreme testing much, but Nathan Carothers did a good video cutting through nails with his 3V.

 

[KnOeFz]

For me knives are like food... the same every time is no fun.
For fun in the woods I do like scandi ground knives...
Oh, and this thread needs more pics

Among my favorites are :

the MKM Normar, design from Jepser Voxnaes, made by Lionsteel in CPM3V

The Bushcraft UK you probably all know

but also on the otherend of the spectrum... a Mora finds its way into my bag often

And ofcoarse also full flat ground knives find thei way onto my bags regularly... like the Esee 3 or 4, Lionsteel M2M or Becker BK16 and bigger knives
like the Esee 6, BK7 or 9, Lionsteel T6... there's no end to this list

 

[JonathanD]

Awww the old BcUK Spyderco designed by a man of this here parish. Such great ergonomics on
that handle. I love it. CLEM uses his loads after the old spalted handles were stabilised. What a cock up that was. That actually qualifies for the ‘one knife’ ethos.