bushwacker bob said:
But if someone came along and offered them a decent modern knife,they would have jumped at the chance of 'better kit'.Just as we all do today!
It depends on whether a decent modern knife would actually be 'better' for what they used it for...
They did not do exactly what we call 'bushcraft' today.
Some were often on the move and did not create a permanent camp...
They would roll out a bedroll to sleep, and use an axe or just break wood for a fire.
They would trap using real traps, not improvised ones...
For MOST of them, this was their LIVING, not their LIFE.
They hunted for food, and their knives reflected that... What better to butcher a animal than a butcher knife?
A modern bushcraft knife is not all that good for butchering... It will WORK, but it is hardly great at it...
It it has a convex grind, it would be a little better, as slicing through meat is one of the convex grinds strong points, but a thick bladed knife will almost never be as good as a thin bladed knife for the purposes that they used them for(unless they were very badly ground...Which they were not...)