Best bushcraft knife ...

[Kukriman]

You all seem like hands on types! There are a lot of great blades available from Helle ...

and much less costly...

Knife making has becime a lot easier in the past years...many fine woods and material available...
Go for it...I'd love to see how you do!

CHop ON!
kukriman

 

[TheViking]

To decide which knife is the best, you would have to have tried them all (well at least the potential candidates).
I'm getting materials home soon to make a knife, i'm sure it will be a great one. :wave:

 

[Moine]

It's hard to choose only ONE knife... I almost always use a combination of at least two. A big blade for the heavy-duty stuff, and a scandi for the rest.

That being said, if I had to choose only ONE blade, I'd pick a Swamp Rat Camp Tramp. It's a good chopper, and with the oversized notch you can choke up on the blade and use if for minute work. One of the only blades I ever owned that can chop down a small tree, split it in half to make a fire board, and then carve a perfectly clean notch...

Sorry for the numbers, I edited that pic for kit references.

I've reprofiled that CT a little and gave it a thin convex edge. The rest of the blade geometry does the rest. Great all around knife.

My second fave would be a Fallkniven F1, and then a frost's #780 & the like (triflex), and then the regular red handled moras.

Cheers,

David

 

[rapidboy]

I rate the WS Micarta Woodlore very highly.
Great user but not much to look at.
The sheath could do with a fire steel holder but the knife is great.

I use mine quite a bit and don't really bother looking after it that well ,i keep it sharp but i never clean or oil it.
It has never rusted but has developed a nice patine.
My Alan Wood Bushcrafter is the same.
I was always told carbon blades are high maintenance ??
However I left my North Star for a couple of days without cleaning it and it has rusted and pitted very very deeply in a very short space of time.

Larry i'd like to see a pic of that leuku.
I was thinking about getting one of those blade's ,did you get your's from Attleborough ?

rb

 

[Burnt Ash]

I rate the WS Micarta Woodlore very highly.
Great user but not much to look at.
The sheath could do with a fire steel holder but the knife is great.

I use mine quite a bit and don't really bother looking after it that well ,i keep it sharp but i never clean or oil it.
It has never rusted but has developed a nice patine.
My Alan Wood Bushcrafter is the same.
I was always told carbon blades are high maintenance ??
However I left my North Star for a couple of days without cleaning it and it has rusted and pitted very very deeply in a very short space of time.

You are something of an enigma to me, RB. You are clearly very interested in knives and have (from your posts) shelled out more than a few bob on cutlery, not to mention your efforts (very credible) at knife-making. How difficult is it to give a knife a good sloosh under warm tapwater and a wipe with paper towel, before putting it away? Much, much easier and simpler than cleaning a gun, surely?

Burnt Ash

 

[rapidboy]

You are something of an enigma to me, RB. You are clearly very interested in knives and have (from your posts) shelled out more than a few bob on cutlery, not to mention your efforts (very credible) at knife-making.

I am a knife collector but i don't believe in "Case Queens" so 99% of my knives get used.
I believe knives are tools and as such mine get used hard and only the better quality blades will last.
I understand people who buy an AW Woodlore and keep it in mint condition because they are beautiful knives ,but they will only really appreciate it for what it is if they go out and use it.

How difficult is it to give a knife a good sloosh under warm tapwater and a wipe with paper towel, before putting it away?
Burnt Ash

Extremely difficult when your out in a forest with a bare minium of kit.

I went away for 3 days over the Christmas holidays and decided to give the North Star another chance.
I was not impressed with it initially so i made a few modifications to address what i considered the problem areas.
I removed the lanyard loop and re-profiled the handle a little.
I used the knife as i would my others (I cut ,battened and carved wood and prepared food) and as i said i was quite shocked to find that in just a couple of days the blade had pitted quite deeply.
My usual choice of WS Woodlore or Alan Wood Bushcrafter have developed a patina but show no signs of pitting despite this type of regular use. :?:

rb

 

[Hoodoo]

After some heavy use in the field cutting plant material, I've never found water to be all that good at getting all the sap and other gunk off a knife. At home I use WD40, goo be gone, brake cleaner, acetone etc.

 

[Moine]

After some heavy use in the field cutting plant material, I've never found water to be all that good at getting all the sap and other gunk off a knife. At home I use WD40, goo be gone, brake cleaner, acetone etc.

Saliva does it. Spit on the blade, spread the saliva, let dissolve and wipe.

Do NOT do that in front of the people you will cook for using the same knife, the same day

Cheers,

David

 

[Burnt Ash]

Extremely difficult when your out in a forest with a bare minium of kit.

I went away for 3 days over the Christmas holidays and decided to give the North Star another chance.
I was not impressed with it initially so i made a few modifications to address what i considered the problem areas.
I removed the lanyard loop and re-profiled the handle a little.
I used the knife as i would my others (I cut ,battened and carved wood and prepared food) and as i said i was quite shocked to find that in just a couple of days the blade had pitted quite deeply.
My usual choice of WS Woodlore or Alan Wood Bushcrafter have developed a patina but show no signs of pitting despite this type of regular use. :?:

rb

Come on mate, not that difficult. There's usually a drop or two of warm water at the bottom of the kettle or cooking pot and something to wipe a knife with. We're talking about a vital item of equipment here: something that some of us (you included) will cheerfully spend over £200 on. I'm glad that you actually get out and use your knives: that's where knives are proven or failed, not here on the internet. Whatever, a knife should be able to take a week or two in the field without falling apart at the seams.

I'm interested in your comments on the North Star. It didn't do it for me in the development stages (and my posts to that effect are on record). That said, I'm darned sure that Bark River make (or have the capability of making) some of the best 'factory' knives going.

Burnt Ash

 

[alick]

I find the oily rag I carry for wiping my knife down is also very good at shifting the crud off the blade. No big deal to replace it when it gets too manky.

To the original quesion - Alan Wood Woodlore - it's the first proper fixed blade I ever chose and still the best single knife I've ever handled for bushcraft.

I do prefer to carry something with a more delicate blade to deal with the smaller jobs as well.

 

[Andy]

If you don't need to batton the knife through wood then I would say Lindi that Danzo owns would be the ideal bushcraft knife. Main reaon is that it's better balance then any full tang knife with a short blade that I've come across.

I'm very temped to say the Mora is the best bushcraft knife. For me bushcraft is partly about getting away from all the mordern high tech exspensive stuff. The mora sums this up for me

but if I could only have one cutting tool.
so far of all the knives I've used it would have to be the F1 (but it needs the bevels to be made a bit thinner)

 

[rapidboy]

Come on mate, not that difficult. There's usually a drop or two of warm water at the bottom of the kettle or cooking pot and something to wipe a knife with. We're talking about a vital item of equipment here: something that some of us (you included) will cheerfully spend over £200 on. Burnt Ash

My point is that i don't have to fuss over my other knives (nor do i want to or expect to have to) but the North Star seems to corrode much easier than the other's.
I don't know enough about steel and heat treatment to know why this is the case but it is in my experience.

If i was buying one knife only then i would pay a little more and get a woodlore as it is IMO a better knife and certainly a better "bushcraft" knife.

I do not have an AW Woodlore but my AW Bushcrafter seems to hold an edge slightly better (only just) than the WS version of the Woodlore and throw's better sparks with a fire steel (again only just).
I do not consider this justification enough to buy an AW version over a WS version but pride of ownership and investment may also be considerations ?

I have never spent more than £200 pounds on a knife ???

 

[Burnt Ash]

My point is that i don't have to fuss over my other knives (nor do i want to or expect to have to) but the North Star seems to corrode much easier than the other's.
I don't know enough about steel and heat treatment to know why this is the case but it is in my experience.

If i was buying one knife only then i would pay a little more and get a woodlore as it is IMO a better knife and certainly a better "bushcraft" knife.

I do not have an AW Woodlore but my AW Bushcrafter seems to hold an edge slightly better (only just) than the WS version of the Woodlore and throw's better sparks with a fire steel (again only just).
I do not consider this justification enough to buy an AW version over a WS version but pride of ownership and investment may also be considerations ?

You make a perfectly reasonable point RB. Why should you have to fuss over a using knife in fairly modest exposure? If you're going to use knives in ordinary outdoors environments, they should hold up! In extreme environments and where you don't have the wherewithal to maintain them easily, one must consider 'stainless' steels and inert, stable handle materials (not to mention sheath materials).

But the fact remains: why do you buy a knife (of this sort)? You buy it in the reasonable expectation that it will be a reliable tool in the conditions that you expose it to. If it fails where you reasonably expect to need it, then it is a failure!

Brunt bottom


Burnt Ash

 

[leon-1]

But the fact remains: why do you buy a knife (of this sort)? You buy it in the reasonable expectation that it will be a reliable tool in the conditions that you expose it to. If it fails where you reasonably expect to need it, then it is a failure! Burnt Ash

Why do you buy a knife of this sort?

You buy it in the reasonable expectation that it will be a reliable tool in the conditions that you expose it to

You answered the question in part yourself, there is always the point that we will always try to get something better, something that suites us as individuals, something that you will be more at home with, something that as a tool performs better in our hands than anyhting that we currently have.

If it fails where you reasonably expect to need it, then it is a failure!

Firstly how do you know if it is going to fail, you, RB or I have no gateway to the future to know if the tool will or will not fail us.

Secondly it did not fail, there was no catastrophic failure of the tool, RB mentioned corrossion, in the form of pitting, but all steels are subject to corossion including stainless steels. In the end it comes down to time.

Now can we get back onto the original subject of the thread, what is the best bushcraft knife?

 

[RovingArcher]

Even though our weather here is usually much drier than that of the UK, I keep a thin coat of oil on my carbon blades and clean the blade after each use and re-apply the oil. If they live in a leather sheath, I remove them and place them in a drawer so the leather doesn't draw any moisture to the blade. So far, the only blade I have that has a slight corrosion problem is my Khukuri.

As far as what I might believe to be the best Bushcrafting blade, my experience with this type of blade is very limited. Of the three knives I own that I'd consider a bushcrafty blade, the NS is the best all around cutter and performer. The other two blades that I own, a Mora 2000 and a Swak are both nice knives and the M2K performs near as well as the NS. The SwAK doesn't bite near as deep on some cuts as the other two, but other than that, it's a fairly good performing knife.

I'd like to get my hands on a few of the blades you all talk about here, but the rate of exchange puts them well out of my meager means. I did like the current write up on Allan Blades Scandi Pack Pal and it's more in line with our finances, so we'll see what SWMBO has to say about it when Allan gets back to me.

 

[dataphage]

but if I could only have one cutting tool.
so far of all the knives I've used it would have to be the F1 (but it needs the bevels to be made a bit thinner)

I'm pretty much with Andy on this but I do use my EKA W11 a lot more but only after I put shallow convex edges on it which took a LONG time. The F1 is great but the convex on the blade does feel too steep - however I have found that if I thin out the edge it rolls over. Not a problem I have had with the EKA or any of my others. In process of re-profiling the F1's convexes - it might take a while, I don't get on too well with VG10 even with Fallkniven's own sharpening stone.

 

[JakeR]

I have to say that i rate the Northstar highly. It's slicing ability is awesome, and if you can control cuts well enough will do whatever you tell it to. (within reason )
Mine has rusted slightly but that was because i left it in my badafter a walk and forgot about until a week later (exam sidetracked me!). It is slightly rusted, but i have since given the whole edge a bit of a make-over, it looks a bit over-used but it's only cosmetic.

I find convex edges are more efficient, but also more likely that your cut will go wrong...IMExperience (have i just invented a new abbreviation )

The Bison, (which i got, reading my previous posts), is also great, but i haven't used it as extensively. but i cannot see why it would be absolutely brilliant...but i reserve judgement until it is fair!

If the bison is better than the WS woodlore then i would value it as my absolute best. the only reason why IMO it may not be is the shallow bevel, can be a bit akward sometimes...we'll see...

:biggthump