LOL. That brings us back to asking why we need to do bushcraft itself? We don't. the whole thing's for fun. BUT!!! That in and of itself is a good enough reason.
Large knives: advantages & disadvantages...
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LOL. That brings us back to asking why we need to do bushcraft itself? We don't. the whole thing's for fun. BUT!!! That in and of itself is a good enough reason.
I use a 9 inch leuku and a 3,5 inch knife. (the lengths are blade lengths)
The leuku is carried strapped to my pack, and comes out in and around camp. mostly for chopping tasks.
The small knife is in my belt for accessability and gets used the most.
I do want something in between, a 4 inch blade, but one has not made it's way into my arsenal as I just cant justify it. The smaller knife makes the tasks of a small knife better, and the big knife tasks is better taken care of by the leuku.
The only thing is that a 4 inch blade would be better for batoning wood, but I hate risking my knife doing that, so I'd rather carry an axe.
Someone mentioned that by using bushcraft knowledge, you can eliminate tools. But good bushcraft is also knowing what is the most efficient tools for the job.
And then what gets used/carried must be up to the prefrence of each individual. Sure, you can split wood by using the saw on your SAK, but why on earth would you want to other than as an excerzise to
perfect the teqnique in case it would be needed?
Sometimes it's like bushcrafters go out of their way to complicate even the simplest of tasks...using a SAK to split wood...he he
So carry an axe, or if you preffer, a knife blade that can be pressed into service as one if you must.
The leuku is carried strapped to my pack, and comes out in and around camp. mostly for chopping tasks.
The small knife is in my belt for accessability and gets used the most.
I do want something in between, a 4 inch blade, but one has not made it's way into my arsenal as I just cant justify it. The smaller knife makes the tasks of a small knife better, and the big knife tasks is better taken care of by the leuku.
The only thing is that a 4 inch blade would be better for batoning wood, but I hate risking my knife doing that, so I'd rather carry an axe.
Someone mentioned that by using bushcraft knowledge, you can eliminate tools. But good bushcraft is also knowing what is the most efficient tools for the job.
And then what gets used/carried must be up to the prefrence of each individual. Sure, you can split wood by using the saw on your SAK, but why on earth would you want to other than as an excerzise to
perfect the teqnique in case it would be needed?
Sometimes it's like bushcrafters go out of their way to complicate even the simplest of tasks...using a SAK to split wood...he he
So carry an axe, or if you preffer, a knife blade that can be pressed into service as one if you must.
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A blade can be both razor sharp and a terrible cutter, based on the blade geometry and steel thickness. A thick blade with short stumpy grind will cut ok at the very edge, but as soon as it cuts deeper than the initial edge the thickness then stops it cutting much deeper. 
A few comments mentioned the MOD blade being poor for cutting & a few comments said the blade is very sharp. I saw this video which I watched about 10 times, laughing harder each time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtiqYwigtY
We don't get many large elk or moose on bushcraftuk, I. Order to give advise on things related to bushcraft you have to draw the line some ware we can't recommend carrying 6ft cross cut lumberjack saws because the Od person cut down large trees
A blade can be both razor sharp and a terrible cutter, based on the blade geometry and steel thickness. A thick blade with short stumpy grind will cut ok at the very edge, but as soon as it cuts deeper than the initial edge the thickness then stops it cutting much deeper.
Good point that. Which is why I prefer a thin bladed knife for whitling over a thick so called "bushcraft" knife.
Thats why i primarily use 3mm thick 01 as standard on my knives. With a much finer grind than say the woodlore. Which is thicker and stumpier.
Thats why i primarily use 3mm thick 01 as standard on my knives. With a much finer grind than say the woodlore. Which is thicker and stumpier.
My Enzo trapper in o1 tool steel is a lousy whitling knife. It's just too thick so I use a 4£ mora 711. I think the blade is 1,8mm thick on it. But then, whitling is not what the Enzo was designed for.
My 9 inch leuku has a 3 mm thick blade, but that is put to much heavier tasks. So in that larger knife a thicker blade is okay. But for the smaller, belt knives, used for whitling and all sorts of precission tasks I much prefer the blade to be no thicker than around 2 mm.
and why I came up with the Flandi grind to give a fine 2mm scandi edge and a 6mm spineThats why i primarily use 3mm thick 01 as standard on my knives. With a much finer grind than say the woodlore. Which is thicker and stumpier.
. Lighter than a 3mm scandi blade to
Hmmm, not sure about the weight. I've held one of yours. It was a lot lighter than i expected though, well balanced and nimble I'd say they are on par weight wise, but that would depend on the handle materials on the scandi.
I've held one of yours. It was a lot lighter than i expected though, well balanced and nimble I'd say they are on par weight wise, but that would depend on the handle materials on the scandi. and why I came up with the Flandi grind to give a fine 2mm scandi edge and a 6mm spine
I make carvers with 3mm blades and they get good reviews. I'd say the depth of the blade is an important factor though. Good carvers need narrow blades or they are about as manoeuvrable as a tank. Mora have narrow blades, enzo's have wide ones
I'd say the depth of the blade is an important factor though. Good carvers need narrow blades or they are about as manoeuvrable as a tank. Mora have narrow blades, enzo's have wide ones
You're setting the bar for "bushcraft" pretty low then (or perhaps making the definition too narrow) As I said in a previous post, there are a fair few on this forum who do indeed hunt. And you do have Red Deer over there (very comparable to elk)
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Hmmm, not sure about the weight.
yes Im talking just the blade blank with no lightening holes in the 3mm scandi
the 6mm blank before drilling and grinding was 255gms
yes Scales make a massive difference my Original has light walnut scales and alu/Carbon fibre pins to keep weight down and fwds comes in at 140gms
4mm Woodlore is 200gms
Mora Clipper is 76gms
Carbon fibre scales are massively heavy by comparison and change the balance from concept but do look good
can be battoned hard
and used for fine carving
ATB
Duncan
Just weighed 4 of mine, all 3 mm scandis. The lightest was 148g, the heaviest was 160g. Both the lightest and heaviest of the 4 were DPB-1's. lightest in Yew, heaviest in buffalo horn.
Just weighed 4 of mine, all 3 mm scandis. The lightest was 148g, the heaviest was 160g. Both the lightest and heaviest of the 4 were DPB-1's. lightest in Yew, heaviest in buffalo horn.
DSP 4.5" blade 9" OA
Iv hunted for years and a large knive is certainly not required for red dear, unless you mean actually chasing the dear and killing it with a knife
I supposed they were comparable to elk in size. If so, then no, a large knife isn't "required." Just much, much better. You can dress an elephant with a razor blade if you're patient enough.
But regards the elk/red deer a 5' or so skinning knife (or a proper butchers' knife) along with bone saw and meat cleaver is a much better choice. Even for normal sized deer (white tails, muleys, etc.) Especially if you're processing several per day.
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I just split some Hawthorn - 2 logs - one split down with a Billhook (easy), one split with a 2.5" whittler 1.25mm thick (difficult) ... but I would prefer to do fine carving with the whittler rather than the Billhook....
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I like a smaller blade, even my Condor Bushlore seems bigger than I can get along with.
My sharps for the woods - I normally have a SAK hunter in my pocket too. The hatchet only comes along if I haven't got far to walk...
My sharps for the woods - I normally have a SAK hunter in my pocket too. The hatchet only comes along if I haven't got far to walk...
