Ive been doing a fair bit of shelter building recently, going out into the woods equiped with some cheap groundsheets, a sleeping bag, billy can, thermarest and two knives, mainly my BG Bushcrafter and the 8.3" Leuku i made for myself.
The tasks i encountered where the same as i have always encountered when spending more than an afternoon in the woods, Clearing brush, chopping poles and withy's, collecting firewood, cutting it into managable sizes, tent pegs, ect.
anyway, for these tasks i found that i was only using one knife, my Leuku, whilst the smaller bushcraft knife would have been capable of cutting these trees and withys down with a batton and some elbow grease, the leuku which weighs little more was devouring every task i threw at it effortlessly, it would slice through poles and withys like they wernt there, batton firewood, clear brush with ease and just with a slight flick and chopping action. later on i tried featersticking, again the task was accomplished with ease, as was carving and cutting the notches for a tent peg.
this made me think, why do most bushcrafters say that a 4" blade is all you need?
i guess when coupled with an axe then its pretty good, but an axe is heavy and it cant clear vegetation or cut light withys as energy efficently as a leuku.
i guess most bushcrafters, when they go out, they take their hammock and tarp or tent, carrying this means they can do without gathering materials from the forest, hence the only thing the knife may be used for is, splitting wood, cutting food, string ect and carving these are tasks a 4" bushcraft knife excell at.
However, if you look across the world at most indigenous peoples and see what they are using in a forest environment, they are using large bladed knives. the Seax, Parang, Machete and the leuku, and watching them use the tools shows how skilled they are, their knife is the only thing they will ever need.
As some of you may know i am not at all against mid size fixed blade knives, im rather an advocate to be honest.
However after using larger blades such as the leuku, im beggining to question why they have such as fixed roll as the main tool in bushcraft when the larger blade gets so much more use?
anyway, i would be keen to know everyone elses veiws on this
The tasks i encountered where the same as i have always encountered when spending more than an afternoon in the woods, Clearing brush, chopping poles and withy's, collecting firewood, cutting it into managable sizes, tent pegs, ect.
anyway, for these tasks i found that i was only using one knife, my Leuku, whilst the smaller bushcraft knife would have been capable of cutting these trees and withys down with a batton and some elbow grease, the leuku which weighs little more was devouring every task i threw at it effortlessly, it would slice through poles and withys like they wernt there, batton firewood, clear brush with ease and just with a slight flick and chopping action. later on i tried featersticking, again the task was accomplished with ease, as was carving and cutting the notches for a tent peg.
this made me think, why do most bushcrafters say that a 4" blade is all you need?
i guess when coupled with an axe then its pretty good, but an axe is heavy and it cant clear vegetation or cut light withys as energy efficently as a leuku.
i guess most bushcrafters, when they go out, they take their hammock and tarp or tent, carrying this means they can do without gathering materials from the forest, hence the only thing the knife may be used for is, splitting wood, cutting food, string ect and carving these are tasks a 4" bushcraft knife excell at.
However, if you look across the world at most indigenous peoples and see what they are using in a forest environment, they are using large bladed knives. the Seax, Parang, Machete and the leuku, and watching them use the tools shows how skilled they are, their knife is the only thing they will ever need.
As some of you may know i am not at all against mid size fixed blade knives, im rather an advocate to be honest.
However after using larger blades such as the leuku, im beggining to question why they have such as fixed roll as the main tool in bushcraft when the larger blade gets so much more use?
anyway, i would be keen to know everyone elses veiws on this
