Question: What defines a bushcraft knife?

[Graham_S]

i rather like my svord drop point.....

 

[Stuart]

Behave yourself Stuart... You are an expert and anyone who says otherwise can argue with me!

sorry to disappoint guys but I'm no expert, Far from it I'm a rank armature compared with some of the skill I witnessed from BCUK members at the Bushmoot, which put my meagre skills to shame. my plant lore as an example is appalling

don’t confuse my photographic and internet prolificacy with knowledge and skill, its usually the people next to me in the photos who are the real bushcraft masters.

I am an overly enthusiastic student delighted to have had the opportunity to glean a tiny portion of their vast knowledge.

 

[Hoodoo]

I think one of the reasons these threads occur so often is that there is often too much emphasis on THE ONE KNIFE. What is even more unusual is that the Woodlore knife is often seen as the ideal knife, yet I would venture to say that there is not an aboriginal group anywhere in the world that has ever had such a knife design as part of their traditional heritiage. I know a handful of years ago when I first asked Scandanavian makers if they would make me a full tang scandi knife, they thought I was nuts. This is an obvious indicater that bushcraft as a hobby and bushcraft as a way of life for people are two different things.

I don't want to get into a debate about what bushcraft is or isn't but I can say in general that for the kinds of outdoor activities I most normally do, (hunting, fishing, backpacking, canoeing, birding), I prefer a bit thinner blade than the original woodlore design. And anytime I have to lug a lot of gear a long distance on my back, I also prefer a stick tang, since it's inherently lighter. And if I'm on a fishing trip, an important bush knife for me is a fillet knife. And contrary to what Ray Mears has stated, I think slipjoints are wonderful knives for the woods. Evidently his birch bark canoe instructor feels the same way since a slipjoint was figured quite prominently in his video on the birch bark canoe.

I would say that thinking in terms of the quintessential bushcraft knife is not the best approach to the outdoors in general. I propose that it's better to think about what you will be doing when you go into the woods, and take the best tools for the job, and forget about the "one knife" syndrome.

 

[addyb]

Thank you guys for the answers!

Here's my take on it:

Robert DeNiro and Sean Bean in "Ronin"

Sean: "So what do you favour, weapons wise? I'm a uh...weapons man."

Robbbie: "Well you know, it's a tool. You reach into the toolbox and use whatever's there."

 

[Goose]

sorry to disappoint guys but I'm no expert, Far from it I'm a rank armature compared with some of the skill I witnessed from BCUK members at the Bushmoot, which put my meagre skills to shame. my plant lore as an example is appalling

don’t confuse my photographic and internet prolificacy with knowledge and skill, its usually the people next to me in the photos who are the real bushcraft masters.

I am an overly enthusiastic student delighted to have had the opportunity to glean a tiny portion of their vast knowledge.

I too am an overly enthusiastic student delighted to have had the opportunity to glean a tiny portion of your vast knowledge.

 

[The General]

Stuart, you have knoledge of aspects of our interest that astounded me at the BCUK moot. We can't all have comprehensive all knowing knoledge of all aspects of our "hobby" but I know that if you were introduced into a court case as a witness you would certainly be considered an expert in the area of bushcraft. At least on aspects of it.

We can't all be a Mors or similar!

 

[TAHAWK]

I think one of the reasons these threads occur so often is that there is often too much emphasis on THE ONE KNIFE. What is even more unusual is that the Woodlore knife is often seen as the ideal knife, yet I would venture to say that there is not an aboriginal group anywhere in the world that has ever had such a knife design as part of their traditional heritiage. I know a handful of years ago when I first asked Scandanavian makers if they would make me a full tang scandi knife, they thought I was nuts. This is an obvious indicater that bushcraft as a hobby and bushcraft as a way of life for people are two different things.
. . .
I would say that thinking in terms of the quintessential bushcraft knife is not the best approach to the outdoors in general. I propose that it's better to think about what you will be doing when you go into the woods, and take the best tools for the job, and forget about the "one knife" syndrome.

Words of wisdom and would go a fair way to eliminating half of the threads on the US knife forums.

 

[Andy]

I'd say it depends on what you call bushcraft.

 

[savantuk]

if ray mears has ever used one it is a bushcraft knife

all others are fakes, beware of cheap copies

please watch and study all of rms programs minutely

Tant

With the greatest of respect, this answer is both specious, untrue, and uninformed.

To believe this to be true, one would have to consider Ray Mears to be the only 'bushcrafter' who had ever lived, and this consideration is just plain daft.

Ray Mears has stature in the UK, because of his TV programmes, nothing more, nothing less. Without the programme, few would have heard of him.

People have been using 'bushcraft' style knives for bushcraft for thousands of years, quite successfully, indeed even recently, Alan Wood was producing knives in the buscraft style before anybody had even heard of Ray Mears.

There are dozens of wonderful bushcraft knives available now, and quite a few, that are in my opinion, better than the 'bushcrafter', and cheaper too.

The bushcrafter is a good knife, I have no doubt of that, but it is, in my opinion, overpriced, and over hyped.

I have nothing against Ray Mears either, he has, singlehandedly, done more for bushcrafting, and bushcrafting techniques, than any other person before hime, and has transformed the conception of the art from arcane to appreciation, but bushcraft, and good bushcrafting knives have been around since the iron age, we would do well not to forget this.

Regards,

Doug

 

[BorderReiver]

With the greatest of respect, this answer is both specious, untrue, and uninformed.

Doug

It was also meant as a joke I think.

 

[savantuk]

Hello,

I withdraw my comments. Having re-read the thread, I can now see that it was meant to be light hearted.

I have a problem with dogma.

Sorry

 

[BorderReiver]

Hello,

I withdraw my comments. Having re-read the thread, I can now see that it was meant to be light hearted.

I have a problem with dogma.

Sorry

No worries.Welcome to the forum.