Recommendations for a knife for the field

[tNostalgia]

Hello, a pleasure to meet you all. I'm new to the forums and have come here for your advice to hopefully find the right bushcraft knife for me. I'm also looking to purchase one whether that be new or used.

An Introduction:
I am part of the army reserves and I am looking for a knife that can really do it all, whether that be splitting wood, making feather sticks, skinning and preparing animals, or cutting ropes. Anything that would be used for the field in a military/survival setting or a general bushcraft tool. My price range sits preferably around 100-150 but absolutely no more than 300.
I understand that knife material, grind, and design are key aspects of a suitable tool, and I have a few ideas for what I'm looking for.

Material: Stainless steel (corrosion resistance)
Grind: Convex (Good edge retention?)
Design: 4-5 Inches (Not unwieldy or too heavy)

From some research, I think that a Fallkniven F1 in Laminated Cos or perhaps an F1x in Elmax would make sense but I want to see what other suggestions from you guys can give me.

I understand that there is no perfect knife that can do it all and that compromises have to be made but I am willing to learn and spend some time to maintain and maximize the performance of the knife. Hopefully, there will be something suitable for me.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Hi, welcome and enjoy.
You're about to get a whole lot of good choices.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Have you looked at the Real Steel Bushcraft Plus? Looks like it ticks the right boxes.

Real Steel Bushcraft Plus Fixed Blade

Journey into the wilderness with confidence, wielding the Real Steel Bushcraft Plus Convex by your side. Designed for those who demand resilience in the face of nature's unpredictability, this fixed blade survival knife embodies the essence of durability and reliability.

heinnie.com

 

[FerlasDave]

I would suggest either:

Cold steel SRK
Condor terrasaur
Mora Garberg

All significantly lower than your budget and twice the knife of some that are significantly more than your budget.

 

[tNostalgia]

Have you looked at the Real Steel Bushcraft Plus? Looks like it ticks the right boxes.

Real Steel Bushcraft Plus Fixed Blade

Journey into the wilderness with confidence, wielding the Real Steel Bushcraft Plus Convex by your side. Designed for those who demand resilience in the face of nature's unpredictability, this fixed blade survival knife embodies the essence of durability and reliability.

heinnie.com

Thanks for the suggestion crosslandkelly, no I haven't seen this knife before.
Do you have any personal experience with this knife? I've never heard of the brand and it scarily cheap.

 

[tNostalgia]

I would suggest either:

Cold steel SRK
Condor terrasaur
Mora Garberg

All significantly lower than your budget and twice the knife of some that are significantly more than your budget.

Hello mate, thanks for the suggestions I appreciate it.

I've heard of the Mora Garberg before and it's infamous reputation, so it's a strong consideration for me. Would you say that's there are any knifes of similar performance to cost as the Mora Garberg in the £100-200 range?

 

[Nice65]

Thanks for the suggestion crosslandkelly, no I haven't seen this knife before.
Do you have any personal experience with this knife? I've never heard of the brand and it scarily cheap.

Real Steel make exceptionally good knives. Everything I’ve seen and handled of theirs has impressed. One of my EDC folders is a Stella, the fit and finish is superb.



Another maker, or collaboration of makers, I’d chuck in the mix would be Lion Steel. Molletta and his crew are deeply passionate Italian makers with incredible skills and knowledge of steels. The T5 might be near to being a perfect knife for your needs, 5mm thick, it’s a brute for splitting wood down. Might be overkill, there is a B (bushcraft) and M (military) series. You’ll certainly be tempted by something, they’re excellent knives.

Fixed Blade - lionSTEEL

www.lionsteel.it

Mik (Molletta) put a convex on my Rasul, he may be able to do the same for you, it’s a great grind for an all rounder.

 

[Moondog55]

Have a look at some commercial wide blade boning knives
I've carried an old one for decades; but you do have to make your own sheath as the commercial sheaths are for butchers and cooks

ErgoGrip Boning Knife 15 cm : DICK

www.dick.de

But I also like small general purpose paring knives and this one looks OK to me

VIVUM Paring Knife 10 CM : DICK

www.dick.de

That said I personally like big knives and my own carry is a 15" khukri with the small extra blade for fine work and a German army issue SAK in my pocket

 

[just_john]

Ah, the never ending search for the perfect one knife solution! I've not found it yet....

Your budget may allow you to get something custom made so you may want to consider that

Top of your budget recommendation - TRC Mille Couri. If you can find one and it's in your budget it will do everything you ask for I'd say. Not stainless but DLC coated, super comfy, tough and decent steel.

You can pick up a bark River Bravo 1, aurora or something in your budget. Again not stainless but the 3v model has quite good corrosion resistance, convex edge and is tough. Some people struggle to sharpen convex edges and the tougher the steel the tougher to sharpen generally

Terava jaakaripuukko 110 or 140. Another one that's not stainless but will be pretty much indestructible.

Fallkniven s1? I found the size a bit better than the F1 for whacking and bashing, but it's vg19. The A1 is great but a bit more weighty. I've only had standard F1/s1/a1 so can't comment on the X versions, but have seen people say the f1x is too thick for its length and the a1x is just too heavy overall.

Cold steel srk. For £60 odd you'll get something that will do everything but not stainless. The stainless model is more expensive and the 3v version is around £200

 

[Stew]

Ignoring everything that any one has said already, I’m going to go to the start of your post and ask about where you’re going to use the knife as it’s not too clear.

Is it for use while you’re on exercise with the reserves?

If so, I would go cheap Mora and even then possibly not. The brief stint I was in the TA, anyone that had a knife was labelled a Rambo and there wasn’t really a need for one either. You may have found a need and that’s cool. Maybe discuss with the officers one evening and see what they think.

Cheap Mora (or similar) for exercise
Nicer knife for personal camping trips.

 

[Kepis]

The brief stint I was in the TA, anyone that had a knife was labelled a Rambo and there wasn’t really a need for one either. You may have found a need and that’s cool. Maybe discuss with the officers one evening and see what they think.

Cheap Mora (or similar) for exercise
Nicer knife for personal camping trips.

My nephew was in the regulars, i bought him a Victorinox Farmer when he first went in, as it was unobtrusive, think he only ever used it for opening rat packs.

 

[tNostalgia]

Ignoring everything that any one has said already, I’m going to go to the start of your post and ask about where you’re going to use the knife as it’s not too clear.

Is it for use while you’re on exercise with the reserves?

If so, I would go cheap Mora and even then possibly not. The brief stint I was in the TA, anyone that had a knife was labelled a Rambo and there wasn’t really a need for one either. You may have found a need and that’s cool. Maybe discuss with the officers one evening and see what they think.

Cheap Mora (or similar) for exercise
Nicer knife for personal camping trips.

Being a reservist and not volunteering for deployments, I don't have any experience in the actual field or as such, but perhaps a primary driver of why I am looking for a knife is from the experiences of regulars I've had the pleasure of working with.

To sum up what these lads said, you'll want a knife that isn't your bayonet since you won't always have it (especially since I'm not infantry) and is better than a knife that's on a multitool, like a Victorianox, in the case of quickly defending oneself, doing daily tasks and SERE things. This would be something that would be carried on my shooter's belt or the right side of my webbing. Having something in the 3-6 inch range is ideal. A 6-inch or larger blade is overdoing it and does give the wannabe Rambo vibes.

Yes, I'm afraid of being called a Rambo haha, I have some self-awareness that I am a reservist and not really a real soldier but, god forbid, if I were to be sent off on deployment, I would rather be prepared with a knife I can trust and can maintain than to be scrambling grabbing whatever I can at the last minute.

Some people recommend the Gerber strongarm and others the SOG Seal pup, I'm sure they work but they're not knife experts, so I would rather have the advice of bushcrafters in the respect of a survival knife.

I'm leaning strongly toward the Mora Garberg since it does meet my requirements and is cheap enough to not worry too much about losing. If anyone reads this and has a Mora Garberg for a good price, I'm interested.

 

[tNostalgia]

Real Steel make exceptionally good knives. Everything I’ve seen and handled of theirs has impressed. One of my EDC folders is a Stella, the fit and finish is superb.

View attachment 82667

Another maker, or collaboration of makers, I’d chuck in the mix would be Lion Steel. Molletta and his crew are deeply passionate Italian makers with incredible skills and knowledge of steels. The T5 might be near to being a perfect knife for your needs, 5mm thick, it’s a brute for splitting wood down. Might be overkill, there is a B (bushcraft) and M (military) series. You’ll certainly be tempted by something, they’re excellent knives.

Fixed Blade - lionSTEEL

www.lionsteel.it

Mik (Molletta) put a convex on my Rasul, he may be able to do the same for you, it’s a great grind for an all rounder.

Thanks for your input mate, I've just looked at the Lionsteel T5 and it instantly drew my eye. The stonewash finish, canvas grips, and design are exactly to my taste. I'm not going to rush to conclusions but I was pretty close to impulse buying it.

I'm assuming you have personal experience with Lionsteel knives, so is there anything you can say about the build quality and the 'Niolox' stainless steel they use for a lot of their knives? Does it have good retention and ease of sharpening?

Thanks mate

 

[pieinthesky]

My advice would be to buy a Mora or one of the other cheap suggestions above.

After you have had it and used it for a while you will better understand what you want/need from a knife and can splash the cash with more confidence. - or just keep your Mora

 

[Decacraft]

My esee 3 is an all round beater. It's simple to sharpen, can prep food with it, abuse it for fire wood/shelter building.

Mine has taken all the abuse I can throw at it

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

You need something with a military heritage and cheap enough to lose or get pilfered A Finnish Terava jaakaripuukko 110 or 140 (I'd go for the short version is hard use with a bushcraft background. Get stainless, not carbon.

If you have the extra spends get the Rokka Knives Korpisoturi. A more developed Finnish army style knife. Colorway of sheath and handle meets MTP/Coyote Brown standard as well.

And a red handled standard 4 bladed Swiss Army Knife in your pocket always. It'll get the most use on aggressive camping.

 

[Decacraft]

You need something with a military heritage and cheap enough to lose or get pilfered A Finnish Terava jaakaripuukko 110 or 140 (I'd go for the short version is hard use with a bushcraft background. Get stainless, not carbon.

If you have the extra spends get the Rokka Knives Korpisoturi. A more developed Finnish army style knife. Colorway of sheath and handle meets MTP/Coyote Brown standard as well.

And a red handled standard 4 bladed Swiss Army Knife in your pocket always. It'll get the most use on aggressive camping.

It's a shame varusteleka won't ship bladed items to the UK, the jääkäripuukko is perfection

 

[Moondog55]

There are a couple of Mora and Mora style knives in OD and they are the budget option, although as a professional cook I don't think much of the Scandi grind. As a young CMF volunteer and like most of my regiment I carried either the khukri or that aforesaid butchers knife, the issued pocket knife being a real POS that couldn't be sharpened worth a damn and was heavy and bulky to boot.
Mates in Alaska say the plastic sheathed "Little Vicky" is the most popular knife there, razor sharp and cheap and capable of both gutting fish and skinning a moose

Victorinox Little Vicky Serrated Paring Knife with Sheath, 3.25" | Cutlery and More

Shop for Victorinox Paring & Peeling Knives at Cutlery and More. We are your source for everything Victorinox with FREE shipping on orders over $49. We are experts in kitchen knives & cookware.

www.cutleryandmore.com

If you have access to a Linishing machine you can knock-up a decent bush blade in an hour or so from a used [ or brand new] general purpose reciprocating saw blade or if you can find one, a good power hacksaw blade will give you 3 knives.
The old Swedish hollow handled bayonet is also a good enough bush knife as issued and even better when properly sharpened, I wish I still had mine.
Knives are actually pretty easy to make from good stock steel, sheaths on the other hand I find difficult

 

[Nice65]

Thanks for your input mate, I've just looked at the Lionsteel T5 and it instantly drew my eye. The stonewash finish, canvas grips, and design are exactly to my taste. I'm not going to rush to conclusions but I was pretty close to impulse buying it.

I'm assuming you have personal experience with Lionsteel knives, so is there anything you can say about the build quality and the 'Niolox' stainless steel they use for a lot of their knives? Does it have good retention and ease of sharpening?

Thanks mate

Yeah, I thought that T5 would appeal.

I haven’t owned or used a Niolox blade. From what I gather it has excellent edge retention and is fairly easy to sharpen. Lion Steel use good steels, the Vanadis 23 that as used for the Rasul was crazy tough, I saw one of those torture vids where it was beaten into a breeze block and batoned through an M10 nut without more than a tiny ding in the blade. I’d fully trust anything Lion Steel make to be of the highest quality.

 

[FerlasDave]

Hello mate, thanks for the suggestions I appreciate it.

I've heard of the Mora Garberg before and it's infamous reputation, so it's a strong consideration for me. Would you say that's there are any knifes of similar performance to cost as the Mora Garberg in the £100-200 range?

Mora Garberg would actually be the bottom of the list out of those three for me. The condor is the one I’d go for.