Rucksack knife advice

rich d2

Tenderfoot
Jan 10, 2019
90
53
52
Nottingham
So looking for a cheap (almost EDC) knife to keep in my rucksack (walking, climbing, skiing), for general knife stuff - all lightweight, but also for picnics etc.
Not sure on whether to go traditional with an Arthur Wright sheepfoot, an opinel (tres francais) or maybe an SAK.

What do you reckon guys?
 

Terry.m.

Forager
Dec 2, 2014
214
26
Kent
So looking for a cheap (almost EDC) knife to keep in my rucksack (walking, climbing, skiing), for general knife stuff - all lightweight, but also for picnics etc.
Not sure on whether to go traditional with an Arthur Wright sheepfoot, an opinel (tres francais) or maybe an SAK.

What do you reckon guys?

For my backpack whilst doing all the above I keep an opinel no8 and a fixed blade survival knife AND a Swiss multi tool . All have been used often but to be fair I am a knife nut.:)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Damascus

Native
Dec 3, 2005
1,698
224
66
Norwich
I’ll second the SAK outrider, had mine 20 years, the extra blade length is useful along with its ‘lock’ facility.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,566
745
51
Wales
Huntsman, (or a Fieldmaster which replaces the corkscrew with a philips) cheapest place to find them is on Amazon usually.

Outrider is nice, but would need a valid reason to carry if got stopped, because of the blade length and lock. So maybe ill suited for an EDC.
 

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
The "Victorinox Compact" is the lightest SAK which has attached every tool you need on longer trekking tours.
What you need is attached, what you wouldn't use is missing.

This SAK is constructed especially for longer trekking tours. Useful for every travel, but made for trekking tours with modern stuff.

It is UK legal.

The Victorinox Climber is heavier, but cheaper. If you compare them directly, you see, that the Compact is worth the money. It is a bit better thought through, let's say it is the younger version of the Climber.

You nearly never need a ball pentel if you are on a trekking tour. It is heavy to store a ball pentel so that it cant break. If you have to write, people will give you a ball pentel.
But if you should need an one ball pentel, you have a very small and light one in the Victorinox Compact.

The same with scissors and blister needle.

You pay some coins more, but that saves weight in the ruck sack, because needle and scissors don't need to be stored with an extra (heavy, stressy and expensive) package.

For ultra light pegs sometimes you need the peg hook. The Compact has a nail file at the hook, most others have the hook but not the file on it's back. In this details you find the reason for the higher price of the Compact.

The bottle opener of the Compact can be used as a tin opener. Now a days most tins do not need a tin opener, so this opener is working well enough. The tin opener of the Climber works far better, but the tin opener of the Compact works really well enough if you need it ones a month.

I recommend to spend the bit extra money and to save volume and weight in the pocket and to take the few more tools the lighter Compact offers!
Yes, the Compact offers more tools, than the Climber, if you compare it well!

Should you not need this knife, should you just want a single blade for day hikes, I recommend the Opinel Carbone No7, because it is incredibly light and very cheap, and with a bit modification of the handle you will get it even lighter.
You can easily get it razor sharp, far sharper than it is delivered, and you can easily shorten it's 7,7cm blade a bit to make it UK legal to carry. If you close the knife and lock the blade with the ring and open it with pliers, the locking ring will fly away. You could put the ring in the ruck sack and the knife in the pocket. To press the ring back, you don't need any tools.

The handle of the 7 is a bit short for adult men, but if you do not plan to make a lot of wooden pegs every day, that knife is OK.
It's incredibly good for carving and to use it in the kitchen.

Should you want to produce a lot of pegs, hundreds of pegs every day, the No8 would be the right size. The handle is constructed for glove size 10, what means for adult men. The No8 nearly can replace a fixe bladed knife with it's incredibly sharp 8,5 cm blade.

So for breakfast and kitchen and wood carving from time to time the 7 is the lighter, legal option, for bushcraft the 8 is the better option.

If you want it for hiking and climbing, you should understand, that the Opinel 7 and 8 are perhaps the lightest knifes in this sizes!

You will get the Opinel Carbone versions sharper than the inox versions.

SAK and Opinel are perhaps the most sold pocket knifes of European production and there are reasons for it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Robbi

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,669
McBride, BC
So if you lose that one knife thing, you lose everything? Not in my pack. Redundancy is insurance.
LIke BIC butane lighters = buy a dozen and scatter then around. Just little 3" folders, maybe 6?, all sharp.
Drop warm things in the deep snow and you will never see them again. Just 4' new in the last few days up the Renshaw.

I need keys here at the house for outdoor locks. Each one has 3' of orange forestry flagging tape attached.
I don't have 1m snow in the yard, maybe 2m drifts as well. But, drop a little lock key and it is GONE.
That's why the orange ribbon. No, the necklace hangers are of little value. Too small over winter clothing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MartiniDave

robevs73

Maker
Sep 17, 2008
3,025
204
llanelli
Folder?
Basically any of the SAK large, lockable folders. Superb stuff.
Which model depends on your specific usage.
I have a victorinox trailmaster, it has a part serrated locking main blade which is perfect for most cooking duties also a wood saw and the usual tools, an excellent knife that I can highly recommend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rich d2 and Janne

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
The SAK Saws are surprisingly good.

Should somebody use for example a polish army tent or such an old US Stile Nato tent, or old cotton triangle tent sheets, it would be intelligent to take a SAK with saw, because than it would be very easy to shorten the pole every day to the needed length.
Hunters can use the saw to, it saws bone very good.

BUT for fire wood it is to small. What I can do with it I can do with the blade too, it just will take a bit more time.

If I need a saw for fire wood I chose a longer one. I would not take two saws with me.

I attached my SAK with a longer rope to the belt, I can't loose it.
On top it is red, visible in sand, snow and gras.

Opinel sells coloured inox versions of the 7 with a hole in the handle and a line. Here you can see, where you can easily drill a hole in your Opinel Carbone.

In my opinion the Opinel becomes better if you tread the handle with sand paper, to get away the transparent colour and to make carefully that corners in the end of the handle a bit round.

redundancy?

I could bite away my finger nails, isn't it?
Alone in the forest that would be an option. Without training Yoga perhaps it would be a bit tricky to reach the feed.

In my opinion the SAK is luxus, no survival equipment. Should I loose it in the middle of the wilderness, I have to cut with a flint knife, bone, the sharpened lid of my pot or what ever.

And there is an other question:
WIll I go in some wild areas?
Where I usually run around, most times I could order a pizza in the forest!

So if I know how to survive, I don't need to take every thing twice with me in most parts of Europe.

What I do, is to take functional overlapping things with me:
Compass and watch
bivvy bag and poncho
sleeping bag and spare clothing
Pot, metal mug, metal bottles and knife
Head torch and two lighters and as emergency fire starter a short piece of a candle

I don't know if you really need in Britain a knife to survive. In Germany I always and everywhere can find thin dry wood to start a fire. I don't need a knife. It just makes things easier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Janne

Sieddy

Full Member
Nov 12, 2016
272
70
Oxford uk
There's nothing like an SAK for reliable usability and Opinel carbonne are so easy to sharpen and great slicers. I recently have fallen for the Joker no74 as it is a cracking little UK legal slip joint with a carbon blade!
 

rich d2

Tenderfoot
Jan 10, 2019
90
53
52
Nottingham
Bit of a thread resurrection, went with the opinel 7 - which seemed to be the right thing to do in the French Alps. Worked great for sausion sec and opening packets etc - only thing it wasn't great at was cutting bread - no biggy in the scheme of things, ended up carrying a small serrated cheap veg knife - but any recommendations for an EDC folder that's got a blade suitable for bread as well as a slicing/cutting blade, as carrying one knife just seems aesthetically better to me.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE