The Perfect Bushcraft Knife

[Canadian Kodiak]

Like many of us do I own several different knives for bushcraft, hunting, fishing, etc. However, I'm on the search for the perfect bushcraft/survival knife.

Currently, my all-time favorite knife is the Fallkniven F1. Its got a 3.8" blade, full tang that goes right to the back of the handle and a squared off, 3.5mm thick spine which is great for batoning and gives off superb sparks when used with a firesteel. It even comes with a quality leather sheath with a fold over, clasping top to keep the knife from ever falling out. The knife is damned near perfect. My problem with it is the steel is a laminated VG10 steel that will not give off sparks when struck against a piece of flint or any other rock. And to me, thats pretty important in a survival knife.

So what I'm looking for is a knife that has all of the great F1 specs but is made from carbon steel. Does such a knife exist? has anyone heard of such a beast? And is it made in Sweden because they, in my opinion, make the best knives in the world.

 

[ged]

Welcome to the forum!

The F1 is a good little knife but it feels small in my hand. I like the steel, and I like the edge, and I'd take it with me in preference to some alternatives which I really prefer if I wanted to keep my pack weight down. You don't actually need to use a knife to make sparks. I prefer an old bit of broken hacksaw blade or something like that. And a ferro rod is a great deal easier than a rock, in fact even a bow drill is easier. I carry bits of cord so a bow drill setup isn't a lot of work if I lose all my lighters.

I don't personally know of anything very like the F1 in a carbon steel but there must be dozens that are similar on the market. There are people on this forum who will make you a perfectly competent knife to your specification for less than the cost of the F1. I speak from personal experience.

 

[gregor-scott]

i too have an F1 and i think its a great all round knife, I think the issue is that the blade is coated to protect it, it stays sharper for longer and if you were in a survival situation a blunt knife is no good at all, so to me it's weighing up the importance of a sharp blade and an effective firesteel, to me I would rather carry my F1 in a custom sheath which holds a firesteel with small striker than carry a carbon steel knife that strikes well and have to carry a sharpening stone. but then that's talking survival situation and I think most of us are there for fun and thus take what we feel suits our needs best, I personally spend my whole time cutting things, sticks, paracord, myself, my mates tarp lines etc so I don't want to spend all my time sharpening my knife, thus I love my F1. when I get home from the woods and am sitting there thinking what a great time I had, I spend an hour or so getting an edge back on my knife lol. all personal preference really!

 

[gregor-scott]

You don't actually need to use a knife to make sparks. I prefer an old bit of broken hacksaw blade or something like that.

exactly, my firesteel is one of the Swedish issue ones with a bit of old hacksaw blade attached with cord, works a dream.!

 

[Samon]

F1 also comes in a different steel for twice the price.. check it out it might spark some flint ( http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Fallkniven-Knives/Fällkniven-Knives-F1-3G/p-92-139-6310/ ).

I'd say a typical 'bushcraft' knife on the market wouldn't stand up to the abuse you might need it to in a true 'survival' situation mate, the blades are often ground very fine and I feel are designed for light wood work..not pry baring,trenching and all the other things you could expect in a genuine survival situation.


I really like the look of the this ka bar potbelly knife, from what I've seen on some reviews it's a great chopper and good slicer with a decent sheath. If you travel light you may want a multi purpose tool rather than a load of gear in back pack to weigh you down.

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/ka-bar-johnson-adventure-potbelly-knife-3065-p.asp

 

[marcelxl]

F1 also comes in a different steel for twice the price.. check it out it might spark some flint ( http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Fallkniven-Knives/Fällkniven-Knives-F1-3G/p-92-139-6310/ ).

I'd say a typical 'bushcraft' knife on the market wouldn't stand up to the abuse you might need it to in a true 'survival' situation mate, the blades are often ground very fine and I feel are designed for light wood work..not pry baring,trenching and all the other things you could expect in a genuine survival situation.


I really like the look of the this ka bar potbelly knife, from what I've seen on some reviews it's a great chopper and good slicer with a decent sheath. If you travel light you may want a multi purpose tool rather than a load of gear in back pack to weigh you down.

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/ka-bar-johnson-adventure-potbelly-knife-3065-p.asp

I have one of those, its awesome but its a bit of a beast! intend to give a throrough going over first and get a review on later. I think it will tick alot of boxes for some people (will cut through Zombies like butter!)

 

[Samon]

I have one of those, its awesome but its a bit of a beast! intend to give a throrough going over first and get a review on later. I think it will tick alot of boxes for some people (will cut through Zombies like butter!)

You have the potbelly? what do you think of it as a working tool? They cost like £100 but I'm really tempted to sell some stuff to fund one. Where did you get your from?

 

[robin wood]

If you have the knife you are happy with then just carry a ferro rod or lighter for fire lighting. Really what is the chance of you being in this survival situation with your knife but without firelighting gear and you just happen to be in an area with natural flint deposits. Is the likelihood of all those things coming together worth changing a knife you are happy with?

 

[lannyman8]

why not get a custome made blade in O1, lots of makers on here who could do it for you at a good price......

 

[Xunil]

There are far more efficient ways of fire lighting than using a knife and rock. If you have a knife you can make a bow drill, hand drill or, even easier, a fire plough, which has to be the least understood and most efficient method of fire by friction there is.

Flint and steel is all well and good for fire lighting but for the best results you really need char cloth - the sparks from any steel/rock arrangement are usually smaller and far, far cooler than a commercial fire steel.

The F1 has a hard steel core sandwiched between two softer steel side layers. That softer steel throws a spark poorly by comparison to harder steel, but you can improve things slightly by squaring off the corners of the spine. That's not going to help with natural rocks though.

I'd have though if this is so important to you then rather than change your knife just invest in a small C shaped striker and a flint or two and carry them in a small possibles pouch with you.

I can't think of any less likely method of getting a fire started unless conditions are ideal and suitable materials are abundantly available - neither of those is normally the case in a survival situation.

Stick with the F1 or carry a small carbon steel neck knife, either separately or in a piggy-back sheath with the F1.

Flint and steel is good to know but a bowdrill or fire plough outperform it by a country mile and the fire plough especially is usually very simple to make from readily available materials in most environments. The thing with fire by friction is that by the time you get your coal the hardest part is done. Conversely, a flint and steel is an entirely different set of problems involving getting a spark to the point where it is the equivalent to a fire by friction coal.

I'd be looking at an alternative solution - there is little point in changing your knife for the least likely circumstances you will ever encounter.

A cheap as chips carbon Mora can be used with flint, but a C shaped striker is better, especially if you have or can make char cloth, and it's light, easily portable and may be worthwhile adding to your pocket or belt kit.

Fire plough or bow drill every time for me though

 

[Xunil]

For some reason I get much better results from old files than O1 which tends not to throw as good a spark. Maybe that's just me being a gimp and doing something wrong but every time I make a striker from an old file I get better sparks than I do with O1.

Go figure...

Japanese white paper steel is seriously good for strikers

Make sure you harden the striker after forging to shape, but even air hardened (mid to high Rockwell 40 range) will throw a nice spark with a suitable bit of flint.

It's still a real chore to light a fire this way though, by comparison to other, more efficient methods.

Frankly, unless conditions are perfect and you are very experienced with a flint and steel, you'd be better off shouting insults at Zeus in the hopes he throws a lightning bolt in your direction.

 

[Xunil]

I forgot to add - a guy I knew some years ago who made a belt buckle from an old file, decorated it with filework (ironic or what ? ) and he used to carry a small flint in a tiny pouch sewn onto his belt, and a Case Peanut (one of my all time favourite folders) sewn into another pouch on the other side.

He lived in the Nevada desert so there was rarely any shortage of very, very dry stuff to work with, but he used to loosen the belt a little and strike a spark, and then tuck himself back in again when he was done. I thought it was hilarious the first time I saw it and it looks VERY peculiar if he's doing it with his back to you...

He was a little crestfallen when I pointed out that his old Case Peanut was, in fact, made from Case's now much sought after CV (chrome vanadium) carbon steel and that he didn't need to loosen his pants after all since he could just as easily throw a spark using the blades on the Case instead of the belt buckle.

 

[robin wood]

I find flint and steel incredibly quick but then I do it in perfect conditions. It was the standard method of firelighting throughout medieval Europe for good reason it takes literally seconds but then that is at home with warm dry tinder.

 

[lannyman8]

flint and steel is great and no trouble at all if you have char cloth. when at brockwell in Jan with snow on the ground it worked fine, i was showing Chambers how well it works, i just picked some dead firn as tinder and put the lit char cloth in that, it was very damp but worked fine, blew it to flame with no probs...

the bow drill failed though, go figure????????

 

[lannyman8]

i also like carbon blades for the same reason that they throw sparks, just me though....

 

[Xunil]

I think flint and steel was the standard because the makings were prepared in advance under normal circumstances.

Fire lighting with a flint and steel and no charcloth really sorts the men from the boys, especially if you don't have any makings on you, but the above comments were meant in response to the idea of using a knife/flint in emergency conditions where the ability to make good charcloth is usually a pipedream. Think of the word 'tinderbox' and imagine what it might have meant throughout time. A little charcloth perhaps, some old man's beard or similar, birch bark, a little pine pitch maybe, etc, etc...

After all, if you can make charcloth to aid and abet flint and steel fire lighting it's because you already have a fire...

Flint and steel is fine and dandy, and a whole lot of fun. I wouldn't like to think of it as a serious method half way up a mountain in miserable conditions a long way from home unless I happened to have a super-dry pre-prepared tinderbox with charcloth, birch bark, old man's beard etc.,

I'm not saying the method itself is bad, but in the original poster's context I think it is unrealistic.

I'll get my coat.

 

[marcelxl]

You have the potbelly? what do you think of it as a working tool? They cost like £100 but I'm really tempted to sell some stuff to fund one. Where did you get your from?

I got mine from the states through a mate so I saved a fair bit.

Its purely a worker as its no looker! it comes shaving sharp and chops like a choppy thing and although its a bit numb it is reasonably balanced so totally managable. I also usually hate hollow grinds but this one works for me.

 

[Samon]

I got mine from the states through a mate so I saved a fair bit.

Its purely a worker as its no looker! it comes shaving sharp and chops like a choppy thing and although its a bit numb it is reasonably balanced so totally managable. I also usually hate hollow grinds but this one works for me.

I know someone who's comeing over from the states to my town in a few weeks..I was thinking about sending him the $70-£40 and save myself about 60 quid but what are the customs like? will they confiscate it?

 

[Robbi]

not if it's in hold luggage

 

[Samon]

not if it's in hold luggage

I don't think he'd be willing to transport it for me though..how much do you guys reckon it would cost for him to buy it then post it to me? postage costs on royal mail from here to the states with a 1kilo item is like £22...