The most knife use I have had has been when visiting Sweden and Norway, hiking or canoeing. Knives were used to:
A couple of folk tried carving a paddle.
- clean fish,
- prep food,
- cut rope and cord,
- carve cooking utensils,
- carve craft projects in the evening,
- split wood,
- carve feather sticks for fire lighting,
- limb poles for shelters and cooking tripods.
Most camping trips see a blade put to less use, but still needed for food prep, package opening, fire prep, simple utility wood cutting of tent pegs, pot holders and so on.
I agree, if you only have one knife it is better to have a smaller one as a whacking thick spine is more of an impediment than an advantage for most things you are going to use it for.I agree. And I would say that is a very good “order of use” as well. There are many tasks the knife is used for before heavy wood processing.
It seems it’s fashionable at the moment amongst makers to produce 4mm thick oversized blades. Whilst they do look appealing when smashing apart bits of wood it’s really not a practical skill I’ve found myself doing very often at all.
I have seen your Coldsteel SRK, and agree it looks nothing like the SRK...I have a more than large selection - many home made - and I choose the knife for the job (woodcarving, bramble trimming, food prep and (the biggest task) general wood dwelling tasks. My favourites tend to be homemade (reshaped and rehandled blades) or with Dave Budd input (his blade, my handle and leather or his regrind of my adaptation of another blade) - I use very few "commercial" blades that remain unadapted....
My post is editedI have seen your Coldsteel SRK, and agree it looks nothing like the SRK...
@John Fenna you need to post a picture of you modified SRK