What knife would be best for a SHTF situation?

reply to post by ZombieJesus


Nice Knife but I'd hate to have to sharpen it.
All mine are simple drag across the stone types, except for the sheeps foot blade on my multiplier. and i still gotta get a kit to sharpen that...

Frosts mora clipper in carbon steel. You can pick one up at a great price and they are very well made. I have used mine many times and has never let me down.

Ok there might be better knives and no doubt more expensive, but as an entry level knife I swear by it.

reply to post by g146541


It's not to bad to sharpen, except for the little curve where the hatchet tip meets the straight edge. I bult one a few years ago for fun, and it was a tricky design, but the finished product was pretty neat. Very balanced knife, plus very tuff. In a survival situation, it can basically second as a hatchet.

Check out the rest of the TOPS site, they have some real nice stuff

A bigger one than everyone else has.....
You wouldn't want to bring a knife to a gun fight though.....

reply to post by ZombieJesus


Yeah I looked, then got depressed cuz i can't... don't wanna afford anymore toys at the moment.
Good stuff though.

Tops makes some nice knives- but the Tom Brown Tracker is not one of them. It's perhaps the perfect example of the "armchair commando" knife- in that it looks "cool", but isn't nearly as functional as simpler designs. It is a "Hollywood" knife- designed to look cool. It is made by Rowen Mfg. (who makes the excellent ESEE knives as well) so it is a quality piece, with good materials and workmanship at least. The design is a joke- it's designed to sorta do a bunch of different things, but none of them very well.

The gentleman above who mentioned the Mora made a great point- Moras are great knives for the money. They're well made, with good steel, and very sharp, factory, scandi edges. I'd take a $5 Mora over a $220 Tom Brown Tracker every time. A $5 Mora and a $6 Tramontina machete (properly sharpened) is all that most people would ever need. I personally like the Imacasa and Condor machetes- with the 14" Imacasa Pata de Cuche being my favorite, along with the "ESEE Lite Machete", which is an 18" bladed, micarta-handled collaboration between Imacasa/ Condor and ESEE/ Rowen Mfg. One of the nicest machetes ever made, the ESEE lite machete is only around $50, including sheath. (I say this as a guy who owns dozens of machetes, including several vintage Collins and customs)

As far as Ka-Bar goes, they make great knives. The iconic "Ka-Bar" aka "USMC fighting knife" is a good knife, but a dated design. It is made with stick tang construction, and is prone to breakage at the hilt. The Becker series of knives that Ka-Bar makes are well designed, well made, and very robust. Their "cutlass machete" and "heavy bowie" are also great knives for the money.

reply to post by moonwilson


Why thank you sir for your kind comments.

I usually like to work by the rule of buy the best you can afford but with the mora clipper it really is the exception to the rule which is great.

The only let down I can find with the mora clipper is the knife's sheath but with a bit of para cord and a bit of imagination it can be adapted and improved.

Gerber LMF II great knife and not too much money.
www.gerber-tools.com...

reply to post by SpeedBump


You also need to get yourself one of these:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by SpeedBump


i choose an old lawn mower blade with a custom handle

I'll stick with my Randall. It served me well in vietnam and over the years since.

knife i carry camping with me a crkt razel ss7 i believe is model number.
its full tang construction with three different cutting surfaces top surface is serrated for cutting rope it cuts thru a ball of 30 lb. fishing line like its cutting thru warm butter . bottom edge sharp like razor too good for cutting lots of materials from meats to aluminum with no dulling of blade. tip isn't a tip is a razer sharp chisel. i got mine off ebay for less than 100 dollars all together and have taken it camping twice fishing many times and plan on taking it hunting this winter. other important features it has point on end of handle for breaking glass in car incase u need too and also most important feature handle has a built in church key guranteed to open the stubbornest foriegn or domestic beer bottle.

what does anyone think of smith n wesson lock knives?

in particular- www.handyniknaks.co.uk...

Becker Knives are excellent. I have the BK 2 but the BK 7 or BK 9 may be more suitable for a shtf scenario. Another good one is the BK 3 . Kabar now makes the Becker line of knives and they are made out of 1095 cro-van steel so you know they are made great and a made out of a tough, work horse type of carbon steel. Enough said.

SOG has never let me down in the past I have one in my pocket right now had it for two years and just had to sharpen it. One point though the tips sometimes break off leading you to hone more. But other then that it has been a great knife. A bit pricey for some though.

I keep a 16th century wakizashi, in need of a polish, I picked up for 10 bucks at a garage sale, and a German bayonet knife, with markings, poplar handle and badly rusted, that I found in a bucket of scrap after someone's basement flooded. Came with the sheath as well.

I am about to attempt a polish on the Japanese knife on my own, being somewhat understanding of form. I wish I knew if I was supposed to preserve the subtle ripples all down the length of it. It's a Toshinaga, signed. A small nick in the end makes me wonder if it's better left as is or should it be taken down in the polish.

I will never use a weapon such as these. They are weak and ineffectual compared to God's knowing, and meted justice.

reply to post by starless and bible black


DO NOT attempt to do anything to the wakizashi! If it is in fact that old you have a priceless artifact in your hands! The Japanese have an art on cleaning and polishing the blade on such a beautiful piece of metal. Do what you want with the others lol. You can make a fortune off that old wakizashi if it's not an imposter. Look into it and keep us updated... It should have a family crest on it

reply to post by kimish


I don't know that it's priceless. $700 USD seems the going rate on signed palace blades such as this.

The signature is authentic, as it's been compared to others I photocopied online. It appears not to have been shortened. There is one hole in the handle end for accepting the dowel. Interestingly, the period in which this maker did his swords would no longer allow human testing, and bales of hay were substituted for test results. Therefore the shapes of swords changed quickly from the curve to a straight edge. This one, however, is a throwback to the earlier style. It is quite compact, but mimics the exact shape of much longer weapons.

I read a lot on sharpening. Everyone says do not dare to change or improve it, and if you must, then let an expert handle it. But I no longer believe I could trust anyone, given my resources, and given the state of society, to place it in another's hands. Imagine getting back a piece of polished junk which lost all it's form. They say the the polishing task was most highly regarded, more so than the maker of the swords.

Is not there a just reason to restore the sword's glory, however? Many examples are shown on the internet and in museums which were in fact restored. I worry about losing the hardness which is only surface deep by taking out the nick. Please convince me that restoring the sword's honor, even in the hands of a true expert, is the wrong thing to do.

Nice thread, some helpful suggestions in here too - I myself have recently begun reading up on knives with a view to getting some, as I just have gotten a bad feeling over recent events. I have the Mora clipper knife on the way and already have two swiss army knives (one with a hammer and claw for hammering or prying needs). I would love to learn more knife craft stuff.

Does anyone know if it's possible to buy any KA-BAR blades in the UK?

Originally posted by WHOS READY
what does anyone think of smith n wesson lock knives?

in particular- www.handyniknaks.co.uk...

edit on 2/1/11 by WHOS READY because: (no reason given)

As I understand it all S&W blades are stainless.

Personally, I am not a huge fan of stainless in most blades outside of a pocketknife.