BS: One of the best outdoor knives

Subject: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 10:33 PM

Gerber strongarm knife. I put mine through amazing abuse. If you are looking for a new knife for camping or hunting.. Take a look at them. I normally go on my walk abouts with a case bowie. It's 14 inches of razor stainless. I can dig cut split chop with it. But this Gerber is much smaller and boy can it work. I split, cut chopped, cleaned fish and pounded it and still holds an edge.. Great blade for about 50 bucks as opposed to the 200 on my bowie
I have a couple of knives I forged myself that hold up good but love the Gerber.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 10:43 PM

Also they make two flavors, one with a serrate
blade and a fine edge full tang blade.. I have both and they are outstanding

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 11:04 PM

If anyone has a brand you like let me know. I bought my kid a Gerber as she camps and fishes a lot but I am always interested in testing a new camp knife

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: meself
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 11:31 PM

That isn't knife - THIS is a knife!!

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: meself
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 11:32 PM

(Whoops! Where'd I put it?)

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 24 Jul 17 - 11:42 PM

Lol also very cheap is a mora bushcraft from Sweden.. Amazing and 14 bucks on eBay. I useit ffor fishing, Sweden grind blades so sharp you cut yourself just looking at it. Great for cleaning fish

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 12:24 AM

I don't know what I'd do with a big knife like yours, Dan; but I couldn't live without a pocket knife. The Victorinox Swiss Army Knife is almost what I'd like, but not quite. I used to carry the Spartan with the corkscrew. This made me very popular at parties, although I don't drink wine myself. I switched to the Tinker with the Phillips screwdriver, but the screwdriver slips and isn't really very functional.
Swiss Army Knives are very pretty, but they really don't hold an edge. I use knives mostly for cutting and as a screwdriver, and Swiss Army Knives do neither very well.
So, I'm looking for a replacement.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 01:34 AM

Joe i will get you one. I think I may have one I can give you :)

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 03:10 AM

I have always loved such knives. I don't know why but I think they can be a thing of beauty and, as you say Dan, an amazingly useful tool. Sadly, here in the UK, it is illegal to carry one without good reason so we are limited to folding knives that cannot lock with a blade of < 4". I do have a very nice legal one but nothing like that Gerber. I also have a gardening knife where the blade slides out rather than folds and does lock in place. Not sure if that is legal or not!

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Senoufou
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 03:17 AM

Is it 4 inches or 3 inches maximum Dave?

I believe one can possess a knife here as long as it can be justified for one's work. My neighbour in the last village was a carpet fitter, and he had a set of ferocious-looking knives and cutting tools on his van. He was allowed to have them, but not to select one and carry it about on his person.

Actually, even a 3 inch blade could kill someone if it was extremely sharp.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 04:33 AM

Not sure, Eliza. You may well be right but what's an inch between friends?

:D tG

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 04:56 AM

I didn't know about that law. Looking at the GOV.UK website, it seems that I can't even take a cutlery knife on a picnic, let alone a knife for slicing the bread or cutting up the pork pie. If that's true, it's a damn silly law.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Senoufou
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 06:46 AM

Pwwwaaaaaahaaaahhaaaa Dave! You're what my Glasgow friends would call, "A vairrry vairrry rrrude man!"

I think Steve that as long as one can justify the knife (eg for a picnic) it's quite all right. It's when one is lurking about in a London street with a machete down one's trousers that the trouble with the Police starts.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: gillymor
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 07:10 AM

This is the Gerber I carry everywhere as it acts as my key fob. Very handy but not much use against a grizzly though it could probably back down an irate chipmunk.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: bobad
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 07:45 AM

What make of Bowie knife do you have Dan? This is the one I have.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:52 AM

I have a few knives and which I use depends upon what I expect to be doing. I usually carry a Swiss Army Tinkerer that my FIL gave me one Christmas, or a Buck Prince, or a knife Olddude sent me. Out in the WherethehellamI? I might also carry my old Buck General (with the black handle), or my partially serrated K-Bar, or the rondel, or even the Big Boy that started life as part of a spring for an M37B1 US Army 3/4 ton truck (my late little brother reworked it to a spear point and put on a hilt made from wood from an 1896 (trashed) camera. Traveling I take a Leatherman tool in my checked bag. As I say, it depends.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 10:26 AM

I get along fine with a small pocket knife from Case - the Old Timer.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 11:40 AM

Rap, I still like my buck 119 for hunting. Les straud the survival guy from Canada still uses his old buck 119. Bobad, I have several bowie knives. Lately it is a stainless by case cutlery. I use mine in the woods.. Good knife and I do beat knives up. Most people just put a case cutlery in the box as a collector knife. Not me. It's just a tool. If you want a very good bowie that will hold up look at winchester. They are 30 bucks and good knives

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 11:51 AM

I have heard many people say they don't care for stainless because they have trouble getting an edge. Key is soaking the wet stone and take your time. Mine are scary sharp and high carbon stainless will hold an edge longer.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 12:09 PM

By the way most experts were shocked at the quality of the 30 dollar
WWinchester
Bowie mmost oftheir kknives
Are sub par not tthe bowie
Outstanding

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 12:30 PM

When I was at infant school in the early 60s it was every boys ambition to own a sheath knife and an air rifle.

My mum would only allow plastic toys.

Boys from rougher families on the estate got their hands, one way or another, on the real things..


It looks like UK gun and knife laws have been drafted by my mum,
but even more severely if a bloke brandishes a plastic toy gun in public... 🙄


.. btw 3 inches unlocking folding knife if you don't look too shifty to a bobby on the streets...

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 01:28 PM

Apart from the standard knives we have in the kitchen, I don't possess any kind of knife, I never have, and I've never wanted or needed one.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Thompson
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 01:29 PM

I was amazed in France by how many people dropped in for safekeeping the knives they normally carry for eating their dinner! Perhaps countrymen?

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 01:46 PM

I grew up within a cultural upbringing that older boys and men would naturally carry penknives at all times..
in the same way that modern youth are never without their ipods and phones...

In my late teens I graduated from antiquated family hand me downs
to proper expensive swiss army knives.

In Bristol, there was a world music night club on our road,
I would voluntarily hand my knife to the security staff, and have it promptly handed back on going home..

that's what I got used to..


When I moved to east london, winter 1986, house mates insisted we all go to a St Paddies night at an Ilford Club.

Ok, so on arrival I politely took my folded swiss army knife out to hand over the security / coat check desk
and was immediately jumped by doormen, roughed up and bundled out onto the street.

They kept my knife and expensive leather clothes that had also been in my pocket...

My house mates continued into the club without me.. ****s...

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 02:19 PM

I've used the Big Buck for everything from whittling to splitting firewood. I originally bought it back in 1968 to take with me to war (my NG unit had just been activated and eventually ended up in Vietnam). My brother bought an Air Force "Survival" knife -- we didn't have the money for anything more and those damned near broke the bank. He left his knife in-country and I never took mine over to Korea. Last year I had my old knife "renovated" and professionally sharpened; all of my knives are sharp because it's safer that way.

Mostly I use my daily pocket knife for opening things or cutting things. I'm not going to get rid of any of my knives, though, as they fall have a place even if it's just sentimental.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 03:17 PM

I carry a knife, hunting, fishing. Camping.. That's it and I do all three a lot now that I am retired.
Not for a walk around the block ugh

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Will Fly
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 05:25 PM

I have a French "Opinel" folding knife - razor sharp - which I use for all sorts of things from opening parcels to sharpening pencils. They make them with wooden handles and a choice of carbon steel or stainless steel.

Great little knife.

Does anyone ever watch the US "Forged In Fire" TV series? I'm not a knife or weapon enthusiast, but the forging techniques shown are fascinating. I now know all about delamination and the hazards of the quench!

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 05:37 PM

Great show will, I have also forged my own. It's a lot of work for sure. They have some really skilled craftsmen.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 05:57 PM

That Air Force survival knife looks very much like a Kabar.

PFR, my folder of choice for the past 40 years is the Uncle Henry Bear Paw from Imperial Schrade. I have been through several copies as they seem to disappear. What I have done with the last few is to clip the tip to a Tanto tip. It makes the knife more versatile. The only one I resent is when I attempted to check it at a courthouse because I was running late and it was confiscated as a gravity knife. I only wish the officer who stole it is in Hades. I am sure it was never turned in.

Another knife I generally use is a blade I got from Atlanta Cutlery in the 70's. It is a clip point high carbon that I built myself with a deer antler handle and bronze pommel and guard. Once I forgot it on a boat and, when I came back a year later, it was still there. It was rusty as all get out but once I cleaned it up, even though the surface is ugly, it holds and edge like you would not believe. It also does not seem to rust any more.

The knife I carry everywhere not is a no name keychain knife from a hardware store with a hawksbill blade. It gets used all the time. I'm just careful not to carry it through any security scanners.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 05:57 PM

By the way, a walkabout
FFor me is alone
In the deep woods

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 07:36 PM

I see this thread is currently right next door to one about Trump:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTFg_FNylCc

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 07:53 PM

Jack, rap and and I have much better than
Those old wweapons get modern right rap

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 07:54 PM

Rap has a tank and I have a Blackhawk with a mini gun

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:55 PM

After our Norway adventure earlier this year, I returned home and ordered a KPP 607 (scroll down). It came literally as sharp as a razor. I have not had occasion to dress out an elk or moose yet, but I'm quite sure it would be up to the task. The haft is designed so that it can easily be used by someone wearing gloves or mittens. As noted, the haft is reindeer or moose, curly birch, fiber spacers, and a brass bolster.

I also have a small knife with a Damascus blade. The blade was forged by one brother, who also applied the antler grip, and sharpened by my late little brother, who could SHARPEN a knife or axe. The late little brother said of this one, "I can polish the blade and take out all the curliques Tony left when he forged it." He wouldn't have done it, of course, but I have no doubt he could have.

This same little brother made me a "patch knife" from an old industrial hacksaw blade and mounted it in a grip of curly walnut. It, too, takes an excellent edge.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 10:40 PM

Rap but it says it's for people with small hands Lol... Did you get one for trump

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 10:43 PM

All the knife discussion has me putting an edge on some of my older blades.. Lol I now have no hair left on my arm from testing

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 10:49 PM

Did he ever use old files that were worn out. My grandpa could make a wonderful knife out of one.. Pretty good steel in them. I still look for them in yard sales to make knives

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jul 17 - 10:10 AM

I have a couple of BIG files he was going to turn into knives, but he died in 2011. Heart disease. If the USAF had kept his records straight (he was Airborne Voice Intercept, a flying spy) he would have been eligible for VA benefits as ischemic heart disease is Agent Orange presumptive. Instead, he was told he was never in VN ("But then why did the Air Force teach me Vietnamese?" he asked) and this was only rectified 3 months before he died ("Oopsy! You pointed out a mistake! Here's your medals."). Wish he was still around -- he was fluent in Vietnamese, Spanish, and street Japanese; also spoke some Thai, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, and Russian.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jul 17 - 10:27 AM

You're looking at the 601 -- scroll down to the 607.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Jul 17 - 06:39 PM

polyglots are a rare breed.

forging your own weapons? Whew ! That's about as macho as owning a tank.

I found out that skinning knives are tricky and the Roman Gladiator dagger replica is sharper than it needs to be.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jul 17 - 09:46 PM

Weapons? One blade is 2 5/8 inches long and the other 4 inches. Knives are tools. Yes, they can be used as weapons, deadly ones. So can a hammer, a saw, a shoelace, a rolled-up newspaper or magazine, or a ballpoint pen. Or for that matter bare hands.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 26 Jul 17 - 10:42 PM

It really is just a tool and why forge one myself, well because I can. No reason needed old files are great but not modern one's. Modern are case hardened and not high carbon so they will break. Old worn out files are perfect

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Will Fly
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 07:57 AM

Hey Dan, I can just see you welding up a billet of old and modern files - some hard, some not so hard - and forging a bit of Damascus.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 09:04 AM

Ahh but the secret still eludes us today as to what fibrous plant material caused the nanotubes of carbon to form in Damascus steel.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 09:42 AM

They formed when the hot metal was tempered in human blood. I thought everyone knew that. At least that's how my brother does it. It's an Olde Familie Secrete we brought over from the Olde Countrie.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Mooh
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 11:03 AM

Gerber makes great stuff, I often carry a Gerber multi-tool.

For folding knives...mostly Gerber, Victorinox, and Buck, but lots of others that I don't carry.

For sheath/fixed blades...mostly Buck, but I have a lovely short, 3" K-Bar that has been way better than I would have expected, and a couple of ancient Boy Scout issue knives.

For multi-tools...Gerber and Leatherman.

I started carrying a pocket knife as a kid and never stopped. We pretty much live in the golden age of knives right now, there are so many choices I guy could buy his way to the poorhouse.

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 08:34 PM

Lol no I use sunflower oil. I have to make a video will. I haveused rrailroad spikes and plates for the ties. Good steel

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: olddude
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 11:24 AM

The best knife is a bowie for me. I can chop a tree hack my way through brush, split wood, dig, cut fish.. It really
Is the pperfect tool

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 12:36 PM

As a Brit who grew up on cowboy movies, and longing for all that essential manly western gear,
I'd have a hard time now explaining away a Bowie knife to a policeman on the street...

Subject: RE: BS: One of the best outdoor knives
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 12:44 PM

I think one of the funniest film bloopers ever seen was a brief moment where the heroine and Jim Bowie are in a scene shot just frem the waist up. She glances down towards his lower regions and says 'You are not wearing the sheath!' Tickled me anyway.

Small things and all that...

:D tG