How to choose and use the best survival knives for bushcraft

The knife is the most crucial piece of gear in any survival or bushcraft situation. With a good knife you can fell trees, cut branches, chop wood, carve utensils, cut plants and roots, start fires, build wind shields, defend yourself and much more. I bring my knife around in my daily life as well as in the forest. And I can't remember the day it did not come to some use. I use it for everything from cutting an apple to carving spoons.

I will start by explaining the different parts of a knife. How the parts affect usage and what you should consider when choosing one. I will then discuss the different types of survival knives before going on to how to use them efficiently, how to care for them and finally comparing some popular models.

The different parts of a knife. This is a modified Marttiini knife from Finland.
(Click to enlarge.)

A kitchen knife is almost impossible to use for carving, while a carving knife throws away your carrot pieces when you cut. (Don't believe me? Give it a try.) Therefore it's important to choose the right knife for the right task. A survival knife should be a good all around knife, but with focus on durability. You can see a list here of important factors to consider in a survival knife. In the chapters below I will discuss each of these in depth.

• The blade length.
• The blades thickness.
• The ability to use it with a fire steel.
• The blade material's properties, such as hardness, toughness and corrosion resistance.
• The overall shape of the blade, and especially the tip.
• The bevel of the edge.
• The length and material of the handle.

Let's start by taking a more in-depth look at the blade.

The Knife Blade

Blade Shape

• A good blade thickness to aim for is 3 mm (0.12"). If you don't intend to use the knife for carving it can be slightly thicker.
• When it comes to width, narrower is better for carving, while a wider blade is better for chopping wood and other heavy duty work. The width also extends the lifetime of the knife as you have more material to grind away at. Between 1.8 cm and 3 cm (0.7" and 1.2") is a good guideline. Any wider than that and you're just paying for peen extension.
• I mentioned the length above, and it is of essential importance for how you use the knife. A length of 9-12 cm (3.5" - 4.7") is a good guideline. A shorter blade fits better in the pocket, gives more control when carving, and is lighter. A longer one is better for chopping wood and other heavy duty work.
• The form of the edged side usually goes straight from the handle, then, the last 5 cm (2") before the point slowly shift upwards and meet the spine at 45 degrees or more. This angle is measured on the last millimeter of the edge. If the edge and spine meet at less than 45 degrees it's likely to be too thin and narrow and break quite fast.

• Serrated edges, for example used on bread knives appears on some survival knives as well. I have no clue what the thought is here, because it definitely does not improve the knife in any way. Except maybe if you need to cut a bread. Stay away from this kind of knives.
• The spine can either be straight or with a dropped tip. If it's dropped that makes using it with a fire steel easier. The spine should also have sharp square edges for usage with a fire steel. If it doesn't have that you can grind or sharpen the spine to make it more square.
• The bevel should have an angle between 25 and 30 degrees. Higher angle makes it more durable while a lower angle improves it's carving abilities. The bevel should either be straight or concave. A convex bevel makes it act strange and near impossible to carve with. Not to mention sharpening. A micro bevel helps the knife stay sharp longer, you find this on almost any kitchen knife. But it is not recommended on a survival knife, it makes carving much harder because you get a very narrow bevel to follow. To learn more about the bevel keep reading in the Sharpening chapter further down.

Blade Material

Steels come in different qualities, each with different properties, these properties are: 

• Hardness, which is measured in the Rockwell C scale. This is how resistant the steel is to deforming.
• Toughness, is the flexibility of the steel. It stands in opposition to the hardness such that the tougher the steel is the less hard it it. Imagine a dry spaghetti vs a cooked one. The cooked one is tough, can be bent and even stretched a little. The dry one is hard. It's stiff and will break with too much force.
• Wear resistance is the resistance to abrasive wear. That is what happens when you use a sand paper. The rougher surface wears down on the smoother one. A harder steel usually has a higher wear resistance. Imagine sanding the spaghetti.
• Corrosion resistance is the resistance to rust. Stainless steel is an example of highly corrosion-resistant material. However if you choose a corrosion-resistant material you have to give up on the finest sharpness on the edge. They are just not possible to make as sharp as other materials.
• Edge retention is how long the blade will retain it's sharpness. It's the sum of the above.

As you've probably figured already it's not possible to make one ultimate knife. You'll have to think of which properties you want in your knife.

The three most common knife steel categories are:

• Tool steels are hard and resistant to abrasion. But they are actually so hard that sharpening them is a pain without machines or special whetstones. If you have no interest at all in sharpening technique this is the way to go. It will get dull sooner or later though.
  Popular tool steelsare D2, O1, CPM and M4.
• Carbon steel is mostly used in survival knives and woodworking tools. It is semi-hard, and semi-tough. This means it dulls relatively fast. Luckily carbon steel is very quick to sharpen. And you can make it REALLY sharp. Perfect for carving!
  The most popular for knives is 1095.
• Stainless steel is carbon steel with added chromium to resist corrosion. Unfortunately you lose toughness when you add chromium. The result of this is that instead of the edge bending when it meets resistance, it breaks. Despite this it is very popular nowadays.
  Popular stainless steels are 400, 154CM, AUS, VG, CTS, MoV, Sandvik and SxxV

So stop here and think for a bit, which properties are important to you?

My personal experience here is that a carbon steel knife works best. I have to sharpen quite often but it only takes maximum 10 minutes if there are no big dents and the result is amazing. The corrosion is no problem as long as you keep it dry. Though after I had been out in the bush with constant rain for a week I found some rust on it. It was, however, easy to remove with water and immediate oiling afterwards.

The Handle

The handle is just as important as the blade. The knife is the connection between you and the material you're working with. The blade is the materials part of the knife and the handle is yours. So make sure you put some thought on your part of the knife too.

Handle Shape

The handle should have soft forms. Thicker in the middle and thinner near the ends. Over all it should be thicker at the back with a thinner handle belly. A soft bump on the handle belly towards the blade is usually enough to stop your hand from slipping up on the blade.

Avoid shafts with bulky finger grips and the like. You seldom hold a knife as intended, it's a very non-ergonomic way to hold a knife, especially when carving. By using a handle with smooth forms and a smooth surface you can move the hand around the handle as you please.

Handle Material

I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that I prefer wooden handles. They are warm and smooth to the touch. And if I don't like the shape I can just carve away and finish with some sanding.

Most common nowadays though are the plastic handles. But we also see more creative materials such as paracord, birch bark, horn, leather and so on.

Now let's move over to look at the different types of knives. I've sorted them in three categories. The fixed blade knives, the foldable knives and the multi tool knives.

Fixed Blade Knives

Fixed blade means the knife is not foldable. The blade cannot move in relation to the handle. A fixed blade knife is usually stored in a sheath. The sheath is either made from leather or plastic. On the inside of a leather sheath is either a wooden or plastic structure to protect the leather from the knife.

The most typical knives in this category are the Morakniv knives from Sweden. The Finnish counterpart is the less known but very high quality Marttiini knives. But almost all knife manufacturers have at least a few fixed blade models. They are easier to make and there are less parts to break.

The tang is either glued into a drilled hole on the handle or it goes all the way through the handle and is riveted on the butt. The rivet can sometimes be a nuisance if you're for some reason pressing there with your hand. But it's great if you're trying to wedge it in somewhere and need to hit it, all power is directly transferred into the blade.

I enjoy the ease of having the sheath attached to my belt with a carbine and just removing the knife when I need it. This way I never risk loosing the knife if it should escape from my pocket. And I don't have to meddle with any carbines every time I need it.
The only drawback with fixed blade knives are the size. Since they don't fold they take up more space when not in use.

3 great fixed blade knives

Pocket Knives

The obvious convenience of a pocket knife is of course it's size. It's small and don't need a sheath. You can safely store it, as the name implies, in your pocket or hanging from a carbine.

You should get one which is quick and easy to open and, for safety reasons, has no way of closing on you.

They come in many shapes and makes. Which one you choose is up to you.

Common brands in this category are the Kershaw knives, Buck knives and Opinel

Some foldable knives have thinner blades and a micro bevel. This means they are not very good for carving or other heavy work. But they are light and small for everyday tasks.

Multi Tool Knives

Not exactly a knife, the knife is just one of many tools on a multi tool. But it's great if at least someone in your group has a multi tool. There are a lot of great ones out there.

A multi tool knife almost always has a thin blade with a micro bevel. They are more like an addition than a replacement for a knife.

Most famous in this category is the Leatherman, but Stansport has a great one as well. The Swiss army knives fall into this category too.

How to Use a Knife

A knife is never better than the person using it. This is why we will look at how a knife is used.

I will go over some basic carving principles, how to use it with a fire steel, how to chop wood, how to cut and debark branches, how to make feather sticks and how to store and handle it when not in use.

Carving basics

Don't deny it, as a child you were told never to carve against yourself. It's funny, because doing just that is what makes you a good woodworker. The knife shouldn't be moving just away from you. It needs to move in all directions to be efficient.

And not just the knife, sometimes it's better to move the whole piece you're carving on while holding the knife still. The best woods to start with are the soft ones: basswood, aspen, alder, spruce or willow. Fresh woods are softer and easier to carve. But you need to let them dry before doing the finishing touches.

The wood is made of fibers running along the stem. Let's use a pasta example again. Imagine you're holding a handfull of dry spaghetti in one hand. And using a super sharp knife in the other cutting right in across the spaghettis, not much will happen.
If if you instead cut them angled away from you hand they will get cut and fall off. You can now cut again in the same place to get deeper down in the pasta wood.

If you instead make a cut towards your hand the first few pastas will break, and quite quickly the knife will get stuck and make a stop. If you try again the same thing will happen. This is going against the grain and should almost always be avoided. The wood works the same way, the fibers are super thin pastas glued together.

You can improve your knife's cutting ability by holding it in a 45 degrees angle and sliding along the edge as you cut. This technique is perfect when going against the grain, over knots or finishing your work.

Here is a video guide by Scott Carvings on how to get started with carving. He has some really great tips and tricks. In the video he is using basswood.

Fire Steel usage with a knife

If your knife has sharp square edges on the spine you can use it with you fire steel. If it does not have that you can try to sharpen the spine with a grinder or whetstone. Depending on the steel, a stainless steel knife or tool steel knife might be very hard to get the necessary sharpness. If it's a carbon steel knife it should be easy.

Start by finding a piece of dry birch bark. If you can't find any dry then take a wet one and store in your pocket for half an hour. If you have no birch bark at all you need to be creative. Fatwood shavings, reed and grass tassels, paper, the white part of charcoal, char cloth if you have and dry rotten wood can all catch a spark. Since most people use birch bark I will use that in my example.

Start by removing any inner bark. Then remove a 2-3 cm (1") slice from your piece. Fold this small piece in half with the white side in and put it aside.

Now scrape the white side on the big part of your birch bark with the top edge of your knife to make a pile of shavings. Smaller shavings catch sparks easier. If you get big flakes you can pinch them to make them fall apart.

Place the tip of the fire steel in the pile or slightly in front of it and hold it firmly. Now shave it with the SPINE of your knife, using the tip. Use the thumb on the hand that's holding the fire steel (left hand if you're right handed) to apply pressure. Do it slowly and controlled so you don't hit the pile of shavings. Only use the tip of your fire steel. If you start to high you'll wear it down in the middle and it breaks. Always using the tip can triple it's lifetime!

I realize it can be hard for you to follow just my words. Here is the best video on YouTube on how to use a fire steel, by Paul Kirtley:

Chopping wood with only a knife

This is the biggest reason a survival knife needs to be big. But it don't need to be super big, a normal mora works well.

The basics are simple, take a log, put your knife's blade over it and hit it with another log. If there are knots in the log they are easiest to split lengthwise. So put the knife over the log the same direction the branch is sticking out from.

Youtube user MaddyTheGoose show's us how it's done!

Now you can use this technique to make material for feather sticks, explained below.

Making feather sticks

Feather sticks are used to light fires. A very fine and dry feather stick can even be lighted with a fire steel. But usually you need to start with birch bark or use a match or lighter.

It's very important to start with good material. It should be completely dry, straight-grained and without rot. In the forest the best option is standing dead trees.

It's also important that your knife does not have a convex edge or a micro bevel as that makes it very hard to hold the knife in the right angle. Also check that it's sharp. This will all make your life much easier.

If you forgot the axe, you need to look for trees small enough to fell and split with your knife. Chop them up in about 2 x 2 cm (just under 1 x 1") pieces, about half a meter long (a bit less than 2 feet long). And remove any bark and moist wood. 

What you have now is a perfect material to carve away at.

If you just want to try this at home use some dry hard firewood, chopped to size.

Now, we need to plane one side to make the groundwork for our feathers. At this time the shavings doesn't need to stay on the stick. 

Place the stick you made, standing upright on a wooden surface. Hold the upper part of the stick in one hand and use your knife to plane one side. We do this by shaving really thin layers until the surface is completely flat and smooth on one side.

The ground work is done and we can let the first feathers take shape. The process is the same as when we planed it. But now we want to make slightly thicker shavings and stop before reaching the bottom. Make sure that you start and stop at the same height with every feather. Failing to do so will create a sparse feather stick which do not burn well. Also make sure you get all your shavings on the same side of the stick for the same reason. As long as they stay within 180 degrees around the stick you will get good results.

Here, Black Owl Outdoors shows how to make shorter feather sticks while he's trying out different beveled knives.
The knives he tries out are
Bark River - Woodland Special With convex bevel
Battle Horse -  Brumby With a microedge bevel
Mora - Companion With concave bevel
ESEE - Model 4 With full flat bevel

Storing and caring for a knife not in use

Even a stainless steel blade can rust. So with any knife it's top priority to keep it dry and well-ventilated. Sheaths usually have a hole at the tip for drainage. If yours do not, I highly recommend making one, either with a drill or a knife. Clean it regularly to remove any salt from sweat or sea water. You can normally clean it with just fresh water. Remember to wipe it dry afterwards.

A very efficient way to remove rust is by scrubbing with vinegar. If it's an old knife you're restoring and the rust goes deep, you can let it sit in vinegar over night, then scrub it using steel wool. This may have to be repeated a few times but has amazing result. After a few times it will even shine again.

Knife Sharpening Tools and How to Use Them

There are as many schools on this subject as there are people doing it. It all depends how sharp you want your knife and how much time you want to spend doing it.

From rougher to smoother the sharpening process is done in these steps, which I will explain one by one below.

Grinding > Sharpening > Stropping > Honing (optional)

You actually start backwards here. When you notice your knife is getting dull, the first thing you do is honing or stropping it. If it's still dull you probably have some minor dents. These can be taken care of by sharpening on a whetstone.Finally, if the whetstone is not enough you need to grind it. This is normally done on a machine which takes away lots of material fast.

Honing

Honing is not very common with survival knives. It's more common with kitchen knives.

What happens when a knife gets dull is either that the edge gets dents or it bends out if it's a tough (wet pasta) steel. You use honing to correct the latter. By using a round steel rod you can bend the edge back into position.

Honing isn't common for survival knives because they are usually made of carbon steel which tends to chip instead of bending.

Stropping

Stropping is a process used mainly by barbers to sharpen the razors. If honing is for tough blades then stropping is for hard blades (dry pasta).

Stropping is done using a razor strop. Basically a piece of leather, either stretched or glued to a piece of wood. This leather is then rubbed with an abrasive compound. Basically this is a super fine whetstone. Woodworkers often have two strops with different abrasive compound, where one is extra fine.

Unlike the whetstone you never pull the strop against the edge, only away from it, in a 90 degrees angle.

The primary intention with the strop is to wear down the burr. The small edge of material that didn't come off when you used the whetstone. But it also works to keep the edge razor sharp during carving.

After sharpening, if I don't have a strop with me I just use my belt without abrasive compound. And if I don't have a belt on me? I use my cleaned palm (carefully!).

Sharpening

Everyone and their mother knows the best way to use the whetstone. Or at least so everyone thinks. And I'm not saying my way of doing it is the best one either. It's just one way of many, and it works for me.

Whetstones come in different grids. And to confuse things a bit there are different grid-scales around the world. The more exact thing to look at are the microns. Where a higher number is a coarser material (bigger grain).

They also come in different materials. Some are harder, and thus stay flat better, while some are softer and needs some maintenance to stay flat. For us bushcrafters it's enough with a pocket sized two-sided whetstone with one coarse and one fine side. Normally a coarser diamond and a finer ceramic side. 35-15 micron range is fine for a knife in normal use.

I use the Fällkniven DC4. With one diamond 25 micron side and one finer ceramic side.

I use different techniques, depending on if I want to quickly make a good edge, or slowly want to make a super sharp edge.

When doing it the quick edge I start by using the coarse diamond side. I hold the knife in my dominant hand, with the edge pointing away from me. I will later change this grip for the other side of the blade.

The whetstone is in the palm of my other hand, laying flat with the short end pointing away from me.

I put my index finger on the bevel, this lets me feel that the other side of the bevel lies flat against the whetstone. I then apply quite heavy force with the index finger and pull the knife back and forth along the stone. I start from the handle and slowly work my way to the tip. As I get closer to the tip I turn the knife so that the edge stays perpendicular to the direction of my motion. I work like this for a few minutes before switching side.

Now the edge is turned against me. And instead of using my index finger I use my thumb to apply force.

After this the knife needs to be brushed off. I use some grass or whatever is close at hand. Then I flip over the whetstone and work on the finer side in the same way. But with less pressure.

Some say this way of going back and forth is bad, because the metal grains you shave off stays on the whetstone and scratches the edge. I can imagine this is true, so for a more careful sharpening I use the same method, but I only pull the knife edge against the whetstone, then lift it and repeat.

I also use water on the whetstone while doing a more careful sharpening. This makes the metal grains wash away while I work.

A third way, which some people prefer is to move the knife in circles on the whetstone. This is especially useful on soft ones, for example the Japanese whetstones which I use for woodworking. Where your aim should be to use as much as possible of the stone to keep it flat.

Grinding

Grinding can be done for three reasons.

• If you have serious dents in your knife.
• If your concave bevel is worn down and has become flat.
• If you want to change the shape of the blade or the angle of the bevel.

Dents can be corrected in the field with a file. Or at home on a sharpening system. A sharpening system is a machine with a rotating round stone. It has different tools to get exactly the bevel angle you want.

If you've lost the concave bevel, which happens after you've sharpened the knife many times. You need to use a sharpening system to correct it. The great thing about a concave bevel is that sharpening is faster because there is less material you need to remove. The risk of making the bevel convex is smaller too.

Completely changing the knife shape requires a very strong machine with a coarse stone. And constant cooling of the knife by dipping in cold water every 10 seconds.

Knife Blade Blanks and How to Make Your Own

If you're like me, you can never find that exact knife you want. The solution is to buy a knife blank and make your own handle to it. A blank is pretty much just a blade with a tang.

You then carve a handle out of any wood of your choice. Blanks come in both fixed blade and foldable versions. On foldable blanks the handle is usually attached with bolts. While on a fixed blade knife the tang is fitted into a hole in the handle and either glued or riveted in place.

To protect yourself you should tape the blank carefully while working with it.

After you've sanded the handle you need to dip it in water to make the grain rise.

Then let it dry and sand it again, and repeat until it stays smooth.

If you are drilling a hole for the blade you need to be very careful to make it straight. Best is to drill the hole first and attach the blade before you start carving.

Knife Making Tools

Ironically, to make a knife you need a knife. Preferably a carving knife.

You may also need some material to make the handle from. But you can just as well take some from nature or an old plank.

Some sandpaper in different grits, P120 to P1000 for finishing.

Some raw linseed oil for preservation.

I would love to hear what you think down in the comments.

The next upcoming article will be on choosing water repellant gear without sacrificing our environment, a truly challenging task! Like us on our new Facebook page below or follow us on twitter @sustainablebush to get notified when it's published!

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