Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Everyone seems to have their own opinions of which types of guns to have in preparation for shtf scenarios, but i've not seen a lot about what types of knives a person might want to have.

my list of must have knives.

•Skinning knife
it should have a 3 or 3½ inch blade. would be dedicated to the task

•Pocket knife
a medium size stockman or jack knife would fit the bill for light cutting tasks, also for whittling

•fighting knife
a 12 inch kabar would be well suited for general cutting tasks and self defense.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I like the K Bar as a main day to day knife with a kershaw system as a kit on my belt as well

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Swiss Army knife.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Great, now I can't find my ak47 bayonet! I will not be using that one. :(

I like my carry knife for most utility use, Buck Yachtsman.
I also like my Buck Pathfinder and use that for hunting/skinning.
I carry a modified bayonet when bow hunting, just in case.

I would carry the Yachtsman always, and trade between a hunting knife or bayonet according to the day to day conditions.

[EDIT] Already said that!

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I have a couple of Mora military knives that would be great for shtf scenarios. They are inexpensive and easy to maintain. For a big knife I would side with my San Mai III Trail Master Bowie. For a utility type belt knife I would use my Leatherman Wave. A swiss army knife would also be good.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

while i do have a couple leatherman tools, i dont carry it often. but in a shtf situation it would probably be on my belt. one of the best tools for any situation.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I keep a skinner on my .44 mag holster, a Husky folding box cutter clipped to my left pocket and a KABAR in my pack. (the little KABAR, not the biggun)

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I have a 3 piece kershaw for hunting/skinning, a 3in ka bar folding pocket knife and looking to pick up a ka bar machete in the kukri style. The machete will be put on my tactical vest, the pocket knife I carry and the kershaw is in my 72 hr kit.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=831304

I wouldn't want to use my knife for clearing brush. It serves more better uses.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Knives like guns, are tools in a tool box...

A 2 inch key-chain swiss army knife isnt going to bestow commando powers on you.

A Ka-Bar isnt going to make you a commando either though...


hmmm... impasse...

You should be using the same KNIVES that you use every day today in your normal life, hunting, fishing, camping, backpacking, whittling, leather working, sewing, whatever....

DO NOT tell me about the uber cool knife you just bought with a gut hook and Wyoming blade you have if you've never shot and cleaned an animal, and FFS do not tell me about if you've never shot anything ever.... because I'll take the ******* thing away and stick you with it, figure it's doing the gene pool a favor and call it a day...

but that's just me :)


Just kidding! :D

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

i skint me a critter with a kabar. decent at throwing it too.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

True... it's not a bad knife to have for that when that's all you have... but at the same time, using a bone from the deer or elk in question might save a lot more usable meat if all you have is a machete and you're "cleaning the animal"

people should learn to live more now like stores dont have non stop supplies of meat under cellophane and cold milk&dairy sections... at least just camping on the pursuit of shooting a game animal is a step in the right direction.

You give wannabe Joe Rambo one of those old 80's bigass scary Buck bush knifes and tell him to go forth and make good things happen when all his life for his food choices he's been worried about is it taco night or order in pizza or head out to the Spago's after dropping off the kids at the neighbors...

He's gonna cut himself to ribbons just trying to figure out how to take it out of the sheath... Okay, maybe not really... but is he gonna use it to make snares? deadfalls?

see what I mean?

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

without proper instruction and practice no matter what knife a person has it wont do them much good.

(i summed it up with less word thingies lol)

one think im thinking about doing is getting one of them kydex type sheaths for my kabar. the kind that has elongated eyelets all the way around the perimeter, then basically wrapping it in 550 cord as a means of storage of extra cord.

like you said, we need to get used to the knives we might use before we need to use them, and i can think of nothing better to have then a knife and para cord in a survival situation

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I have read alot of good reviews of the Ka bar Kukri machete and it will fit my needs. Also my other ka bar knife has been good as well.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I have an 18" Kukuri from Himilayan Imports that that would feel right at home lopping off heads and extemities as it would be taking down trees for shelter. :eek:

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

After you build a couple shelters and chop some firewood, how's it for skinning? Open a few cans of canned food? Clean some barnacles off the rocks?

I'm not familiar with Kukuris, but my knives serve a purpose. They're all different. No knife fits all.

YMMV...

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

IMHO you need two knives. One for skinning, one for heavier work. To that end I have skinners, and I choose the Bowie for the heavy work.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

I never implied that the kukri was a do all knife. It being a knife of large stature, the one that I have has a 3/8" thick spine. Even though you could shave with it I believe it to be a little on the large size for skinning animals.

On my earlier posting I chose my Trail Master Bowie and a Mora knife as my 2 shtf knife choices anong with my Leatherman Wave multi tool.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

i agree, you definitely need at least 2 knifes. a utility knife and a skinning knife. yall are talking about chopping through the bush with your knife. i forgot to mention that you didnt have to give up your machetes during this SHTF exercise.

i have 2 machetes. i keep one in the trunk all the time.

i see the merits of having a leatherman tool, thats why i have a wave. in a shtf situation you might end up having to rely on that little rascal. it has a lot of good features for someone that might be on the go without a full tool kit.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Anyone like the Gerber LHR and LMF knives ? I got both a while back and can't decide which is my favorite. I even wrote an article about it.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Finding-the-Best-Tactical-Knife

I also own a Ka-Bar knife, always carry it when I can.

But for a SHTF scenario, I'm going for a SPAX axe or a Woodman's Pal !

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

if i had to choose.. a skinning knife, a modified machete, and a WASP.

as to what i use and own..a skinning knife and a cheap machete..

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

All I'd want is my Coronet machete my Shrade Old Timer skinner and my Case Trapper. I'd also guarantee the Trapper to be the most used one.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Ummm, guys, just in case you hadn't noticed...... The last post on this thread (Post #20) was 7 months ago and the guy that started it isn't even on the forum anymore.

Re: Knives for a SHTF or Survival situation.
 

Guys, dont forget the all important butter knife. How else will you butter your biscuits without cutting them to bits? :D

Bull, SHTF is an ageless topic. ;D