Backcountry/camping knife recommendations

JAHpow

JAHpow

Active member
I'm looking to get a fixed-blade knife for when I'm up in the BWCA and camping in general. I hate the term "bushcraft", I feel like that's so hipster now. But I'm more or less looking for one for use in that sort of stuff.

Right now I'm leaning towards an ESEE 4 and getting extended G10 scales put on from TKC. But I'm also considering a TOPS BOB.

What do you guys use?
 
I'm a pretty casual knife guy. I don't have experience with the knives you mentioned and I can only speak to what I know. I carry a folding knife with me pretty much everywhere. It gets used daily, opening boxes at work, gutting fish on the weekend, and all kinds of stuff in-between. My personal favorite (and the one I'd recommend) is my Buck Knife. The steel holds an edge well and is sharp enough for my use cases. I sharpen it every few weeks to keep it spicy. I've used a few Kershaws in the past, an Opinel, a Gerber, a Leatherman, and a few others I'm forgetting, and the one that stays in my pocket is Buck. If I were to go with a fixed blade knife, I'd get another Buck. They've been in the game a long time and I've been a happy customer.

No matter what you choose, keep a sharpener/stone around. Even the best knives eventually lose their edges
 
14288416:snowfinder said:
Went deep into looking for a good knife, decided to make my own about halfway finished with the first one.
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That's cool, you should post some pics
 
Those both look like nice knives, especially the serrated ESEE. I'm not a knife guy at all but I defiantly like my fixed blade knife that's when I'm out in the backcountry in the summer. Bigger fixed knifes are nice and sturdy for cutting wood and shit and if I ever have some fucked up animal encounter it would be slightly better than a little pocket knife
 
14288481:snowfinder said:
View attachment 1003487

Few more steps left to do shape it, give it an edge, forge it and give it a handle.
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Dude that's awesome. Would love to see it through the process and the finished piece. I suppose you're custom making your own scales for it, right?
 
Whatever you do, make sure it's full tang.

I have a sog seal pup elite and it's pretty nice but I don't carry it that often.

Usually I just carry a little folder. Finally broke down and bought a 3" blade Benchmade folder a few years back. Fantastic quality.

If I was bushwacking though I'd definitely want a big fucking blade and maybe machete depending how dense it is.
 
14288512:HypeBeast said:
Whatever you do, make sure it's full tang.

I have a sog seal pup elite and it's pretty nice but I don't carry it that often.

Usually I just carry a little folder. Finally broke down and bought a 3" blade Benchmade folder a few years back. Fantastic quality.

If I was bushwacking though I'd definitely want a big fucking blade and maybe machete depending how dense it is.
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Both of my considerations are full tang, 1095 carbon steel

And I want to be clear, this is for when I'm out in the sticks. Not an edc knife. I have a Gerber Statesman that I carry regularly.
 
14288570:JAHpow said:
Both of my considerations are full tang, 1095 carbon steel

And I want to be clear, this is for when I'm out in the sticks. Not an edc knife. I have a Gerber Statesman that I carry regularly.
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I have a few Kukri House knives and I carry one similar to this when hiking. Its a good balance of strength and weight. I have a Panawal Special on as well an its an absolute tank that can chop, baton and make shavings all with one blade.

Smaller one:
https://www.thekhukurihouse.com/6inch-jungle-plus-heavy-duty

Big One:
https://www.thekhukurihouse.com/panawal-special-mccoy

Buck Knives makes some excellent blades as well:
https://www.buckknives.com/product/119-special-knife/0119FAM01/

0119BKS-B.jpg
 
14288508:JAHpow said:
Dude that's awesome. Would love to see it through the process and the finished piece. I suppose you're custom making your own scales for it, right?
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I will post some pics in this thread of the progress. Still not sure what I'm going to use for a handle yet but it's going to be wood.

14288512:HypeBeast said:
Whatever you do, make sure it's full tang.

I have a sog seal pup elite and it's pretty nice but I don't carry it that often.

Usually I just carry a little folder. Finally broke down and bought a 3" blade Benchmade folder a few years back. Fantastic quality.

If I was bushwacking though I'd definitely want a big fucking blade and maybe machete depending how dense it is.
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Tapered full tang is the plan, 1095 is some heavy stuff trying to knock some of the weight down.

14288517:DolansLebensraum said:
Based.
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What?
 
14289036:Prophet30 said:
https://www.forgedinkol.com/

Plug for a guy I know that hand makes sick knives. I have two myself from him. High quality.
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Dang those look sweet. I'm actually surprised at the prices for a lot of them. They're quite reasonable.
 
A old college friend is putting out bomb ass Scandinavian style knives. Blades are Forged in US and he hand makes handle and leather holder. He’s getting really good. Also he lives south of Ely so pick it up on the way to BWCA.

http://www.wildernesseffects.com/

1003694.png
 
14289463:DolansLebensraum said:
Do you know what kind of epoxy he uses to seat these things securely?
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Not sure. Last time I chatted to him about it he said the key was keeping the pressure consistent over a long period of time to dry .He went through a couple prototypes of hand made vices but I think his got down to a science on the industrial size now. He’s churning out a lot of high end custom made knifes. Lots diy out there.
 
14289473:50Kal said:
Not sure. Last time I chatted to him about it he said the key was keeping the pressure consistent over a long period of time to dry .He went through a couple prototypes of hand made vices but I think his got down to a science on the industrial size now. He’s churning out a lot of high end custom made knifes. Lots diy out there.
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Cool. Yeah i feel like thats the most important thing unless your gonna have some sort of metal dowling into the wood handle like some knives do. But then again high quality knives probably use some insanely good glue or epoxy that is so good its carcinogenic like all good things tend to be.

ive seen so many chincy knife handles dislocate from the blade and its a fucking disgrace
 
ESEE makes good stuff. I'm testing out a Benchmade right now, seems to be holding up decent for the price. Also check out Grayman.
 
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