Show us your knives

[Ayahuasca]

CRTK M16


Nice little flick-knife.
Positive: Opens one-handed and fast
Negative: That makes it highly illegal in the UK.


Opinel No 10


Positive: blade takes a razor edge and stays sharp.
Negative: if the wooden body gets wet it is almost impossible to open.



Ka-Bar (short version)


Positive: stays sharp, strong blade, well balanced
Negative: if the leather sheath gets wet it gets loose, clip is a bit weak.



Gerber LMF II


Positive: super strong, excellent grip, brilliant sheath
Negative: very very heavy



Gerber EX Rescue Knife


Positive: One handed opening, serrated edge cuts lines easily
Negative: Difficult to sharpen, needs a hole for a lanyard


Collins 18 inch machete


Positive: light, flexible blade that is easy to sharpen to a razor edge. Cuts anything from tree trunks to grass.
Negative: none really. This is my 'daily driver'.



British Army 'Golok'

Positive: blade can also be used as a club
Negative: blade is inflexible, impossible to sharpen and loses its edge easily, pretty useless really

[Ayahuasca]

The Nur said:

I thought it was one of those Bear Grylls ones where all the survival stuff fits in the handle.

The 'survival' knives with hollow handles tend to be cheap crap

IIRC the Gerber Bear Grylls is similar to the Gerber LMF2 pictured in my OP, but it comes in garish grey and orange and says 'Bear Grylls' on it which is a bit off-putting.

[Ayahuasca]

OldJohnnyYen said:

Wild camping? Is that where you wash in the river and st in the bushes?

It is for me!

[Ayahuasca]

tank slapper said:

The only knife I use on any regular basis is my Whitby Skippers lock knife. It in my pocket when sailing without fail:

I like the marlin-spike and shackle-key bits.

[Ayahuasca]

I the last year or so i have used my Gerber LMF only as a diving knife. Too heavy for much else. The golok is rusting away unloved and unused in my car. I modified the Opinel to make it easier to open when wet with the result that the blade is now too loose. Oh well. Good for peeling apples though. I haven't used the Ka Bar much. The machete is however put to good use regularly. Superb bit of kit.

[Ayahuasca]

Chim said:

Ayahuasca said:

I the last year or so i have used my Gerber LMF only as a diving knife. Too heavy for much else. The golok is rusting away unloved and unused in my car. I modified the Opinel to make it easier to open when wet with the result that the blade is now too loose. Oh well. Good for peeling apples though. I haven't used the Ka Bar much. The machete is however put to good use regularly. Superb bit of kit.

In deepest darkest dodgy parts of South America your collection is almost a tad on the poor side, in a semi detached in herts Celtic Dragons collection is one step closer to the looney bin

I guess. In the jungle here you would be mad not to have a machete. You wouldn't get very far without one anyway.

[Ayahuasca]

If people can collect teaspoons they can collect knives too.


It's the forkers you need to watch out for - I went to one of their collectors fairs in the 90's - madness.

[Ayahuasca]

A friend of mine had one of those survival type knives, he was trying to cut his way through some vines, realised it was useless, and when he went to put it away he slipped. Cut his hand to the bone and he had to stitch it up that night by the light of the campfire. Lethal things to have in your hand if you are walking anywhere slippery.

My narrow escape with a machete - was hacking my way through some green stuff when suddenly felt a massive stinging biting all over my head. I had dislodged a wasp's nest! I threw the machete into the air and ran yelping in small circles. It landed not far away.

[Ayahuasca]

Someone bought me one of these:



Opinel survival knife.

Unlike most Opinels it is plastic, has a partially serrated blade and the handle doubles as a whistle!

I keep it in my rucksack as a 'might as well have it along' knife. It weighs next to nothing.

[Ayahuasca]

Was given this as a present. Opinel survival knife. The wooden handled Opinels have fantastic blades, but the body swells if it gets wet and then the blade gets stuck. This one is plastic, has a whistle built in, and a semi serrated blade. I suppose technically it is a locking blade. It is very light and currently has a place in my hiking backpack.

[Ayahuasca]

I own a decent selection of knives detailed above somewhere.

So it was a bit ironic that I could have drowned at the weekend due to not having a knife with me.

Scuba diving, got caught in a rope, and no way of cutting it free.

Knives can save lives.

[Ayahuasca]

5ohmustang said:

My 7" regular KA Bar with a Spec Ops Multicam molle sheath.

Edited by 5ohmustang on Tuesday 2nd August 05:04

Is that a full-size Ka Bar?

My daily stabber when out in the trees is the mini Ka Bar.

I thought about getting the big Ka Bar but they seem a bit heavy for most tasks (I am not involved in hand to hand combat very often!), and when hiking every bit of weight counts. How do you find it?

[Ayahuasca]

5ohmustang said:

Personally I do not find it to be heavy. If it was strapped to a belt and it flapped around during hiking, it would get old quick. If it was attached to a backpack it would be fine.

.

Normally have an 18 inch machete attached to my backpack. It gets used way more than any knife. The machete is light, flexible, cheap (cost less than ten dollars), and has a razor edge near the tip, a stronger edge further down. Made by the US firm Collins, in Colombia. Great for jungle work. Slices vines, chops small trees, batons firewood, etc.

[Ayahuasca]

Hainey said:

I have a condor golok with a similar grind. I use it a lot in the same terrain as you. Massively useful.

I have a British Army issue golok. More useful as a club than a knife. Nasty heavy dull thing.

[Ayahuasca]

Hainey said:

Foliage said:

Hainey said:

The last one I used was late issue so your probably right. The very old ones from the 70s are pretty good, but I'm not sure who the maker was.

Martingdales have a big crocodile stamped in the blade

Definately wasn't one of those then!

Nor mine; I think mine has an arrow stamped on it.

[Ayahuasca]

J3JCV said:

the handle swells and jams the blade

Yep. I took my Opinel apart and made the groove a bit wider.

[Ayahuasca]

TheJimi said:

PushedDover said:

Is this thread Dead ?


I'm looking for a new handy DIY fixed blade with sheave.... not unobtainium stuff, but PH always comes good for things like this....

Budget?

Likely purpose / use?

[Ayahuasca]

PushedDover said:

Ayahuasca said:

TheJimi said:

PushedDover said:

Is this thread Dead ?


I'm looking for a new handy DIY fixed blade with sheave.... not unobtainium stuff, but PH always comes good for things like this....

Budget?

Likely purpose / use?

Currently opening numerous mail order packages in the garage

Other than that just day to day DIY’ing. Cable stripping, cutting, prying etc...

My existing one I have had since first project in 1996 bridge building
A cheapo from the site stores.

I’m sure more exotic options are available

I have analysed the likely usage and matched it against a database of all known knives.

What you need is a Gurkha Kukri.

[Ayahuasca]

glenrobbo said:

Show us your knives.

What a bizarre request!

Oh well:



Fill yer boots, OP.

An early Islamic, middle-eastern shadow knife. Nice patina. Weighted towards the tip for greater lateral spreading power. Is it Damascus steel?

[Ayahuasca]

Some Gump said:

SpydieNut said:

If you don’t like them, there’s no reason to come onto the thread and less still for posting in a way that implies those who do like them are weird.

I'm not wanting to be overly confrontational - I can appreciate a good knife and am addicted to Forged in Fire, Forged with Steele etc (hell, I even watched Knife Fight which was just dross but dross with comedy walts which made it good).. It's just that as with any area of interest you can like knifes a little too much, and / or just turn it a bit wky like when people use the term "wrist time" on the watch forum =)

Only IMO of course, other opinions are available =)

Belt time, please.