Survival Knives

Whether Buck, Bolo, or Bowie…Kukri, Kris or Katana, iconic knives are alive and well. Even as the world seems to spin faster by the day, age old knife designs still have a rock solid grip in our hands. The centuries of knife use has honed blades and handles into a near-perfect blend of design features… Read More

Even at a young age I have always been a knife guy. I can still remember patiently waiting for my 8th birthday when I would finally get a “big boy” pocket knife. Having been around knives, saws, hatchets etc. at a young age while camping with my family I knew the importance of such a took… Read More

Benchmade makes plenty of great bugout-worthy knives, but for Benchmade to actually name one of their blades the “Bugout” must mean something more. I had heard of the bugout Axis folding knife before I ever held one, which was precisely five minutes before I bought one. And as an FYI, Benchmade writes bugout as one… Read More

Like many who have their head on a survival swivel, you may have noticed a monster blade by the Schrade Knife Company that seemed too good to be true. Its huge cross section, full tang, combination serrated/reverse curve blade, and black tactical skin make it seem a no-brainer for the scant $30-$40 it sells for… Read More

SOG has produced many fine knives including several now made in the USA again. I have several and enjoy the heck out of them, but my favorite SOG ride retails for over $200. But for one-eighth that amount, SOG has an excellent basic knife that has a fine handle, an excellent blade, and a pretty… Read More

Benchmade knives are often the gateway drug to the upper end of folding knives, and the Benchmade Griptilian is the gateway drug to Benchmade knives. For many, their first handling of the Griptilian is met with disappointment. The Griptilian, although a solid knife, does not have the heft and density often expected as the retail… Read More

There is a reason that knives are lumped into named categories, and that is because the knife profile of that particular category has been honed (pardon the pun) over decades or even hundreds of years. Whether cutlass or cleaver, Bowie or barlow, choice of shape, thickness, blade steel, edge, and hardness have all been chosen… Read More

Trigger Alert: This article is about a very big knife. If that scares you, then click here.  March 6, 1836 was a bad day for Jim Bowie. In fact the two weeks prior weren’t much better since the small mission building in which Jim and a hundred others took a stand was under attack.  Remember the Alamo? But long… Read More

The quest for a Goldilocks Knife, or one that’s just right, is less a journey and more of a marriage. To trust one’s fate to one single blade especially for survival situations, there must be a commitment to making the best of the situation regardless of the challenges. Thick and thin, sickness and health, and… Read More

SOG knives in general need no introduction, but there are three new players in the SOG folder lineup that do deserve some special attention. All three are solid black. All three lean heavily towards the tactical side. All three use springs to deploy the blade. And all three are made in America. There is a… Read More

No survivalist’s kit is complete without at least one knife, and there’s always an open space in the collection for just one more perfect specimen. (I know many who refuse to leave the house without theirs: When going hiking or camping, you’ll almost always have a use for one.) A knife is the one thing… Read More

SOG Knives in general need no introduction, but a few SOG blades in particular do require a few minutes of your attention. And one such knife is The SOG Pillar.  The SOG Knives company takes its name from a Vietnam-era covert US Special Ops unit known as Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group or… Read More

Call this back to basics, or getting started from the get-go, but there are as many varieties of opinions on bug out bag contents as cats have lives.  And then some.  Then there are the definitions of exactly what constitutes a bug out bag, but no two preppers or survivalists bags are the same much… Read More

As knife designs evolve they have to overcome the traditions and stereotypes of the past. In an effort to drive knife sales, manufacturers have produced more versatile, creatively inspired blades. While this has yielded a multitude of blades, some manufacturers have missed the mark entirely with poorly designed, gimmicky knives. Others, like Fällkniven, produce modern… Read More

Mora knives are the paracord of survival blades. Their utility is unquestioned, but not so much is their reliability as a true survival instrument. Having a partial tang, thin blade, plastic sheath, and average steel, the Mora Knife is more of an inexpensive convenience, but by no means the last word in survival blades.  However… Read More

The prepper survivalist can never really have too many knives. And of course, there are more knives to be had than the Clinton Foundation has mysterious dollars in their bank account. By the way, just curious, but where exactly is that bank account? But, then again, your everyday bug in or out blades do not… Read More

A person is only as good as the tools they use and the tools they use are only good if you take care of them.  My dad said this a lot to me when I was growing, especially if he caught me not properly taking care of a tool. The circle has come around as… Read More

Most who consider themselves prepared would rank the humble pocket knife as a survival essential of the highest degree.  In fact, the sharp blade often exceeds even fire and water in immediate importance.  So having a sharp edge ready to go no matter the situation means carrying a quality blade with you 24/7 or at… Read More

Being a restless survivalist, I find the endless pursuit of the best single knife to be both a noble one and and endless one.  Or so I thought.  The Fällkniven A1 Pro may have brought an end to my quest for the perfect survival knife, and become the life-long quest of other like minds.  Could… Read More

It seems that everyone’s favorite piece of gear to carry and discuss are knives. With the variety of styles, shapes, sizes and the jobs they can perform, it is easy to see why they are a favorite piece of gear. When it comes to folding knives, I am very particular and will not carry an… Read More

I have never owned an assisted opening pocket knife before but have always wanted one. From the outside they seemed like they would be flimsy and their action was all for show.  Most of the people I had met that brandished an assisted opening blade, were of the “mall ninja” type. I had no real… Read More

The definition of a neck knife pretty much begins and ends with it being a blade worn on a lanyard around one’s neck.  Rather than in a belt sheath, pocket, pack clipped anywhere else, the neck knife offers a deployment option and carry strategy that opens some doors especially during specific activities and positions.  Neck… Read More

I’m willing to bet that at least 90% of the people reading this article have to function under a budget of sorts.  Bills need to be paid, houses need to be heated, cars need to be maintained, stomachs need to be fed.  It’s a fact of life and how we have to operate on a… Read More

Peter, the head of Fällkniven knives told me that a big blade can do everything a small blade can do, but a small blade cannot do everything a big blade can do.  Or thereabouts.  In theory, I agree with him. But in practice…well, that would take field testing.  Big is not a measurement, it is… Read More

ESSE knives are the real deal.  In fact, they are so darn good and in such high demand by users on the front lines that people have started trying to counterfeit them.  Let’s say up front, if you intend to shop for an ESEE knife on line in particular, buy it from a reputable dealer… Read More

Let’s cut to the chase. The point of an everyday carry (EDC) knife is to always have a sharp blade just a pocket away (sorry for the triple pun).  And with apologies to restrictive jurisdictions, the choice of an EDC knife is wide open and up the the carrier.  For me, I am an unabashed… Read More

The CRKT Redemption knife designed by Ken Onion is one, big, knife!  The Redemption is not for carving little wooden characters out of balsa wood, or cutting up hot dogs for the kiddie table at the neighborhood barbeque.  It has one clear mission, to clear trees from the Redwood and Sequoia National Forrest and to… Read More

It wasn’t until I wore the Fallkniven Jarl on my belt for a while that I realized that the majority of the art we will have with us during a bug out will be the art of our equipment.  Now while I find the Glock as sexy as any other gun, I do have a… Read More

Up until recently, the quiet corner of outdoor activity known as bushcraft was a niche market for those who make knives and other wilderness survival equipment targeting extreme survivalists.  But when Benchmade and Spyderco launched their own bushcraft knife contributions into the very small circle of blade makers who target a specific product to those… Read More

While I’m not much of a fan of do-everything survival tools, I thought I’d take a stab at this one since it was a requested review by a reader.  I’ve used plenty of Smith’s blade sharpening products in the past with no notable problems, but adding a handful of survival footnotes to a sharpening device… Read More

Although the folding knife has been with us since pre-Roman times, and popular since the late 1600s, it has always been a compromise of size and strength. Anything that moves is a potential weakness. In the modern world, most cutting tasks don’t require more than a basic blade of even mild sharpness and strength. It’s… Read More

If you’re like me, you’re probably knife poor.  I like knives and all kinds of blades, but sometimes they don’t like me.  I have a tendency to get cut.  Imagine that.  Among all the survival tools we could amass, I highly suspect that knives or more generically then, blades would be tops on our lists… Read More

It is a long held belief that a folding knife can never possess the strength to solo as a survival knife. The fears of a folding blade includes that they are too short, have a weak pivot point, and any locking mechanism simply cannot be strong enough. A significant challenge to the sub-standard folder belief… Read More

Tenacious would be a good word to describe the Fallkniven F1.  In fact, it would be the perfect word.  When survival is on the line, you want a blade that has tenacity in its job description.  And the folks at Fallkniven know how to build tenacity into a knife.  Since its introduction in 1995, the… Read More

One particular blade that has been flying under the radar for several years now is the Falcon from Ontario Knife Company (OKC), and its full of many welcome contradictions.  In lots of ways the Falcon, introduced in 2011, is a whole collection of opposing features in knife terms which might be responsible for the Falcon’s… Read More

In 2002, in response to a question about the Iraq war, the US Secretary of Defense replied, and I paraphrase, “There are known knowns; there are known unknowns, but there are also unknown unknowns.” Those words are the best way to describe the the expectations of a survival knife.  Especially the part about unknown unknowns. … Read More

A dog is a man’s best friend, and his knife is a close second.  With that said, I am often surprised when price is used as the limiting criteria of a new blade. What would you think if someone called a breeder and said what’s the best dog I can get for under $30? by… Read More

I am not by nature a “knife” guy.  I often have several on me but they are tools that I use as needed.  My likes and dislikes are simple and rarely do I go outside of my comfort zone.   By Captain Bart, contributing author SurvivalCache.com My survival knife fixed blade of choice is my… Read More

By definition the parang knife or more aptly described machete is by origin of Malay design.  Malaysia of course is dense with thick jungle terrain which by necessity demanded the creation of a handheld cutting implement for indigents to literally slice their way through the maze of tropical growth. By Dr. John J. Woods, a… Read More

As a daily knife user and avid shooter, I’ve been looking for a product that would clean, lubricate, and protect my tools, with a special interest in my EDC knives.  My EDC knife faces a lot of dirt, grime, dust, and lint. By Mr. Smashy, a contributing author of SurvivalCache.com Both my wife’s and my… Read More

The Spyderco Sage 2 is the second knife in Spyderco’s Sage series of knives, which pay tribute to different knife makers who have brought a revolutionary features to knife locking design.  The design of each Sage knife centers around a knife maker and the design feature they are known for. By Mr. Smashy, a SurvivalCache.com… Read More