Choosing the Best Survival Knife

A good knife is probably the most important tool you can have in the wilderness. Many people carry knives (usually pocket or multi-tool type knives) on a daily basis. But what is the best knife to have?
The answer depends on your situation. If you’re out in the woods for a weekend of camping, you can probably do well enough with a good Swiss-Army Knife or Leatherman. If you’re in a survival situation you’ll probably be wanting something more substantial.

Image courtesy of flickr user Bill Bradford

Before we get into the best options for each situation, lets go over some knife basics.


Steel

I've written earlier on the steel used in knives. Generally speaking for a knife that will be used for heavy work (chopping or carving) a slightly lower carbon content is preferred so that it will be less brittle. For a thin fillet knife you'll want a higher carbon content for optimum sharpness.

Another consideration is whether or not to choose stainless steel. My personal preference is always for non-stainless steel, but I live in a dry environment where it hardly ever rains. 440 Stainless steel is a fantastic steel for making knives and is the standard steel used in most pocket knives. My preference for non-stainless is simply due to the fact that stainless steels have such a high chromium content that they cannot be sharpened as finely as their non-stainless counterparts.

Knife Design.

Please refer to my Knife Anatomy guide for a detailed discussion on knife design. For a survival knife, you have to choose a versatile knife that is capable of performing adequately in many situations. If you can only have one, my preference would be for a bowie type knife.

As you can see in the image above, this is the overall design of a good survival knife.

These are some features of a good survival knife:

A drop point provides maximum strength at the tip at the cost of penetrating power.
A straight edge will allow you to chop, carve or slice depending on your needs.
A flat grind will allow the edge to become very sharp while having enough mass to prevent chipping.
A pommel is not always present (and is exaggerated in the image above) but will be useful as a hammer.
Some sort of hilt or hand guard is recommended to protect your fingers.
A Full Tang is an absolute must. A full tang, though heavier, will be stronger.

When choosing a survival knife, you should really be choosing something that has most of these features. The only ones that are not optional, in my opinion, are a full tang and a straight edge.

Straight Edge or Serrations?

I generally dislike serrations. If your knife is sharp enough it can cut through anything that a serrated blade can do. Remember, serrations saw, whereas a sharp straight edge will slice. A rule of thumb is that serrations are meant only for bread.

The exception to this is serration on the spine, which can be useful if you need to saw through heavy wood.

Isn’t a Multi-Tool enough?

As a rule of thumb, I always carry around a multi-tool. Currently I sport the Leatherman Wave. This multi-tool comes with the standard pliers, as well as a straight edged and a serrated edge knife blade. The Wave also includes a Philips head and flat head screwdriver, some small scissors, a can opener, bottle opener, metal file and hand saw. In a pinch, this type of knife will serve you well in a survival situation, but you’ll be missing a few key features that a heavier knife would provide.

A Heavy Knife

Image courtesy of flickr user Conny G.

A heavy “chopping” knife is important in a survival situation – vitally so. I would personally value a heavy knife over any other blade in my survival kit, including my multi-tool. This is because a good survival knife can double as an axe, a hammer, and a shovel in a pinch. If you’re in a rocky area it should also be capable of starting a fire, provided you can find a good flint-stone. All of which make this type of knife essential.

A fine edged knife

Although you should always keep your knives sharp, including your thick heavy knife, there are some uses where a thin boning or skinning knife is more appropriate. This knife will be used for finer work, such as preparing a meal or handling clothing repairs. This is going to be the knife you bring to a razor’s edge.

Okay, so which is it?

Well, to be honest, my Bug Out Bag (BoB) carries all three. Although I always carry a multi-tool, I've got a handy Swiss Army Knife in there just in case. I also have a very thin, very sharp high carbon fillet knife that I would use for very fine cutting. And of course, I'd never be caught out in the wild without a good bowie type knife. Currently I'm using one that I've made myself, but I always cycle through my knives to try to find which is the best one. If I had to choose between the three... it would probably be a good bowie type knife. If it's well-maintained, a bowie knife can be sharp enough for most delicate work yet sturdy enough to go chopping wood for your fire.