The never ending discussion on what the best bushcraft or survival knife is. The answer is somewhat simple and very complicated.
The Best Bushcraft Knife
The knife that works best for you for what you are using it for.
Simple answer but not so simple to arrive at. There is not one finite conclusion.
The Best Survival Knife
“The one that you have with you.”
You can do a lot with a little when you really have to. Could you butcher a deer with a 1 inch handless neck knife? Yes you can. Would you choose to? Nope. Not the best
First Bushcraft or Survival Knife
For me this is a no brainer. Get a Morakniv. Done!
Carbon or stainless steel doesn’t matter to start out with. Make sure the blade is no longer than the width of your hand and it is all you need to get going. They are easily affordable and pretty robust. You can push it till you break it and not worry you will get you moneys worth. You can mess up the edge with bad sharpening and not worry that you just ruined a $300 knife. They are also super light so can easily get thrown in the bottom of a daypack for the just in case time when you might need it. I never go into the backcountry without a knife.
Carbon Steel Vs Stainless Steel Bushcraft Knife
The primary difference between carbon and stainless steel is that stainless steel has 10.5% or more chromium added to it. They both have iron and carbon. Carbon steel can also have other components added to it like manganese and nickel but they don’t make up more than 10.5% of the total.
This can be very nuanced with some stainless steel blades having a high carbon content and be able to rust.
But for our purposes here are the pros and cons
Carbon Steel
I like to describe carbon steel like toffee brittle. The stuff that is so hard when you bite it it cracks and snaps. Carbon steel is hard and brittle. However because it so hard it is easier to sharpen. Can you imagine taking a sharp knife to the edge of the toffee brittle and slowly cut away to make a sharp edge. It would be easily done. It would also keep this edge for a long time but if you drop the toffee brittle it would chip or snap or break. This is the same with high carbon knifes. The edges are brittle and can chip and dull from just being knocked around. But they are easier to sharpen.
The other more obvious difference is that carbon steel will rust. If you are like me and live in a temperate rainforest area with high precipitation, spend large amount of time outdoors, a wet sheath with a rusting carbon steel knife inside is not great. However, if you are in a desert or low precipitation area then a higher carbon knife is less likely to be a problem. The edge of the carbon steel knife can and will rust. Simply gut a fish and put it back in its sheath wet and the next day maybe its already oxidizing. A week later its still wet in the bottom of your bag it will definitely be rusty.
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel has 10.5% Chromium or more to prevent rusting. Awesome!! BUT there is a trade off.
I like to describe stainless steel to be like fudge. Yep continuing with the sweet theme. Fudge is hard, but not as hard as toffee brittle. It will do all the same things but sharpening is a little trickier because you are now sharpening something that is a little more flexible. It is still possible to put a razor edge on the blade but you need to be a little bit better at sharpening. Not a problem, we can all work on our sharpening skill.
The corner of that fudge will roll over or bend when you try to get an edge on it. Now think about that fudge getting knocked about. It can roll around in a bag without much serious incident it won’t snap into lots of pieces. The edges, however, will get a bit rounded over. This is where stainless steel looses its fan base. Stainless steel blades will dull faster with heavy use. The kind of use/abuse bushcrafters will be using there knife for will dull the blade quickly. Cutting large Hazel or willow boughs for shelters will do it. Skinning and butchering large game will do it in an hour.
Full Tang Knife or Stick Tang Knife
Full tang or stick tang or partial tang can come down to budget for many people. Large tang knifes are just a bit more expensive.
Full tang
With a full tang knife the blade metal extends the full width and length through the handle. You can see it all. The handle material or scales will be held in place by metal pins running though the blade material. The advantage is if the handle breaks you still have a knife. You can just wrap some cloth round the handle and keep working away. Or maybe put some pitch glue and glue back together or whittle a hardwood peg to replace a broken one. However this is an unlikely scenario.
The only downside are that full tang knifes are more expensive. because of the extra metal they are heavier than there stick tang counterparts. The only other downside is that if you are working in a cold or winter environment where skin is on a metal surface can be uncomfortable. However I find if that if it is that cold you can wear gloves. That is another skill, working with gloves on.
Stick tangs and Partial tangs
I have grouped stick tangs and partial tangs together. In this case with a stick tank only a small portion of the blade extends invisibly into the handle holding the handle and blade together. Stick tangs can be very good or very bad. The stick tang will ideally run all the way through the handle. Looking at the butt end of the handle there is often a pommel or pin or screwed on cap that fits to the end of the tang. This is Very Good. However, if the tang only goes into the handle a short way it puts a lot of leverage pressure on a small peice of metal. This results in the handle snapping or the tang bending away. Very bad. Worse, is that a lot of the time there is no way of knowing where the tang goes up to so it’s impossible for a consumer to know. Generally you can get an idea by researching the brand name and by the price point.
Stick tangs are cheaper and lighter and are very common.
My Choice
For what its worth, for my purposes I like a larger, longer thicker knife if I am out in the bush for an extended period. Full tang knifes are also my preference as a broken handle on a stick tang knife can be a bit of a disaster if you are relying on it.
However I really like the aesthetics of the Scandinavian stick tang knifes and for short trips or backpacking they are a perfect fit. They are light and can easily fit in a pack without noticing the extra weight.
I pick and choose, i have the luxury of having made many of my own blades and I use them for different purposes and for different trips.