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^^ Great info there, MT. Thanks for posting so thoroughly.
I have a bit of a knife obsession (along with flashlights) and that is very useful information.
Maybe not. I had a friend once who kept an inoperable pistol in plain sight at home. His thought was that if anyone ever broke in they would focus on the gun, giving the homeowner an out or enough time to grab a loaded firearm. Probably the stuff of movies...
Cheap knives have their place, and they can be stashed here & there in case you ever need a blade. I used to load up on cheap knives at gun shows, mostly TSA confiscations that must end up in auctions.
For serious field use I would not buy anything cheap. Full tang, well known brand, leather or heavy canvas sheath.
We have no inoperable guns and no cheap knives. Live is too short for such experiments even in the garage. We do not have the mini farm life anymore:>(. My days of gutting/skinning are over but I spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen. When Mumsy visited last year and "helped" I had a mini stroke when she put my kitchen toys in the dish washer.
With that narrow criteria, carry a file with you to his stand. Take the file and see if it will scratch the knife. If the file skates and doesn't bite in, then it's a hard steel
Look at where the guard joins the handle to the blade. Are there gaps around the tang? If there are material can get in there and rot which can corrode the steel or eat out the handle, not to mention it could contaminate any food or meat you use the knife on.
Look at the handle or scales, how are they attached to the tang. Are they riveted or screwed or pinned, or just glued? Glue or epoxy alone will many times fail and break off.
Can you see the tang?
If it's a full tang you should be able to see the spine along the top and belly on the bottom with the scales on each side.
A through tang you MAY be able to see the spine along the top, but usually the tang is hidden inside the handle and you may not be able to evaluate how robust the tang is, and if it will support the blade.
How is the butt constructed?
Some full tangs won't have a separate butt, they will just incorporate the tang and scales into a fitted termination for comfort and grip, or just a rounded termination without a distinct butt.
If there is a separate butt, that usually means a hidden tang, but how is it joined to the knife? Some are threaded and screwed on, some are pinned, some are epoxied or glued. Pinned are best, threaded works well, glued or epoxy can shatter if used to hammer in tent stakes or breaking nuts.
The handle or scale materials can be just about anything, even cordage, but rubber or plastic are weakest and most likely to break or shattee or chip with exposure to moisture or freezing temperatures or corrosives like blood.
Cordage like Paracord are comfortable and handy as a source of cord if needed but there better be a fitted full tang so you can still use the knife with the cord removed, and cordage can absorb blood or liquids which can contaminate food or your hands.
Back in the 1970s there were "Rambo" knives made wit a hollow handle and a screwed on butt so there was a survival kit in the handle, usually a fishing kit and some matches. There wasn't really any tang, instead there was a short threaded stud on the blade that was inserted into the handle and joined with a nut so the handle was hollow.
These are pure crap, don't even consider one of them.
There are a few specialty knives out there with cast handles made out of aluminum. The tang is placed in a mold and molten aluminum is poured into the mold making a joined handle that is very secure, but the aluminum can defirm if used to set tent pegs or break nuts or bones to get at the meat or marrow.
Balance, fit and finish can help determine a quality knife as well.
Is that what you were looking for?
Thank you for education!
If a person to get a “life-time” only one, ok, maybe 2 knifes - that needs to be versatile to sustain the life in the woods or fields and the occasional household use - what specific brand/model should we get?
what would that be?
Thank you for education!
If a person to get a “life-time” only one, ok, maybe 2 knifes - that needs to be versatile to sustain the life in the woods or fields and the occasional household use - what specific brand/model should we get?
what would that be?
Esee knives has a bunch in the lineup that are just about perfect. Look at the Esse-4 and Esee-6, for example.
First thing is to only buy a full tang knife if you intend to keep it and use it for a long time. That means the knife runs all the way from stem to stern and the handle is wrapped around the back end of the metal of the knife.
The only other thing that is important is that the knife be comfortable in your hand, that it won't slip in your grip if it is wet (or bloody, or greasy).
Other than that, you look for a nice smooth finish, which means some care was taken with the manufacturing process. Long guarantees are not 100% guarantee that the knife is good, but it helps.
I like a blade that holds an edge, but if you do not mind sharpening knives, i have some less expensive knifes (not cheap, but definitely not expensive) that will take a razor edge and hold it long enough to do a couple of jobs and then they get sharpened again. They are comfortable to use and because they are relatively cheap, I don't worry about damaging them.
Some of the old time brands got to be old time brands because they are reliable. I have two Schrade Old Timer knives that are at least 50 years old and still excellent. Ditto for a nice Buck knife pocket knife. Some of the old time brands got bought out and cheapened up and run into the ground. You need to be careful buying a Henckels because the German made ones are still excellent and you can buy crap ones with that brand stamped on them that are made in China.
The best way to know about knives is to ask the people who use them, on gun forums and hunting forums. They can tell you which knives hold up and which knives have tactical value.
Made in China is mostly a warning, but my best knives were made in China and they are high quality and were not cheap. China is capable of manufacturing any level of quality. Just that your first reaction to "made in China" should be caution,
First thing is to only buy a full tang knife if you intend to keep it and use it for a long time. That means the knife runs all the way from stem to stern and the handle is wrapped around the back end of the metal of the knife.
The only other thing that is important is that the knife be comfortable in your hand, that it won't slip in your grip if it is wet (or bloody, or greasy).
Other than that, you look for a nice smooth finish, which means some care was taken with the manufacturing process. Long guarantees are not 100% guarantee that the knife is good, but it helps.
I like a blade that holds an edge, but if you do not mind sharpening knives, i have some less expensive knifes (not cheap, but definitely not expensive) that will take a razor edge and hold it long enough to do a couple of jobs and then they get sharpened again. They are comfortable to use and because they are relatively cheap, I don't worry about damaging them.
Some of the old time brands got to be old time brands because they are reliable. I have two Schrade Old Timer knives that are at least 50 years old and still excellent. Ditto for a nice Buck knife pocket knife. Some of the old time brands got bought out and cheapened up and run into the ground. You need to be careful buying a Henckels because the German made ones are still excellent and you can buy crap ones with that brand stamped on them that are made in China.
The best way to know about knives is to ask the people who use them, on gun forums and hunting forums. They can tell you which knives hold up and which knives have tactical value.
Made in China is mostly a warning, but my best knives were made in China and they are high quality and were not cheap. China is capable of manufacturing any level of quality. Just that your first reaction to "made in China" should be caution,
That's certainly not universal. Most full tang knives have the metal edge of the blade exposed all around the handle - no part of the edge is hidden by the handle material (an exception would be, for example, a paracord wrapped handle). There are certainly full tang knives where the edge of the blade is either partially or fully covered by handle material, but they tend to be knives with narrower blades, else the handle starts to become too bulky.
Just that your first reaction to "made in China" should be caution,
That's basically my first criteria when shopping for quality knives. If it has 'China' stamped on it, I'm probably not interested in buying it.
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