I love knives. To me they represent potential. If you go out into the woods barehanded you might be able to survive, but it will be a lot easier if you have a good knife. With the right knife you can build shelter (lean-to), make the tools needed to start a fire (fire bow), and make tools that will help you eat (fish spear). Over the years I’ve used many different knives and I recently settled on the Becker Companion as my survival knife of choice. This is not a big knife, but when you pick it up you know you’re holding on to something sturdy and capable of hard work. I’ve found that it holds a good edge and it’s fairly easy to sharpen.
I don’t know how many knives I’ve broken in the field, but my philosophy is that if you’re going to take it out there you might as well use it. I’ve split a lot of firewood with this knife using the baton method and never once worried that I was going to break it.
In the above picture the Becker Companion is the bottom knife. I wrapped gorilla tape around the handle for a better grip plus it’s a good idea to have a little extra tape around when you’re in the bush. The knife comes with a kydex sheath and it clips in well enough that the knife clasp really isn’t necessary, although I use it because I’m a cautious sort at heart. I added a Maglite to the picture as a size reference.
The other knife is the Becker Necker. This sweet little knife is worn around the neck and clips in to a sturdy kydex sheath as well. It just came in the mail and other than holding it up to the light and ooohing and ahhing over it I haven’t had a chance to field test it yet, but if it’s anything like it’s big brother the Becker Companion I know I won’t be disappointed.
Another thing I really like about these knives is affordability. If you order them off the KA-BAR site you’ll pay a premium price, but if you look left and follow the Amazon link and search for these knives (I ordered the Becker Necker from there) you’ll pay about half the price. I believe I paid around $51 for the Companion and the Necker was $31.19.
Becker Necker in a Kydex Sheath
In the past I used the Marine Corps KA-BAR fighting knife I got when I was in the service. While I found this to be a pretty good knife it’s really designed as a fighting knife and not a survival knife, which brings me to another point. Be careful of the knife you buy. You don’t have to agree with my particular knife (you’re crazy if you don’t), but there are certain characteristics that a good knife will have. First of all, don’t get one of those Rambo knives with a bunch of stuff in the handle.
These knives look cool, hell they look awesome! But if you put them to the test eventually they’re going to let you down. You want a solid tang knife, meaning no hollow handles! I would also avoid folding knives as my opinion is that the joint where it folds is susceptible to breaking and batoning wood with them is a very tricky business.
Seriously, anybody who’s spent time in the wilderness has a knife that they swear by. If you insult their knife it’s the same as calling their kid ugly and it’s gonna cause some bad feelings, so be careful.
And just in case you’re wondering this is not a paid advertisement for KA-BAR. I just like their stuff.
What do you use for a survival knife? What makes it so special?
16 comments
I purchased a slightly used Campanion a couple of months ago because of their reputation for a heavy duty knife. Wow, if you put an edge on a pry bar, you’d end up with something like this knife – heavy duty is understatement. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet though.
I’m a cheapskate at heart, so my using knives pretty much follow that mentality. Good but cheap – that works for me. Moras, Cold Steel Bushman (really like that ability to make a pole ax out of this one, really handy for lopping high branches when cutting berechas in south Texas brush country) Most of our wood is mesquite and other hardwoods – no easy softwoods here – so cutting is mainly done with heavy implements. A 12″ CS Bowie machete has been really handy though – light and short enough to carry inside or beside a rucksack and takes a decent edge too.
I have a knife fetish.Two I always take are RTAK II and coldsteel Pendelton hunter. One is huge one is small.Also use Kukri,SRK,old Schrade skinner,for city use a becker Tac tool.
China
III
My choice is the Cold Steel SRK, and I’ve carried one for for about 20 years! Here’s a story I wrote about it:http://www.survivalcommonsense.com/2010/10/07/product-review-the-cold-steel-srkfeed/
Here’s a story I wrote about the Cold Steel Master Hunter. I just got back for hunting elk in Idaho and Oregon, and the knife performed very well:http://www.survivalcommonsense.com/2010/10/27/survival-knife-review-cold-steel-master-hunterfeed/
I enjoy your site – and love debating and discussing such things as the best survival knife. Too bad we don’t have a campfire!
Leon
I have a couple as well. One is a forgecraft kitchen knife. Straight backed blade, abut 6 or 7 inches. Additional 4 inches for the wooden handle. I also gave an imperial camper type knife. It didn’t have plates on the handle, just the full tang, so I ended up wrapping it with cotton twine. Looks awesome. I put fine edges on both of them. I also made simple leather belt sheaths as well. Someday, I’ll take pictures of them.
I’ll have the campfire in my neck of the woods, but you all have to bring your own hotdogs. :-)
@No ME Preppy – I’ve made leather sheaths before without doing any stitching. Yours probably came better than mine did, but it was cheaper than buying a new one.
There are two hollow-handled “survival” knives I’m aware of that probably won’t have the same issues most of them have: one was made by Chris Reeve Knives (http://www.davisguns.com/browse.cfm/chris-reeve-commemorative/4,19852.html)
and the other’s essentially a clone of that made under the Schrade name (http://www.amazon.com/Schrade-SCHF2-Extreme-Survival-Special/dp/B0018VJAQU). They’re both made out of a single piece of steel.
I don’t own either of them. There are probably reviews of them on youtube, though.
Another hollow handled knife that would pass muster would be the Cold Steel Bushman. The initial intent would be to stick it to a poke and have a poleaxe or spear, but a cork in the end would be just as well. If I were to buy a new knife fir woidsrunning purposes, it might very well be the Bushman.
@Jarhead. I’m not so sure about that. I’ve only ever made 2. I think they look nice, but the greater thing is that they serve the purpose.
I’ve been very pleased with the Becker knives and am especially enamored of their TacTool. Normally I carry the Glock field knife when Im out hunting or fishing…its light, inexpensive, and takes abuse like a trailerpark housewife. However, the Becker knives, with their thick blades, are pretty hardcore and definitely built for end-of-the-world mayhem. Becker is now done through K-Bar, and I hope that the change hasnt led to a reduction of quality. I have some of the BK&T knives from before the move and hope to get a few more.
@Leon – great review about your knife and I agree with you on the gut hooks. In my opinion a knife needs to hold an edge, take an edge, and be able to take some serious use in the field.
@Regina – I checked out the knife in your first link. I’d be willing to give one a shot if it appeared on my doorstep, but prior experience has made me leery of the hollow handles. I’m curious why you think these will be stronger? I’m always ready to change my mind when something proves me wrong!
@Preppy – RangerMan said some good stuff about the Bushman too. I’d love the chance to try one out or hear from someone who’s had some experience with one. Maybe you or someone else could write a review as a guest post. Let me know if you’re interested.
@Commander_Zero – I hadn’t seen one of these before. Thanks alot. Now I have to see about buying one. :-)
I found a review of some of the Becker knive at this site: http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/9-becker-knives-for-survival/
It’s a pretty good discussion of the Becker knives.
There’s one thing I didn’t touch on when I wrote this article and that’s serrated edges. Some people love them and swear by them and some people just don’t like them. I fall into the latter category. For whatever reason I’ve never found a serrated edge to be all that useful. I’d be very interested in hearing from anyone who has a different opinion on this.
Correction!
I just noticed that I’ve been calling the Becker Campanion the Becker Companion. A cute little play on words that I totally missed. I noticed that J.R. Guerra spelled it different from me so I looked it up. My humble apologies and thanks J.R.
@Jarhead. I’d love to have the opportunity to do such a thing. The only problem is that I don’t own one yet. Maybe someday. I’ll be headed downstate next weekend. I’ll see if KTP has any.
The Becker BK 2 is a fantastic blade I highly recommend it. It is extremely durable and has a pretty wide blade for the size of the knife. Like mentioned above it is priced really well for the quality of what you get. So many people say that when you are talking knives, price is directly related to quality. This knife definitely shows that you can get a seriously great quality knife under 70 smackers.
Thanks for the info
Cheers !
Dave
http://www.squidoo.com/best-survival-knife-for-the-money
Er is duidelijk een veel te weten. Ik denk dat je een aantal goede punten gemaakt ook in het Features. Blijven werken, great job!
Dit artikel is zeer interessant, vooral omdat ik op zoek was naar gedachten over dit onderwerp afgelopen donderdag.
Well, I kind of disagree with this. Nothing is perfect, and it should take time to make it as it is.
I like the BK-2, it’s a great knife, but I opted for the BK-10 for two reasons
1: Many people reported the sheath dulling the knife much faster than it should have.
2:It seemed a bit to heavy for me (I’m not a big bloke) so any heavy work would tire me out much quicker.
But they are both great knives and I would trust my life to them both.