If you look in camping shops or the big knife shops like The Knife Warehouse you soon realise that the variety of knives is enormous. Throughout my years of camping and larking about outdoors I’ve acquired a fair collection of knives and a fair bit of (the greatest weapon) – knowledge. I thought I’d impart some of my brain power on you readers and explain the many features and uses of some of the many different shapes and sizes of knives.
I have a feeling this article might span several posts as there are so many to talk about….
Hunting Knives
A hunting knife can look pretty similar to Bowie or Survival knives and modern hybrids can contain features from the traditional versions of all three. As the name suggests Hunting Knives are designed to be used by hunters, not to kill animals but for skinning and cutting meat. To serve this purpose they often have a slight curve on the blade and only a single sharpened edge, compared with a Bowie’s two. This is to improve safety and reduce the risk of cutting yourself when working with it. Hunting Knives are normally pretty sizable in order to fulfill their function for example this Jackal Hunting Knife below has a 15″ blade, it also has a rubber grip handle for added traction and holes in the blade to lower the overall weight and give better balance.
Lock Knives
A Lock knife is a knife where the blade connects to the handle in a way which allows the blade to be folded back into the handle for storage and carrying. It gets its name from the locking mechanism it uses to keep the blade in the cutting position, what makes this such a great feature is how safe this makes the knife to use. It also makes the knife very useful and convenient, for example my Nakura Pakka Wood Nakura Lock Knife is just 4 3/8″ when closed with a blade that is just over 3 1/2″ when open. This makes it small enough to easily fit in your pocket, whilst retaining a blade that is big enough to tackle lots of situations. What I really like about it is it beautiful wooden handle. I use this sort of knife all the time and always keep one in my van, tackle and tool box.
These knives come in all shapes and designs, like the tiny lock knife which is contained in my mini survival kit and is under just 5 inches. The kit is great and is really handy, perfect for to just pop in the boot or a hiking sack. Like some sort of Tardis it looks minute from the outside but contains all kind of treasures including the mini lock knife:
- Firestarter Firesteel
- Combat Wire Saw
- Sewing Kit
- Candle
- Compass
- Fishing Kit
- Emergency Whistle
- Signalling Mirror
- Pencil
- Safety Pins
- Snare Wire
- Cotton Wool
- Water Purication Tables x 10
- Survival Instruction
It also has within it an Accident Report Form! I do love the idea of some poor plane crash survivor, marooned and lost in deep wilderness. Living on just snared squirrels and rudimentarily caught fish, after years on their own finally finding civilization. They don’t eat a proper meal, have a shower or contact their family. They just fill in their Accident Report Form and all is fine!
