Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

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Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby cmj685 on Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:53 am

I have been looking for a knife to buy. I think it is so cool the way Dwight Schrutte on "The Office" carries a big knife hidden in an ankle holster and I want to do the same. :D Anywho... I was reading a forum where some guys who know a bit about what they are talking about were kicking back and forth the questions of the perfect all-around outdoor knife, if they had to select just one knife. I was surprised to see the old Swedish fishing knife Rapala come up several times as a viable candidate. Heck, when I was a boy in the 1800's, those things cost just a few pennies and everyone had 'em, even the women! I would love to hear you'se guys go on and on about the question. Any recommendations...and why would you pick your selection? Oh yeah...and where can I get me one of dem dere ankle holsters?
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby goalie on Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:43 am

Folder or fixed?
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby 1911fan on Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:12 am

It really depends on what you want it to do. I find smaller is better in 90% of the things I do, and only rarely does a big knife enter into the package. Are you going to be off away where "everything" must be done with the knife or are you going to be where getting an axe or saw is possible for those things that need it...

Is it going to be a food prep, game knife, or fish knife? Lots of variables. Describe what you see as the most likely use and we can aim you in some good directions.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby Belgiboy on Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:07 pm

Fixed blade: Buck Vanguard is hard to beat. This will do anything but filet fish. It's a very sturdy drop point design that is exactly the right size for me.

Folder: I bought the CRKT Desert Cruiser from the Sportsmans guide a couple of years ago and that has been my daily knife ever since. It's affordable and keeps an edge really well. Easy to sharpen too. Before that I was using a Buck 110 hunter but that one doesn't have a clip for pocket carry.

Fish filet knife: While there are many good ones out there, The Leech Lake filet knife is Excalibur
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby White Horseradish on Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:29 pm

I have two knives that generally go camping with me: Mora 2000 and Cold Steel Finn Bear.

Both are a good size, not too small, not too large. Both are well made and inexpensive (the Finn Bear was something like $7). No big deal if I lose it, which happens when camping. I probably won't be able to climb up a tree by sticking them in and using them for steps, but I don't do that anyway.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby goalie on Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:51 pm

Helle makes some really nice fixed-blade hunting knives that are useful and tough. For a hunting folder, my Buck 110 still works just fine and holds an edge rather well.

For a general purpose outdoor knife, a Bark River mid-sized fixed blade would be able to do most anything one can expect of a knife.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby cmj685 on Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:24 pm

*sigh*
I guess I was hoping that just once the subject would be so simple that everyone who replied said the same thing! Why do you guys have to make everything so dang complicated? :D This is the problem with consulting experts--they just give too much information!
OK, probably talking about a knife that goes on a belt everyday and goes outdoors on the back 40 to hack and chop and cut whatever needs to be in the daily upkeep of property, and also goes along hunting when the occasion rises. Hopefully that narrows it down a bit!
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby 45usp45 on Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:16 pm

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/36672-1.html

I have found Cold steel knives to be durable tools for not too bad of a price.
I've used the model in the link for many years with good service.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby sochr000 on Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:22 am

I'd say go with an Ontario RAT-3 http://www.knifeworks.com/ontariorat-3d2plainedgebladeblacklinenmicartablacksheath.aspx

or

a Spyderco Dayhiker http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=249

I personally own the Dayhiker and I love it, only problem I have had with it is the convex grind they used, you shouldn't use a whetstone to sharpen it, but instead use polishing compound and a strop.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby EJSG19 on Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:35 am

Part of the complication is that a lot of brands make good knives, and part of that is because they all use very similar materials.

The type of steel the blade is made out of, and its hardness is what I try and look at. Other than that, I just want a brand that I've heard of before. Buck, CRKT, Gerber, whatever...

Shopping for knives is about as hard as shopping for cars or computers.

None of them are apples to apples, there is always something slightly different between the two, so you can't make an exact comparison.

Whats your price range? That'll narrow things down extremely fast.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby Jackpine Savage on Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:56 am

I have three knives that have become favorites and are most often used:

Benchmade 721 pocket folder: with me always, gets used for everything.

Mora 2000: resides in my hunting pack, used for field dressing, skinning, basic parts of butchering

A fillet knife that I got along with an Infisherman subcription. It has the ceramic sharpening rods in the sheath. Used for filleting, food prep, and butchering.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby cobb on Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:12 am

OK, how about a negative for an outdoor knife?

If you plan to use it for cleaning game, such as removing their innards, I would shy away from a folder. Things such as blood and flesh get into the internals of a folder, hard to clean out and hard to dry thorough after cleaning. Maybe not a big negative, but a good old quality fix blade is much easier to clean and maintain than a folder.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby plblark on Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:16 am

AMEN ( I have a 3 blade folder that got really gunked up)
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby farmerj on Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:48 pm

crkt M16-14 is my every day carry...

My Ka-Bar is my backwoods knife on the pack.
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Re: Best All-Around Outdoor Knife?

Postby Pezhead on Mon Mar 08, 2010 1:33 pm

I usually carry a Leatherman & Spyderco everyday. I have several options to choose from. Camping usually the before mentioned but sometimes I switch things out. Fixed blade for camping either a Glock knife or Buck bayonet.
The Spyderco I carry is the Delica it's with me about 98 to 99 percent of the time.
Good luck. Just wait until more people give ther opinion.
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