Camp knife

Roger

Well-Known Member
I've never heard the term before but an all purpose around camp knife makes sense. What attributes should a good camp knife have size, shape material etc?
I'm thinking one should do everything from cutting kindling to spreading peanut butter.
 
Good thickness for a strudy spine, I would think stainless, have a weight forward balance for chopping, a gripy handle, With a slightly thicker edege to hold up to camp task. That being said I have one similar to this that only stays around as a keep sake it does many things OK but not much real well. I prefer a hatchet and a good knife
 
As Rodney alluded, not all people like a knife for light chopping but then some do. What a camp knife is is pretty much in the eyes of the beholder, much like a bowie knife. They are generally larger knives that can do light chopping, clearing light brush, used with a mallet to split wood, chop the vegies, quarter a deer, and, in the past, served for defence. They will probably have a heavier, thicker blade, may or may not have weight forward and, as noted, a thicker edge. I like to achieve the last item with a convex secondary grind. They will generally have just a very simple handle without a guard or butt plate. I would have to agree that they are a jack of all trades but master of none, but then many utility knives can be described as being the same. Every knife design has to be geared towards it's intended use and every eliment of a knifes design is a trade off against another characteristic.

I wouldn't consider a stainless steel for making a camp knife unless corrosion was a real issue. But then again, I don't think that stainless steel is all that great for making knives, especially larger one. Stainless steels tend to be more brittle that a tool or spring steel of the same thickness and hardness though some of the more modern stainsless steels have wear resistance that carbon steels can't come close to. However, the flip side of that is having a blade that is difficult to sharpen.

Doug Lester
 
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Thanks Doug for the tutorial, I've got more knowledge and some ideas now. And I'm not a big fan of stainless either.
 
whenever i think of a good camp knife, i always think of a knife classic; the knife i am referring to is a classic kabar. I have always used one for this purpose, and its honestly hard to beat.

so what does a camp knife mean to me:

it chops with or a hammer stick
can be used for cooking
easily sharpened
 
Roger,what you described in your first post, is exactlly what I meant. The kind of a knife that you seem to stick in the "stump near the fire pit", and you don't re-sheath till you break camp cause your always seem to be using it for something. Either cutting a piece of meat,sreading peanut butter or cutting cord and "what-ever". Ron.
 
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