The Greatest Bushcraft Knives of 2024

How We Examined the Greatest Bushcraft Knives

The GearJunkie workforce consists of avid out of doors people who reside and breathe the merchandise they take a look at. Bringing collectively years of product information in addition to a eager sense of what sort of conditions we’re going to get into, we scour the interwebs for knives and instruments that can meet our wants. Earlier than we even get out on an journey, we’re in search of supplies that we all know are sturdy and dependable. We’re in search of sheaths which can be simple to hold, and presumably a ferro rod thrown into the combination.

The entire concept behind bushcraft is self-reliance. The knives we choose want to have the ability to course of meals and timber, and yeah — they could have to act as a line of protection. I imply, who doesn’t need to be in that very same state of affairs that Brad Pitt discovered himself in on the finish of “Legends of the Fall?” Okay, we’re probably not pondering that darkish or that deep. However we do head off on our adventures understanding that the knife we’ve chosen is the knife we NEED to maintain us alive.

Nick LeFort — out of doors knife professional and lead creator of this information — has been testing and writing about blades for over a decade. He has been round lengthy sufficient to see blade metal evolve and understands the true that means of sturdiness. He’s additionally a part-owner of a boutique knife firm.

So what do bushcraft knives do?

Earlier than we head out on any journey, we do our analysis. A very good bushcraft knife must be dependable, packable, and sturdy. You’ll be able to’t all the time determine that out by studying some specs on the web. So, we’ll head out to retail retailers, discuss with our survivalist buddies, and skim up on what individuals are seeing and pondering on the market. From there, we make our choices on what bushcraft knives we need to take a look at out.

The web is peppered with folks testing and reviewing knives and instruments of their storage or at their kitchen desk. In these managed environments, all the pieces works as meant. So, we take it one step additional and spend time with these knives in real-life conditions. That may very well be a number of days within the woods on a state campground. It is also a number of days within the woods in the midst of nowhere with no path or campsite in proximity.

Right here at GearJunkie, we determined way back that if we’re going to advocate one thing to you, we must be as genuine as we are able to. When it comes to bushcraft, the one option to decide the highest line of knives is to get on the market in it and depend on them.

Purchaser’s Information: The right way to Select a Bushcraft Knife

Blade Form

The important thing to bushcraft is simplicity. So when in search of the appropriate bushcraft knife for years of use and abuse, keep away from knives with wild grinds. Recurved blades and serrated blades will solely complicate issues and show to be a royal ache to resharpen. 

The perfect bushcraft knife blade will probably be between 3.5 and 4.5 inches lengthy. The knife itself ought to have an total size of 10 inches or much less. Concerning the general form, drop level and clip profiles are the commonest as a result of they’re probably the most helpful.

In his e book, “Bushcraft: Out of doors Expertise and Wilderness Survival,” legendary outdoorsman, Mors Kochanski states, “All general-use knives ought to have the blade tip near the profile center-line of the deal with.” This permits customers to extra simply management the blade’s level throughout drilling or element work. This method additionally brings added sturdiness to the knife, because the tip is much less skinny than a Bowie design.

Knife Metal

The quantity of knife blade metal and deal with supplies out there may be fairly spectacular. However, the place the deal with supplies appear to have stabilized, there’s new metal popping out yearly. As you’ll be able to see from the above number of eight knives, there are seven completely different knife steels. Our advice is to contemplate every metal on a case-by-case foundation. However they need to nonetheless meet or exceed the next necessities:

Corrosion Resistance

The very last thing you need is your knife turning orange on you out within the subject. Particularly when you’re planning on utilizing it to arrange meals. The entire metal talked about on this information both has distinctive corrosion resistance or has been coated to eradicate the incidence of rust.

Abrasion Resistance

Some folks take into account this property to be extra kind than operate. However in all actuality, in case your blade can simply get scrapped up that may result in chipping, which then may result in blade failure.

Edge Retention/Ease of Resharpening

It doesn’t matter what knife you carry, the worst knife you would carry is a boring one. That being mentioned, you need to search for knife steels that both excel in edge retention or might be simply resharpened.

All that mentioned, plenty of conventional bushcraft subscribers consider that utilizing carbon metal is the easiest way to go. They consider that as a result of carbon metal is often softer than stainless-steel these blades are much less more likely to shatter. The place at one level, we might have agreed to with this speculation, over time it’s confirmed to be a moot level.

Stainless steels like Sandvik 12C27 and 14C28N have been utilized by Morakniv and Victorinox, respectively, for greater than fifty years in bushcraft and utility purposes with out fail. Newer stainless steels like S35VN and MagnaCut, which characteristic improved toughness, have began changing carbon steels like 1095 and 440C, that are nice for toughness — however are vulnerable to rust.

Deal with Materials

When it comes all the way down to deal with materials it’s all about grip. Ergonomics play a component on this as effectively, as you would have nice deal with materials in a bizarre form that can trigger fatigue. In the long run, you received’t need to use the knife and also you’ll have wasted your cash. These are among the extra most well-liked supplies available on the market right now:

G10 & Micarta

G10 and Micarta are each extraordinarily sturdy supplies. Each excel in grip whether or not your arms are moist or dry which is why these two supplies are so widespread with EDC, Survival, Tactical, and Bushcraft-style knives.

Nylon & Plastic

Nylon and plastic additionally make for nice deal with supplies as a result of they’re sturdy and light-weight, however they’re additionally typically textured. It’s this texturing and styling that will increase the grip on a knife with these supplies.

Word: Nylon and plastic deal with scales might be referred to as a litany of names. A number of the extra widespread names are FRN/Zytel (Fiber Bolstered Nylon), GRN (Glass Bolstered Nylon), GFN (Glass Crammed Nylon), and Grivory (Injection Molded).

Rubber

In some knife worlds, rubber is the signal of an affordable knife. Nonetheless, in bushcraft, rubberized handles is usually a nice profit to you as a consequence of their sturdiness in addition to their unsurpassed grip.

Wooden

Wooden is a incredible deal with materials so long as it has been stabilized so it received’t crack. It gives an excellent quantity of grip which typically will increase when the wooden will get moist. It additionally appears very good.

Ease of Use

Ease of use is an enormous deal when contemplating what knife is best for you. It could are available in many types from ergonomics, to lock design, to the {hardware} used to maintain the knife collectively and in good functioning order. All in all, the very last thing you need to do is battle with or be uncomfortable utilizing your knife.

Ergonomics

A very good knife will really feel proper in your hand. From the form of the deal with scales to the total thickness, and even texturing, ergonomics might be the distinction between you being assured along with your knife or leaving it in your drawer at dwelling. When you think about a knife, put it in your hand and provides it an excellent squeeze. Then, push down laborious on a tough floor. If all the pieces feels proper — that’s your subsequent knife.

Sheath

A very good bushcraft knife is barely pretty much as good as its ease of carry. In contemplating your subsequent bushcraft knife, take into account a sheath constructed from leather-based or kydex. Leather-based will price you extra, however can final you for years. Kydex, which is broadly utilized by the army, is sturdy and customarily gives not solely a number of carry choices, however room so that you can increase it to hold a Ferro rod.

Lock Mechanism

With out fail, you’ll discover your self able the place you might want to depend on the lock in your knife greater than you anticipated. 

A number of the extra frequent lock sorts are liner/body locks that use a bar that indexes into the again of the blade. There are additionally button-style locks that use a metal barrel to maintain the blade engaged. Nonetheless, the most well-liked lock sort is the crossbar lock which additionally makes use of a metal bar to carry the knife in place.

In our time and expertise, we’ve by no means seen a crossbar-style lock mechanism fail with out some exterior drive creating a significant disruption in how the knife features. Like a truck working it over.

Worth & Worth

Knife pricing isn’t as minimize and dry as I believe most of us would really like it to be. Sure, identical to with every other client good, elements like supplies, design, and performance all play into the ultimate worth of a knife. Nonetheless, there are plenty of issues happening behind the scenes that decide what we pay on the retailer for a knife.

How a lot materials a knife producer buys has a significant impression on the value you pay for a knife. Materials costs, normally, will fluctuate based mostly on how a lot of every merchandise is being purchased total. We’ve most lately seen this with MagnaCut, which turned a well-liked metal seemingly in a single day. As extra manufacturers adopted it in knives, the general worth of the metal itself went down.

General, bushcraft knives are typically extra reasonably priced. They’re easy knives designed to do plenty of various things. However they’re typically not flashy and composed of frequent supplies. For a distinct segment market, it is a welcomed departure. As we’ve seen with different knife classes — like Tactical Knives — generally being purpose-built or labeled a sure manner can have a huge impact on pricing.

With that being mentioned, we’re going to interrupt knives down into the next three classes based mostly on pricing normally. However, to be honest, within the manufacturing knife world, there are not any clear and defining traces between funds knives, mid-tier knives, or premium knives. The next is a generalization of what you’ll be able to count on from every class.

Finances

Finances bushcraft knives are often constructed from carbon or stainless-steel and have easy designs to be used and carry. Though some bushcraft knives can excel in ergonomics and be extra complicated than others, the frequent recipe is to maintain the shape easy so it features with ease. With that being mentioned, an excellent funds bushcraft knife may simply be underneath $50.

The Morakniv Companion Spark is constructed from Sandvik 12C27 stainless-steel and makes use of a easy polymer deal with that shops a ferro rod within the butt. Like different Morakniv knives, the Spark is what it’s best to count on from a funds to even mid-tier bushcraft knife with the additional advantage of getting a firestarter included. In case you don’t want a ferro rod, you’ll be able to all the time save one other $10 by going with the usual Morakniv Companion.

Mid-Tier

A very good mid-tier bushcraft knife will probably be prime out at $200. In case you take a look at this checklist, a majority of the knives on it are mid-tier. Once more, bushcraft is about sturdiness and reliability. Positive, there are a few carbon fiber dealt with bushcraft knives on the market, however when you convey one among them on the market by the hearth, somebody goes to provide you a tough time. 

The Victorinox Enterprise Professional is a multifunction knife designed particularly for bushcraft and the Scouts. For $115, you’ll be able to have a dependable stainless-steel knife that comes with a ferro rod, tweezers, pen, and two sheaths, making your carry and deployment experiences satisfying. 

We additionally actually just like the Demko FreeReign ($200). It’s an daily, all-day sort of knife that works rather well within the bushcraft scene. It has a easy, easy design that enables it to adapt to quite a lot of duties. Being constructed from MagnaCut makes it sturdy, environment friendly, and straightforward to take care of.

Premium

A premium bushcraft knife is one which goes above and past the demand of bushcraft. It’s one that’s constructed from premium supplies, and hosts superior ergonomics. In some instances, that is the place you’ll begin to see a transition from a polymer or Kydex sheath over to a leather-based one, however that’s not all the time the case. 

Benchmade’s Mini Bushcrafter ($380) is the definition of premium. In each kind and performance, it is going to give you a lifetime of reliability whereas getting used and abused. It’s not solely constructed from premium supplies however there’s an additional layer of consideration baked into all aspects of the knife. This may be seen within the tapering of the handles, the false edge on the blade, and even the notch in the back of the blade for the ferro rod. This carries over to the premium leather-based sheath, which has been stylized to cradle the knife and has a spot for a built-in ferro rod.

Often Requested Questions