Selection of survival knives in the wild, the use of outdoor knives.....

With the development of outdoor sports, there are more and more travel friends playing outdoor nowadays, and as a knife friend, naturally you will think more about the choice and application of outdoor knives. I have sorted out some things below and brought them out to discuss with you.
    (1) Outdoor knife types and selection prerequisites
Outdoors is a relatively broad concept. The nature of the activity, the time of the venue, and the role of the individual are not the same. Activities range from ordinary hiking, mountaineering, crossing, camping, road exploration, and footing; the difficulty is different from the outdoor environment, and the road conditions are different; of course, from the same day round trip to camping overnight and multi-day crossing, from climbing with a group to being a leader , The concept of outdoor activities is different, and the choice of knives in the field is also different. Combining the outdoor use of knives for simplicity, it can be roughly divided into two categories: light and heavy knives:
    1. Mild use of a knife
The so-called light knife use is mainly ordinary climbing and crossing with the crowd, and it is characterized by a single day and low difficulty. Since there are few primitive dense forests in the country, and mature donkey groups are deeply committed to protecting the ecology, unnecessary felling is not encouraged. The main purpose of the mild knife is to cut off the shrubs and herbs such as vines and bamboos that block the way. Personal life even corrupted with knives and so on.
    2. Severe use of a knife
The so-called heavy use of knives is mainly seen in difficult mountaineering, camping, multi-day crossing, and survival in the wild. It is mainly used as a tool for opening roads, public or team leader equipment and life knives when necessary, and to deal with survival in the wild, against beasts and evil men and unforeseen needs.
   3. Choose the premise
When choosing an outdoor knife, you first need to know what you are doing with the knife. Choose different knives in different outdoor activities and personal roles. If you are only with the group for climbing and camping of general difficulty, a larger jackknife or a Swiss army knife is enough; if you are the leader, pioneer, team leader, or participate in multi-day crossing, new line exploration, especially in the uncultivated For mountain roads or unpredictable environments, a large straight knife is essential (see the selection of light and heavy tools below).
   (2) The characteristics of a good outdoor knife
    1. High-quality steel and heat treatment
The choice of steel and the heat treatment process determine the hardness and retention of the tool, and even affect the sharpness of the tool to a certain extent. We don't have enough conditions and time to sharpen our knives outdoors, and good outdoor knives can always be sharp in multiple days of use. Of course, there are also theories in military survival knives; that is, to reduce the hardness of the knives in exchange for the convenience of polishing, but we are not using knives to kill or pry ammunition boxes, so we can bring well-maintained knives if possible.
    2. Not easy to rust
The outdoor weather and environment are changeable. Of course, you don’t want your shiny steel knife to be rusty during outdoor activities. Relatively speaking, alloy steels containing chromium and other elements have a relatively high degree of rust resistance, and some high-carbon steel knives with better hardness are prone to rust without surface coating protection and are not the most suitable for outdoor use.
   3. Simple structure
As far as straight knives and folding knives are concerned, because of uncertain factors such as climate change and mud contamination in the wild, there are complicated knife boxes (such as Otto Jungle King mentioned by many people in the outdoor circle), straight knives with hollow screw cap boxes; locking and Folding knives with complex insurance mechanisms and automatic opening functions become unsuitable. What's more, what outdoor equipment needs is absolute reliability under complex and changeable conditions.
  4. The knife body is firm
For straight knives, outdoor knives should be made of high-quality materials, and the components should be installed securely. Knives with a full keel (in short, the original steel bar of the knife body extends to the entire handle) is considered more reliable, while the hollow shank is relatively unreliable. Of course, the premise of this comparison is that the workmanship is at a similar level. For folding knives, outdoor knives should be securely locked, have a safety device or a scabbard, at least the folding knife will not disintegrate during chopping and cutting, and will not accidentally unlock or unfold the knife body.
  5. Long and moderate thickness
It is not a big problem to use a light knife, and there is no need to carry a knife that is too heavy and heavy.
Difficulty crossing or the straight knife used by the leader must be moderate in length. If it is too short, it will be weak; if it is too long, the weight will become a burden and it will not be convenient to carry. The thickness should also be moderate. If it is too thick, it will be too heavy and sharpness will often decrease (also refer to the polishing method). If it is too thin, the cutting force will be reduced and the blade strength reliability will be insufficient.
I personally think that outdoor knives should be selected based on the nature of the activity and the difficulty of the activity under the premise that different lengths and thicknesses of knives, through personal attempts and communication with predecessors, heavy use of knives with a full length of 32~38CM is appropriate; light use The length of the knife should be less than 25cm, and the length of the folding knife should be 18~23cm. In terms of thickness, 5~8MM is suitable for heavy-use knives, and 2.5~4MM for light-use knives (including folding knives).
  6. Tool type and center of gravity position
Since outdoor knives are mostly used for chopping and cutting, the cutting head shape is heavily used for cutting type, flat round head type (the head is wide, the center of gravity is slightly forward) and the hook type head (represented by the hatchet with a hook in the front) ), light-use knives including folding knives and back type (the tip of the knife is round, the advantage is that it is not easy to damage and accidentally hurt), the water drop type (common, the tip is thin, and the cutting is convenient), the bird's beak type (mainly folding knives, knives The tip is in the shape of an eagle's beak, and it is very easy to cut the vine blocking the road, but it must be carefully waved). In terms of blade shape, most heavy-duty knives are flat blades (a flat blade is a straight edge, as opposed to a toothed edge), and half-toothed (that is, part of the blade is a flat blade, part of the blade is flat, and most of the blades are front flat blades. The form of toothed edge) is also available; light knife can be selected according to needs and preferences. I personally recommend half-tooth or flat-edged. The flat-edged cutting line is long. Half-tooths can be used with flat and toothed edges to meet different needs. The full-tooth folding knife is very good at dealing with vines (especially with the beak-shaped knife tip), but the scope of use is relatively small.
The position of the center of gravity of the tool is very important for the selection of outdoor knives, especially heavy straight knives. In terms of outdoor heavy straight knife selection,
    7. Tool holder selection
The first requirement for the handle material of outdoor knives is non-slip. It is necessary to be able to hold it firmly under damp conditions, with gloves, etc., to ensure that it will not remove the hands and cause safety hazards or loss of tools during vigorous use such as chopping. At the same time, it is required that the knife handle is not easily deformed under damp or cold conditions. In summary, some modern material handles have obvious advantages in outdoor environments. We recommend Craton (a rubber-like handle with toughness), (sub-support, a plastic-like material with anti-skid patterns on the surface), G10 (a glass fiber-like material with embossed anti-skid patterns on the surface), etc. Although these are not expensive handle materials, they are very practical outdoors); while the steel handle knife is too slippery, and the aluminum handle knife (including the anode hardened Electroplated) knives that are prone to knocking flowers and most of the shank surfaces are non-slip, so they are not recommended as outdoor knives.
   8. Scabbard material and workmanship
The common tool sheath materials are leather sheath, K sheath (Kydex, acrylic and polyvinyl chloride synthetic plastic material) and Cordura sheath (Cordura, a kind of nylon fiber with high toughness, wear resistance and light weight) Material, also mostly used in high-end mountaineering bags). Cordura sheath is of course good but not particularly common; K sheath is good, but some of them will grind the surface or coating of the knife locally (but outdoor knives are used, it shouldn’t matter); the sheath is beautiful and comfortable, but part of the sheath will swell due to water Or the disconnection troubles everyone, but the knife factory or the knife user can avoid this phenomenon after dipping it with wax. The most important point of the scabbard selection is that the knife is stable. Whether it is a buckle or a jam, it is necessary to ensure that the knife does not accidentally fall out or slide down in the sheath. Of course, the scabbard itself must be firm and free from disassembly, cracking, or looseness. The fear of taking off.
    9. Folding knife locking and insurance
Locking refers to the mechanism in the folding knife that buckles the blade after it is fully opened so that it will not be retracted accidentally. Insurance refers to a mechanism that can buckle the blade and prevent it from accidentally opening when it is folded back. Folding knives used outdoors may involve a certain amount of chopping, etc., and the locking must be reliable. In addition, the outdoor folding knife is best to have insurance or a good knife positioning mechanism (rely on the positioning beads to prevent the blade from slipping out easily), otherwise, it is recommended to carry it in the folding knife sheath.
    (3) Selection and examples of mild knife use
In fact, most people climb to this level, so I personally recommend a jackknife. The advantages of folding knives are convenient and safe to carry; if the time is long, there are many variables, the safety requirements are high, or there is no reliable, weighable folding knife, it is recommended to choose a small straight knife within 25CM.
If it is just for cutting fruits and other daily life, a pocket knife within 18cm is enough; if you want to remove some vines, it is recommended to choose a large pocket knife of 20~23cm. Of course, you can also prepare for daily needs and cope with unexpected situations.
Swiss Army Knife German Edition Actually, I don’t like Swiss Army Knives. The Swiss Army Knife, which is only one-tenth the price of a high-quality folding knife, integrates many tools. Of course, its materials are poor in workmanship and reliability, and many tools are not prepared for outdoor use. But we have to bear its price and weight. But the German Swiss Army Knife I bought for outdoor use, because it has a locked wave front tooth and a thinner blade is very useful in dealing with vines, cutting meat and fruit, and other tools such as wood saws. Can cope with most of the needs of outdoor life and corruption.
    (4) Selection and case of heavy knife use
The best one for heavy use is a hatchet that is equivalent to ten to tens of yuan. The hatchet in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has a hook on the head. The weight matches and the design of the knife is the best (this is also the wisdom of the crystallization of practice. ), but for my generation of mountaineering enthusiasts, carrying may be a bit problematic (Jiangzhe mountain people use a wooden trough with holes at the back of the waist, and the handle is on the bottom and the blade is on the top).
In fact, there are many straight knives suitable for heavy outdoor use, not to mention the very high-end ones. Since my personal outdoor knives are specially designated, not many have been used (from the perspective of price, weight, carrying sheath, etc., some knives are reluctant or Inconvenient to get outdoors).
   (5) Safety issues with knife
A knife is a dangerous tool. The key to using a knife is safety, safety, and safety. This includes the person who uses the knife and his teammates. Put forward the following opinions in combination with personal lessons, friends are welcome to add.
   1. Only choose a knife that suits your physical fitness, arm length, and physical coordination. If your physical fitness, especially your physical coordination, is weak, do not use large, heavy knives to perform large movements such as slashing.
   2. Please do not bring a straight knife without a reliable scabbard, and do not bring a folding knife without a reliable lock and safety (or scabbard, etc.). Accidents may be caused by accidental sliding out, opening or retraction of the tool.
   3. Regardless of whether it is a big knife or a small knife, chopping or cutting, please observe the people around you before using the knife to avoid accidents.
   4. Use the knife under the premise of fully guaranteeing the stopping of the swing and controlling the trajectory of your own swing to avoid hurting yourself and your teammates in the case of unable to receive the knife or control the trajectory of the knife.
  5. Generally speaking, if you use your right hand to perform a sword, span your right leg forward, and slightly tilt your body to hide your right leg behind you, and vice versa. Because the right hand is out of control, the left leg is most likely to be injured, and vice versa.
  6. When chopping or cutting, please make sure that there are no limbs of yourself or others in the range that the knife may cut. In addition to accidental injuries caused by failing to see the players catching up, the hidden dangers that are most easily overlooked are, for example, we cut a branch or bamboo joint on the leg, and the blade accidentally slipped away and cut to our own body.
  7. Make sure that the straight knife is securely placed in the scabbard during travel, and will not accidentally jump out due to advancement, jumping, etc. The folding knife is best to be insured or put into a scabbard. The principle is that it will not accidentally slip out or open during the movement. We often find it troublesome in the process of opening the road and traveling, because we may have to use a knife in front of it without putting the straight knife into the sheath or not retracting the folding knife blade and storing it properly. The uneven road in the field is unpredictable and this is dangerous. habit.
  8. As dangerous and private equipment (even if large straight knives are used as public equipment, they should also have designated users), no matter whether they are outdoors or not, don't lend knives to people who lack experience in using knives. In addition, when transferring the knife to someone else, put the straight knife into the sheath and retract the folding knife. Do not pass the knife with a naked blade to another person. Never hand it over with the tip or blade facing the other person.