General purpose knife.

[Hagar]

Do any of you have any thoughts on a general purpose knife suitable for camping, fishing and just about anything else you can think of.

I have been thinking about a Bark River Bravo 1. Seems to be a nice solid stainless blade with a good grind to maintain an edge well.
There does seem to be quite a few of this type of production knife on the market, all quite well priced and with similar specs. I just go round and round and round and eventually will buy something nice that I enjoy using.

Your help is appreciated.

[gavcol]

Ever considered the Ka-Bar Becker BK7?

Nice all round knife for anything you encounter! :ashamed:

Plenty of information on the net.

Regards

Gav

[Hagar]

Thanks Gav, Probably a bit much knife for me. I would prefer a shorter blade and I am probably better sticking with a stainless steel blade rather than the 1095 Carbon steel.
Some years ago I made a couple of knives using 1095 steel and they kept a lovely edge but they did rust very very quickly when even near salt water. I will have a look at the rest of their range.
I found www.cuttingedgeknives.com.au (http://www.cuttingedgeknives.com.au) they have some really beautiful knives and some extremely expensive knives.
Thanks again.

[beren]

I like spyderco products, the spyderco bushcraft is very nice ......try Joint Pacific trading probably cheaper prices then cutting edge.

[blink138]

i call my lovely missus my "swiss army wife"............ guess why?
pat

[Hagar]

Not going to buy into that one Pat... My missus' nick name was spanner.

I don't use GOOGLE anymore, My wife knows everything.

[Hagar]

Great site beren. Quite a bit cheaper. I will have a good look around. It's so confusing. Lots and lots of the same only different.

[LewisM]

I have been using a military surplus West German combat knife. Very thick blade stainless, unbreakable, Metal scabbard with belt frog. Cost me $45 and never needed to sharpen yet and never once shown any rust.

They look like this (not my image): http://www.samilitaria.com/SAM/Trade%20Scans/Weapons/Knives/West%20German%20knife%201a.JPG

Prices have gone nuts on them but I know there may be more, cheap enough

[Kunama]

LapinLeuku by Marttiini is my bush companion !!!

[JohnG]

I have used a Spyderco Rescue Knife for something like 25 years plus now, got many a person out of MVA's and other situations just using the knife alone. The Rescue version might not be what your after but mine has never been sharpened, still has a keen edge, is SS with an excellent locking mechanism. Was ideal for my job as a professional rescue operator.

Am sure the Spyderco range would have what your looking for..

Similar to the bottom knife in the image.

Cheers

[eiddy]

I have the Bravo1 and a couple of other knives by Bark River. I like it, and them, a lot. The only disadvantage I can see in the B1 is it is a little thick and this limits its usefulness. I prefer a fallkniven F1 as my all round knife. It seem to hold off rust better than the others. The other two well regarded knives Bark River make are the Aurora and the Fox Creek. Both great bushcraft knives. But their steel may not suit your needs with fishing. But it's worth noting that for the list of your uses you are not likely to get something that does it all. There will always be a compromise. Anyway I got mine from knivesshipfree out of the US, a great website with lots of other knife options and the owner Derek was always a pleasure to do business with.
Good luck.
Nick

[beren]

Jason from JPT is helpful to :thumbsup: AussieKnives are good to .

You may have been here (http://www.australianbladeforums.com/vb4/) active forum with a nice buy and sell section......I was able to source some cool and rare sypderco folding knives before the goverment restricted their sale in Au

[Hagar]

Hi John, yes I have an old serrated bade Spyder as well but unfortunately it was great for cutting bulk like rope or seatbelts but for general use it just isn't functional. Bloody hard to get a nice filet off a fish without ripping it apart.

[Hagar]

Well I have bitten the bullet and ordered a Fallkniven F1 Black. The blade is a little shorter than the others I had mentioned it is made from V10 Laminated stainless steel then overcoated with black ceracoat for further protection. The handle end looks to be quite a non slip material and it comes with a nice sheath for the tidy sum of $169 including post.
It seems the price of nice knives hasn't gone up as much as everything else.

I still have some ideas regarding a couple of knives I would like and will do what I use to do and make them. I haven't made a knife for quite a few years and with improvements in steel I am sure I can make some nice stainless or toolsteel knives just as a collectable if for no other reason.
I have found the dealer of all things knives although under new owners they still sell all the good stuff at respectable prices. I have also for a gent in Albury who will harden and temper the stainless blades for me. The steel I can do myself quite easily.

Another retirement project.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

PS I ordered the Fallkniven this morning and a mate from Benalla dropped in and gave me his Bravo1 which he had never used so it looks like I have 2 very nice blades. Start of a collection.

The Bravo 1 is a spectacular blade with an outstanding edge. It certainly is solid.

[Hagar]

A few things that seemed to be almost constants throughout this search were:

The hardness of almost all knives seems to fall between 57 and 60 Rockwell with the stainless steel blades usually towards the bottom end.

Most common production knives are about 8 to 10 inches overall.

Lots of discussions regarding the type of grind of the blade and edge.

Good quality costs between about $150Au and $500Au but there are a few that rate much higher than their price, eg. Mora Knives.

Only a few distinct shapes in the blades.

All US videos and tests seem to centre on the knives ability to chop into trees and saplings. I have an axe.


Thanks again everyone.

[Kunama]

Make sure you post pics Doug !

I have my 3 favourites, two of these knives have been used extensively for 11 years, yet show hardly any wear and none have needed sharpening so far.
After selecting them personally they were engraved on the blade with my name by the factory (not shown in the pic)

(they were well priced but the airfare to Finland cost a motza :P:P )

[Hagar]

Hi Matt Your knives look great and to have them factory personalised is a nice touch. Here are a couple of quick pix of the Bark River Bravo1. This really is a very impressive knife. I added the ruler to give some perspective but as you can see the blade is a monster about 1/4 inch thick. The blade has a convex grind which is somewhat new to me. I am use to hollow ground and flat ground blades but if all the hype is true then this convex grind should be spectacular for such a heavy blade. Many years ago a blade like this was the result of a poor craftsman with a file or stone.
It is a beautiful knife and fits my hand so well even taking into account the monstrous blade.
I will post some pictures of the Fallkniven when it arrives (hopefully tomorrow) I also ordered a very cheap Mora Knife after reading some impressive reviews and seeing how inexpensive they are.
Your

[Kunama]

That looks like a very nicely made knife. The Swedish Fällkniven knives are very nice, I really like the 'Northern Light' and 'Juni' models.

[LewisM]

Trust you to have a set of puukko.. :)

Airfare? Nah, Puukko are all over eBay now and VERY collectible.

[drylander]

The 1st one in the picture (left) is similar to one I bought 20 odd years ago when I was hunting goats, camels, deer and other ferals and it still is used now and again when goat hunting. An excellent knife and my favourite. Nice touch to have them engraved as well
Pete

[PCH]

Sigh :( - it's hard to imagine Bambi as a 'feral'

[Hagar]

It finally arrived. This is the GP knife I originally settled on. A Fallkniven F1 survival knife. Not a huge knife like most of the GP knives shown on Youtube but just a very nice sized knife. The blade is made from VG10 laminated stainless steel hardened to 58Rockwell. The blade has a black ceracoat protective coating that I am not very excited about as I am sure it will wear off but only time will tell that. The sheath is a nice quality leather sheath the fully encloses the knife when closed but even if left open the likelihood of the knife falling out is near nil. Not too keen on the handle but that is what it comes with. I am a firm believer in a nice wooden handle but wood seems to be a thing of the past.

I will dig out a couple of my hand made knives with nice wooden handles (made by me ) and post some images and you will see how lovely a wooden handle can be and these are far from exotic timber. Things like walnut, Mirboo, Jarrah. All hand stabalized and hand fitted.

[Hagar]

Here is a couple I made some years back. Both are a bit scuffed and in need of repair but are examples of timber handles. The timber is stabalized by soaking in bondcrete for a few days under reduced pressure then left to air dry for about 1 month before any further machining.

The first image is just the two whole knives. The top one is acid etched the second is 440C stainless steel. These were both bought knife blanks. The dark bladed knife has a Mirboo handle and while it is as hard as a cats head it has small pore like structures in the timber which do not machine well or finish very well. The last image is a walnut handle. This timber is a pleasure to work with, hard as the preverbial cats head but as fine grained as you will get. I can understand why Rolls Royce used it for dash panels.

Anyway just a couple of examples. I need to buy a belt grinder again. I should never have sold my old one.

[Kunama]

+1 ....... Sold mine 2 decades ago, so many times I have wished I had kept it...

Nice little knives.