Are bowie knives good for survival situations?
Hello, i am about to purchase a knife for camping and god forbid, survival. i was intrigued by bowie knives, as they have a rich history and are kind of proven as a reliable knife. i was wondering if in a survival situation, i could pull through with such a large knife to help me. or, are they simply too big to actually help me
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As said a Bowie knife is a fighting knife. It can be used as a survival knife but arguably its not the best for the job.
In a survival situation you need a knife that can be used to work with wood, be able to skin animals and butcher them, as defence, be able to attach to a pole for a spear, have a thick full tang blade strong enough to pry with (like opening clam shells), pound with (driving in a stake for a snare) and made of quality steel.
I have spent a great deal of time in the wilderness alone applying survival skills I learned over the decades. I carry a few knives. One is large with a 8 inch blade with a full tang thick blade for defense and chopping plants, cutting wood to build a shelter and for skinning out large animals like moose. The next knife has a 4 inch blade for doing small work. And a pocket knife with 3 blades for very fine work and to skin out small animals like rabbits and such.
I found my big carry fixed blade knife is seldom used compared to the smaller knives. But I don’t want to tangle with a mountain lion with a pocket knife!
One reason to carry more than one knife is if something happens to it such as it fell in a river, broke or simply lost, you still have another knife.
Here is a link discussing what makes a good survival knife;
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/how-to-choose-a-survival-knife/
If you do go with a Bowie knife get one with a full tang NOT a tapered hidden tang, the later is more likely to fail on you.
I would say from personal experience a 6 inch blade is the most useful all around length that works for most situations.
Yes a bowie knife would really help in a survival situation as long as it is kept very sharp and is well taken care of ( ironically a dull knife has a a higher chance for you to cut yourself due to you having to push the blade harder ) but yes in the end a bowie knife is a good survival tool choice.
You should put yourself in a survival type situation and see. You do not need to go to very far and you should do this during daylight hours next time you are hiking. Just go a few paces off the beaten trail and start thinking about what you need to survive and see if you have the tools and knowledge to do so. A knife is one of several useful tools. Your immediate needs are fire, shelter and water. A bowie knife is designed for fighting. It looks cool and has a legendary history. I am not so sure about survival.
Geo. Washington Sears wrote Woodcraft 100 years ago. His pen-name was Nesmuk. It is in the public domain, you can find it on the various e-book sites, including Project Gutenberg. Read it. Sears carried a fixed blade knife of his own design, an ax and a pocket knife and could live for weeks with these tools, his skills and a 20 lb. pack. Modern survivalists talk about a Nesmuk trio, 3 tools to handle woodcraft chores. I tried a bunch of different tools and ended up with a small Gerber hatchet, a Swiss Army Knife and a folding pruning saw.
By all means, get the Bowie. But practice with it and see if it really does what you need.
I’d say it would do the job unless you were in the high north like in Canada and Alaska or in the high Rockies, there I’d look for a minimum a hatchet or tomahawk, preferably a long handled axe(about the length of your arm), with a knife for camp chores, in the high north, you need to cut a lot of wood to survive, needed to build a shelter and collect firewood, much needed in the northern climates, your not going to be in a sauna like in the south.
A small axe is a better survival tool if you really want to use that ’survival’ word.
I’ve trekked and camped wild for many years on five continents with just an Army pocket knife, no big ‘ survival’ knives.
If I’m going to jungle I buy a locally made cheap machete for a couple of dollars and give it away when I leave.
With no big knife I don’t turn up in a local village looking like a threat and I never needed one for defense cos I don’t upset the locals. If I want to stay in a village I need them to be friendly and see me as friendly too, and not a threat.
A small axe can chop wood for firewood and small kindling, cut stakes for shelters, put points on them for fishing or for hunting spears, shave and shape rough wood for making bows, and do a hundred other tasks.
The back of it is a hammer and it can crush a skull if you really want it too. It can crush coconuts too, and knock pegs into holes in wood or rock for shelters or for jungle ladders made from poles with cross beams through them and for making mountain man packs that will carry 100lb of beaver pelts.
Just find a branch with a good elbow, chop it to size, split it down the middle, shave it smooth, knock splits right through the two pieces using a rock on the back of the hammer for precision working and hammer pointed cross beams through the splits
One strong pack made easy from what’s around.
Only rope required is for the shoulder straps. Twist a load of thick ivy round to make that bit or soak some long willow and weave a good wide strong set of straps for it.
Only tools required are a small axe or hatchet, and a rock.
An axe is much more practical as a tool than a big knife is but it doesn’t have the macho ’survival’ image some people want.
For a knife that chops as well as slashes but not too brilliant as a stabbing knife the Gurkhas got a good one going many years ago and it never comes out of the sheath of a Gurkha soldier without drawing blood so if you ask a Gurkha soldier to show you his kukri you’re asking him to cut himself cos he won’t be so unsociable and ill-mannered as to make you the source of the blood unless you’re actually fighting him for real and then the best thing you’ve got is a pair of very long and efficient legs and get the hell out…..with a knife-proof steel plate on your back.
Well balanced kukris are good throwing knives too. Only proper ones though, not the fashion and macho market kukris so many dealers sell.
Ever seen a boomerang? Hunting boomerangs fly straight, they don’t come back. Proper Gurkha kukris are similar in shape and they spin hard.
I worked with Gurkhas in the Far East years ago and went to jungle warfare school. Fun…….
The traditional coming of age ritual for a Gurkha boy in the high villages of Nepal is to get a goat’s head off with one strike.
They get some training first but getting a real goat has to wait for the Real Thing. It’s very rare a boy fails on his first attempt.
Fine guys, great people. If you stay friends.
Have fun
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100530154429AAPmxEg . . . . . .
the best survival knife is the one you are most familiar with…a sturdy, stout blade is a plus…try the bowie and see. the issue with size is a large knife can lead to fatigue or be too big to carry all the time. I always carry my Kabar…bigger than what some carry, but I’ve been carrying one since I was 10 so I’m used to it.