As an outdoor beginner, what features in knife/tool combinations should I look for?
As an outdoor beginner, I was interested in some possible tool combinations for shorter outdoor hiking trips, say, 2-5 days.
From what little experience I have, I reckon that the most common tasks will be
- the preparation of food
- minor woodworking (firewood, skewers, replacement tent pegs/pole)
- occasional minor digging
According to what I've read, it is common to use a heavier field knife in combination with a smaller swiss army knife or multitool, omitting any additional tools like a pocket saw or a small axe.
In your experience, are the features in those types of tool combinations reasonable for what I'd like to do? Is there other criteria I should consider when making a choice, and why?
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Honestly, there isn't much you can't do with a decent mid-sized fixed blade (your basic 3-4" Mora type) with a Scandi (flat) grind, and a small axe for processing firewood. With practice, you can also use the axe head for planing and shaving wood (tinder, feather sticks, etc). A 6" knife is completely overkill unless you're also hunting and gutting your own food.
In my experience, a multi-tool has more design compromises than advantages for bushcraft, and I no longer carry one. Folding blades in general are also riskier, in the event you need to do something that stresses the blade, as the hinge is a potential point of failure. A lot of discussions online seem to focus on batoning with a knife, which I would strongly recommend against, in favour of either an axe, or bludgeoning wooden wedges with another piece of wood.
I also used to (and still occasionally) carry a lightweight folding saw, where the blade stows inside the handle, but I also find rare use for it that can't be done with an axe. Those little chain saws that are a piece of serrated wire are little better than gimmicks. I wouldn't carry a sharpening stone for just a few days' trip, but a small stone or lapstone is handy for longer trips. This can be shared in a group.
Beyond those, you could take a hardened plastic trowel for a lightweight digging tool (outdoor shops often sell these), but with your axe and knife, it's also easy enough to shape a pointy piece of wood to accomplish the same job. It mostly comes down to skill with the blades (practice) and creativity in improvising tools and solutions out in the field, rather than bringing everything and the kitchen sink with you.
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It's pretty usual to carry both a multi-tool and a regular fixed/folding knife. The knives on a multi-tool are okay for small tasks but once you want to do some serious cutting such as whittling or skinning or cutting food, a dedicated knife is much better than one that is included on a multi-tool.
If you were trying to save weight, then I would suggest taking only a multi-tool but get one where the blade locks open. Its harder to use a knife if the blade doesn't lock.
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I used to carry a solid 6" knife when hiking.... What I have learnt for longer trips, you have to carry it. A single quality 3"-4" swiss army knife will do everything that you need to do well (A 2" folding knife will do 95% of what you need well, and the other 5% it can do), ideally with a locking blade. Five days is a long time to carry something that makes doing something once or twice a fraction easier.
Common beginner mistake is to take stuff that "I might need" (make wooden tent pegs to replace lost ones - don't loose them, make do if you do) or "Would be better for" (cutting fire wood - if the wood small enough to cut with any knife and dry enough to burn, stand on it to break it). For 5 days, the weight of a knife that makes gathering firewood for cooking fires significantly easier could be easily saved by carrying cooker fuel.
Why are you digging - if its toilet, you don't want to be taking your food prep knife anywhere near toileting locations, and should carry a proper small shovel which is better for the task.
In a larger group (say 4 or more) we might have one larger (4-6") knife in the group equipment.
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I think a lot of it depends on what type of terrain, and how primitive you plan on being. I personally would take a sharp medium sized pocket knife (3-4" blade) to be used for food prep and other small tasks. Ideally this would be of decent hard steel that can take some abuse without chipping or dulling very quickly.
The secondary blade depends somewhat on what you want to carry, if you will need to be chopping wood for fires every night a small lightweight hatchet is quite useful, i may opt for this over a secondary large knife as they can also be used for light digging if the soil is not saturated with rocks. However, if you know the area you will be hiking in has plenty of downed wood you can simply gather this may not be necessary.
If you are hiking through rough terrain without trails and really getting out there into dense vegetation or woods you may find a machete is more useful than a hatchet.
I also always take a small knife sharpener in my pack, they don't weigh a whole lot but do make life easier if you will be using your blade quite often. Not necessary but a personal luxury i enjoy, especially if you are going to be using something for digging or other utilitarian purposes.
The wire saws can also be handy for small branches for fire wood but are somewhat tiring to use at times, although they weigh significantly less than a hatchet.
A mess kit or multi-purpose cooking dish/pot/mug is also a necessity in regards to food prep in my humble opinion, you can do without one but it makes life much more enjoyable for me if i have something i can throw on the fire to cook just about anything in.
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