Picking A Camping Knife - 4 Qualities To Consider

Posted by Camp Trainer on Jan 30, 2009 in Knives • No comments • 1,765 views

Which knife for you?

If you have been researching for awhile, you’ll realize that you’ll need 2 knives for camping: a thin-ground, kitchen-style model for preparing foods and a substantial multi-purpose folder of some sort.

I carry a sheath knife with a 4 -1/3 inch blade and a multipurpose Leatherman tool. There’s also a Swiss Army Knife hidden in my pack. The nail file and scissors are very useful.

Stainless Steel or Carbon Steel?

Stainless is much more difficult and expensive to work than carbon steel. It’s also harder to sharpen, especially the super sharp shaving edge I prefer. My experience suggests that most people - particularly those who are not expert at sharpening knives - will be happier with a high-grade carbon steel blade than a stainless one.

Granted, carbon steel rusts, but so does a fine axe or gun. If you’re serious about the outdoors, you’ll take joy in maintaining your knife.

Note: If you need to make fire with flint and steel, a carbon-steel blade will produce sparks. A stainless steel blade won’t.

Steel Hardness

The Rockwell (Rc) test is the standard by which the hardness of steel is measured. The higher the number, the harder the steel. Generally hard steels take and retain a better edge than soft steels. There’s a limit of course - steel that is too hard may be too brittle for knives.

There’s a common agreement that a rating of Rc 56-59 is ideal for good edge holding with minimum brittleness (assuming that quality steel is used). Most cheap pocketknives run much less than Rc 56, while nearly all high quality knives fall into 56-59 range.

Some special steels, hardened to RC 60 and beyond, are used on a limited basis for expensive custom knives. Only diamonds are harder than zircon-oxide (ceramic) blades, whose Rc ratings approach 100. However ceramic knives are much too brittle for serious outdoor use.

Smooth edge or serrated?

A lion’s share of today’s outdoor knives have serrated edges, which are great for cutting through wrist-thick rope and metal doors. But how do they slice salami and pine? Not very well.

And they are difficult for the average person to sharpen! A folding saw, hand axe, and thin bladed knife in combination, will outperform any Rambo-style survival blade on the planet. Believe it!