The Perfect Survival Blade
A good survival knife can have a blade as small as five inches or as long as ten depending on how you plan to use it or what capabilities the designer was going for.
Now we come to the one conundrum I have about a particular design feature: the hilt. You see, I kind of like the full hilt design such as can be found on the Gerber Silver Trident or the Buck Knives Buckmaster. (The Gerber Silver Trident is shown above right for reference) On the other hand, I like having lashing holes in the hilt "points" so that the knife can be easily tied to a pole for use as a spear if necessary. I would like to find a happy compromise that offers as close as possible to a full hilt, but of material that is only as thick as the blade (which would have to be full tang by the way) and with properly placed lashing holes at the base of the hilt spreads.
Given that the grips shouldn't have to be removed to lash the knife to a pole, such utility wouldn't be harmed by having the butt end of the tang be wider than it is in the rest of the knife. Yes, I know that creates a manufacturing headache and I'm sure some design engineer can come up with a cool, cost effective solution. I just want to be able to hammer with the butt of the knife. I also like the idea of having some type of accessible storage space in the handle. However, having removable grip slabs could present other engineering challenges. There wouldn't need to be a great deal of storage space. The amount I'm thinking about would be just sufficient to hold a couple small fish hooks, some line, a few matches, etc. Nothing major. The inside of the grip slabs could both be hollowed out with a space cut into the tang. By removing only ONE grip slab the space would be accessed.
Of course, the handle should be comfortable in the hand which means some curve and finger grooves (or at least one for the index finger so that a secure grip can be found and confidently gotten by touch). There should be a lanyard hole near the butt of the knife - as should be found on every fixed blade made for serious field work.
So, there's my vision of the perfect survival blade. I'd enjoy reading your thoughts and comments about what you'd change or how yours would be different.
Stay Safe!
