do you carry knifes on hikes.

[photonaturally]

Talking to a frequent solo hiker recently and all the discussion about knife law has got me wondering if people generally carry knifes with them on hikes.
By knifes I mean "That is not a knife, this is a knife " kind of knife.

I used to do jungle treks and we always carry a hunting knife or a machete. I do not believe we even did any hunting ever. We tried, but was never successful.
Branishing a knife while charging at the animal did not work. Trying to leopard crawl with the knife clenched between your teeth did not work either and hurts the teeth. We had more success with trapping. then we had to skin and clean and it was always messy. I leave it to the expert. a skinning knife is better suited anyway. The machete was used much more. mainly to clear trails. So why did we carry a hunting knife. EACH. Because it make us feel like a MAN. We were all ready to do battle with wild beasts and the level boss we have to eliminate to continue with the next stage of our adventure. Never happened. Except once, we came across a massive wild boar and it was not having a good day. He was the size of a pony and it did not look happy. His wife likely told him he was a pig. We had the sense to make for the trees. The previous times we came across boars we merely startled them and they just take off. Wild boars have amazing acceleration. In any case, we never killed anything with hunting knifes.

When I did my first hike in Australia, I carried a knife with a 9 inch blade, sounds big, but not in terms of knifes. I was not sure if people carried knifes openly, so I left it in my pack. which, after finishing the hike, I realise was rather dumb. Anyway, i stop carrying knives because, booasting masculinity and possible hunting purpose does not count as multi use in ultra light weight mantra. I just carry a mini multitool. I also have not seen that many wild life on my hikes for me to kill.

Do you carry a knife when you hike?

[Strider]

Absolutely. How else would I slice my salami!

No matter how light I go, there will always be a space in my pack for a good knife.

[tasadam]

Nothing but a simple pocket knife for me...

[forest]

Just a tiny folder for me. Only thing I might use it for is trimming some first aid tape or maybe some small cord which I take for a repair.
Oh and the folder has a mini pair of scissors for any nail trimming required. I also have a small razor blade in a sealed foil package for any amputations required in the field etc.....

Hunting's a different ballgame and then I'll have a good fixed 4-5" blade skinner.

[andrewbish]

I walk with a manly, mid sized, fixed blade Gerber camping knife hanging outside my pack, ready for whatever survivalist, man vs wild, man vs man, commando or other action man duty it needs to perform.

Like Strider I mostly use it to slice salami. :E

[Jason68]

Simple little leatherman style 24grams gets me out of trouble.

[doogs]

I carry a Vitrinox paring knife (I heard the laws of inverse proportions apply to knives )

[Moondog55]

Depends what I am doing, but I always have at least one knife with me everywhere I go, a Swiss Army knife; to this I would add a vicious little Victrinox paring knife for cutting my salami or perhaps my old Gerber drop point faithful.
Depending on circumstances and the country I may put my khukri in the pack and if catering I would add a decent kitchen knife or three.
Hunting is different, I would have a minimum of 4 knives then, Khukri ( or an axe) plus a skinner, boner and a pig-sticker or decent long bayonet as well as the always carried SAK

[Strider]

I also have a small razor blade in a sealed foil package for any amputations required in the field etc.....

What are you amputating? A wart?

[wander]

I have always carried a small knife but in recent years have not used it and it is getting closer to the point where it will fall off the packing list as an item not used therefore not needed.

We always now take lunch all pre-cut. It makes life much easier to get the food into you when the going gets tough and your hands are too cold to wield a knife safely. And dinners all pre-organised for minimal work and no cutting.

Can't say I've noticed a leopard in any of the areas I walk in, but I'll keep my eyes a bit more open.

A machete might be a nice thought through horizontal but I suspect not very effective and very tiring, but a light sabre would be very very welcome.

[Moondog55]

secateurs and a small saw work in thick blackberries

[wander]

blackberries = go round

And is it knives or knifes?

[Strider]

blackberries = go round

And is it knives or knifes?

Knives.

[doogs]

blackberries = go round

And is it knives or knifes?

Knives.

..and it's bushwalks not hikes.. or am I a bit slow on the uptake of American English language that is overrunning the Australian English, if so my bad!

[photonaturally]

Sorry. It is knives.

till I have a substantial beard, its going to be hikes, but bushwalks. At least I dont call it tramping. Do I look like a tramp? dont answer that

[Moondog55]

Preslicing salami, cheese and bread is simply "WRONG" all the goodness runs out the edges

[Bluegum Mic]

Ive recently started carrying a knife (vs I used to carry a multitool). But its the moira light my fire (I think thats what its called) that has a fire steel built into the base of the handle. Mines not used for hunting (nor manliness...considering I dont have a Y chromosome ). I used mine for food prep and prepping small twigs/branches for my little wood stove. I find that I use this a lot more than I ever did my multitool

[TerraMer]

Just 1 gerber multi tool with two blades which I use for fruit.
Used to carry a diving knife and slingshot during multi month walks in case something happened to my food drops and I needed to resort to eating wildlife and improvise a fishing spear or free dive for food.

[Lindsay]

I carry a Swiss Army Camper. Has everything I need (plus a corkscrew, which I don't) and weighs 80 grams. For a short while I carrried a leatherman but had no use for many of the functions and at 240 grams it was a lot of useless weight.

[cooee]

I'm sure almost every bushwalker that l know does, I carry a GERBER - LMF II Infantry Tactical Survival Knife - BLACK

[Strider]

I'm sure almost every bushwalker that l know does, I carry a GERBER - LMF II Infantry Tactical Survival Knife - BLACK

But does it get used to its full potential?

[sailfish]

I absolutely will always carry a knife of some kind in the bush. A SOG Seal Pup was a gift so I mostly use that. Probably doesn't qualify under the "This is a knife" definition though it does look tactical. I need one for fishing anyway and having used a number of fishing knives I find this does the job as good as any and is more versatile too. I don't carry a trowel so will need to sharpen a digging stick too. Also as previously stated is handy for slicing "salami", fruit cake too.

I have seen tracks that look very like cat but 8 cm wide across the toes and camped in areas that turned out to have wild dogs or pigs. Though protection is not a legally valid reason for carrying a blade and I doubt how much use it may be anyway, I somehow feel better in these situations for having it. Always far better to avoid trouble if possible though. Have had the odd night lying awake and very quite listening to the pigs snuffling around the fly.


Ken

[north-north-west]

Some sort of blade is necessary if you're overnighting, but something the size of Mick Dundee's is ludicrous.
Swiss Army knife or something similar is perfectly adequate unless you get surrounded by a pack of dropbears and your walking companion is close enough to use as a distraction.

[Moondog55]

There is a specific tool for fighting off drop bears I am sure, as they are such nasty vicious ambush predators I'd want something sharp on a long stick and always carried over my shoulder, a bit like Americans needing Bowie knives to fight off the Vampire Chipmunks

[Moondog55]

NNW I've always though Mick Dundees knife a little on the small side

[corvus]

I never leave home without my Classic Swiss Army Knife 21g (the tooth pick is the most used and has been replaced once ) the scissors next most used followed by nail file and then the blade which is a bit too small for salami slicing so I now use a Gerber BG Compact Scout 28g 6cm blade for food slicing duties ,a nice little tool that I picked up on ebay for $5.00 AU
corvus

[Onestepmore]

We went away one weekend and, shock horror, no knife to cut our salami!
We had to use......(wait for it).....teeth

Like so many above, this task seems to be the one most in demand for knife-usage. although probably not what most manufacturers intended!
We just have a small multitool with scissors, blade, tweezers, pincers, file etc, and I carry a slightly larger blade incorporated into an orange 'survival tool' with a tiny light, firestarter and a whistle
I also have a small light 18g baladeo knife, but I've never needed to use it
I made a beautiful knife with a 6" blade and a mallee burl handle at a weekend workshop recently, but it's too big to take out bushwalking (and I'd just look silly with it strapped to a leg or my belt)

If fishing I have a small knife in my kit to fillet, behead and scale, as well as another small multitool with pliers to remove hooks, and scissors, and nippers for cutting tippet, all on lanyards

Last edited by Onestepmore on Tue 04 Jun, 2013 8:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[davidm]

Side note: 'protection' is a perfectly valid reason to carry a knife (in the bush).

[tibboh]

Mid sized Swiss army has everything I ever need. Salami / cheese knife, toothpick, tweezers, scissors, file and small razor sharp saw. I may be doing something wrong but haven't had a need for the corkscrew yet

[Strider]

If fishing I have a small knife in my kit to fillet

You've obviously never caught a big fish!