Knife choices (need help chosing)

[TimD]

Hi,
Looking at a few different knives for a Scout Troop to use and abuse.
I have a few choices and need help whittling down to one.
A few assumptions will be made for criteria:
All knives will be handed back at the end of a camp or evening to central stores for maintenance.
Scouts with the best will in the world do not respect kit and abuse/use it (safely) so I'll get them to do an initial clean and get some of them sharpening but in all likelyhood most of it will fall to me.
I'd like the knives to be their primary sharp tool at camp so will need to perform as many functions as possible.

So, stainless or carbon?
Thicker blade or thinner?
Bright garish handle for locating the occasional dropped one (I'm hoping for non but being realistic) or dull muted black/green so they don't glare.

The ones I'm currently considering are:

http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p1015005/Hultafors_Craftmans_Knife_Heavy-duty_GK/product_info.html

http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p1015009/Hultafors_Craftmans_Knife_Stainless_RFR/product_info.html

http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p1015004/Hultafors_Craftmans_Knife_HVK/product_info.html

As you can see all fairly cheap but as looking at buying 30 of them I want to make the right choice.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Tim

 

[whats wrong with you all]

I would go with the orange one. The heavy duty one is a bit chunky for fine work I find. the orange would be a lot better for scouts.

 

[Shovel]

If you're buying thirty, any of those will do. If you're looking for something a bit stronger or for yourself, something by Condor would fit the bill. Out of what you have, the Hultafors heavy duty seems nice.

 

[Man of Tanith]

added advantage of bright orange-not very 'cool'lookin so less likely to go walk about...not implying your scouts would do such a thing but if anything like my old troopthey will have magpie tendencies

 

[plastic-ninja]

I bought a batch of Moras from Clas Ohlsen when they were on offer for my son's troop.
They were stupid cheap £3 ish but have proved resilient and easy to maintain.
I also went in and did the knife safety and knife maintenance sessions before handing them over.
The leader was probably the worst knife user in the group as he left me to it when we talked about knives
then in a lesson on firestarting he used the sharp edge to strike his firesteel :yikes:
Took me over an hour to rectify that particularly splendid gaffe.
Hultafors seem to be similar but see if you can get hold of one first to try it out before you buy 30.
Cheers , Simon

 

[spandit]

The stainless ones might last longer as you won't have to make sure they're put away dry. Any of those will be fine, though. They also do a safety knife (http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p1015011/Hultafors_Safety_Knife_Sk_/product_info.html) which is half the price - I bought a few for children to use. They're still sharp but less stabby looking, which may be another bonus when it comes to magpies...

 

[HillBill]

I'd go for the heavy duty. Its a stronger knife.

 

[sasquatch]

I too would go with the heavy duty. 3mm isn't too chunky and if maintaining 30 edges for efficient carving carbon steel would be a must for me. You can teach the golden rule of drying a knife before storage and counting them out as well as in prison style will avoid any going walk about...

 

[TimD]

Guys,
Thank you all for the advice and input.
I always count out and in the knives and no-one goes home until they're all back! Never had to get pockets turned out yet thankfully.
Though the stainless is tempting, more so I can be a little less attentive on double checking everything is perfectly dry and ready for storage, I like the idea of the heavier knives being more robust with Scouts (never know what they'll try using as a prybar when you're not watching them).
So the 3mm blades it is then (may order a batch of 10 initially though).

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Expat]

I have no's 1 and 3 as listed, and you can't go wrong with the HVK... its plenty strong enough without having
to go for the GK...
The price saving would also mean you could buy a couple as spare....