View Full Version : Survival Knives; A Builders Guide to Design
john wings
04-08-2007, 18:12
That should be Survival Knives of course!
Try this link:http://www.btinternet.com/~jhpart/bknife1m.htm
can't get through on that link
john wings
04-08-2007, 18:23
link now works
bushwacker bob
04-08-2007, 23:39
I'd rather have a mora.
I'd rather have a mora.
me too - my clipper serves me well
dommyracer
05-08-2007, 12:11
A modern problem is getting through customs and airports. Since Arab nutters pissing on us all, a thin knife as proposed, can lay flat, edge on to show up as a thin bar, along the edge of the suitcase, preferably beside the hinges, and probably pass X-ray inspection.
WTF are you talking about? knives are fine in suitcases in the hold, are you suggesting taking a knife on board a plane in your hand luggage and trying to hide it?
Great CV.....
I lost all interest when I started reading about serated edges
C_Claycomb
05-08-2007, 16:58
Since you have posted this on the Net, and have linked to it here, I am assuming that you want some feedback on how it looks.
Do you mind if people quote sections of your page in this thread, for illustrative purposes? I refer to your copy-right notice at the head of the page.
As a set of instructions, it would be easier to follow if it was broken up into sub sections on separate pages, or at least have the contents headers linked to their individual sections. The continuous text is a bit heavy going.
I am intrigued by what you say about hardening. This is the first time I have heard of it being done this way and I was wondering if you could elaborate? Can you explain, in metallurgical terms, what is happening with this process? Hardenign is generally described as taking a blade up beyond 800degC (incandescent red, non-magnetic) before quenching, where-as your process sounds like it is operating at below 300degC. :confused:
British Red
05-08-2007, 17:21
A truly dreadful knife. The person who designed that saw back clearly doesn't understand the first thing about how to set saw teeth.
I won't even dignify the rest of the political rant that the site contained with comment
Red
C_Claycomb
06-08-2007, 12:08
Just went and had a look at the rest of the site and spotted you had to fit it all in your 10Mb limit, so scratch what I said about separate pages. With the quantity of other stuff it would take too much room.
Best of luck
A truly dreadful knife. The person who designed that saw back clearly doesn't understand the first thing about how to set saw teeth.
I won't even dignify the rest of the political rant that the site contained with comment
Red
That looks strangely like the original Wilkinson Sword Survival Knife / Dartmoor knife, which I believe was designed by a certain Mr Raymond Mears in conjunction with the Royal Marines.
I never have liked it, as far as modifying an MOD knife, why bother, it is designed for a specific purpose for specific people and it does the job quite well.
Red I tend to look at saw blades on knives as a gimmick unless it is scalloping which is good for cutting rope or sinew. If you want a saw, take one. even if it is a SAK saw it would be more efficient than one of those things and both of the Opinel saws are awesome.
Re: Loftys knife. Allegedly, he used to make or have made blades to his spec in the workshops out of old land rover leaf springs, allegedly.
Re: hiding knives in luggage. You'll look damn silly sat in a TSA/INS holding cell in a US airport with an annotation on your INS and Homeland Security record stating never to let you into the US again........it happens. It also begs the question, why do you need a knife at 36,000feet?
Re: Loftys knife. Allegedly, he used to make or have made blades to his spec in the workshops out of old land rover leaf springs, allegedly.
Re: hiding knives in luggage. You'll look damn silly sat in a TSA/INS holding cell in a US airport with an annotation on your INS and Homeland Security record stating never to let you into the US again........it happens. It also begs the question, why do you need a knife at 36,000feet?
To open your pack of peanuts!:rolleyes:
To open your pack of peanuts!:rolleyes:
Doh! Silly me.
clcuckow
06-08-2007, 14:49
To open your pack of peanuts!:rolleyes:
Not on my flight back from Miami in June. There was someone on the flight that was hyper alergic to them and they took all the nuts and nut containing products off the cart and politly asked to not the eat any we hand brought on board. So not snickers and they could not even sell there over priced mouth tank traps a.k.a toblerone :D
OT I cannot see the point of saw backs I think that Jimmy Lile and the Rambo films have a not to answer for (and I know saw back date back further than that like the Swiss 1906 and the German WWI pioneer bayonets like this one)
http://www.bayo-hunter.com/mycollect/Swiss3.jpg
I know saw back date back further than that like the Swiss 1906 and the German WWI pioneer bayonets like this one.
http://www.bayo-hunter.com/mycollect/Swiss3.jpg
Now there is a sawback that was not a gimmick, they actually worked and due to the length of the thing they really could be used like a saw, unfortunately it also meant that they were absolutely rubbish as a bayonet. There is the other way of looking at it though, perhaps the shock effect of some poor little squaddie looking at it going "There's no pigging way you're gonna Skewer me on that thing" could well of had merit:D
clcuckow
06-08-2007, 16:04
Now there is a sawback that was not a gimmick, they actually worked and due to the length of the thing they really could be used like a saw, unfortunately it also meant that they were absolutely rubbish as a bayonet. There is the other way of looking at it though, perhaps the shock effect of some poor little squaddie looking at it going "There's no pigging way you're gonna Skewer me on that thing" could well of had merit:D
take a look at www.firstworldwar.com (http://www.firstworldwar.com).
Extract from said.
============================== ============================== ======
Most bayonets were of simple design, of the knife variety, although variations existed. For example the French devised a needle blade for use on Lebel rifles. Notoriously, the German army produced a 'saw-back' blade that, as its name suggests, gave the appearance of a saw with its double row of teeth on the back edge.
Produced chiefly for use by engineering units for specific tasks, the saw-back blade proved a blessing for Allied propaganda purposes. Keen to represent the Germans as ruthless, blood-thirsty 'Huns (http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/hun.htm)', the popular press widely propagated the notion that this type of bayonet had been specifically developed as a refinement of German brutality for use in close combat.
Although it could doubtless be put to such use, it was actually designed to be used as a saw when the need arose.
============================== ============================== ======
There were even press campaigns in allied and associated countries to try and get it banned. But if you have ever been to one of the WW1 museums in France and seen the improvised trench weapons that were used you would probably look on it in a different light. Some of them were positively gruesome. And they were only issued to about 5% of the troops anyway.
Dave Budd
06-08-2007, 21:43
I haven't read every word of the text but i get the impression that the author has done very little research on knives or knifemaking? I've never been a fan of the MOD knife anyway and teh modifications to it just make it worse from a practical point of view. Very much an armchair survival knife me thinks!
Mind you if it works for him, who am i to judge! :rolleyes:
These so called survival knives, esthetically speaking are pig ugly, and that's insulting the pig. Like most things that try to be all things to all men, they rarely succeed. Better IMO to have a well designed, simple, strong knife that can do something well.
Surreptitiously trying to bring one of these (or any other knives) onto a plane is asking for all sort of unpleasant reactions, and the person who does deserves what they get. Besides, If the idea is to have your knife with you when the plane crashes, how many people survive falling from 30000ft long enough to need it?
Spikey DaPikey
07-08-2007, 21:05
:why: :dunno: :sad6:
I see no modification in this post that would warrant the work involved. If you really want to look like Rambo go to Millets and spend 10 quid on a "Survival" knife. :rolleyes: ...as for me, I think I'll stick with what I've got.
Dougster
08-08-2007, 13:15
Surreptitiously trying to bring one of these (or any other knives) onto a plane is asking for all sort of unpleasant reactions, and the person who does deserves what they get. Besides, If the idea is to have your knife with you when the plane crashes, how many people survive falling from 30000ft long enough to need it?
Wasn't there a knife nut in lost? - obviously started (though not continued)a train of thought. Not my cup of tea that knife, and I would have no problems watching someone with it on a plane be dealt with by a sky marshall.
Minotaur
10-08-2007, 15:09
Wasn't there a knife nut in lost? - obviously started (though not continued)a train of thought. Not my cup of tea that knife, and I would have no problems watching someone with it on a plane be dealt with by a sky marshall.
Yes there was, but I think it they were in his suitcase in the hold, not carry on.
I think, I will stay out of this discussion, before I say something, that will get me a visit from the 'Mods'.
John Fenna
10-08-2007, 17:53
I employed "builders" like this once...Git alowng li dogy, yeha....rollin' rollin rollin' etc
I think I had those builders too... when they asked where they could tie up their horses, I should have got the warning signals...
I don't think its a very good idea for an inexperienced person to "build his own survival knife".
Knifemaking is to many an enjoyable pastime or profession but I would certainly not make a piece of equipement that my life or the lives of others may depend on from reading some intructions and in particular instructions that others have already pointed out contain errors serious enough to render the knife made with low cutting performance. I don't think many people would do the same thing with other vital bits of kit such as climbing ropes or tents.
Its different in a real survival situation because you make do with what you got but if I want a "survival knife" made to a specific design I would get in touch with a professional maker just like I would buy my rope and tent from good manufacturers.