Conquer Club

I never knew anyone that knew anything about knives to use them as a shovel. Quickest way there is to f*ck up the edge. Use a stick, a flat rock, anything but your knife.


Honibaz

b.k. barunt wrote:I never knew anyone that knew anything about knives to use them as a shovel. Quickest way there is to f*ck up the edge. Use a stick, a flat rock, anything but your knife.


Honibaz

uhuh. Ever hear of survival knives? Get yourself one and abuse it. If it holds up, and ColdSteel will, then it is the knife/tool to have. If a knife cannot hold up to rough use then it's useless unless it's pretty to look at. But of course most knives are job specific but you should always have one that is capable of many uses.

Can't hardly go wrong with military grade knives. And yes BK is correct. The K-Bar is an excellent side knife.

jefjef wrote:

b.k. barunt wrote:I never knew anyone that knew anything about knives to use them as a shovel. Quickest way there is to f*ck up the edge. Use a stick, a flat rock, anything but your knife.


Honibaz

uhuh. Ever hear of survival knives? Get yourself one and abuse it. If it holds up, and ColdSteel will, then it is the knife/tool to have. If a knife cannot hold up to rough use then it's useless unless it's pretty to look at. But of course most knives are job specific but you should always have one that is capable of many uses.

Can't hardly go wrong with military grade knives. And yes BK is correct. The K-Bar is an excellent side knife.

uhuh. If i'm out in the wilderness for an unspecified amount of time i want my knife to remain sharp. Strangely enough, a knife - any fooking knife - will lose its edge when you repeatedly stick it in the dirt. Go figure.


Honibaz

The old guys agree on this one - It is a standard practice in a survival situation; Keep your knife as sharp as possible (ie, use it as sparingly as you can - and NEVER as a freaking shovel ).

KoolBak wrote:The old guys agree on this one - It is a standard practice in a survival situation; Keep your knife as sharp as possible (ie, use it as sparingly as you can - and NEVER as a freaking shovel ).

It might be wise to use your knife to make a wooden shovel.

Honibaz

Um, am I the only one with a couple of honing stones in my survival kit? I'm still not using my knife as a shovel unless I can dig up a functioning telephone with an address on it but...

I always have stones on me - i sharpen knives and tools professionally to augment my cash flow and i do it by hand. Most people don't know how to sharpen a knife properly even if they have a stone. I'd bet money that jefjef never sharpened one - if he had he'd be a lot less likely to dig with it.


Honibaz

b.k. barunt wrote:I always have stones on me - i sharpen knives and tools professionally to augment my cash flow and i do it by hand. Most people don't know how to sharpen a knife properly even if they have a stone. I'd bet money that jefjef never sharpened one - if he had he'd be a lot less likely to dig with it.


Honibaz

LMAO. Dude. I could even sharpen your dull wit. I can hone a knife edge just fine. Not afraid of using a knife either cuz I can sharpen it.

And as far as using a knife as a shovel I only said you could use it as one. I don't run around digging trenches with my knives. LMAO. Of course I wouldn't want to. But I also wouldn't want to rely on a piece of crap that can't stand up to abuse. But I guess you wouldn't understand the importance of a good quality tool like a knife.

Get your titty in a wringer did ya? lol

True wisdom from the 20-somethings

Damn, I wished I had taken a photo of the authentic Kukri I saw this summer - my aunt's husband had it brought from Nepal in the 60:s and it was really a beautiful blade. Maybe if I take my camera with me next summer I'll humor you with a photo of it.

Wisdom from 20 nothing whats? LMAO!!!!!!!!

You can edge a blade on freaking concrete - rocks - files - leather - hardened steel - etc. You'd all be lost without your fancy prepackaged sharpening stones. I

t's ok to use your knife. It's a tool. It's made to be used. Just make sure it's high quality and can withstand hard use and still hold an edge without breaking. Your life may actually depend on it.

Internet survivalists.

In my 7th week of Ranger School at Ft Benning, GA me and a friend were caught playing chicken with a bayonet. You know, that game where you throw the knife in the dirt between your opponent's feet . . .
Cost us both 1,000 pushups and a brisk little 2 mile run. The first thing they taught us in survival training down in Florida was "don't ever stick your knife in the dirt - it's not a fucking shovel".

We never used bayonets for anything but stabbing. They didn't need to be sharp and we had K-Bars for our knives. Nonetheless, the taboo went for anything knifelike as far as our training went. If only i had known your knowledgeable arguments back then i'm sure i would've been spared all those fooking pushups. Thanks so much for the advice. Those old Ranger instructors evidently didn't know whatthefuck they were talking about. Wish you'd been there to set them straight.


Honibaz

LMAO!

Incredible how you focus on a comment that a knife was of the quality that you could even use it as a shovel. But thats what you do. Twist shit to try to belittle others. But whatever.

Yes BK. When you are in a combat/survival situation you want your weapon to be sharp and ready. Thats what they were training you for. Yes you want a quality tool for those situations.

Now put the crack pipe down...

When it comes to survival, your knife is THE most important tool that you have. Yes you could use it to dig with, and yes, you could tie it to a stick, and use it to spear fish. You could use it for anything from shaving your face, to trimming your toe nails.

But if you are wise, you will treat it with extra care. Digging in the dirt, is NOT a job that you would normally use your knife for. You can find, or make a tool for that.

If you should break your knife, you will lessen your chances of survival. So, using it to dig or spear fish, is NOT a very good idea. NOT because you might dull the edge, but because you might break it.

You can safely use your knife to make a wooden shovel or spear, or any particular tool that will take abuse. If you break your tool, not to worry,

...You have a knife.

LMAO!!!!!!!! I love how this thread turned into a discussion about digging with knives.

I was only speaking of the quality of Cold Steel products. Its an excellent product. I only said you could even dig with it. YOU CAN ABUSE IT AND IT WOULD TAKE IT. That is the exact kind of tool to have with you.

I.E. The poster who was looking for a quality knife. Spend your money on a reliable product. Pretty isn't always good.

Dayln digging knife

jefjef wrote:LMAO!

Incredible how you focus on a comment that a knife was of the quality that you could even use it as a shovel. But thats what you do. Twist shit to try to belittle others. But whatever.

Jefjef, if you review the origin of this argument you'll see (as others already have) that my original statement - "i never knew anyone who knew anything about knives to use them as a shovel" - was not intended to "belittle" you. I simply indicated that i disagreed with you. It was only when you belittled yourself by getting dogmatic and stoopit that the thread began to go that way.


Honibaz

This is fun

Here's some knives...

http://www.lavenderpillow.co.uk/Athames.html

Cold Steel is surprisingly affordable. I'm digging the baseball bat.

jonesthecurl wrote:Here's some knives...

I don't think that you should be allowed to post another link in here.

They're knives, and those guys are nuts...
I discovered the site the other day when looking for an old friend. This is he. He used to be a fairly sensible sort... now he sells fairies and athames.

jonesthecurl wrote:They're knives, and those guys are nuts...
I discovered the site the other day when looking for an old friend. This is he. He used to be a fairly sensible sort... now he sells fairies and athames.

Sells fairies?? I wonder . . . nah . . . ain't gonna go there . . . wouldn't be prudent . . .


Honibaz

So a standard k-bar egh? I looked at their website and they have quite a selection. Is a army surplus store a good place to get one?

I also purchased a magnesium on one side, flint on the other side tool to assist in starting fires while backpacking. I find it difficult to shave the magnesium and not really that helpful of a tool. I'm almost thinking i'd rather have just a big flint rod. Thoughts?

I found a knife when I was a kid, and threw it in the sad all the time. The sand wore down the tip, wore off the black paint on the outside of the blade, injected sand into the moving parts area. But hey, if you are out in the desert, with nothing around you but sand, and you need to dig a hole in the sand to hide from the sun, and my options were my hands or the knife, I might think about using the knife handle. Maybe even the knife. I can use my laptop as a baseball bat, but I doubt I will unless I really really need to, like if I'm on a plane and some hijackers with boxcutters try to take it over. I'll smack you with my laptop so fast you'll be down for the count. My laptop will probably explode and break, but at that point, who cares?

When I was younger I tried to sharpen knives on my fathers stone with oil. One side was rougher than the other. I had issues getting a flat edge on the knive, and not a big circle radius edge. Like V vs (). make sense? I've used the metal rods to sharpen them...i'm getting better at it but it's still not that good. I currently use a little black plastic knife sharpener. I've got a hatchet that I sharpen...I've used a grinder and didn't like it....I prefer to use a hand file. I can sharpen my hatchet to the point where it slices paper and you could shave with it. Then my friends chop wood on rocks/concrete and chip the shit out of the edge...oh well.

EDIT: Shaving might be an exaggeration...i've never tried. But it slides through paper very easily and you can tell it's definitely sharp.

Ever try sharpening blades with leather?

bedub1 wrote:So a standard k-bar egh? I looked at their website and they have quite a selection. Is a army surplus store a good place to get one?

Depends on the store. Some have good prices and some don't - compare the prices with those on the website. I used to deal a lot with Atlanta Cutlery - they had a good selection of knives and knifemaking supplies at reasonable prices.

bedub1 wrote:I also purchased a magnesium on one side, flint on the other side tool to assist in starting fires while backpacking. I find it difficult to shave the magnesium and not really that helpful of a tool. I'm almost thinking i'd rather have just a big flint rod. Thoughts?

I have one and used it once. I could start a fire just as quick with just the flint.

bedub1 wrote:I found a knife when I was a kid, and threw it in the sad all the time. The sand wore down the tip, wore off the black paint on the outside of the blade, injected sand into the moving parts area. But hey, if you are out in the desert, with nothing around you but sand, and you need to dig a hole in the sand to hide from the sun, and my options were my hands or the knife, I might think about using the knife handle. Maybe even the knife. I can use my laptop as a baseball bat, but I doubt I will unless I really really need to, like if I'm on a plane and some hijackers with boxcutters try to take it over. I'll smack you with my laptop so fast you'll be down for the count. My laptop will probably explode and break, but at that point, who cares?

Of course there's emergencies that may arise which call for extreme measures. The same instructor that punished me for the bayonet incident gave a class on mine detection. He looked right at me when he said " if you don't have a mine probe this is one of the few times you can stick your knife in the dirt". Someone raised their hand and asked what would be another time; he said "when there's a lot of ordinance (bullets) in the air and you need a foxhole real quick". Ironically enough i got stabbed in the big toe right through my combat boot by a mine probe whilst playing another game of chicken.

bedub1 wrote:When I was younger I tried to sharpen knives on my fathers stone with oil. One side was rougher than the other. I had issues getting a flat edge on the knive, and not a big circle radius edge. Like V vs (). make sense? I've used the metal rods to sharpen them...i'm getting better at it but it's still not that good. Ever try sharpening blades with leather?

That's the main problem people have when attempting to sharpen a knife. It's called "rolling the edge". You have to keep a consistent angle - not easy to do. My father taught me and my four younger brothers how to sharpen a knife when we were kids - i'm the only one of the four of us that can get razor sharpness freehand.

Go to lanskysharpeners.com and try one of their sharpening systems. Costs between 40 and 50 bucks and it will give you an edge you can shave with. As far as the leather goes, you don't actually sharpen with it, but you take off the "feather edge" after you sharpen the blade. That's a standard part of my sharpening - i strop the blade over a piece of leather a few times after i sharpen it and it finishes the edge. That's what a barber's razor strop is for.


Honibaz.