Where do you carry your canoe trip knives and what are they?

[Erica]

There’s a fancy knife catalog I drool over, but…

a Mora always on my belt…even at home
a more than 50 year old Swiss Army knife with everything, including a magnifying glass, in my day pack
a leatherman in repair kit…have never used it
Gerber that attaches to the pdf
Opinel in a different pack
(I’ve never taken an axe or saw or anything similar. The potential for serious injury is pretty high, considering my lack of ability.)

I’ve enjoyed reading about the other knife options…thanks!

 

[Seeker]

I always carry at least a Swiss Army Knife Tinker in my pocket, every day carry. In the woods, this becomes a SAK Fieldmaster or Huntsman, which has a saw and scissors in addition to the Tinker's tools. The SAK's tools are stainless steel, and the blades are a slightly harder steel, but still stainless.

Depending on the trip, I'll also carry some sort of saw, hatchet/ax, and/or a sheath knife. If a sheath knife goes, it's usually a Fallkniven F1, which has a roughly 3.5" stainless steel (VG10) blade. It's sturdy enough to split short firewood, long enough to clean fish, and non-rusting so I don't have to worry about it.

 

[stephaniefisher]

This topic is too variable for a poll because lots of people have lots of knives and carry different ones on different places on different trips.

I usually carry four or five knives in recent years.

First, I've always carried a knife on my PFD, but I have hardly ever ever used my various PFD knives for anything in 40+ years. I just stays permanently on the PFD. Currently, I use an orange Spyderco folding rescue knife (serrated) -- the kind paramedics use to cut car crash victims out of seat belts.

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Second, I always have a folding pocket knife, but I'm afraid of losing it in an upset if I actually keep it in my pocket while paddling. Thus, I usually have it inside my waterproof day/ditch bag in my canoe. When in camp, I put it in my pocket and probably use it the most for minor tasks. I have several, but my current favorite pocket knife for canoe trips and EDC at home is my thin and light (1.8 oz.) Benchmade Bugout made of S30V steel.

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My third knife is one of my fixed blades, my current favorite being my Bark River Canadian LT.

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This is an all-purpose knife. However, I don't always wear belts as much anymore on my expanding waistline, so I will usually fasten the sheathed knife to the outside of my day pack while paddling Craftsmanship of Damascus Knives. In camp, I'll just have it around for tasks that require more heft than my pocket knife, and I'll take it and the pocket knife when hiking from camp.

Fourth, I have an inexpensive Mora Light My Fire knife with a fire steel built into the handle packed with my cooking kit. I hardly ever use it for anything in camp, preferring my other knives to the Mora Scandi grind. I do use it at home as a not-very-good kitchen knife.

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Finally, if you want to call it a knife, I now usually take one of my Condor Duku Parang machetes with me, usually the shorter one with a 10.5" blade, for chopping, limbing and tap splitting chores.

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For several functional and safety reasons, I much prefer a machete over a hatchet or axe for the light wood processing chores on a canoe trip. Paired with Silky BigBoy 2000 saw, a wood chopping machete, parang or golok can do everything necessary. My parang is sheathed and strapped or pocketed on my Duluth Pack.

All sorts, some with a raft of tools, available but I'm still using an old high carbon steel Boy Scout knife. Can dull pretty quick but you can put a razor's edge on the thing. I like that! Need to 'hone' the thing? Just pick up a beach rock is about all you need. I've seen belt carriers that have a small pocket for a 'hone,' that sounds like a good idea.

 

[memaquay]

Back in the day, I carried anything I had around. Then I read an account of a guy somewhere around Temagami who stabbed a bear to death with a Buck 119, protecting his dog. He was able to do so because of the double tang on the 119 that prevented his hand from slipping once it was covered in blood. So the 119 road on my hip for quite a few years.

Of course, now its the Ripster, for those of you who have been around long enough to remember the epic thread.


And of course, way back in the day, as the Plaid Prancer, it was a seven inch pink handled K-Bar.

 

[WolfmansBrother]

My most used knife is a bright orange Mora Companion. I use it for opening food packages and cutting up food. It stays in the food barrel.

I keep a Victorinox Classic in a internal pocket of a duffle bag. I mainly use it for the scissors and the tweezers.

I bring a Terävä Jääkäripuukko for general use. That goes in a duffle bag.

For wood processing I bring a Corona 18" pruning saw. That thing rips through wood, and it slips into backpacks and duffles easily. I kept the cardboard package it came in as a sheath. It works great.

I'll also bring either a Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe or a Terävä Skrama for limbing and splitting, depending on the mood. The Skrama would also probably be what I would reach for if a zombie attack were imminent. It's versatile.

 

[alsg]

I keep a Victorinox Classic in a internal pocket of a duffle bag. I mainly use it for the scissors and the tweezers.

The scissors and tweezers on those Victorinox knives are hard to beat!

 

[ppine]

I used to carry carbon steel knives in a leather sheath. Getting wet was hard on them.
Now I carry a Mora stainless steel fixed blade knife with a plastic handle and plastic sheath on the left side of my life jacket.

 

[MyKneesHurt]

I'm a guy who has spent about seven billion dollars on fancy knives and gear, leaves it all at home, and takes a swiss army knife. I carry a Mora Kansbol and a little folding saw, those being historically more useful to me than an axe, but I think I've used the saw twice and the kansbol zero times in the past, say, two hundred paddling miles. I don't build fires except once in a blue moon, and when I do there's plenty of burnable stuff laying around.

 

[Gamma1214]

Nothin' fancy here. I take the same pocket knife that I carry every day and (if it's a fishing trip) a small filet knife.

 

[Rippy]

Of course, now its the Ripster, for those of you who have been around long enough to remember the epic thread.

That was an epic thread. Too many laughs to count.

 

[TrailBlaser]

A Buck 442 folding knife on the PFD, a Huntsman Swiss Army knife in the kitchen kit and a Western 9 in. Black River Fixed Blade knife to baton wood.

 

[ppine]

Benchmade knives are really good. I bought a spring loaded folder because it was so easy to open with one hand in an emergency.
But then the inexcusable happened. It opened in my loose pants pocket and locked in place. If I had fallen on it bad things could happen.
I went back to a fixed blade in a secure sheath.

 

[TrailBlaser]

A Buck 442 folding knife on the PFD and a Huntsman Swiss Army Knife in the kitchen kit. A Western 9 inch Black River Fixed Blade knife to baton wood. (I apologize for the repeat)