Essential tools:  Knives

The subject of which knife is the best to carry can get very heated among knowledgeable blade enthusiasts.  Actually, no one knife can do everything.  I have well over a dozen fine knives, several hand made to my specifications.  But are they better than an off-the-shelf design by a good custom knife maker? To be honest, they are not, but I like them anyway.

It would be very boring to get into a long discussion of the various steel compositions used for knives today.  440C was the first good stainless, but 154CM and AUS-8 are reputed to be better...I have blades in both and can't tell the difference. Schrade uses drawn steel, some blades are forged while others are ground, all depending upon the method preferred by the knife maker. You don't need stainless steel for a good blade if you simply take care of your equipment. 

I recently acquired an excellent hand made knife from Dale Sandberg - www.edmfknives.com . Dale's knives are very unique, extremely strong, very sharp, and the sheathes he makes are very durable.  Dale's prices are also very low for a quality hand made knife.  They are more of the useable, "trench" knife style rather than the highly polished, very expensive display "fantasy" knives that seem to be the rage. 

Here are Dale's own words on his knives: "These knives are not has hard as current knives by most makers, but they can be sharpened very easily, even on a flat rock if you have to. I have had several knives that take a special stone to sharpen and that seems a troublesome spot to be in if you don't have all the special equipment. I make these to use and resharpen without a lot of trouble. They will not stay razor sharp very long, but will stay useable for a long time. The saws that use this steel will cut several days in the mill and still feel sharp. That made me a believer right out of the gate. The steel is called SAE 8670 modified."

Check out Dale's web site [www.edmfknives.com] or write to him for information at edmf@frontiernet.net, and you may find he makes a knife that fits your needs.

A good folding knife with a locking blade is almost mandatory because of their portability.  Both Buck, Browning and Puma (among many others such as Russell, Schrade, Case, Cold Steel, Gerber, etc.) make excellent folding knives in a wide variety of styles and sizes.  The quality of folding knives is often reflected in their price.  If I'm just going to scrape some wood or do some real work that might dull or scratch the blade quickly, I'll use a Case Sodbuster at less than $20.00 every time instead of an Al Mar that cost ten times as much. But if I had to carry only one folder, it would be an Al Mar, a Puma or other quality (expensive) folder...just common sense.

Specific use means specialized design for maximum efficiency.  Skinning knives are a perfect example. At left is an "Alaskan Skinner" from Herter's, with a unique John Ireland sheath. At right is an RH Ruana skinner with a John Ireland sheath.  The Ruana is now far too valuable for normal use.  I had John Ireland of Murder Lake, AK, make the sheathes for me in 1972.

Remember, I just touched the surface with this short article.  There are thousands of knife makers and tens of thousands of varieties of knives, and there wouldn't be that many if just one design or maker had the answer for every problem.  My only objective was to provide a little guidance. You can't go wrong with any of the knife makers I have mentioned, but you can spend a whole lot more for knives that are not any better.