What is the best knife for hiking. • Knife tourist, hunting, fishing

Every tourist, fisherman and hunter knows that one of the main tools in a hike is a knife. While driving along the route, of course, you do not really need it. But in the parking lot, when organizing the camp and cooking without a knife, as if without hands. And the choice of a knife for a hike must be approached seriously, with all responsibility. Let's figure out how to choose a knife for yourself and what you should pay attention to.

First of all, you need to understand that the knife from the point of view of the law and common sense can be considered a melee weapon. And if you have a knife with you without the relevant documents, then law enforcement agencies may have unnecessary questions for you, up to the seizure of the knife. To avoid trouble in such a situation, there are at least two ways out.

Firstly, you can buy high-quality, branded knives that are accompanied by a document from the manufacturer stating that the knife is not a melee weapon and carry this document along with the knife.

Secondly, you can buy cheap, obviously household, knives, such as kitchen ones. Naturally, no documents are issued for them. But the cost of such a product allows you to lose it without much regret and damage to your wallet.

What is a knife for on a hike?

The choice of a knife primarily depends on what you need it for, for what kind of work?

At small stops along the way or on weekend hikes (PVD), the knife is most often used for cutting some kind of food and for cooking in general. They also open canned food, but it should be noted that this greatly deteriorates and dulls the cutting edge. It is better to open canned food with a special opener.

On more solid camps with overnight stays, a knife can be used to organize a camp. They sharpen stakes with it, cut off branches and small knots on poles, make some kind of auxiliary devices made of wood (for example, a campfire hanger).

When making a fire with a knife, small branches are cut and larger ones are split, dry kindling is prepared for the fire.

What kind of knife to choose for a hike?

As you can see, on a hike, a knife is needed for a variety of tasks. And only from this we can conclude that it is impossible to pick up one universal knife for all occasions. It is very inconvenient to cook food with a thick and durable knife, and with a table knife with a thin blade you can’t do rough work, you can’t chop branches - it will simply break.

For a camp kitchen, a folding knife with a thin blade of medium size is quite suitable. It should be simple, without any teeth, files on the butt and serrated sharpening. In my opinion, the Opinel knife is the most suitable for this.

Folding knives are not suitable for rougher work. The hinge connecting the blade of the knife and its handle is its weak point and you can break the knife without calculating the load. Therefore, it is better for such tasks to have a knife with a fixed blade, durable and thick enough. Pay attention to the design of the handle. The most durable option will be surface-mounted, when the halves of the handle are riveted on both sides, and the blade is a continuation of the handle.

It is very good to have another small folding knife with various additional tools. Very high quality knives of the Swiss company Victorinox. An overview of one of these knives can be read in the article: "" In addition to the main blades, it contains screwdrivers, tweezers, a can opener, etc. Such folding knives come in various configurations and you can choose a model according to your needs.

Knife sharpening

As a rule, all high-quality branded knives have a very decent factory sharpening and they do not need to be re-sharpened, especially in field conditions. But in a long trip, the sharpening of the blade will inevitably become dull and it is desirable to somehow restore it. To do this, take with you a small block of fine grain (donkey) with which you can correct the cutting edge. You can, of course, try to sharpen the knife on a stone, but most likely, you will ruin its sharpening completely. The touchstone weighs a few grams and will allow you to quickly and easily cope with this task without damaging the knife.

Which knife should not be taken

This is a separate big topic that has generated a lot of controversy and fights to stabbing))

On a hike without a durable knife, it is almost impossible to do. With it, you can perform a variety of tasks: peel fruits and vegetables, open canned food, cut food, cut ropes, etc. According to experts, it is advisable for a traveler to have at least three such accessories with him: main, instrumental and auxiliary. It will not be superfluous and folding.

Are camping knives melee weapons?

There is an opinion that tourist knives are edged weapons. Is it so? Not really. There is a GOST, which clearly defines the signs of which knife belongs to melee weapons and which does not. The product certificate usually indicates which category the attribute belongs to. If there is no certificate (for example, a knife was bought from hand or made by yourself), then you need to clearly know how a skinning or tourist knife differs from a combat one. For example, according to the law, the length of a knife blade is 9 cm. If the thickness of the blade is more than 5-6 mm, then it is also not prohibited. Models where the blades are retractable and fixed are automatically classified as melee weapons.

How to choose the best camping knife

In order to choose the most suitable knife, you need to clearly know what it will do on a hike. For a hunter or fisherman, there is more than enough work for knives. They may have an ax in their backpack, a clumsy knife, or a whole set of them. Many carry folding knives in their pockets. An ordinary tourist on a hike may never get such an accessory.

What are camping knives for? They are needed to:

Cut food for lunch.
In the absence of a saw, a large knife can chop wood chips to start a fire. Inexpensive models are quite suitable for this procedure.
If the ax is broken, it can be cut with a camping knife.
If you manage to catch fish, this accessory will come in handy for cleaning it. In this case, the quality of the blade does not matter, even a Chinese multifunctional model or a dull kitchen knife will do.
A camping can opener will help you open canned food.

For a beginner for these works, a simple knife is quite enough, the blade length of which is about 15 cm, and the steel is 65x13 or 95x18.

An important quality for camping knives is the simplicity of their design and "indestructibility". With a knife, you may have to dig the ground, open cans, so it must have a fairly thick and strong blade. The quality of steel does not play a special role. The handle is desirable to be all-metal with overlays.

Which knife to choose - folding or non-folding?

Despite the many advantages of fixed blade knives, folding models benefit from their light weight and compactness. In addition, many of these attributes are also multifunctional (include a whole set of tools).

If a hunter needs a serious knife for cutting prey, and a fisherman needs a thin and long sirloin, then a traveler can get by with an ordinary folding blade.

When buying a folding knife, it is important to consider the following nuances:

The folding design is not as reliable as the fixed one, so all power work must be done carefully. And they won’t be able to chop wood chips for a fire.
The blade of folding knives may not be fixed and, if handled carelessly, will fold directly onto the fingers.
It should be understood that for the compactness of the knife you have to pay with a small blade size. Boiled sausage or bread will have to be cut round.
The mechanism of folding models is quite sensitive to dirt. After the hike, camping folding knives must be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed with water. With severe contamination, even disassembly with lubrication of the hinges may be necessary.

You can not crush something or chop nuts with the handle of a folding knife. Even a high-quality and expensive model after such work will not live even one season.

It is better to choose either multifunctional knives, or with a lock that firmly fixes the blade. From the acquisition of single-subject models without fixation, it is better to refuse immediately.

Sharpening camping knives

Sharpening of any blade must be done at a certain angle, depending on the tasks that the knife will perform on a hike. For example, for skinning or cutting fish, a sharpening angle of 10-15 degrees will be optimal. If you plan to cut soft materials and food, choose an angle of 15-20 degrees. The utility knife can be sharpened at an angle of 20-25 degrees. If you need to chop wood chips and open cans, the sharpening angle can be 40 degrees.

The sharpening procedure itself is quite simple. They start with large-grained stones, then gradually move to smoother ones. After sharpening, it is recommended to grind the cutting edge on the skin.

With the help of sharpening, you can solve the following tasks:

Restore the shape of the cutting edge (or change to the desired angle).
Sand the edge to the desired smoothness.

To sharpen the knife blade to the required degree, the blade must be held during sharpening.

Knife Blade Shapes

The shape of the blade of a tourist knife should be universal, for example, with a straight butt. No need to chase fancy options like scramasax or tanto, because this will only interfere with work.

The most common blade shapes are:

Finca, or clip point.
Spear point (in the form of a spear).
Drop point.
trailing point.

Each of such a large variety can choose the most suitable option.

Knives handle

Camping knife handles are made from a variety of materials. Conventionally, they are divided into two groups:

Natural.
artificial origin.

The most commonly used natural materials are leather, wood, horn, bone, or various combinations thereof.

From artificial species The most commonly used materials are rubber and various plastics.

The choice of knife handles depends only on personal preferences. So, the rubber model is able to provide good grip even in high humidity conditions. Horn and bone are durable and have a pleasant aesthetic appearance. Wood and leather also have beautiful finishes and good grip, but they need to be looked after to ensure they don't deteriorate. Plastic is not afraid of water and durable. On a hike, you should not take knives with a metal handle, because in winter it will freeze your hand.

Choosing a knife handle should not be in appearance and beauty, but in shape and size. It should fit the brush and lie comfortably in the hand. Also, with prolonged use, it should not become worn.

Steel selection

There are many types of steel for making knives. For a camping knife, you should not choose expensive metal. It is better to opt for stainless steel or carbon steel. Stainless steel knives are able to resist corrosion, but the blade becomes dull very quickly, and in the field it is quite difficult to sharpen such a tool. Models made of carbon steel, on the contrary, quickly rust, but do not dull for a long time, and they can be easily sharpened.

Multifunctional folding knives

Folding multi-functional on a hike - a great addition to the main knife. Conventionally, such models can be divided into 2 groups:

High-quality multi-subjects - "Laserman" and "Victorinox".
Inexpensive Russian or Chinese set of camping knives with fork, spoon, blade and corkscrew.

The choice of a camping knife is a rather responsible procedure. Buy the one that can do most of the work, and not the one that will hang on your belt as a useless load.

Today it is not difficult to find manuals for choosing hunting knives with a detailed classification according to the shape and geometry of the blades. But about a good tourist, camp, camping knife - but what is there! - about the now gaining popularity "knife for survival in wild nature' is not said much.

Let's outline the silhouette of our camping knife. It should be for all occasions, and this is clearing a place for a camp and an overnight stay, and cutting pegs for a tent, and planing wood to light a fire (sometimes you have to chop small firewood, like a full-fledged hatchet, hitting the butt with a stick), and cooking food, and so on. Such tools should be sensibly assessed: let him not be a champion in a single discipline, but he will be able to do everything.

Our "walker", "camp", "prepper" must have a wedge with a good margin of safety. A rare camping knife has less than four millimeters in the butt - this strengthens the blade, but increases the weight. As a rule, there is no false blade on such knives, if only because it weakens the tip of the wedge, and the penetrating ability of the tip is not very important for fans of outdoor recreation.

Most often, the desired knife has direct descents from the butt, which favorably affects the price of the product. In addition, it is much more convenient to transfer the palm of your free hand to a wide butt to enhance the cut under pressure.

The second question of the geometry of the blade is about the cutting edge and the reduction of slopes. A camping knife should be such that it can cut food and chop branches. Therefore, a relatively thick convergence, usually at least 0.5 mm, is the best fit for this. It will cut moderately, but when chopping, the cutting edge will not crumble and the “clumps” will be minimal.

It is even better when the blade at the end has a complex grind and the descents for the tip of the wedge are displayed at a different angle. In this case, it is possible to achieve that the main part of the blade will be reduced to a thinner cutting edge, for a good cut, and its end will be reduced more massively, for various “picking” actions and rough work. But is it worth mentioning that such a grind also adds to the final cost of the knife?

MULTIPLE HANDLE. What is the most important thing in a tourist knife? Blade steel? Perhaps today, no matter how strange it may seem, the main role is played by the handle. It does not allow a dropped knife to sink, a rope wrapped around it can be extremely useful on a hike, a leather type-setting handle allows the knife not to slip when cleaning fish, etc. Handles with a built-in compass, pencil cases, lantern handles and even shooting handles are more fashionable and in demand today than ever. Meaningless for professionals, hunters and military, but very useful for city tourists, knives with special “handles” continue to be produced by many little-known firms and reputable knife companies. But what about steel? Who needs a great knife with a great blade worth thousands of conventional units if it falls out of the hands of a sleazy tourist and simply drowns?

Since there are no blades that remain sharp after a week of use, you need to pay attention to steel. For one- and two-day hikes, you can take a well-hardened "carbon" (just be aware that it can be fragile). During this time, it will not have to be sharpened often, if at all, and it is more convenient to take care of such a knife on short trips. And after a trip at home, you can timely wipe off the pitting spots missed during cleaning in nature.

For longer hikes, it is better to take such a knife so that you don’t have to “kill” it for more than half an hour to edit it. This is its main difference from the hunting one: we don’t need the knife to cut the paper on weight after skinning the elk, we need it to be able to be brought into working condition with a few confident movements with ceramic musat.

Please note that many manufacturers use carbon steel in such knives, but they heat it to a hardness of 55-57 HRC, although most of these steels are freely heated to the level of 58-60 HRC. This is done for several purposes.

Firstly, as we have already found out above, so that the knife can be easily sharpened and corrected in the field.

Secondly, the steel turns out to be more viscous - the cutting edge is prone to jams, but not to chips. Thirdly, so that the wedge is not too brittle at sub-zero temperatures and the knife can be used in winter.

Another important point: Uncoated carbon steel is unlikely to be a good helper on a long hike. There are many such coatings - from banal oxidation to pressure sprayed graphite (so-called diamond-like carbon DLC) or textured powder paint. You can choose a knife made of alloyed stainless steels, which, in fact, do not need such a coating.

WOODEN ANACHRONISM. Today, the tree on the knives looks very archaic. Of course, it's beautiful, but very, very impractical. Wood swells, shrinks, cracks... Today, in the age of high-tech materials, it would seem that using wood is tritely stupid - excellent plastics are the best material for handles and scabbards. But ... where without a tree? The traditional material is so firmly entrenched in the human mind that tourist knives with handles made from a wide variety of exotic woods will always be in steady demand. The modern chemical industry creates impregnations that can prolong the life of wood, and thus the most ancient material that mankind has encountered has received a second wind.

Probably the last selection criteria are the hilt and scabbard. The fewer parts and connections in the handle, the better. From modern synthetics - and the scabbard should be just that - there is a large selection of resistant materials. Very well behaved G-10 (glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin), neoprene, polymer Zytel, Kraton, thermoplastic Kydex.

All have their drawbacks, but the main plus is that they are resistant to abrasion, to all atmospheric manifestations, while being easy to clean, weigh little and provide good grip.

Sheaths are most often made up of two sheets fastened with eyelets, so moisture does not linger in them and they have reliable system for lacing.

It is worth noting that recently most manufacturers have switched to the fulltang design and forgot about the hollow handles. And for small accessories, as a rule, a pocket on the sheath is reserved. Fiberglass G-10 is most often made in the form of flat dies, which are mounted on both sides of the blade blank, forming a handle.

Therefore, on knives with a hollow handle-container (for matches, hooks and other small accessories), such material is not found. Another good example of a handle is a paracord-wrapped skeleton handle. This makes practical sense: the paracord can be removed when a few meters of strong cord are urgently needed.

Perhaps these are all the primary criteria for choosing a camping knife. There is only one last tip: do not take a giant machete - your hand will begin to go numb after five minutes of working with it. 10-12 centimeters of the blade, as a rule, is enough. Remember that you still need to grow to a small knife.

A camping knife is the last thing you should save on when going camping. Because one day it might turn into a survival knife.

After the release of the film "Rambo. First Blood" art was in great debt to the people. This debt is calculated in those millions of money in different currencies, which the enchanted buyers laid out for knives, “like Rambo”, going on a hike in nature. Meanwhile, these heavy, bulky cleavers with a NAZ container in the handle are very inconvenient for practical use. And most importantly - they immediately give out a beginner to experienced hikers, who have much more unpretentious, but convenient tools hanging on their belts.

How to choose a camping knife

As in any serious field of human activity, the effectiveness of a survival knife (aka a tourist knife) is much more important than a catchy one. appearance.

The simplest knives - among the fighters of the well-known special forces of the British SAS (Special Airborn Service) - have nothing to do with the "Rambo cleaver".

Rambo analogs are heavy and pull the belt. They are difficult to manage, they are not suitable for painstaking and delicate work, and there is more of it in nature than you can imagine. And there are so many that experts recommend having two knives with you: a folding universal penknife, with several tools, and the second one is a worker, non-folding.

With folding, everything is clear. Here, Swiss Army knives from Victorinox or Wenger are beyond competition. These are great tools to serve you. long years, and no one will give you a better recommendation. But for more serious tasks, it is desirable to have a working knife (and it is not recommended to gut the fish with a folding one - it is difficult to wash it in the field).

What are these tasks? Well, for example, harvesting firewood (planing dry chips for ignition), setting up a camp, building a shelter or raft (digging a hole in a slope, cutting branches for a raft or a hut), cutting prey, repairing clothes (and in critical situations and making it from skins using needles and threads from NAZ), first aid (a typical situation is a sprain or dislocation of the leg, at least you need to cut a stick or make a crutch).

With an almost limitless range of functions, a tourist knife has strictly defined characteristics that seriously distinguish it from a special hunting or combat knife.

When choosing a tourist knife, please note that the blade length should be from 10 to 15 cm. No more, it will only overweight. The handle is made in two main ways. The first is lamellar, when the blade and handle are a single piece of metal, while the handle is lined with overlays. Looks very secure. Still, we recommend ridden handles when they are mounted on a narrow shank coming from the blade. Believe that with a shank length of 2/3 of the handle, such knives are not inferior in strength to lamellar ones. At the same time, they are smaller, lighter and easier to handle.

The blades of a tourist knife are also divided into two main types: smooth and sawtooth (toothed, serrated). A serrated knife cuts through synthetic materials, clothing and flesh well. The main drawback is that it needs to be sharpened, and it is very difficult to do this in the field without equipment and skills. A smooth cutting edge will do an excellent job with carving and chopping, and you can sharpen such a blade on any stone.

Another feature of the best outdoor knives is that they never come with two cutting edges. Leave this refinement to combat piercing objects. The reason is very simple: the most vulnerable part of the blade is the tip. In double-edged knives, it is generally weaker. And reliability for a tourist knife is the main thing.

The second blade in the campaign is most often a useless surplus, and even traumatic.

A saw on the butt of a survival knife is considered a perfect mauvais ton. This is done, as a rule, to please the buyers, to whom such knives seem “more impressive”. In most cases, these saws will only get in the way.

The steel of the blade is a topic that one could write a monograph on. But in principle, you need to know the minimum: there is high-carbon steel (carbon) and stainless steel (inox). Stainless steel blades, as its name suggests, are resistant to moisture and require less maintenance. But at the same time, they have a more complicated sharpening procedure and the blade wears out faster. Carbon steel blades can develop rust spots if left in a closet for a long time without maintenance. But they cut and sharpen very well.

The handle, as a rule, is made either from rubber (high-quality plastic, micarta), or from wood (composite leather, birch bark). It is believed that rubber is more practical, it is not afraid of water, but it is not so comfortable in work, with strong efforts it can rub the palm. Wood or birch bark feels the most pleasant, does not slip and is recognized by experts as the best materials for handles. But the problem is that every palm is different. So there is nothing to advise in advance.

Well, now about NAZ - a wearable emergency supply. Remember how Rambo sewed up a cut on his forearm, taking a needle and thread out of a knife handle? Indeed, some knives are sold with hollow handles. A typical case is a very good product of the Spanish company Aitor Jungle King III. Inside its handle with a screw-down end cap (in which the compass is mounted) are: a surgical needle with threads, fishing hooks, sinkers, fishing line, tweezers (very useful for extracting splinters), a sterile blade, a pencil, a mirror (to give signals to the aircraft), tablets for disinfection of water, matches or flint, adhesive plaster, rubber band(and the leg can be pulled, stopping the blood, and used as an elastic band for a slingshot).

Sounds impressive, right? But we must keep in mind that all this is due to the main quality of a tourist knife - reliability. The hollow handle is less durable. Moreover, it is not the only place where NAZ can be stored. For most knives, it is reasonably placed in a special pocket on the sheath. Yes, and more reliable, because losing a sheath on a belt is much more difficult than a knife. By the way, the survival instructions of the same SAS categorically require that NAZ be worn separately from the knife.

It is worth dwelling on the products of SOG Specialty Knives in more detail, since they are directly related to real, not cinematic Rambos.

SOG - abbreviated name of the division American special forces Studies and Observation Group, who fought in Vietnam. It was for them that in 1964 they developed the SOG Bowie knife. The division itself has long been disbanded, and knives continue to be produced to this day (the license was received by SOG Specialty Knives & Tools, Inc.). Believe me, nothing like a huge Rambo cleaver. The recommended models - SOG Seal 2000 and SOG Seal Pup - are still used in the US Army today, both in the special forces of the Marine Corps and in the survival kit for Air Force pilots.

And the Swedish Air Force included knives from the Swedish company Fallkniven AB in the emergency supply of pilots. Her forte is an ergonomic structured croton handle and blades made of laminated powder steel, which retain their sharpness for a long time.

Mora is also a Swedish company whose products are easily recognizable by their unassuming design. But she has the widest range of blades in length - from 9 to 14.5 cm, so you can choose the best tourist knife "by hand". As for the “terrible” appearance, we already talked about this at the very beginning: your happiness will not be in the beauty of the knife, if you happen to get into an unexpected bind in nature.

It remains to add one thing: a tourist knife is the last thing you should save on when choosing your hiking equipment. Because at any moment it can turn into a survival knife. And these things are no joke.

Knife device

The knife is made up of blade (1 ) And handles (2 ).

the edge of the blade (3 ).

blade (4 ) or cutting edge.

descents (5 ).

butt of the blade (6 ).

golomeni7

fifth of the blade (8 ).

cross(limiter) (9

head (10 ).

lanyard (11

AND according to the shape of the blade.

finca

drop-point

trailing point

clip-point or Bowie

Blade type " scramasax" or " goat leg

Tanto

Spear point

1. Straight wedge from the butt

Tree

Leather

Metals

Thermoplastics

Elastomers

Sheath

The scabbard is designed to provide:

Types of knives

Fishing knives

Cook food;

open canned food and bottles;

cut or cut down branches;

Tourist knives

Get and cook food.
Build a shelter.

folding,

Machete knives

Machete(Spanish) machete

These actions include:

extraction and cultivation of fire;
production and repair of clothes;
orientation on the ground;
basic medical care.

Usually, basic set

Case

Now oh blades

Length

Sharpening.

sore spot

Lever.

Knives you can buy in our online store.

If you decide to purchase a knife, first of all, Van needs to decide what it is for and what they will have to do.

Fishing, hunting or outdoor activities a knife may be needed to perform a variety of operations: butchering a carcass, cleaning fish, cooking, cutting thin trees, sharpening stakes, etc. In this case, it is better for you to choose a hunting or carving knife. If you most often go on organized hikes or tours, then folding multi-functional knives are the best fit for these purposes.

The second thing you need to know is, of course, the material of the blade of the chosen knife and the material of the handle. The third thing to consider is the sheath.

But, let's start in order. Consider first the device (structure) of the knife.

Knife device

At first glance, it seems that in such a simple product as a knife, there are few components - a blade and a handle! But each separate part consists of several sections with different names.

The structure of the knife: 1 - blade, 2 - handle, 3 - point, 4 - blade (cutting edge), 5 - descents, 6 - butt of the blade, 7 - valleys, 8 - heel of the blade, 9 - cross (limiter), 10 - head, 11 - lanyard.

The knife is made up of blade (1 ) And handles (2 ).

If the blade converges wedge-shaped to one point towards its end, then this point is called the edge of the blade (3 ).

The sharpened side of the blade is called blade (4 ) or cutting edge.

The surfaces of the part of the blade tapering towards the blade are called descents (5 ).

The side opposite the blade is called butt of the blade (6 ).

Sometimes on the side surface ( golomeni) blade perform grooves - valleys ( 7 ), which lighten the blade. On combat knives they are designed for more rapid loss blood when the knife remains in the wound.

The unsharpened part of the blade adjacent to the handle is called fifth of the blade (8 ).

On many knives between the blade and the handle is cross(limiter) (9 ). Sometimes the cross is incorrectly called a guard, because. the guard is a part of the hilt of a long-bladed edged weapon that protects the hand from being hit by an opponent's weapon. In this case, the crosspiece is mainly designed to prevent slipping of the hand from the handle onto the blade during stabbing movements.

The part of the hilt farthest from the blade is called head (10 ).

Sometimes a hole is made in the head of the handle, into which lanyard (11 ). A lanyard is a cord that is worn on the hand and serves to prevent the loss of a weapon when it is released from the hand.

When evaluating the blade, you should pay attention to the following: strength, corrosion resistance, ability to keep sharpening. Ideally, a reasonable combination of all indicators, although much of this is not a dogma. So the northern hunting peoples of Russia prefer a mild steel knife, since it can be sharpened on a stone, while it is desirable that the steel of the blade has minimal elasticity.

Blades can be classified according to the following characteristics: according to the shape of the side profile of the blade And according to the shape of the blade.

The shape of the side profile of the blade plays a decisive role in choosing a knife, because depending on the shape of the blade, the knives serve different purposes.

According to the side profile of the blade, the following main types of blades can be distinguished:

finca - this species The blade has a straight butt and is capable of piercing with a point.

drop-point- a blade of this shape has a lower butt line. The tip is located on the axis of application of force during the injection, the blade cuts and stabs equally well. On the front of the butt, sometimes either a “false blade” is formed, formed by descents without sharpening, or a second full-fledged blade (one and a half sharpening), which helps the blade to enter the material being cut when pricked.

trailing point- a blade of this form has an increased butt line. This type of blade has the largest blade length, which is convenient when cutting non-hard materials. For some national knives with a blade of this type, the butt has a sharpening.

clip-point or Bowie- named after the Texas national hero James Bowie. It was developed in the 19th century for combat knives and has a beveled butt in the form of a duck nose, but it can also be straight. As a rule, there is also a sharpening on the butt. A blade of this shape is equally good for cutting and for pricking, due to the location of the tip on the axis of application of force upon impact. Knives with blades of this type are especially popular in the United States.

Blade type " scramasax" or " goat leg» has a straight blade, which makes the blade suitable for a precise controlled cut. The lack of a point makes it impossible to pierce, but the knife becomes safer. Professional knives have this shape: a rigging knife, an electrician's knife, a garden knife, etc. Sometimes a similar shape is found in folding multi-purpose knives.

Tanto- the shape of the blade was born in the fascinating world of Japanese edged weapons, according to some sources, and according to others, it appeared recently in an American knife manufacturing company. A blade of this form has an extreme stability of the point due to the fact that the massiveness of the blade is preserved up to the very point. Most often used for combat knives, but sometimes comes across on other types. You can argue for a very long time about the convenience of this blade shape for various cuts.

Spear point has a lance-shaped blade. Most often used on daggers and combat knives, more suited for thrusting than for cutting. Usually has double-sided sharpening.

According to the shape of the section, the following main types can be distinguished:

1. Straight wedge from the butt(a triangular blade in section, more often called the Scandinavian type of sharpening). Quite strong and sharp sharpening, most often used on knives that are used as a lever. Well suited for cutting. It is poorly suited for chopping actions due to the lower strength of the thin cutting edge.

2. Blade with straight slopes. It is similar to the blade of the first type, but the cutting edge is formed by a more obtuse angle, which gives greater strength and wear resistance while deteriorating the quality of the cut.

3. Blade with concave (razor) slopes- best suited for cutting. It helps to achieve a special thinness of the cutting edge with a thick and strong butt.

4. Blade with convex (lenticular) descents. Blade of special durability at chopping blows.

5. Straight wedge with leads to the cutting edge(often called the European type of sharpening). According to their characteristics, blades with such sharpening are identical with number one, the only difference is that the cutting edge has a more obtuse angle due to the leads.

The quality of any knife, and therefore its characteristics and ability to perfectly perform the functions assigned to it, directly depend on the material from which the knife blade is made.

Currently, most often, in the manufacture of blades, carbon or alloy steel is used, subjected to special thermomechanical processing. For blade steel, properties such as hardness, toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, etc. are important.

Recently, there has been a noticeable interest in the use of steels with a particularly uniform structure (for example, "powder" CPM steels), which leads to greater material strength, or vice versa, to the formation of irregularities - solid structures in a viscous "matrix" of the material (damask steel and Damascus - " patterned steels).

The most essential requirements are imposed on the handles of knives, since the strength and reliability of the handles are the most important thing.

One-piece knife handle and shank passing through it - perfect option. The riveted pads can chip, so they are not quite suitable for a quality handle. Also, the handle should fit comfortably in the hand, not slip out of a wet and dirty palm, and should not fill bloody blisters with prolonged use.

You should not choose a handle with deep finger grooves, as any specific action with a knife requires an individual position of the fingers on the handle. The handle of the knife must necessarily lie comfortably in your hand and correspond to its size.

Choosing the best material for the handle is quite problematic. When planning a trip to warmer latitudes, metal is a logical choice, but if there is a need to use a knife in temperatures below zero, it is definitely not the best choice.

If the preference is in favor of wood, you should seriously approach the choice of a particular species, and even choosing the best wood, you should not forget about a moisture-resistant coating. The wooden handles of many homemade knives are impregnated with vegetable oil and dried for a long time - a well-proven, elementary method.

Today, manufacturers offer a large selection of handles made of polymeric materials. When testing such a handle, pay attention to its resistance to organic solvents, such as diesel fuel and gasoline, as well as resistance to cracks and chips. Do not forget that any polymer becomes brittle over time. Leather handles, even very well impregnated, get wet over time. And, perhaps, handles wrapped with nylon cord are absolutely not suitable.

Below are the main handle materials that are used in the manufacture of knives. In fact, there are a huge number of them.

Tree- a very common material for the manufacture of handles. Most often they are made overhead, less often under a mounted shank. Of course, the tree itself can be absolutely anything - bird cherry, birch, walnut, cedar, beech, etc., but any one is far from the best material. No matter how you process it, just don’t impregnate it, and anyway, little by little, the tree will be saturated with moisture, dry. And so many times. In this connection, soon the handle will dry out and burst in the weakest place. Also, wooden handles do not tolerate more or less strong blows. Plus, or rather minus, the handles made of wood are "cold" to such an extent that the temperature of the hand is not enough to warm it up. The real plus is that you can bring out almost any shape of the handle without much effort.

Leather- excellent material for the manufacture of typesetting handles. The properties of the handle made of leather surpasses many natural materials. It does not absorb moisture strongly enough and is "warm". The downside is that it is quite laborious to make and process such a handle at home.

Metals- mainly used for the manufacture of folding knife handles. Titanium, steel, aluminum and some others. This is due to the fact that the handles are very durable and are able to experience fairly large forces in the area of the axis of rotation of the blade. Titanium is famous for its properties such as lightness (40% lighter than steel), strength and corrosion resistance, anti-magnetism. Aluminum has the same properties as titanium, with the exception of strength, but this does not prevent its use as a material for handles, moreover, with certain processing, the aluminum surface becomes more wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant.

Thermoplastics- used in the manufacture of handles by injection molding. You can give the handle almost any shape. The most common and most used is polyamide. This is due to the fact that created back in the 30s, this material remains the most wear-resistant, with excellent dielectric and refractory properties, and has high mechanical strength, even when exposed to relatively high temperatures.

Elastomers- a synthetic material that allows you to create handles that are softer, and at the same time able to withstand fairly large mechanical loads. Handles are made by injection molding. In general, elastomers resemble rubber in their properties, which is why when gripping a handle made of this material, there is a feeling of sticking to the hand, which in general is positive quality. High properties are achieved by mixing different elastomers and adding different "filler" materials during manufacture. The best known elastomers are kraton and santoprene.

Sheath- a necessary attribute of a knife, a dwelling for a knife. Many people think that the sheath of a hunting knife must be made of thick, natural, well-finished leather. However, even the best blade can darken in a leather sheath and corrode. This is due to the influence on the metal of substances that are used in tanning.

As for the design of the scabbard, the opinions are generally unambiguous. Inside, a plastic or wooden insert is desirable, which will protect the seams from cuts, the presence of a strap or valve that completely covers the handle. The belt loop should be fastened high, allowing for rotation as much as possible.

The scabbard is designed to provide:

the possibility of carrying, storing and transporting a knife without the possibility of losing it;
user safety when carrying a knife;
protection of the knife from damage;
the comfort of wearing a knife and the ability to quickly bring it into working position.

The scabbard may include the following components:

a case open on one side (this end of the scabbard is called the mouth;
a loop, hook, clip, cord or other part that provides suspension (fastening) of the sheath when carrying, storing or transporting a knife;
sheath set, made, as a rule, of metal and including a clip and a tip;
a solid insert that guides the blade when sheathing the knife, protecting the material of the sheath walls from being cut by the inserted blade, preventing the sheath from bending;
fastener with a button, Velcro, etc. fixing the knife in the sheath.

The knives of modern manufacturers most often have leather sheaths and sheaths made of plastics. But there are also wooden, metal, combined, fabric......

Types of knives

In this article, we will not consider kitchen and utility knives, but will focus on knives that are designed for fishing, hunting and tourism.

Fishing knives

Fishing knives are mainly designed to perform the following operations:

finish off, clean and gut fish;

Cook food;

open canned food and bottles;

cut or cut down branches;

use the knife as scissors, a screwdriver or an awl;

cut the fishing line, rope, etc.;

sharpen something, such as sticks;

open packages, pry something.

Sometimes it may be necessary to cut down trees, dig the ground, harvest firewood or cut through reeds, and provide medical assistance. In such cases, it is more appropriate to use more suitable tools: a shovel, an ax, a machete or a sterile scalpel from the first aid kit.

Based on the above operations, it is worth getting a set of two knives in one sheath. A versatile, large knife designed for chopping and significant loads, which is placed in the main mouth of the sheath and a small one, in a separate pocket, for cutting and cleaning fish, as well as for small jobs.

Instead of a universal set, as a necessary minimum, you can get one large knife, colloquially called a cleaver, and one small one. The first knife is for chopping wood or chopping ice, the second is for cleaning fish and vegetables.

Often a fillet knife is sold in a fishing store, positioning it as a fishing knife. In practice, such a knife is not very suitable for fishing, due to the specific shape and size of the blade. You can separate the fish fillet at home, and in fishing conditions, a more versatile knife will do.

As for the size and shape of the knife, as a rule, the same recommendations are followed as for hunting knives, but the climatic conditions of the region must be taken into account.

So, going on winter fishing, a knife with a wooden handle is better. A warm, comfortable handle in northern latitudes may be a priority in choosing, compared to a quality blade. The bone handle is more often used by the peoples of the Far North, where walruses and deer are the main prey of the fisherman and hunter. Knives with plastic handles made in countries with warm climates are not always suitable for winter fishing and quickly lose their original appearance. For the warm season, the buoyancy and unsinkability of the knife is very important, since a knife accidentally dropped into the water can quickly sink to the bottom.

For fishing, many use folding knives that do not require a sheath or sheath and take up minimal space. Such knives have a wide range of possibilities, it can consist of several blades and objects (awl, corkscrew, scissors). In some ways, they may seem more convenient, but they have a number of significant drawbacks. They are difficult to clean from fish slime and dirt, and moving parts are more vulnerable to breakage.

Many fishermen choose a practical and convenient knife that they can use not only for fishing. Which knife to buy for fishing is everyone's business. The main thing is to determine exactly what tasks it will perform.

Hunter knives - large group knives used in hunting may include such varieties as a knife for finishing game, a skinning knife (skinner), a camp knife, etc.

In hunting equipment, a knife must be present. On the hunt, it is not the main weapon, and, nevertheless, it performs its functions. The knife is used not only in cooking for the hunter, it can cut prey, perform various chores, in an extreme situation it can be effective tool protection. A hunting knife blurs the lines between household or tourist-expeditionary varieties, national or military weapons. But so that the knife does not become a burden in difficult conditions, its choice must be treated with special care.

Modern hunting blades have various models, designs and purposes, are made of various materials. Models of knives differ in climatic and geographical conditions in which the knife will be used, as well as in the purpose of their use. So, in Europe, the so-called "deer" hunting daggers are popular, in America - bowie-type blades. In central Russia, large knives and daggers with elements of oriental weapons, such as Caucasian daggers, are preferred. In the taiga area, the Yakut knife is indispensable. Such a knife is quite massive, the blade is narrow and long, the tip of its blade is bent upwards.

And yet, despite the wide range, a hunting knife must be durable and versatile. The length of the blade should not exceed 20 cm, the width should not exceed 3.5 cm, and the thickness of the blade should not be less than 3-4 mm. The blade must be resilient enough not to break, and at the same time hard. The blade should not need constant dressing and sharpening, so the composition of the steel alloy is important for a hunting blade. The weight of the knife should be approximately 250 g, but this is purely individual, because although the weight of each item in the equipment plays a role, the knife in the hand must be tangible.

Particular attention should be paid to the handle. It should be made of warm wooden materials, ideally birch bark. A leather handle also retains the warmth of a human hand, but you should be aware that it absorbs moisture, grease and blood and rots over time. A rubber handle will do, but it is not fireproof. The bone handle has a beautiful presentable appearance, but is heavy and cuts into the hand.

In the thickness of the handle, the volume is important, in the hand it should be tangible, the knife should not jump out of the hands. Although, when hunting game birds, the handle can be narrower for compactness.

Sheaths in hunting equipment are not only a beautiful accessory, they securely fix the knife, since the loss of a knife while hunting is comparable to a tragedy. Ideally, any decorative elements in the form of clasps, buttons and straps on the scabbard are not needed, they only cling to everything and do not perform the functions necessary for hunting. The scabbard must be securely attached to the hunter's boot or belt, usually they are made of leather. The knife in the sheath is recessed by 2/3 and is held by friction.

A hunting knife requires careful care, every time after work it should be washed and wiped dry. At home, after hunting, the knife must be lubricated with gun oil or wax; linseed oil is suitable for a handle made of natural materials.

Tourist knives

Tourist knives - a group of dissimilar knives, united by the possibility of using in nature. With their help, you can:

Get and cook food.
Build a shelter.
Use to start a fire.
Repair or make clothes.
Use as self defense.

Of course, attributing a knife to a tourist species is relative, since according to by and large hunting, fishing and tourist knives are very similar to each other and it can be problematic to attribute them to one category or another.

The best outdoor knife is a small compact knife without a guard (separator between the blade and the handle).

All tourist knives are divided into three main types of construction - folding, clumsy non-separable and collapsible. Collapsible clumsy tourist knives are usually made with removable blades and other removable items and structural elements.

Each design and material has its undeniable advantages. For example, a folding camping knife, in terms of strength, is often inferior to a solid clumsy knife, since it is more difficult to clean it from dirt, wood and food particles. Whereas folding knives are light and compact, which is an obvious plus in the difficult conditions of the campaign.

The best tourist knife for processing branches, pegs and other wooden objects is distinguished by a large butt bevel and a point lowered below the middle of the blade. A machete is also ideal for delimbing. For repair work and food preparation, knives that provide an extended cutting edge are optimal. For serious physical activity it is necessary to select knives with a butt curved outward, as well as with a stable blade on the tip.

Machete knives

The machete is an ancient weapon used in agriculture to clear crops and also to clear a path when passing through the jungle. Machete(Spanish) machete) is a long (often more than 50 cm), usually thin (up to 3 mm) and wide knife. A blade with one-sided sharpening, a convex blade, sometimes with a point bent to the blade.

Despite the fact that there is no jungle in Russia, machetes have taken root in our country and are well known among tourists. Brazilian knives allow you to quickly chop wood, while the width and thickness of the blade allow you to wield them like an ax, splitting thick logs.

Survival knives (HB) - universal knives for all occasions extreme life. A blade that should replace a dagger, cutter, axe, saw, machete, and shuttle, plus a hollow handle with a NAZ (Non-touch Emergency Supply) kit inside.

A survival knife (NV) is a self-sufficient and key element of individual equipment with the stated equipment policy. Its ideology is as follows: in conditions when there is nothing, with its help you can do everything necessary for survival.

These actions include:

extraction and cultivation of fire;
mining and cooking (i.e. as a weapon for hunting, a tool for making traps and butchering prey);
production and repair of clothes;
production and repair of shelter;
orientation on the ground;
basic medical care.

Thus, the instrumental-applied functions of NV prevail over the functions of weapons, and when choosing NV, it is necessary, first of all, to pay attention to its instrumental capabilities.

Usually, basic set knife is located in its hollow handle: there is a place for a compass, an awl, needles, a scalpel, a lighter and / or flint, thread and fishing line with a sinker and a hook. However, a sharpening stone and a rope are most often on his case. There is also a more competent location for the compass, because in the handle it can be subjected to shock loads during cutting, which can disable it. Additionally, the rope can be wound around the handle.

Case the knife is also not simple: it must be made in such a way that it is attached to the body in different places, such as: on the belt traditionally, on the belt horizontally, on the leg on the lower leg, on the leg on the thigh, on the back of the body with the handle up, on the body from the back armpit handle down. For all this, it is necessary to attach additional fastening loops to the existing cover: at the bottom, at the tip of the blade, in the middle on the sides, and add one to the top and at the back at the top. All other tricks are performed by the rope included with the knife. In addition, it is necessary to check whether the knife is fastened securely enough to the sheath - loss due to falling out is unacceptable.

Now oh blades. The topic is sensitive, because it is generally accepted that in NV it should be small and wide. In addition, NV is primarily a tool, and only then a weapon, but the necessary form has a rather aggressive look, and therefore some samples are certified not as a tool, but as a melee weapon.

The HB blade should cut well with ordinary materials (paper, meat, leather, etc.), ropes and slings. Chop wood and bones (nails and metal are not necessary), saw, work like a harpoon (in case of survival at sea) and a machete, have a hook to pull a loop when weaving nets, remove something from a fire and cut leather. Therefore, a thin and short blade cannot be. Don't skimp on thickness at all. Although a thick blade creates little difficulty when cutting food thinly, then a small, skeletal, or the like comes to the rescue. knife included in the original package.

Length needed both for convenience when cutting, and for a saw - you can’t cut a lot with a short saw, it will be easier to chop off. So if you come across a sample of armchair creativity with a dagger-like blade and a decorative saw, then you can only be interested in it as a material for the handle. Became a classic of the genre of the so-called. "Rambo Knife" - also suitable only to scare away grannies at the entrances - the saw from him can only spoil nothing, the compass sticking out of the end of the handle makes it unsuitable for driving stakes and anything in general. The blade is too wide for its length, like a harpoon in the water will not work. However, for survival in the forest, tundra, etc. zone, this is still better than the narrow-harpoon, which is effective for survival at sea. But the very ideology of the use of NV is reflected very well. A blade that is too long also creates difficulties, if not at all, for small work: sharpening, carving, etc. This is already a sword. So, we get elongated by 250-300mm. 4-6mm thick. with a thickening in front and with the possibility of gripping from behind, a blade equipped with a stand-up effective saw on the butt and a sling cutter (serro sharpening) on the working part of the blade (most conveniently 3-5 cm near the handle itself), and also having a small non-protruding hook closer to the point.

Sharpening. On the main working cutting part of the knife, surgical sharpening is best, only taking into account the specifics: a wide base. Self-respecting manufacturers do it by default. It is important to take this shape into account when resharpening the knife on metal triggering. But the top from the tip to the hook has a rather large, 45-60 degree sharpening angle. This is necessary for working with hard materials and forms a trajectory when sticking. A few words about "blood flow". As such, it is not needed. But such a recess on the blade has a beneficial effect on the bending strength of the metal. In addition, if it is closer to the handle, then the center of gravity goes to the tip of the blade, which is good for cutting.

sore spot most HB - this is a blade mount in the handle. Strength is needed high, but how to achieve it in a hollow handle? In fact, this problem is inflated by some manufacturers for economic reasons. It is possible to make a strong HB, but this greatly increases the cost of production technology - an exact fit is required, almost manual work. Most manufacturers decided to save twice: on the attachment point - reducing reliability, and on the length of the blade - so that it was impossible to apply a large load to a weak knot. This is where all these little "parquet" parodies of HB grew from. In fact, a sufficiently large knife does not have a small handle, and if the body of the blade goes there for an extra 1-2 half-diameters and fits well with the rest of the details, then the user will not remember this problem.

Lever. There are also options here. A classic is a compass built into the lid from the inside, and a spring-loaded pencil case with all sorts of small things ("Survival Kit", pencil case with NAZ). Regarding the compass, it should be added that when it is located in the handle, it will experience strong shock loads during operation, which is not good for it, and in the position on the case, it enters into a magnetic connection with the metal of the blade (NV-1-01). The most optimal solution than a liquid miniature compass in the handle is not yet available. Outside - a cylinder with a guard, on which the rope is wound. There are options with birch bark and plastic coating. For convenience in working with HB, an orthopedic handle is made, with protrusions for fingers, and a compass, which you can work with without disassembling the knife: slotted, side, bottom. It is difficult to recommend something here, everyone proceeds from their tastes and capabilities. However, it is worth remembering that the round handle rotates in the hand during power work, which is quite uncomfortable.