What to Put in Your Hollow-Handle Survival Knife

A hollow handle on a survival knife might not be the best use of space!

A while back, a question was asked about what to carry in the hollow handle of a survival knife. Specifically, what survival items are so important that they should be included as part of the knife?

This leads to another question: What useful items can you actually put in that handle space? Is having that tiny bit of extra space worth weakening the entire knife? After all, the logical place for the knife to fail is where the blade meets the handle, and some hollow handle knives will break under the stress of hard use.
Then, suppose you do pack the handle with assorted items. Will you be able to get them out under the duress of a survival situation, or will the stuff have shifted and settled into a blob of useless junk? A knife handle is hardly the place to store something fragile! Read the discussion!

Choose the Best Wilderness Survival/Hunting Knife

A good boning knife, top and a Cold Steel SRK are good choices!

At some point, you may need to reduce a steer, hog, sheep, goat or large game animal into neatly-wrapped packages of  meat for the freezer. Or, you might get a great deal on a half or quarter of beef or pork, and want to save the meat cutting and wrapping fees.
At home, you may have all the tools and accessories needed to make this job do-able. But what knives should you carry when hunting the backcountry? What if you’re on your own, with no outfitter to haul in meatcutting tools and take the meat out on a pack horse?
Even if  the big game carcass will be taken to a commercial meat cutter later for processing, you’ll still have to  gut, skin and possibly quarter the animal. Here are some backcountry knife suggestions!

Survival Knife Review: The Swiss Army Knife Classic?

You'll go from: "Why do I need it?" to: "How did I get along without it?"

Calling a Classic a survival knife is quite a stretch, and I’d never carry that knife as my only survival tool. But it doesn’t matter where I am, or what I’m doing, if it is legal, I have a Classic with me.
The tiny knife has a variety of tools you will need, but that the expensive survival knives won't have. In and of itself, the Classic is an inadequate survival knife. But combined with a larger knife, the Classic will prove to be worth its weight in gold. Here is why you should have a Classic in every survival kit!

Survival Knife Review: Is The Cold Steel SRK The Best Survival Knife?

My old, worn Cold Steel SRK knife has served me well for two decades of hard hunting.

You Can't Compromise on survival gear quality, so  20 years ago, I invested in a Cold Steel SRK.

 For what I need, specifically, a survival tool that can double as a backcountry big game hunting knife, the SRK is perfect. My SRK  has field dressed well over 50 deer and been used on several elk. In one instance, the knife field dressed and quartered three deer without it needing sharpening. The handle never gets too slick to hold safely, no matter how messy the field dressing job gets.

 If I could only have one survival knife, which would also be used as a  field dressing tool for big game and a meat cutting implement,  it would be a Cold Steel SRK. Here's why!

How Does the Master Hunter Perform in the field?

The Master Hunter served me well through three elk.

Some survival equipment tests need to be done at home, but the bottom line is how an item performs under field use conditions. (To read the Master Hunter review, click here.)
For a hunting knife, that means using the tool while hunting.
But at the end of October, during an Oregon elk hunt, my group harvested three elk: a 5×6 bull, a spike bull and a cow. I got in on the field dressing whenever I could get to the kill site on time.
Over two days and three elk, the Master Hunter was used to remove several lower legs and quarter a carcass; quarter an apple; drill holes in the plastic sled we dragged meat out with; divide my ham-and-cheese sandwich in half and cut several pieces of quarter-inch nylon and sisal rope.  Read the rest of the Master Hunter field test update

Survival Knife Review: Cold Steel Master Hunter

The Cold Steel SRK (top) and Master Hunter are both good choices!

I’m a long-time user of Cold Steel knives. Since I bought my first, a SRK, back in 1991, I’ve used the product line extensively. That SRK (the initials stand for Search and Rescue Knife) is still my first choice for a survival/hunting knife. (To read my analysis, click on SRK review.)
And I like the Cold Steel Canadian belt knife for cleaning small game, chopping potatoes and onions  and trimming fat and gristle off meat. It’s also a good skinner on many parts of a big game carcass. (But, I’d like the Canadian belt knife better if the handle was made of Kraton and bigger in diameter!)

But the Master Hunter’s name says it all. If you could only have one knife for big game hunting, the Master Hunter just might be the best bet. Read the Master Hunter review!

Survival Knife Review: The Mora

Currently, the rage among some survival schools is the Mora, a small, inexpensive Scandinavian-style sheath knife with a four-inch blade and a large, easy-to-hold handle. Personally, I think they're great, and I generally have a Mora close at hand.
It's all because newspaper guys, like me, research stuff. Sometimes we gather information, statistics and data for no apparent reason, and with a vague idea of what the info might be someday be used for.
That was the case several years ago when I bought my first Mora knife.
 While I will never give up my folders, I was looking for a small, inexpensive sheath knife that could be recommended to Boy Scouts.
The knife had to be an all-around, do-everything tool. It would be used for a variety of tasks, which could include whittling, cleaning fish and small game, meat-cutting and peeling potatoes. It needed to be lightweight and small enough to be carried conveniently.
If that is what you're also looking for in an all-around knife, check out my :Mora knife review

Choose the Best Survival Knife For Your Needs

The Cold Steel SRK: A fine choice!

Bring up a subject around the campfire, like the best caliber for a deer rifle, most reliable four-wheel drive pickup or the best all-around survival knife and you will get opinions!

But as in anything, you must know what you need. Your survival knife must be lightweight, convenient and easy to carry, do the job for which it is intended and be adaptable to the situation. Probably most importantly, it needs to be tough, durable and easy to sharpen.
Here is a post to help you make the best choice for your individual needs! Find the best survival knife for you!