Mail Bag: Blades and Firestarters
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Recently Nick, a Survival Topics visitor, sent me the following email which I have included here for the benefit of our readers. I want to thank Nick for sending in his questions and welcome site visitors to do the same.
Dear Ron,
I have read through your site and found most of it very intuitive. However I had some questions/concerns I was hoping you could address.
First in respect to your opinion on blades, not trying to criticize but aren't most survival jobs chopping. I would think that a small blade would fail in this respect. Also for your "save your life survival kit" I noticed that you recommend strike anywhere matches. I was just wondering why you suggest these over a disposable lighter, that would be about the same size, and could start hundreds of fires.
Again I was just wondering, hoping you could help me better understand these ideas. Thank you for your time,
Nick
Hi Nick,
Thank you for contacting me, I enjoyed reading your well written email.
Your points are valid and everyone has ideas and preferences when it comes to gear and knives. Only with experience can you discover what works for you. It's an ongoing process and ones choice last year may not be the same as now. That is part of what makes this all so interesting!
I feel that many people, especially those new to knives and wilderness survival, are influenced by the Hollywood movie stereotype of huge blades bordering on sword size. Most experienced survival enthusiasts with go with much more modest sized blades.
I agree, a chopping blade is very handy. Often I find myself batoning - hitting the back of a knife with a mallet (usually a stout stick) so that the blade is driven into that which I am cutting. A thicker blade comes in handy for this kind of use and to some extent can take the place of a dedicated chopper such as an axe.
Ideally we would like to carry a multitool, a rugged knife, and a chopping blade such as a hatchet or axe. But often in the wilderness, especially on foot, weight and bulk are an issue. In that case I find (and of course this is what works for me) that the usefulness to weight ratio is best served by a relatively short but high quality knife. I do like to carry a lightweight tomahawk because I find many excellent uses for it in the forested area in which I live. This tool makes a fair chopper and has a number of other uses for my work as a survivalist.
As for fire making gear, I feel that fire is one of the most important wilderness skills and I advocate carrying at least three separate means of starting a fire. For example, a lighter, matches, and a firesteel. Sometimes one method will fail or you may loose one, so having two other methods could save your life.
In my experience lighters can fail for a variety of reasons, including simply running of fuel or being broken. Strike anywhere matches that have been waterproofed have fewer working parts but can still fail too for a variety of reasons including simply running out of them. So I always also carry a Swedish Firesteel. Firesteels can never really fail to spark - they can be totally immersed in water and when taken out still be able to light over 10,000 fires. With no working parts, except using a sharp blade such as a knife, scraping a firesteel will always work as expected.
If you would like to try a firesteel send me your address and I will mail you one for free, the Pup size. I think once you try it you will see its value. Survival Topics offers several sizes of firesteel on the website:
This is not a sales pitch - my goal is to help people survive come what may. I believe in this survival tool and strive to get the word out that firesteels are one of the best ways to insure you can always start a fire in a survival situation. It could save someone’s life.
Well Nick I hope I answered your questions and have fun in the outdoors!
Sincerely,
Ron Fontaine
Survival Topics.com
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Alabama
"once shot a bear through an eyeball at 150 yards with a thirty ot six in the dark" If a bear is threatening you from 150 yards away you should probably stay out of the woods.
Survival Topics - yes, 150 yards IS quite a distance to be threatened by a bear. I understand Hobo S. is be an Alaskan native who grew up on a trap line in the remote bush. She is likely to have been hunting bear for food when she bagged the bruin.
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Alaska
I'm not looking for something to hunt large game with - I have a rifle that I would use if I wanted to kill a bear or moose. I'm looking for a handy little handgun I can take with me that makes a big enough noise to scare off a threatening bear or human, but that I can use to kill a rabbit or duck for dinner. Though I don't anticipate actually shooting a bear in defense, it would be nice to be able have an emergency bear bullet as the last bullet in, say, a revolver. Keep in mind that I'm a good shot with a rifle (once shot a bear through an eyeball at 150 yards with a thirty ot six in the dark), but have never shot a hand gun before. I'm concerned about safety, want to be able to shove it in my pants and go without worrying about shooting my ass off. And I supposedly have delicate wrists because I'm a woman. Also a limited budget. Help?