The best fixed blade knife for survival is, of course, whatever knife you have on you. You will hear that mantra from almost every survival enthusiast that is worth his or her salt. That being said, what do you want or need in a survival knife? I am going to go through a couple of what I consider are the most important features when choosing your fixed blade survival knife.
Where do you live? Does it get below freezing in the winter time? Does it get extremely hot in the summer? These are important questions because believe it or not climate has an impact on the survival knife you choose. You don't want a knife with a metal handle in extreme cold or extreme heat. The skin of your hand can and will stick to a fixed blade knife with a metal handle in cold weather. Or, in the other extreme you can grab a red hot knife in the desert and burn your hand. Not good when you're already in a survival situation.
What if you live near the coast or in swamp areas? A knife with a rubber handle is good to have if you live near water because it will keep it from slipping out of your hand if it gets wet.
To serrate or not to serrate... Ok, so maybe Shakespeare didn't say that. But that's only because I don't think he had serrated knives back in those days. If you have the luxury of carrying more than one knife I recommend carrying one with serrations and one without. If you'll only be carrying one knife then I would recommend the serrated knife. Why, you may ask? Well, basically because a knife with serrations is like a jack of all trades. It's great at cutting things like rope and you could use it to saw through various materials if you had too, but it still has a nice straight blade on it that would be good at things like skinning.
Whatever your choice be sure and do your research. It is true that whatever knife you have on you is the best survival knife. But I, for one, would prefer a large fixed blade over a pen knife. Wouldn't you?
Marlin Zeller is an avid collector of knives from many different manufacturers. Finding the best fixed blade knife for your situation can be quite an adventure. To find out more, including what you DON'T want in a fixed blade knife visit http://www.squidoo.com/knifehunter.
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