UK Issue Survival Knife Review

[indyd2008]

What up everyone, i have been looking around and found nothing on knife reviews so thought i would go through some of my knifes (starting with this one) to let you know how they perform and what kind of benefits and drawbacks they bring to the table:



This is the knife in question (above.)

Ok to start off with, the most important aspect of a knife is to clasify it in a category, this is quoted as a "survival knife", which means you can rely solely upon this in the wilderness....bad idea....This knife is excellent as a survival knife but lacks certain aspects of "modern" survival knifes.

The metal used for this knife is high carbon steel, now for people who know about survival knifes this is guna rise eyebrows, high carbon for "life threatning" survival moments is not a good choice of metal. It can rust and deteriorate over time, your better off with a stainless steel, titanium coated blade with a firelighting flint option and modern water retaining sheath, as you never know how long you will be "out" there for.

Bad points aside this is a extremely powerfull, usefull and reliable blade, small to medium branches stand no chance, the dull side of the blade is thick and metal strong enough to break bricks and food such as coconuts and nuts etc. It is a heavy, full tang handmade blade, (mine is from the world war era, yet you can get newer versions).

As a combat knife this blade is excellent, it could easily take someones hand off if worst came to worst, it could render there blade useless, easily smashing apart lesser quality blades with its blunt side. Its metal however does NOT retain sharpness when hit against metal or stone objects using its sharper side unlike certain other metals.

Its sheath, although excellent quality, i have my doubts with, being made of leather means water is a BIG problem, and being from the uk, that is more than doubled, as it tends to rain quite often, synthetic sheaths tend to fair better with colder and damper conditions, however in combat it can serve you well, making no noise what-so-ever when drawn from the sheath, it is completely silent.

There is a hole at the back of the handle of the blade which you can inset paracord into, the sole purpose of this is to wrap it round your hands, so that if your grips loosens while cutting or hacking, the blade does not fly out of your hand. The handle itself is a superb quality, the blade feels sturdy and gives you a sence of protection.

Overall i think this blade is an excellent all round blade, that can outperform most of the blades available today, however i would suggest investing in a stainless steel knife as well.

[liam 86]

nice reveiw . i enjoyed that cheers

[Marco]

Good review. But a few points worth noting.

First one is the carbon steel. Yes, carbon is prove to rusting, but even with basic care, it can easily last as long as stainless steel. Simply drying it off properly, or leaving it outside of its sheath while drying is the first easy solution. Secondly, as soon as any rust spots apear, just rub them off with your thumb. A carbon steel blade can outlast it's user with minimum basic care. Yes, it will show signs of wear, but as long as you keep it out of saltwater, you would have nothing to worry about.

Second point is where you said it lends itself as a means of self defense.
In this country, if you were to use a knife of any description as a means of self defense, expect a nice sentence in a warm room with free Sky television courtesy of the tax payer. The fact that you had it on you when you needed to defend yourself is enough for a conviction. If you were to just grab a knife from the kitchen as you were being chased by somebody who had an equal or greater weapon, then you could claim self defense. But not if you used a knife that you had on your person at the time of the assault.

[indyd2008]

cheers mate,

If you have a particular knife you want reviewed, let me know, and ill see if i can get my hands on one, i have a original wilkinsons sword survival knife, i will review that soon, it really is beautifull

[indyd2008]

i never carry a knife on me, i was just stating a point worth noting in a survival situation, you may need to use it in that matter. i dont by any means condone knife attacks, i actually condemn them, my fault i should have put a disclaimer down.

as far as the steel is concerned i know carbon steel is excellent, and i prefer that to stainless, as you can see in my knife gallery post, most of my blades are high carbon steel, the problem is most people do not have the knowlege of knifes, so for them, they need something they can pick up and go, hence i say stainles with titanium coating

indy

[benuk]

lol @ marco. how anal!

[ChrisH00]

This is a knife I bought maybe 40 years ago in Spain, probably get banged up for walking out of the house with it now yet back then I clearly remember admiring it on the way home in the plane! Times change...

[merlynsfire]

Just for my two pence worth,

1) the para cord can stop it flying off if you let go, true but it can also be wrapped down the handele to improve grip and comfort. It can be used to tie the knife to a pole (aided here by the flared hilt on the handle) to make a slasher/spear. I have also had bootlaces snap and a spare/extra piece of bootlace can be helpful.

2) personaly I would never willingly rely on just a stainless steel blade. I throw knives and axe's for a hobby and stainless blades are great right up till they snap under pressure/load but carbon steel correctly forged will bend under extreem force and can be beaten back to shape if needed. If it survival then I would rather risk having to bend my knife back into shape with a rock than have it snap.

3) leather can be oiled, dubbed, waxed etc to water and rot proof it

4) self defence is irrelevant due to the law here.... but in that senario I would rather have a lighter weight knife than a heavy as its faster and quicker to change direction back on itself in ness as it has less momentum. Weight helps chop but if your opponent can move and react quicker then big heavy swings do not help at all as its unlikely to land one if the oponent can slice twice to one big telegraphed swing.

5) rust with carbon blades shouldnt be a problem if you store/treat them well. I have some that belonged to my and a friends grandfather (so they out lasted that generation). If you have a well oiled sheath it will help and for long term storage you can oils/grease or wax the blade. Remember, Samari Katana's etc are carbon steel and are IMHO the finest blades ever forged by man and many are hundreds of years old and still perfect.

[yojimbo]

If you have to defend yourself with a knife, use it to cut down a bloody big stick.

[tatsumi]

Indy,you say you have the wilkinson sword knife,mind posting a pic up ?