7 Best Survival knives – Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

In the Modern Era, peoples are too busy in their daily life so they won’t spend their holidays with nature. So, you know that the situation gets survival while outdoor camping, hunting, fishing, and mountaineering, then the survival knife can be helpful for you. A knife is an essential tool for survival when you don’t take part in the forest or participate in other extreme outdoor environments. If you’re lost in the forest, it can be a lifesaver to help you with proper knives, shelter, fire, hunting, and clear paths.

The Knife is the essential survival tool that anyone can easily use it while you are old or young. It is a handy tool in emergencies to handle that effectively. Survival Knife comes with two categories heavy knives with 5.7- or 12-inches blade and standard Knives that is called Pocket Knife, which comes with 3.5- or 5.2-inches blades. The heavy Survival Knives are larger than Pocket Knives, so it’s difficult to carry, but you can easily carry pocket knives in your pocket and hanging on the belt. And one more thing is that the heavy knives are illegal to carry in the residential areas. The Pocket Knives can be used in daily life that’s cutting fruits, cutting ropes, cleaning fish, and opening cans or cutting bandages.

There are several Knives, so we are going to provide you the best Knives information, and we will discuss every point which is essential to know you. From apart you can easily choose which one is best for you. Knives come with two variations foldable and fixed blades. The foldable blade knife is weak from the hinge. Before starting of Knives model, I would like to tell, which points you might have to check. So here we go.

What is A Survival Knife?

A survival knife is a knife that is meant for survival functions in an outdoor environment. When you spend time in the outdoor fishing, camping, mountaineering, or even hunting and just a matter of time, the pleasant afternoon turns into bad weather, and you are kilometers away from your camping base or a safe place. It is the most critical time to have the best survival knife hanging from your belt or in your pocket.

Some of how a survival knife can help you in difficult situations:-

• Cutting firwoods
• Opening cans
• Cutting bandages
• Dressing wounds

A survival knife is most likely the prime thing you carry into the outdoors with you other than water and food.

Why We Need a Survival Knife?

While you are reading this article, this question will defiantly come in your mind that why we need a survival knife. So let me explain, the army man mostly stays in the forest, so they face the challenges every day either for make shelter by branches or self-defense cutting fruits. But in the present time, the life of a common man has become so busy, so everyone wants to go outdoors in their holidays.

So you need for survival knife while you are planning for outdoors for chopping branches, cutting fruits, self-defense, and cleaning fish. The survival knife is used in mountaineering, army, and hunting outdoors. So, we can say that the survival knife plays a significant role while outdoors. Now here we are going to provide the information about the best Knives with all budge. Thus you can easily choose one of them.

Best Survival Knives of 2020 Reviews

1. Fallkniven A1 Survival Knife

The A1 survival knife is a Swedish Fallkniven brand that is used by its air force. It’s specially designed for outdoorsmen like army, mountaineer, and for hunting, Even it can be used for heavy work. It comes with laminated VG10 stainless steel and has a fixed blade also. The Fallkniven A1 knife’ has all quality like full-tang strength, right blade length, drop point, convex edge, and excellent balance, even it has a smooth handle with a natural grip. It is a full tang knife that means you can break glass in emergency, chop small branches of trees with its sharp edge blade to make a shelter.

The cutting performance of this Knife is excellent, with an overall length of 11 inches. VG-10 is the higher-end stainless steel which makes it durable. It comes with a 6.2 inches blade and 12 ounces weight with well balanced. You can easily carry this A1 Knife with all type of outing. Its handle always is comfortable either in cold weather or hot weather. Thus you can easily use it in any type of weather.

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The A1 Knife is made from the laminated VG10 stainless steel, which is the best steel ever and ever. So it has a long-lasting life with durability and reliability. It’s slightly brittle than carbon steel, so you have to be very careful while using heavy applications. The A1 Knife has the 4.8 inches Kraton handle, which has the ergonomic grip; thus, you can smoothly drive this Knife.

Quick stats:

• No effect of rain
• Stainless steel blade
• Weight: 12 ounce
• Blade size: 6.2 inches

2. ESEE 6P Survival Knife

The ESEE has built the 6P survival knife from a carbon steel 1095 blade, which has 11.75 inches size with 6.5 inches blade length and manufactured by the US The carbon steel is cheaper than stainless steel. This Knife has 5.80 inches cutting edge and 0.19 inches slim blade, and it also has an excellent tang with a finger hole. The 6P Knife comes with different variations, such as a green blade with orange handle and black steel with a grey handle. Its weight is 12.5 ounce, so we can say that it’s a lightweight knife, but it is slightly heavy in size.

However, it is heavy but is still a great choice by hikers due to durability and high-quality steel. It also has an impressive grip on handle due to the use of micarta material so that you can use it easily in any kind of survival like chopping of branches cutting fruits and cleaning of fish. Due to the use of carbon steel instead of stainless steel, you have to make its proper care. You can easily re-sharp the blade. It’s a fixed blade knife which gives the strength of this Knife.

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The 1095 carbon 55-57 steel is used in this Knife, which makes it is much sharper than stainless steel, which increases the hardness and strength of the Knife. This material is not stainless, so it needs proper care. Using micarta material for making the Handle of this Knife is to hold the impressive grip and feel comfort while holding in your hand at the time of use.

Quick stats:

• Weight: 12.5 ounce
• Size of blade: 6.5 inches
• Full size of the Knife: 11.75 inches
• Fixed blade
• Caron steel 1095

3.KA-Bar Becker BK22 Companion

The KA-Bar Becker BK22 knife comes with amazing features which needed in outdoors. The KA-Bar Becker BK22 knife is constructed in the US from 1095 carbon steel. This KA-Bar Becker BK22 knife is 10.5 inches long with 5.25 inches long blade. It is 0.25 inches slim and contains the 15.5-ounce weight, which makes it so powerful. However, it is massive in size and weight, but still, it is so useful in outdoor survival activities. It is made from carbon steel 1095 that is not stainless steel.

The blade of KA-Bar Becker BK22 knife is flat on drop point design, which makes it easy to sharp. The Handle of the BK22 Knife is made from Zytel with a lanyard hole on the end of the handle, so you can easily attach it from the rope so you can make it much secure by tying from the rope. It’s designed for heavy-duty survival applications, you can use it for chopping branches, cutting fruits, cleaning fish, and even you can use it in another type of outdoor works. It has a thin blade, which makes it so sharp and durable.

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It comes with polyester hostler and also plastic holster available for this model. While it is constructed by carbon steel, it’s not stainless, so have to take care of it properly. It has a flat metal edge at the bottom of the tang is perfect to drive for quickly and smoothly. This Knife is best for hunting because of its size and weight. It also constructed from the 1095 carbon steel that makes the blade of this knife sharpening. This steel makes the blade brittle, high hardness, and also increases the strength of the blade. It has the micarta grip handle with a lanyard hole so you can quickly drive it, and also you can attach it from the rope.

Quick Stats:

• Weight 15.5 ounce
• Length of full Knife 10.5 inches
• Blade length of 5.25 inches
• Thickness o.25 inches
• Made from carbon steel 1095
• Brand KA-BAR

4. Gerber StrongArm Survival Knife

The StrongArm Knife is a full tang knife which is manufactured in the US from the ceramic coated steel 420HC. It is specially designed for military, tactical, and survival applications. This is the full tang knife, so it is secure and you can easily cut the firewood and branches.

This Knife comes with a 4.8 inches blade and 7.2-ounce weight, which means it’s lightweight and compact. The Knife has the 9.8 inches long with the handle that is rubberized, and you can easily carry this Knife with its versatile sheath. It’s small and compact so you can quickly drive it and it also has the perfect grip. This Knife has a versatile drop point, which makes it so sharp and reliable. The sheath of this Knife allows you to carry it horizontally while mounting with the belt.

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This Knife is made from the ceramic-coated steel 420HC, which is the standard quality of steel. This Knife comes with the flat edge on drop point, so it’s easy to sharpen, and also inexpensive. This Knife comes with diamond texture, a rubberized handle that provides the perfect grip for the user, so you can quickly drive it.

Quick stats:

• Material: ceramic coated steel 420HC
• Blade size: 4.8 inches
• Handle size: 5 inches
• Overall length: 9.8 inches
• Weight: 7.2 ounce
• Rubberized Handle

6. SOG Pillar Survival Knife

The SOG Pillar knife has a dullest and very sharp blade, allows you to chop branches, hunting, and many more applications. This Knife comes with the fixed blade that extends into the handle and gives it strength. It’s a 10 inches long knife with 5 inches long blade and 4.5 inches long Handle, and the USA made Knife. This Knife has a fixed full tang clip point blade constructed from CPM-S35VN stainless steel that retains its sharpness. This is designed to perform tactical, industrial outdoor applications.

The SOG Pillar comes with a great design, finish, and also has the perfect material, which makes this Knife so powerful. It’s a sharp blade knife that can be used easily to chop off branches, cutting fruits and for self-defense. It comes with a versatile Kydex sheath to carry it anywhere you want. It also can reach the sheath, leaving the Knife secure and not challenging to pull it out.

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The blade of the SOG Pillar is constructed from the CPM S35VN stainless steel, which ranks among the strongest in the world. It gives the better strength for a blade and makes it much sharpen. The Handle of this Knife is made from the canvas micarta material that offers enough grip in all weather conditions. The micarta developed in the early 1990s, made by soaking thin layers of canvas in a phenolic resin, which produce a lightweight and durable product.

Quick stats:

• Weight: 7.3 ounce
• Blade length: 5 inches
• Full length with Handle: 9.9 inches
• Thickness: 0.16 inches
• Handle length: 4.9 inches

7. Buck 119 Special

The Buck 119 Special is a classic, proven, and top-rated Knife. The significant characteristic of this Knife is that it is made in the USA, and it comes out of the bubble pack razor sharp. The buck 119 was considered a sizable outdoor knife. It is average in proportions in all the right ways. Buck 119 blade is 6 inches long, and the Knife weighs around 7.5 ounces. The blade is made up of 420HC steel, which is exclusive to the buck knife. The steel provides you excellent strength, edge retention, and lasting durability, which is suitable for piercing, detail work, and cutting in tight places.

The blade combines the durability of high carbon alloys with the corrosion resistance of steel. Their heat treatment method creates a strong and durable blade that will be a great advantage in your survival needs. As for the grip, they made it from Tradition black phenolic handle, which has palm swells for a comfortable grip. The aluminum pommel provides the perfect combination of beauty and balance.

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They included a genuine, high-quality protective leather sheath with a snap fastener. And the integrated belt loop that allows you to carry the Knife safely on your belt. Buck Knives has always offered a lifetime warranty on all of his products.

Quick Stats:

• Blade Lenght: 5 inch
• Weighs 7. 3 ounces
• Full Length with Handle: 9. 9 inches
• Blade Type: Clip Point
• Handle Type: Canvas Micarta

8. Gerber Bear Grylls

Another Gerber in the hood!!!

This Knife was made by Gerber and the TV action- man Bear Grylls and is packed with creative features that only a few other knives have. This Gerber is made up of 9Cr19MoV high carbon stainless steel with a drop point design with half of the 4.8-inch blade length serrated. The overall length of this Knife is 10 inches, and it weighs 11.2 ounces. The handle is ergonomic textured rubber, maximizing comfort and helping you keep a firm grip on your Gerber. The Gerber handle includes a lanyard hole, and it packs the lanyard with a mini emergency whistle along with the Knife.

The Gerber Bear Grylls is an excellent backup survival knife, but since it is made in China, the build quality is a notch behind the US-based knives. The blade is made from 1/2 Serrated high carbon stainless steel with full tang blade construction for maximum durability and power. Gerber Bear Grylls is ideal for cutting rope and edge retention, and the handle has Ergonomically textured rubber grip for comfort with stainless steel pommel at base of handle for hammering.

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Gerber Bear Grylls is and perfect Knife if you are camping out in the woods. It has Ferrocerium rod locks into sheath, striker notch incorporated into the back of the knife blade for starting the fire. It is also a military-grade, lightweight Knife. They also include a diamond sharpener into sheath for on the go sharpening.

Quick Stats:

• Blade Length: 4.75 inch
• Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Full Length with Handle: 10 inches
• Blade Type: Drop Point
• Handle Type: Ergonomic Textured Rubber Grip

Essential Facts To Consider Before Purchasing a Knife

If you are to going buy a survival knife, then you should consider so many facts like the size of the blade, drop point, weight, length, and style. And there is one more thing, though the material used in the Knife. The length of the blade should be above 5 inches, so you can easily use that in outdoor applications.

The survival knife is a highly flexible tool, and different designs can help you in different situations. The Knife should be handy so that it can make a better grip on it and easily drivable. Before making any final decisions, make sure to look at our guide.

Handle

The handle should have the perfect grip in any type of weather, while its winter, summer, or raining, it controls the blade swing. If it has the perfect grip, then you can quickly drive the Knife, Avoid having anything extra attached to your handle so that it can’t interfere with your griping. If a knife has a hollow handle for storing things such as matches, it can’t have a full tang. Any hollow handle knife that has the blade bolted to its handle will be crap. So at the time of purchasing, you have been very careful about the grip.

Steel quality

The majority of best survival knives are manufactured using some type of steel. So before purchasing any type of Knife, you have to ensure that the best quality steel is used in the Knife.

Most blades are commonly made from either high carbon steel or stainless steel. Various knife manufacturers go a step further and coat these steels to provide extra strength and improve corrosion resistance. When you are going to choose the Knife, Make sure to read about the steel used in the Knife and also check the hardness and edge retention.

Here Is The Type Of Steel Used For Making Knife

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel blades usually contain 12 percent chromium. It is essential as it improves the blade able to resist corrosion and rust and also to make them easier to sharpen. But, stainless steel knives, in general, need to be sharpened more often as they edge more quickly, and that is because stainless steel is generally softer than high carbon steel.

High Carbon Steel

High carbon steel is more likely to be sturdy and more long-lasting than stainless steel. Carbon is the hardest element, and due to this, it produces blades that offer superior edge retention. High carbon steel does not include a drop of chromium, meaning that they have an inferior ability to resist corrosion and rust. To retain their sharpness, the high carbon steel needs cleaning and maintenance more frequently.

Blade Shape

It is the most important thing that we should take care of. There are three main points that we have to consider, such as Clip Point, Straight Point, and Drop Point. These are the notable points that make a perfect knife.

Drop Point

In drop point pattern blades, the spine of the blade slopes from the handle to the point, with a convex blade shape. Drop point pattern blades are more common in hunting knives.

Clip Point

In clip point pattern blades, the front third of the blade is necessarily “clipped off.” Meaning that the spine tapers off to the tip, and it is not as thick. Clip point pattern blades allow quicker and deeper stabbing motion.

Blade Thickness

Thickness is also an important thing which makes the blade durable and sharper, permitting you to chop and slice the things which you want. For the perfect results, the thickness of the blade should be 0.16 to 0.25 inches.

Blade Length

Size matters, as the women always say, but bigger is not always better in the survival game. Just as a blade that is too thick can make it difficult in carve precision snares. However, if your survival knife is not long enough, you won’t be able to use it effectively for chopping. You need to have a blade that’s long enough to do what you need to do but not that long enough that it gets in your way.

Many survival knives come in the range of 6 to 12 inches. Blades bigger than 9 to 11 inches run towards being too long, which might not come useful in many situations. The bigger the Knife, the more it becomes too big to handle. I will recommend you keep the blade between 4 and 7 inches. The blade length should be perfect that can be used at the time of survival.

Tang

This also an important factor which we should know before purchasing a knife. The Tang of Knife shows how the blade in handle extends. There are two types of Tang Partially tang and full tang, partially shows that how partially blade into the handle while full tang means the blade extends into the full handle.

Sheath

It’s a hostler in which the Knife carried away, from one place to another. The sheath of the Knife must have such things lanyard attachment, belt loop, and also secure closing strap. However, the big size knife comes with a sheath that helps to carry a knife.

So these are the few critical points that we consider before purchasing any kind of survival Knife.

How to Take Care Of Your Survival Knife?

You would want your survival knife to last longer. Not only because it would save you some bucks, but we humans tend to get attached to inanimate objects, and it can be tough to say goodbye to those things.

So, as to make sure that your Knife lasts as long as it can and you get sufficient use from it, you need to stop procrastinating and need to start taking care of it. Because when you don’t care for things, they don’t last long.

Keep It Clean

To maintain an excellent quality of your Knife, you have to keep it clean as cleaning it would help in increasing its lifespan. It would also help in preventing the build-up of potentially harmful bacteria it may have picked up. For keeping your survival knife clean, use soap and water to give it thoroughly clean over both blades and handle. Soap and water will remove the sap and the dirt from the Knife. And to prevent it from rusting, make sure it is thoroughly dry before putting it in the sheath.

Now, you don’t have to clean it every time vigorously, but wiping it down before putting it back into the sheath will help to keep it in good condition.

Keep it oiled

Oiling your blade will help it prevent friction and hence allowing it to slide in and out of the sheath more easily. You can use any household oils and lubricants but always remember to use it in small amounts, or else you will end up getting oil all over your fingers, which seems an easy way to hurt yourself.

Keep It Sharp

A blunt knife is very much useless in any survival situations, and it is way more dangerous than a sharp one. Blunt or dull knives require more effort, more force, and more pressure to complete a task, making it difficult to control and causing fatigue.

Dull knives tend to take more time than a sharp one to get things done.

How To Sharpen Your Survival Knife

Whetstone

This is the best way of sharpening your survival knife. The best whetstone you can use for sharpening a knife is an Arkansas stone. Whetstone is likely the oldest method of sharpening a knife and an effective one too. To sharpen your Knife on whetstone, keep the stone wet and brush the Knife over its surface to regain the edge.

Ceramic

Ceramic stone is a more convenient and portable one. It sharpens both edges at the same time as you run the blade through the channels.

Diamond

It is a long rod- type device. This device is best for use at home. In simple language, you just have to run the blade up and down the rod until you get the sharpness you need.

Keep It High And Dry

For safety and longevity reasons, you need to find a place dry and out of the way to store your Knife. The height ensures the curious kid does not get their hands on and hurt themselves or anyone else while the dryness prevents the potential moisture that could damage the blade.

Final Words

So this is it! I hope you found these survival knife reviews useful.Also, let us know what your favorite survival knife is? If you have any queries or suggestions regarding this post, then leave a comment down below, and we will get in touch as soon as possible.