What Knife for bug out bag

[Solus]

Now for a question.
 Does any one have any experience with these "Ceramic" blades ? They are supposed to hold an edge forever, but I would think they would be brittle ?

As has been said, they are extremely sharp.  I bought 3 sizes of Boker's kitchen knives and love them   They are brittle however and a drop will lose the tip if not worse.  Still work fine without the tip and that is all that I have lost. 

They warn that they are brittle and mention things not to do with them  including not scraping stuff from your wood cutting board and not cutting meat from bone.   

When I read this I thought that they were so brittle that the vibrations from scraping would damage them but this not the case.  If used that way on wood or bone, they will  shave very thing slivers of bone or wood and  you won't know you are cutting it.

I would cut cocktail shrimp at the tail by sliding a steel knife along the shrimp till it stopped at the tail and then cut.  When I first got the ceramics, I did the same thing and noticed a pink ring around the shrimp pieces at the cut.  When I checked I found it was a small ring of the shrimp shell.  It seems that both the steel and ceramic knives would ride up onto that edge of the shell but when I cut the steel knives would slip off and cut only shrimp where the ceramic would cut through the shell with no effort.

I carry the Boker ceramic pocket knife and have ruined one blade by scoring and cutting through beer bottles, wine glasses and wine bottles...was stupid, but amazed the crowd....  I paid for it by getting a replacement.

[tombogan03884]

I have seen some less expensive folding knives in the MSC tool catalog, I think I'll order one or 2 and beat them, then post a report.
   

[M1AEN]

Everyone,

Without sounding sappy I just wanted to let everyone know what a great resource it is to be able to draw from the collective experience of everyone on the forums.  It allows people like me with relative little experience to learn from everyone and not have to learn so many things the expensive (hard) way.  Thanks for all the input and guidance.

Eric

[seeker_two]

Quality is quality.....no matter what the price tag says.  It pays to inspect your purchases closely....

[david86440]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98186

Melanie wanted to try one, so she bought this one the last time we went to Harbor Freight. The thing is unbelievably sharp, and stays that way! The ceramic that is used in these things is pretty much all the same so don't pay a ton for one. I've seen them in cutlery shops in the malls going for $85.00 and higher. As was said, the downside is they are brittle, and will crack or even shatter if dropped on a hard surface.  Bill T.

Well Bill, based on your recommendation I picked up one of these at Harbor Freight today.......

[Sponsor]

[MAUSERMAN]

I keep to ready bags, one in my truck and one at home. The two big blades are first an Ontario fighting knife the other is a S&W homeland security. I also keep two smaller knives and both are swiss army.

[TAB]

I'm buying a lot of tools and "stuff" from Harbor Freight. All I ever hear is how crappy their "stuff" is. I've yet to have anything break I've bought from them. If I'm buying something for occasional use, it's the first place I look. Their "stuff" costs as little as .30 cents on the dollar compared to "Home Depot quality". If it only lasts half as long, I'm money ahead. Sure I'm helping the Chi-Com economy, but I'm helping mine more. Besides, that whole "buy American" nonsense is meaningless in a global economy. That is what we have, no matter if we like it or not.  Bill T.

I've never had anything from them that didn't break.  I bought a 10 lb sledge from them several years back to bust out a footing,   One of those deals, need one and it was right around the corner, figured I'd save some time...on the second swing the head broke, it just shatterd. 

on the money ahead deal, when you count your time and agravation when it breaks, your well behind...

about the only thing I buy from HF is thier cheap spray guns.  I use them to spray catlized primers and things like gel coat.  Then throw them away.    I'm going to be sanding them anyways. 

[Pepper]

You might consider an Ontario RAT 3. It’s small enough to be carried as an EDC fixed blade on your Person. Still big enough to be used as an emergency self defenses tool. It’s carbon still is easy to resharpen and will hold a good edge for a long time. The coating will deal with a lot of abuse and the thick spine of the blade will allow you to spite wood and even dig with it. The extras Ontario throws in will allow you to carry it concealed IWB, on your belt or sling it to your pack with some Paracord. Although thick and solid the blade is still perfect for food preparation like cutting vegetables or even skin game. The hacking capacities are limited, because of the size and weight but it will allow you to chop through branches and bushes and prepare most of the stuff you need for an emergency shelter. The RAT 3 is a real workhorse. I’m using it as a hiking blade on a regular base. It doubles as my primary self defense tool (I’m not allowed to carry my gun here in Germany) and camp/survival knife.

[Ksail101]

Really this thread to me says what is one knife you trust to be effective in most applications, easy to sharpen, and durable. I have a spyderco Military that I have been carrying now for about 8 months. I have found that this knife is highly useful. It is a bit large with a blade at 4 inches, but is surprisingly versatile. Its big enough for easy protection in an "oh shit" situation. Yet small and delicate enough for cleaning small game. ( And I am sure larger game as well.)

I also have to agree with the RAT-3. That is one hell of a knife.

[billt]

Well Bill, based on your recommendation I picked up one of these at Harbor Freight today.......

For $20.00 it's not a bad knife at all. Melanie uses hers every day and so far so good. Price doesn't always determine quality. Example: I bought a couple of these machete's from Harbor freight,

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-inch-machete-with-nylon-sheath-94154.html

They work great for chopping palm leaves and stalks into small pieces so they'll fit into the trash. I even got them on sale for $4.99 each. About a year ago I bought this machete from Cabela's,

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0058753518589a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=machete&sort=all&Go.y=7&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&Go.x=15&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23

It was a $25.00 POS that broke the first time I used it because it doesn't have a full tang. It cracked right at the mid section of the handle. The $5 special from Harbor Freight is far better.   Bill T.