Camping Survival Knives

When camping it pays to bring along a few survival essentials. You probably wont ever need them, but if you do one day need to pull them out, you’ll be extremely glad that you bothered to pack them. And when deciding on what survival essentials to bring camping with you, camping survival knives are an excellent idea. A knife is a versatile tool that can be used in any number of different ways when you’re in the outdoors. Many survival knives also come with things like flints and whistles built in to them, to further enhance the usability of the knife.

Camping Survival Knives

Features to look for when you are reviewing camping survival knives.

• Extras – Your basic knife is just something sharp, and while just that is an extremely useful tool that has any number of applications, a good survival knife usually comes with a few more bells and whistles. One popular example is a flint of some kind, that can be used, in conjunction with the knife, to strike a spark and start a fire.
• Fixed Blade – A folding knife will certainly be better than nothing when you find yourself in a survival situation, but a fixed blade knife is better than a folding blade knife. There are a lot of things, like using the knife to pry, or using the butt to smash something, that you are better off doing with a fixed blade knife, as you’ll be less likely to break it than you would a folding knife.

Best Camping Survival Knives

Some of the very best camping survival knives out there on the market right now.

• Gerber Gear Grylls Ultimate Knife - You may not be convinced by the Bear Grylls endorsement, but Gerber is a well known and well respected name when it comes to knives, and they make a quality product. It's a fixed blade knife with a 4.8 inch blade. The sheath has a diamond sharpener built in, and a ferrocerium striker that can be used in conjunction with the knife to create fire. It's also partially serrated, to increase your cutting options, and has a whistle attached via a lanyard to the handle. As far as extra features go, it's hard to beat this knife.
• Leatherman Skeletool CX - A multi-tool is definitely something to consider when looking for a knife to use as a survival item. This particular one has a knife, pliers, wire cutters and a few other features that you may find useful when you find yourself in a survival situation. It also won the 2008 National Geographic Adventure Magazine Best of Adventure Gear award, so you know it's a quality piece of equipment.
• Gerber Big Rock Camp Knife - If all you're looking for is a knife that you can depend on when you find yourself in a survival situation, the Big Rock is a great choice. It's a solid, fixed blade knife with a 4.5 inch blade. There's a hole on the butt of the handle where you could attach a lanyard with some other small piece of survival equipment, but beyond that it's just a dependable knife. It also comes in two versions, one with a section of blade that is serrated, which would be a good feature to have in a survival situation.