Survival Knife!

This is my mod on my new survival knife to make it an ultimate survival knife. I got this knife at Harbor Freight.

Step 1: Handle

The handle on my knife is hollow which makes a convenient storage place. It came with some necessary things and some unnecessary things. They are separated in the pics. I felt like there were some things missing. So I decided to change each one of the unnecessary things and put in some more necessary things.

Comments

[Koob Creations]

I have that knife
It's not full tang but it seems pretty sturdy

[trisomy21]

Gerber not so much - made in china. Becker, ESEE, Helle and Fallkniven are a lot nicer. Or if you want a good bang for your buck, Condor make good blades, couple that with a Mora, cheap and sharp as the devil himself.

[blkhawk]

I noticed that you made an instructable about a knife but it was not a knife that you made yourself. The idea of instructables is to teach how to do things. I know about this knife because I got one for an outdoorsman friend of mine. Do you know of any projects or ideas where you could use this knife instead of featuring the knife in your instructable?

[futurefilmaker54]

I did modify the knife. I added better things in the knife to make it more usable in a survival situation. Im not trying to advertise the knife in any way, nor am I saying that
I made the knife so Im not copying.

[punkhead58]

Update: this ible is now a finalist. Unbelievable. Well, good for you, buddy, you bought a $10 knife and exploited the stupidity of many people.

Congrats if you win anything (I mean that sincerely).

[futurefilmaker54]

Well the point was for a survival kit in the knife, not the knife its self. But I'll think about it. Thanks

[Schmidty16]

this reminds me of a bilstic knif or on sons of guns a black powder knife

[jmatthew408]

most knives with hollow handles are not very strong and are quite frankly cheaply made. try a cold steel bushman, if you feel the need for a hollow handle. it is high carbon steel and is forged from one solid chunk of steel.

http://www.coldsteel.com/bushmanseries.html

its $34.99

[sschoemann]

The bushman doesnt have a true hollow handle, it has a "wrapped" or "twisted" steel handle, made out of the same flat steel that the blade is. This allows the blade to be slipped on to a shaft for a down and dirty quick spear.

[bamibert]

This is probably the worst knife you can buy, if you want to go cheap get a mora

[futurefilmaker54]

Have you bought the knife and tried breaking it?

[punkhead58]

The blade itself won't break, but it will break off of the handle.

Welded stud tang = SNAP!

Unless you are just using this blade for general utility cutting tasks, it will break under moderate stress. And, if you think about, what is the point of having a blade this big if you can't chop and baton wood with it? Plus, trying to use a big clumsy knife for small cutting tasks is impractical, albeit doable.

Also, the pot metal blade is an un-tempered blend of 440 stainless and some other crap. So, even if you do just use it for general cutting tasks, the edge will dull very easily.

I agree with bamibert, Moras are the best bang for your buck. They are made from heat-treated carbon steel and have a full tang, and they only cost a couple dollars more than this POS. Actually, the cheapest one is like $7. Do they look as cool as your knife? No, but they get the job done right.

Personally, I would not trust my life with this knife. I don't mean to insult you with my criticisms; I am just trying to help (while simultaneously discouraging people from buying junk Chinese knives).

[futurefilmaker54]

I do admit, it is a Chinese knife that is useless for small detailed projects.

[bamibert]

no but a big piece of steel is always hard to break, that doesn't make it a good knife. Cheap steel (bad edge retention and edge receiving), useless serrations on the spine (make it almost useless for batonning), hollow handle (weakness), very heavy, cheap "survival tools" inside. Get a quality knife or if you want to go cheap get a mora

[punkhead58]

These hollow handle knives have a welded stud tang that will snap like a twig under moderate stress. They're great for making spears, though.

Also, I would stuff some more items into this kit - I'm no expert, but in a survival situation, I don't believe that sewing your clothing (with matching thread!) would be your greatest concern. Duct tape is a quick and efficient fix. This kit also has to incorporate some more firestarting supplies, other than a few measly matches. Not to mention, it has to incorporate water purification.

I understand that you did not make this, but it seems like more of a toy. If you're interested, here is the survival kit that I carry.

Great ible, thanks for sharing!

[sschoemann]

No these do NOT have a welded stud tang, they actually have NO tang at all. the handle is held in place by a single SET SCREW, which is the subject of my post. Take this knife and DRILL two holes through the handke infront of the guard (blade side) so that they go through the blade) and install a pair of properly sized roll pins to maintain the blades position in the handle. Before drilling the holes, you may also want to loosen the set screw remive the blade, degrease it's interface and that of the handle with an evaporative degreasing solvent such as alcohol, acetone or similar, and apply a good two part epoxy and reinstall the blade and setscrew and tighten, so that nothinggets into this space, and it also fills all gaps to prevent any "wiggle". As the handle is an aluminum alloy, and the blade is Stainless Steel you can NOT, braze, solder or weld the two pieces together in any way and this is the only practical way to seal the blade/handle interface, and pinning it is the only reasonable way to add strength to it. Using roll pins will prevent the risk of cracking the handle, while adding the needed tension to hold it in place.

[curious youth]

your link doesnt work

[punkhead58]

Hmm, you're right. Well, just go to my profile page, I only have two Instructables.

[curious youth]

Ok thanks

[sjoobbani]

WHere'd you get the knife again?

[futurefilmaker54]

Harbor Freight, its a store that sells tools and stuff for really cheap.

[sjoobbani]

HARBOR FREIGHT CARRIES THAT?! How much was it? and is it ok quality or..?

[futurefilmaker54]

Iit was 10 dollars i think. I might have gotten it on sale though. It is a pretty good knife.

[sjoobbani]

I went there and checked, it's $10USD regular price, but it's really huge in person! I got some of their 'soft grip machete's.. they're around $5 hahaha

[King of Kings Knautz(mini-pyro)]

..Man, at my Harbor Freight the soft-grips are only $2.99USD, the knife is a pretty good overall for the $8.99 I paid!

[shadow68]

cool how you find one this ?

[futurefilmaker54]

well i went to harbor freight and looked at the shelves. Then as I was browsing the shelves, I saw this and bought it.

[Malhecho]

hows the quality on that knife? i was thinking bout buying one, then rattle bombing it black. but wasnt sure i want something that can take the abuse.

[futurefilmaker54]

im not quite sure what the breaking force is, but there was a comment about these types of knife is th comments below.

[bgipson1]

your Rambo knife is ok , it's not the knife to bet your life on,
the Rambo special is not a strong design blade and handle
are bolt with 1/4-3/16 bolt. much better to put together a
pack with survial items and a good knife kabar, gerber,
cold steel and there are more quality knives outthere
not a bad try for the first time

[MissouriVillian]

I believe the "fancy techniques" are meant to use more paracord in a smaller area. Giving you more to use when needed. Other than that seems like a decent start on a survival knife.

[futurefilmaker54]

yeah i agree

[batman96]

Just in case anybody was wondering the knife is from Harbor Freight it is $10.
(I have one). In mine I put a mini lighter, matches, some dental floss (that stuff is strong) some flint and some hemp rope for a fire starter.

[futurefilmaker54]

thats where i got mine. i probably should have put that in there.

[mad doctor]

Title is kinda off but other then that its good i guess

[HeWantsRevenge]

nice but regarding the soda cap hook, regular ones supplied would outfish that everytime. million uses for fishing line so nice keep

[futurefilmaker54]

you are definitely right. the reson i put the soda tab hook was beause i thought it was a good idea in a do or die situation.