My sister will soon be departing on a reseqrchtrip with some biologists in Costa Rica. They will be studying birds I think. She signed on as a field assistant, which means she will probably be out in the woods a lot.

They recommended getting a fixed blade knife, and suggested the Gerber/ Bear Grylls survival knife due to all the features and doodads it has. Of course I immediately thought a basic full size Kabar would be neat, maybe with the synthetic grip and kydex sheath.

Does anyone have any practical camping/field experience with either and could attest to their durability, useability, etc. . . .?


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In that jungle environment, I would go with (in order of expense) a stainless Mora, Condor TK, Ka-Bar Becker collaboration (probably the smaller models like the BK16), ESEE-4.  Or my personal favorite, anything from Grayman Knives--I have a Darfur Defender and it is near indestructible (but hefty).

Lots of good suggestions here.  Let me throw in another one If I may:   I recently handled a TOPS Lite Trekker and found it very comfortable to my hand, easy to index and of a very good size for all around utility.   The other suggestion I would like to second is the Victorinox Farmer model.  Those things are handy as a pocket on a shirt for all manner of jobs around a campsite or in the field.  Tell her to make certain her personal first aid kit contains a high quality pair of medical grade tweezers - again, a very handy thing to have in the bush. 

www.baryonyxknife.com/tolitr1.html       www.baryonyxknife.com/vifa.html

The Bear Grylls knife is a gimmick, stay away

I'll second the Tops Lite Trekker as well as a Bark River Bravo 1 or Gunny, ESEE, Fallkniven, Kabar, or Ontairio

A food multitool would be a big benefit as well

Lots of good suggestions here.  Let me throw in another one If I may:   I recently handled a TOPS Lite Trekker and found it very comfortable to my hand, easy to index and of a very good size for all around utility.   The other suggestion I would like to second is the Victorinox Farmer model.  Those things are handy as a pocket on a shirt for all manner of jobs around a campsite or in the field.  Tell her to make certain her personal first aid kit contains a high quality pair of medical grade tweezers - again, a very handy thing to have in the bush. 

www.baryonyxknife.com/tolitr1.html       www.baryonyxknife.com/vifa.html

Yes TOPS knives are excellent. I have the CUT 4.0 and its very well made and worth the money. Its not a survival blade but they make excellent ones in that category.

Mora or any of the variations on a KaBar.

I'm convinced that owning anything Bear Grylls  badged makes one more inclined to drink their own urine.  (which is fine under a specific set of circumstances,  but that guy seems to hit the "time to drink my own piss" wall faster than most)

Especially when he was staying at lodges and hotels with his film crew.

I do not like Gerber products in general, so would recommend ANYTHING ELSE.  I look at anyone who recommends them politely but with suspicion.   IMHO they are too hard to sharpen in the field for serious use.

If you are planning field work somewhere like Costa Rica then try and get a plastic sheath of some sort. Leather will just get eat by humidity.

You really can't go wrong with the classic Ka-Bar.  Leather or Synthetic will serve just fine.  That would be my choice.
Alternatively, the Cold Steel SRK is a little smaller, less intimidating, and very very serviceable in field conditions. 
The Ka-Bar Becker knives... the Companion is a popular choice, but the blade is too thick and heavy for normal use.  If the mission is just batoning logs for kindling, it makes a great splitting wedge.  I really don't dig it as much as I initially did... it was impressive and I thought it was cool.  But it's more Pry Bar/Wedge than a slicer and dicer.    So for an All Rounder - it's not ideal like the SRK or Ka-Bar blades are.

The BK-10 is a much easier to use knife than the Campanion. Same size, only thinner and lighter by far. It's basically a five inch BK-7, which isn't a bad thing at all.





Incidentally, this knife or the BK-7 would be my choice over the classic Ka-bar. It's stronger and you can really horse on it without snapping the blade off at the tang, which can be a possibility if you baton or chop with the Ka-bar in the wrong way.





And, of course, the BK-5, which is a favorite of mine.

The Becker Tweeners, the smaller models consisting of BK-15, 16, or 17, are fantastic for the price.

As a fellow that does field work in biology, get a cheap stainless Mora, some grub eating utensils(even little POS wally world folder things are better than attempting to eat a can o' beans with a knife) and maybe a light saw OR light hatchet(if you are needed to make firewood etc).

DO not spend good money on tools that are gonna get trashed. The Mora is a great knife at an obscene price for the quality. I personally do not want to be worried about my fancy knife rusting away on my belt while in 4 and half feet of brackish water staring up a tree at some odd bird's rear.

There are different levels of biology field work. There is true multiple week trip into god's country. Where full on gear for trail
breaking would not be out of place, and there is few days out in 'backwoods' Massachusetts. Where a nice charge card is worth more than all the trail breaking gear combined.

Regarding the saw. The Sven saw has been doing boyscout troops proud for years. They fold up to pack away nicely too.

Many times, for breaking down smaller sticks and stuff, my victorinox farmer gets me through most things.

The Bahco Laplander folding saw is the best I've found so far. It was recommended by an instructor at a basic survival course I took my family to a few years back. I recently bought a few of these combos to put in packs that stay in the cars.

https://smile.amazon.com/Bahco-396-LAP-Laplander-Folding-Inch/dp/B008ZG8S0A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499180515&sr=8-1&keywords=bahco%2Blaplander&th=1

Can't go wrong with a mora knife and saw for that price.


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That would be a rough deal to beat. I honestly might order that set just to test out.

The best blade coating I've ever seen was the powder coating on my RTAK II. I like to baton my knives through Texas oak and the like and I have messed up most blade coatings except that one.

The same coating the RTAK uses is the same one that ESEE uses on the ESEE 3 & 4, etc, that I listed previously.

I've experimented with all kinds of stuff, but oddly enough in Texas, I can find fewer better combinations than a victorinox farmer/or some other small knife (like the roach belly or Mora) and a chopping implement such as a cold steel machete or Fiskars splitting axe.

Some climates can get by with one "do all tool". In some environments with soft woods you can have just one big knife, but sadly my environment doesn't allow that. Lashing a small axe to a pack can be a PITA, but until I find a better way...  .

Well up here is an odd duck, very little softwood in my area almost entirely hard maple. But there is a small amount of basswood, but also stuff like iron wood. Typically when I'm working with a knife it's on hard maple and iron wood. Both will take just about any coating off a knife;)

But the reason I mentioned the coating wasn't because it would hold up long term, but it should hold up for a single trip of a few weeks or well enough to keep the majority of rust at bay especially if not abused like I would do;) I do abuse my Schrade knives allot because if I'm honest they didn't cost me anything and I like seeing what they can do. Thus far I haven't broken a single one in my normal use/abuse which has been pretty impressive to me. That said there is a shake up occurring at the moment with Schrade and I'd be more hesitant going forward with what they will be doing. Since they were bought by S&W it seems some things are changing. Those interested take a look on Youtube about the Jessica-X from Chris tanner and his videos about the controversy lately.

On single knife a big knife is best for small axe/big knife stuff. If well designed it can do somewhat what a small knife will do but not nearly as well. Personally my normal setup is that I always carry a Kershaw Cryo 2 clipped on my pocket which is my small knife that is always with me. Then I'll carry a large fixed blade on my belt if I need one or I'm going out in the woods. During the winter months I tend to nearly always carry a large fixed blade because the chances of getting stranded and needing the ability to start a fire is a real risk. So during summer it's less of an issue, it's seldom cold enough that the lack of fire could kill you. Winter though yeah, if I'm anywhere outside the yard more less I prefer to have a large fixed blade, bic lighter, and fero rod at a minimum. Ideally a much more full featured kit;)

So while the big fixed blade isn't ideal, like anything it's a compromise tool. But it certainly can in a pinch work but sometimes requires some different work and doesn't work as well as having a couple tools. A tomahawk head also can be a small axe substitute for a bag and make a handle on the fly. But generally I'd prefer to take the extra weight on a pack and carry a small axe or a very large fixed blade.

Luke

I can make a big knife work almost as well as a small hatchet or axe like the Jessica X I mentioned above;) It's certainly not ideal but they can be pushed up or down in capability. I guess in one sense that's what I do like about a large fixed blade is while it's not the best tool it's versatile. It depends on the role though and how you'll use it. To be honest I seldom consider taking down material, IE cutting across grain with the knife or chopping. More often than not there is enough dead or dead standing wood around here that I can take down by hand appropriate sized wood. Then batton it down to small/dry bits to start a fire. Once I get an established fire I'll let the fire do the work and burn larger pieces in two then toss them in.

So in that sense there is very little I actually *need* an axe for since I'm not cutting or splitting larger stuff generally nothing much bigger than my wrist/arm size wood. If I were building a larger shelter or something then I might need something larger, but I'd probably grab a small dead standing iron wood since they die very young around here. I can go out and grab a 2-4in. iron wood tree and tip it by hand then chop with a larger knife it to length for a ridge pole etc.

Really though all of that is based on this area, I've had allot of time in the woods around here since I grew up in the woods. Heck most people consider my location I live in to be really out there since I'm around 15 miles from a gas station, and nearly a mile away from a paved road out there;) Heavily wooded and pretty rugged all things considered. But it's also home, and when I traveled that was one thing that always unnerved me I don't know nearly as well how to survive in other areas and climates;) In the desert I'm sort of SOL, but you put me in an area around here and honestly it's just comfortable;)

Luke

EDIT: Also should mention I'm not bragging at all, there are plenty of guys who are better in the woods than I am. However the advantage I do have over allot of people is purely that I've lived out in the woods most of my life. The UP as a whole is rural, but most people from around here are surprised how remote of an area we're in. So it's just a different way of growing up so to speak from the vast majority of people around the country these days. To give another further example we basically barely have power. If it wasn't for a guy who had money 30 years ago paying to run power through this area we'd still be running oil lamps for light and maybe a genset for power. We don't have phone lines out here, we've got some cellular signal but it's pretty spotty. No internet other than dial up and cellular, and I've got cellular rigged up fairly well or at least functionally. My neighbor around 3 miles away wasn't quite as lucky he didn't have a power line run through his neck of the woods so he's been living without power for nearly 30 years now;) I'd just say it's different than allot of other places I've been over the years.

Looks like it should work OK.  She's the only one gotta' be happy here.