Out in the wilderness a good knife can determine life or death. It’s essential to be well prepared and have the right knife that can be used for a number of different purposes such as: escaping from an encounter with a wild beast, chop wood, make your way through the woods, build shelter and many more. The best military knives are made to serve exactly these purposes. These tools are designed from hunting knives and are optimized for offense. When looking to buy a great military knife you should consider the following guidelines.
Characteristics of the Best Military Knives
- Strength – the best military knives are designed to be resistant and virtually unbreakable. You should opt for a full tang knife. A full tang means that the blade runs up to the handle’s base. There are models that are not full tang, but these tend to break more easily under pressure. For higher quality you should always opt for a full tang knife.
- Solid Handle – to further reinforce the strength of the full tang, the handle must be solid and supportive. Some handles are hollow, so you can store anything there. But there are two major flaws with hollow handles. First, you may guessed it, the knife doesn’t feature a full tang, which makes it easier to break under stress. Second, anything you store in the knife’s handle may be lost if you happen to loose your knife, which would further complicate your situation.
- Blade – when it comes to blades, there are two ways to make sure you purchase a quality product: either carbon or stainless steel. There are pros and cons on both sides. Carbon blades stay sharper for longer but tend to rust more easily than stainless steel. Stainless steel blades ,on the other hand, don’t rust so easily, but they tend to not stay sharp for such a long time as carbon blades. Both are high quality materials, so it’s really up to you. Blades usually have lengths between 6-12 inches. Anything over 9 inches may be pretty hard to maneuver, though. So it’s best to choose a medium sized blade, so it’s as practical as possible. The design of the blades is equally important as the material that they’re made of. Straight blades are far easier to sharpen than serrated blades, which must be sharpened by a professional with a special tool. Thickness of blade is another factor that comes into the equation. As a general rule of thumb select a knife with a blade thickness between 3/16 – 4/16 of an inch.