What type of knife(s) do you need on the trail. Thanks.
Margaret
Knifes - Appalachian Trail
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#2
Seriously, you can use the tiniest Swiss Army knife, the one with sissors for cutting moleskin. It costs about $20. My main purpose for a knife would be to spread peanut butter, but a spoon works just as well. In the past, I found that a knife with a cork screw was handy for opening a wine bottle while in town. It depends on how much weight you give to the importance of a knife.
lost louise
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#4
If you are really serious about looking to save weight, a single edge razor blade will do just fine for opening food packages, and most odd jobs. I have have met many thru-hikers, and that is the lightest “knife” I have seen being carried nowadays.
If you are looking for personal self defense, try pepper spray, (see … http://www.swatgear.com/products/DT5069)
then use your single edge razor to finish the job.
The Mechanical Man
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#5
What ever it is it has to have a cork screw in order for you to be the sophisticated hiker. I use this one. And boy the price sure went up but I think that is max retail. The eye glass screw driver is nice as are the tweezers. Good cheese blade.
Bushwhack
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#7
Thank you all for you responses. I hadn’t even considered self defense with a knife. I was mainly thinking about cooking, first aid, etc. Over the years the Marlboro company has offered promotions of all kinds of outdoor stuff free for pack upcs. I put all of these things in a big box and promptly forgot about them. When I opened my box recently, I found I had 10 different knifes, most were swiss multiple blade with various assortment of blades and tools. Heaviest was 6 oz. Lightest was 1.5 oz. I have the knife that Bushwhack showed plus others. I will take the small swiss with the sissors and tweezers and use spoons for peanut butter, etc. Thanks again.
Margaret
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#8
I didn’t need to use my knife but two or three times and that was to cut some duck tape into smaller squares to put on another hikers blisters. If you lay the moleskin down flat it cuts great with the knife. I saw people trying to cut with those sissors on a swiss knife, it was very commical at times. Most of the time I would sit around camp at night and whittle with it to pass time. The smallest, cheapest thing I could find that would hold an edge is all that I would carry. I carry a small (1 inch square) piece of 00 emery cloth to sharpen it with. You lay it on a flat surface (picnic table) and use it like a sharpening stone. I bought the knife I carry at a discount store for $1 and it has about 3,000 miles on it and going strong.
Papa Smurf
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#9
The Ladybug by Spyderco is one SHARP little knife and the weight is next to nothing.
Prospector
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#10
small plastic box cutter @ the dollar store and guess how much!..
you can cut your pagages open, your cheese, anything!..
disposable, durable, even comes with extra blade!
weight is next to nothin!
1/4 of the way
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#11
Dear Margaret,
You made the right choice–the small knife with scissors and tweezers.
Simmer
Simmer
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#12
I carried a small pocket knife and used it mostly to slice salami and cut cheese. After a couple hundred miles on the trail I didn’t need a knife to cut the cheese and used it only for salami.
Nimblefoot