“AM I THE ONLY KNIFE GUY WHO, WHEN I GO CAMPING IN A MORE TRADITIONAL SENSE, COMES AWAY THINKING, ‘IT WAS FUN, BUT I THOUGHT THERE’D BE MORE KNIFE!’”
I truly hope there is a proper bushcrafter contributing to this issue of Knives Illustrated. You, dear reader, deserve more than me. What a skilled bushman can offer you are tales of knifed conquests of adversity and triumphs of the minimalist ideal. A skilled bushman’s reflections can give you something to aspire to. Abundant skilled voices are out there; at the forefront of my mind is Mike McQuarrie, a.k.a. MCQ Bushcraft on YouTube, whose well-filmed and calmly spoken films provide fuel and ambition for those who look at the bushcraft knife and feel an itch to really use it as a tool rather than to want it as an object. I feel that same itch—the itch to escape the generic modern life and dirty my hands and blades in earnest rather than in theory. This article you’re reading, however, is a true story of failure, of how every time I reach to scratch that itch, I find myself reminded of what all our mothers told us: that often scratching an itch makes it worse. Nonetheless, my account speaks in more general terms of some less conventional ways that people can enjoy a knife.
When it comes to bushcraft, I have no credentials, though I do have a YouTube channel. It is moderately successful for my very specific niche interest—a knife fan channel with steel discussion and occasional satire of the industry. It’s successful to the point that when I stop making videos for a while, I get a few messages asking when my next video is.
This story is from the September - October 2020 edition of Knives Illustrated.
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This story is from the September - October 2020 edition of Knives Illustrated.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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TIP TALK
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BLADE TIP SHAPES AND WHY IT MATTERS
HOLDING FIRM
GETTING A GRIP ON KNIFE HANDLE BENEFITS, MATERIALS, AND FUNCTIONALITY
EDGE UP
TIPS, TRICKS, AND TECHNIQUES TO SHARP WHEN ADVENTURING FAR FROM HOME
THE COMBAT KITCHEN
SLICE, DICE, CHOP, AND CUT: FOOD PREP WITH BLADES FROM POPULAR TACTICAL KNIFE COMPANIES
MORAKNIV Classics
THESE TIMELESS BUSHCRAFT KNIVES HAVE BEEN UPDATED AND ARE BETTER THAN EVER
ONE FOR THE ROAD
CHOOSING AN “EVERYWHERE KNIFE” CAN BE DIFFICULT DUE TO COMPLICATED KNIFE LAWS
TRAVELING LIGHT
SOMETIMES, INEXPENSIVE UTILITY BLADES YOU PICK UP AT YOUR DESTINATION CAN GET THE JOB DONE
MATCHED PAIR
JB KNIFE WORKS LAYMAN KNIFE AND GAMBIT HATCHET COMBO: ONE PICKS UP WHERE THE OTHER LEAVES OFF
WHEN BIGGER IS BETTER
THE CAS IBERIA CHOP HOUSE IS A MACHETE THAT PROVIDES BIG BLADE CUTTING POWER
KITCHEN KNIVES DON'T HAVE TO BE DULL
I have a confession to make. See if this sounds familiar. I take meticulous care of the knives I use for everyday carry, hunting, and general woods wandering. I wipe them down with an oily cloth after use and I never let them get too dull. Seldom do I have to restore a damaged edge. Most of the time I simply touch up the edges of my pocketknives with a few careful strokes across the rough bottom of a ceramic coffee cup. That’s usually all that’s needed. I don’t use my knives as screwdrivers or pry bars. As a matter of fact, I still have the very first knife I ever owned, an old Boy Scout knife that was handed down from my older brother. The blades have a deep patina that comes with using carbon steel over the years, but the knife is very usable still.
