A short introduction to my small knife collection:

Top to bottom, Gerber Crucial, Gerber Evo Mid (L), hacksaw blade survival knife (R), Sawzall blade survival knife (L), Sheffield folding knife (R), Winchester fixed blade knife (L)

In addition to these, I have most of a large Swiss army knife (the plastics broke off from being thrown across the yard), two ‘normal’ Swiss army knives, and a tiny Swiss army knife, all Victorinox. I’m not a huge fan of them, with the notable exception of the wood saw attachments, so I won’t discuss them much.

I got the Gerber Crucial so I would have a pair of pliers in my survival kit (I’ll post about that soon). Attachments include pliers, wire cutters, Phillips and flat head screwdrivers, a partially serrated blade, and a ‘strap cutter’. The pliers are a little thin, but seem to work well for light duty. Many internet reviewers say that the Phillips screwdriver is pretty much useless. To me it’s useless for a different reason – I haven’t needed to drive a Phillips screw with it yet! The blade seems ok. I’m not really a fan of serrated blades, mainly because they are more difficult to sharpen. The lock on the blade is a little tight, and it takes some effort to lock the knife back. The ‘strap cutter’ is razor sharp. I haven’t used the blades enough to tell how well they keep an edge, and honestly, don’t really plan on finding out. As I mentioned before, I was mainly interested in having pliers in my survival kit.

The Gerber Evo Mid seems to be a great little knife. I got it ‘free’, in a kit with the Crucial, so I wasn’t really expecting much out of it, but I’m starting to really like it. Unfortunately, it is partially serrated, but, with a little honing, the plain part of the knife will shave hair. The knife itself is a little small for my liking – maybe the full size Evo would have been a better option – and the blade lock took some getting used to. The knife is almost silent when flicked open. The tanto blade also takes a little getting used to if you usually like a drop point. The Evo Mid is becoming my everyday carry knife.

(I’m intentionally skipping the two homemade knives. I’ll discuss them more at the end of this post)

I picked up the Sheffield folding knife for $9 at Sears. I absolutely love this knife. The handle is black anodized aluminum, and the blade is black powder coated. The blade is 4 inches long (I like a big blade) with a drop point, and it opens with the smallest flick of the wrist. However, the blade is made of complete junk steel. The knife just refuses to hold an edge. What I would give for this exact knife with a good carbon steel blade……

The Winchester is my pretty knife, but it is also my survival kit knife. Like the Sheffield, it is also a 4″ blade. The blade is fixed, with full-tang construction. It looks to have been ground from 1/8″ steel stock, and it is pretty heavy for a knife its size. But it’s so well balanced! The whole knife has a bit of an arc to it, which takes a little getting used to, but it makes the Winchester the perfect knife for camp chores, cooking and detail work. The handle fits great in my hand, but if you have very wide hands, you might find it a little small. The Winchester holds a decent edge, but not like the Evo Mid seems to.

And now, the sawblade knives.

Homemade sawblade knives. Click to enlarge.

I made the bottom one first. It is simply half a hacksaw blade with an edge ground onto it, and cord wrapped onto the back end to make a handle. I really wouldn’t do too much heavy work with this blade, as it could snap in half very easily. However, the tip is extremely sharp, and in an emergency situation, this little knife would make a great scalpel. It also fits nicely into the stock of my shotgun (future post), as part of a mini survival kit that I keep there.

Small sawblade knife. Click to enlarge.

The top blade is a little more interesting. I made this knife out of a roughly 10-inch-long sawzall demolition blade. It holds a razor sharp edge. Coincidentally, it took FOREVER to shape, since it was apparently made from some very hard steel alloy. It’s a neat knife, and could be quite useful, but I haven’t really used it that much, for two reasons. First, it’s long. Carrying this knife in most public places WILL draw attention. Second,  it’s a little narrower than I would like. When holding it, it has more of the feel of table cutlery than of a tool to be beat on.However, like the small hacksaw blade knife, it’s quite thin, and can fit into a survival kit very nicely, and take up very little room.

Right now, I like the Evo Mid for everyday carry, although I wish it were a little bigger, and maybe had an assisted opening feature. The Winchester is great for more detailed camp chores, and I’m still looking for a good, large utility blade. I am leaning toward a cheap kukri ‘machete’. Whatever I end up getting, I’ll make sure to post here!

Image gallery of my knives: