Help me spend money on a camp knife
Gents, looking for a fixed blade for camp use. We mainly tent camp and the primary use would be for processing kindling for starting fires. Pretty much narrowed it down to the below three ~ 5 inch blades but wouldn’t rule out anything similar. Budget limit is pretty much $250. Looking for something in stock or lead time under six months.
Survive! Knives GSO 4.7 or 4.5. Pros: Magnacut/3V and great warranty. Cons: lead times, shape is just a little wonky with the spear point
https://surviveknives.com/gso-4-7/
Bradford Guardian 5.5 Pros: 3V and great warranty. Cons: longevity of company (service in 15 years?)
https://bradfordknives.com/guardian-...olate_richlite
Benchmade Leuku. Pros: 3V, price (mil discount) Cons: puuko shape, yet another Benchmade
https://www.benchmade.com/202-leuku.html
Am I crazy for spending $250 to split some wood to start fires? I currently only have a tactical style 4.5 inch and three Moras. Should I just use the Moras as disposable and spend the cash on an AR?
ETA: I’ve kinda discounted the Esee products as I’m not spending $150+ and ending up with 1095. Also, I’ll never sit around the fire and whittle a spoon, etc, so I’m looking a little larger than the traditional bush-crafters.
White River Firecraft Knives
Apologies if I missed it but I’ll throw In the White River Firecraft series. I got a FC7 off a fellow Marine for a price that I couldn’t refuse. I wish it was a 5” since I’m built like a Hobbit and it might be confused for a sword. I haven’t really tested it (Dutch Bushcraft Knives testing standards) but it’s my gateway drug to the rest of the shenanigans in the knife world.
Even though ESEE was not an option from the OP, I know a lot of my fellow Jarheads carried ESEE knives on deployment and I haven’t heard any complaints (sample size of Me). I’ll also throw down on the TOPS Tom Brown Tracker 3. I believe they had a 154CM and S35Vn (25th Anniversary).
Best of luck on the search and let us know how it holds up.