Knives Part I

What type of knife is the best one to put in my 72 Hour Bag? There are many types of knives and blade styles. Choosing the right fit for you can be a daunting task. Lets break down some basic types of knives. This topic can spur a ton of opinions and claims that this knife is better than that knife much like people who talk about stopping power of one bullet versus another. Here's my philosophy on knives. They are a tool and should perform at a high level when abused, so buying a really expensive survival knife could be useless when you may end up using it as a shovel and at that moment its ability to be a shovel is way more important than who designed it and your bragging rights that you spent $500 on a one of a kind hand made knife. Having said that, I believe in quality and sometimes paying a little more is worth it. So it's a delicate balance to find the right fit for you. On a last note, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I refer to a knife in your 72 Hour Bag as a tool, not a weapon. Don't think you are Jason Bourne and will be able to save the day. In the end it will get taken away from you and used against you. If you are faced with a knife in a fight the first stab wound you should receive is in your ass from running away. Knife fights never end well. Your best case is that you'll bleed out after your enemy and that's not a good scenario. Think of this item as an edged tool and that's all.

Types of blades

There are a couple types of blades I'd like to address before getting started. There's a straight blade and a serrated blade. I feel for a survival knife it's best to have both combined onto one knife. The straight blade is good for cutting things like meat, leather wood and so on.

 The serrated blade works like a saw and can be used to effectively cut rope or very tough objects.

 The two combined on one blade allow the knife to be very versatile. There are parts to a blade which are important to mention. There is the tip or point, the blade, the heel and the spine. There is of course the handle but for now I'm going to focus on the business end. The tip or point should be thick in width and not too shaped into a tapered point, it will break easily when under pressure.


The blade can have a variety of shapes and thicknesses to achieve many tasks, one such shape is called an onion blade. You can see the curve of the blade makes it fatter towards the end of the blade. This makes the end weighted and very good for slashing or hacking.

Another is a karambit - which is a particularly nasty fighting knife. It's intended purpose is to cut rope, but you can see from the shape of the blade how vicious it would be if it came in contact with your arm or neck and the attacker rolled the blade around a curved surface.

Parts of a Knife

The heel is the edge of the blade closest to the handle and is actually a good place to do your fine intricate cutting. If you need to use the tip to do fine cutting work grab the blade and only reveal the smallest amount the tip of the blade, it is much safer this way. The spine is the back of the blade, traditionally the dull side. Make sure it is beefy, to allow you to use a log and beat the back of the knife into wood to split it. There is the handle and the tang, a full tang refers to the part of the blade which goes all the way through the handle to the end which is called the butt or puno. Some punos have a pointed end to allow for striking. A full tang knife is best because it is stronger. Remember this is a tool and if need be, beat the shit out of it to accomplish the task at hand. Don't abuse your knife, but don't baby it. If you chose wisely your knife will take the abuse.

Types of Knife Blade Shapes:

There are many types of blade shapes where it becomes the point. Each has a specific reason for it's design. The first two are the blade types I think are the best design for your 72 Hour Bag.

There is the drop 555, often found on Swiss Army Knives. It has a good solid end which is very strong and easy to control. There is a good long edge for a good cutting stroke.

The Spear Point this blade has an exceptional tip strength because of the mass of the blade tapering to the point, it still has a reasonable point to accomplish tasks that require poking holes and can be affixed to a pole to make a spear. The blade has a long cutting edge giving the user great control. This is one of the best blades for a 72 Hour Bag.

The needle point tip it used mostly as a dagger and is most often a double edged blade, meaning it is sharpened on both ends. This is not a good blade for your 72 Hour Bag and illegal in California.

Gut Hook is good for skinning and cleaning animals when hunting, it's very good for slicing because it has a blade similar to the drop point but because of the hook it has it's limitations. Not really a good knife for the 72 Hour Bag unless you plan on field dressing wild game on your way home during an earthquake.

The Clip Point is a familiar style if you've ever owned a Buck Knife. It's a very good blade but the tip can be weak because of it's tapered point. It works well for piercing objects and it's long smooth blade makes it very good for slicing. this is an acceptable blade for a 72 Hour Bag if you accept it's limitations.

The Sheepsfoot Blade is great for whittling and carving, it's nose is very strong and makes it a good knife to grab towards the tip because of its long dull spine. It also will help prevent stabbing because there is no real point. This is a strong blade and would be good in a 72 Hour Bag if you aren't going to need to punch holes through leather or anything else.

The Trailing Point Blade has another weak tip, but it's designed for skinning and slicing. I wouldn't put this one in my bag either.

The Tanto Blade is known to have a very strong point but I've seen them break, the blade edge is straight and doesn't curve well into the point. I'm not a fan of this knife, there's just not enough going for it to use as a tool. It may work great as a Samurai sword, but not for a knife you're going to use as a tool.

More in Part II Next week.

Orienteer without a Compass

Finding your Direction

I'd like to write about a technique for finding your direction without the use of a compass or an electronic device like a smartphone. It's a common practice for people on tech scouts to pull out their iPhones and use an App to tell which direction the sun is going to set but if you have an analog watch the process is quite simple and usually faster than calling up the App. If you have a digital watch you can accomplish the same task but you'll probably want to draw a watch face on the ground and follow the same principals. This is a technique I've used many times when hiking because sometimes even if you have a compass you will second guess it. There have been many times where you get turned around and you will swear your compass is wrong. For this reason many people will carry two compasses so they can verify that their compass is indeed still working. But if you understand the principals outlined below it's a great way of finding direction even if you don't have a compass. 

Here's what you do: 

Orient your body so you face the direction of the sun and using a finger I create a shadow which bisects the hour hand and the 12. The picture below shows it is 9am. When you do this the 3 will point West (the direction the sun sets), the 12 will point South, the 9 will point East and the 6 will point North. That's it.

Using this principal to the picture below we can see it is 5:30pm, by bisecting the 5 and the 12 the 3 points West. During the height of Summer the sun will set a little closer to the 4 and in the height of the winter it will set a little closer to the 2.

Okay, now the only tricky part is if the previous clock were at 5:30am. In this case you need to under stand that the sun will be ahead of your hour hand like the following example:

Here's the thing about that tricky part, if it's 5:30am and the sun is coming up you should know that's East anyway so it's a moot point but I wanted to at least cover the weak link in the system. 

If you have a digital watch apply the principal by drawing a circle in the ground and then use a stick to hammer into the ground creating a shadow which runs through the middle of the circle. Use the time on your watch to then draw out out the hands of the watch like an analog watch. Just make sure you orient the numbers so the shadow bisects the hour hand and the 12.

Light

Light:

It's kinda what I do, but lighting a scene is completely different from illuminating a small encampment when backpacking. Or in a worst case scenario lighting your shelter for the night when trying to get home and you are someplace less than desirable when you're cold and wet. Lets face it, we are used to having everything in our lives lit by something. Most even sleep with the dim glow of a digital alarm clocks. How many of you have been with out light? I mean absolutely no way of creating light and knowing you're going to be in the dark till the sun pops up. I'm guessing not many. Even those of us who venture into the back country for days or weeks at a time have some way of creating light. But if you are with light and in the dark, not knowing what creepy things are going to go bump in the night it can be a scary night with your arms wrapped around your shins and your knees drawn up tight to your chest to keep warm. 

We discussed the need to have three ways to make fire in your kit and how vital it is to turn on channel 13 (your campfire) while you are trying to get back to your home. But there are other ways to have a small light which will give you comfort till dawn.  Some of the tools you may want to add to your 72 Hour Bag are candles, flashlights or chem lights. I'll discuss each and their strengths and weaknesses.

Candles:

The first are candles, they're light weight and fairly fool proof. There are a billion kinds, from making them out of an orange peel, a stick of butter or made from the typical bee or paraffin wax. The principal is simple, you take a wick which is flammable and feed it with a fuel source so the wick doesn't burn up quickly. Candles are time tested and will go for hours. In a pinch one candle in a snow cave will raise the temperature enough to prevent you from freezing to death (if done correctly!). Here's the problem with the typical wax candle: they won't last in your 72 Hour Bag in the trunk of your car in Southern California.  Below you can see two types of candles, one is the bare candle and the other is a fancy pop up lantern style.

Here's a candle which is great, its a little emergency oil lamp called the Guardian 30 hour emergency candle. They sell for about $2.50 and you can buy them in a variety of places. I like these because they are sealed and generally won't leak (although I try to orient mine so they are in the upright position) and they won't melt like a candle will in the heat. Because they are sealed they shouldn't evaporate either.

Flashlights:

As you may know flashlights can be a topic much the same as Ford Vs. Chevy. Everyone has an opinion... So let me tell you mine. It would be my advise to find a flashlight which does not need to be recharged. It will sit in your 72 Hour Bag for six months and when you need it it'll be dead. Unless you figure out a way to wire it into the electrical system of your car and it trickle charges when you're running your vehicle don't bother. I know of only a couple of guys who I think could pull this off and one is named Joe. Nuff said. Another thing to look for when figuring out what kind of flashlight is battery longevity when in storage. What ever type of flashlight you look at make sure it will accept a Lithium battery. Lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life, doesn't matter if it's a AA, AAA, C cel, D cel or 9volt. Many of us use the CR123 Lithium batteries on set and they have come way down in price so I suggest looking for one that runs on them, they pack an incredible punch. Here's the flashlight I carry every where I go:

Another good buy I recommend for every 72 Hour Bag is the 9 Volt LED light, it's micro light weight, runs for ever and is pretty bright. I bought mine on eBay for about $1 a piece and it included a Rayovac battery. I wrap a little length of mason line around the end and secure it with electrical tape so I can hang it from where ever I need to and I then have electrical tape when I need it. There's two settings, 6 LEDs and 2 LEDs. Here it is:

A mag light is handy because it has several uses, you can use it in your hand like a flashlight or unscrew the front and it becomes a base and the bulb works like a candle illuminating 360 degrees. There are a couple different kinds of mag lights. The Mini Mag Light LED version is shown below and comes is available in a standard filament bulb as well. It's available in the 2 AA and AAA version. The larger sizes are available in 2,3,4,5 or 6 D cel length. I think any of the D cel versions are too big for a 72 Hour bag, but they make great clubs to use as a defensive weapon so it's your choice.

Chem lights:

Chemical lights are a perfect addition to any 72 Hour Bag because they weigh next to nothing and they will never expire. As long as the inner core doesn't break they're good to go. There are a bunch of different kinds from white, yellow, blue and Infra Red. You can find two types, those made in the USA and those that are not. The ones made in the USA are far superior to those made elsewhere. Cyalume  is a brand made in the USA and it's the name which is synonymous with chemical lights.