The Best Camping Knives

The Best Camping Knives

Camping can be fun and a nightmare if not equipped with the proper gear. A knife is essential to have on you while out in the wilderness, and it can't be just any knife; it should be the best camping knife you can get your hands on.

One that can be put through anything and still be able to do its job. A good camping knife should help you tackle any task, from preparing meals to feather sticking to start a fire.

What is a Camping Knife?

Having a knife, you can depend on out in the wilderness is very important, and it is the most essential tool you can have in your backpack.

Camping knives can be any knife, but you want one knife that can do it all. You want a knife suitable for the outdoors and can withstand harsh environmental conditions. A strong, comfortable, and compact knife that will never fail you.

The best camping knives consist of very tough and corrosion-resistant steel that has great edge retention. They usually are full tang knives, meaning the blade extends into the handle.

Most camping knives will have a fixed blade. The blade is relatively thick compared to your everyday knives, which comes in handy for splitting wood and prying.

Your camping knife will take on some very tough tasks and will be put through a lot, so you should avoid cheap and poorly made knives. You'll need your knife to peel some bark off logs, spark a Ferro rod, split small logs, feather stick wood, cut open canned food, do a little food prep, and even for self-defense.

Who Should Own One?

If you are someone who spends lots of time outdoors, you know the importance of having a high-quality, versatile knife. It can literally save your life.

Everyone should own at least one high-quality survival knife. A knife that you can take with you while camping, hiking, or to have on you during a disaster. Most of the camping knives on this list will be perfect.

Knife enthusiasts love getting their hands on anything with a sharp edge. I love knives and have a small collection myself. Add one to your collection.

Suppose you are a knife enthusiast, live in an area where natural disasters occur, are a seasonal camper, or are an outdoorsman. In that case, I recommend owning at least one of these knives on the list. You will definitely find yourself using it for things you never expected.

What to Look for in a Camping Knife?

Camping knives come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Choosing the right one for you will depend on what kind of regular use your knife will be seeing. There are a couple of things to go over and look out for to make your buying decision much more straightforward.

Blade Material

A camping knife's blade material will almost always be made out of steel. Manufacturers will often add elements to improve its strength, edge retention, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening. That's how you end up seeing dozens of different kinds of steel being used.

Your ideal blade should have a healthy balance in the four categories but a little more on the edge retention and strength side. You want a strong knife with great edge retention to handle batoning and a sharp enough fine edge to feather stick some wood.

Corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening are also important, but you can be in control of that. You should be good if you care for your knives and carry a small sharpening stone along with some blade oil.

Blade Edge

There are usually two blade edges used on survival or camping knives, a plain edge or a combo edge (both plain and serrated blade). Both are great cutting edges, but the plain edge is more common in camping knives.

Plain-edge knives have a straight edge designed to be easily sharpened and cut things much more precisely. Having a thin straight sharp blade lets, you carve and split wood easily. They are also much easier to sharpen.

Combo edge knives have a straight edge and a serrated edge near the handle. The serrated edge comes in handy when hacking or sawing away at things. The serrations can become dull and are difficult to sharpen.

Fixed and Folding blades

The two common blades you will find in survival, or camping knives are fixed blades and folding blades. The best camping knife will be a fixed-blade knife.

The best fixed-blade knife is usually a full tang knife, meaning that the blade length runs from the tip to the pommel. This makes the blade much more resistant to impacts and bending. Fixed-blade knives are more robust and much larger than the best foldable knife.

Fixed-blade camping knives are very dependable and tend to come with a sheath that will hold your knife. You can attach it to yourself or your equipment, making it much quicker to pull out your knife.

Folding-blade knives are much more compact, and these blades are usually seen in a Swiss army knife or just a regular EDC folding pocket knife. The folding knife is great for light tasks like starting a fire or wood carving.

The fact that the blade is retractable means that there is the danger of the blade closing on your hand or fingers, especially when carving some wood. Despite that, the folding knife does in fact serve as a safety feature when having younger children around.

The main downside of folding knives is that they have moving parts, which means they're more susceptible to failing. They are also more likely to break when putting them through demanding tasks like batoning.

Blade styles

There are various blade styles to choose from when it comes to camping/survival knives. Each one has its pros and cons, so it is important to know what will be the knife's primary use.

There are two popular styles in the camping knife world, the straight-back blade, and the drop-point blade. Usually, the best overall blade style is the straight-back blade, but I prefer drop-point blades to add more versatility.

Drop point blades are blades with a straight spine that thins and blends into the tip of the blade. This blade style makes woodworking much more comfortable and easier. The sharp knife tip also allows you to easily stab into things, making it suitable for survival knives.

The downside of having a drop point blade is that you risk the blade’s tip breaking off when doing tasks like batoning some strong wood or prying something open.

Straight-back blades are blades that have a straight spine from the pommel all the way to the tip. These blades provide the most surface area on the edge for Ferro rod striking or for pounding on when splitting wood.

The only downside is that it might be challenging to do more precise carving or cuts with the thicker tip.

Handle Size

The comfort of your camping knife will be determined by the size of the handle and the material it is composed of. The comfort and your grip on the knife directly affect its performance.

Choosing a handle size that will be comfortable for you is crucial. Bigger hands need bigger handles, and smaller hands need smaller handles. Sometimes the opposite will be much more comfortable for you.

Handle Material

As for the handle material, you need to see what feels best for you. Also, the type of elements that you and your knife will be exposed to is also very important to consider. Having a leather handle will not be ideal in salty wet conditions.

The material you choose should feel nice in your hands and provide you with the best grip possible. Still, the comfort of the material should be the most important, and having that comfort and grip will make for a functional knife. Especially when doing time-consuming tasks like carving.

There are many handle materials to choose from, so give them a feel and see if you like them. I try sticking with titanium, G10, Micarta, and wood. The best material will be lightweight, provide excellent grip, and be very tough.

Titanium knife handles are lightweight and the best metal when it comes to being corrosion-resistant. It is far from indestructible like sometimes advertised. This metal is easily scratched. Titanium is quite a rare metal and difficult to work with, which leads to a much more expensive knife

G10 or Garolite knife handles are a laminate composite made of fiberglass. G10 is extremely tough and very lightweight, which makes it very popular, but it is not the best-looking or best-feeling material out there.

Micarta knife handles are also very popular. They tend to feel a lot like G10 handles but are usually much better looking. Micarta is made in a similar process as G10 as well, but the different materials and labor put into it will usually make it much more expensive. Most Micarta handles tend to have more texture because of how slippery they can be.

Wood knife handles are one of my favorites when it comes to comfort and looks, but they are not the most practical, especially for a camping knife. The best wooden knife handles are made of hardwood or stabilized wood.

The only downside to wood is that it can be porous and will most likely deteriorate over time when exposed to harsh elements. The knives can also get quite expensive depending on the wood used, but they are the best-looking.

Blade Length

Blade length is very important when it comes to choosing the best camping knife in the market. It will affect the comfort and performance of certain tasks.

A long blade is honestly great to have because you can use it to tackle all the heavy-duty tasks, like splitting thicker logs or cutting through some thick brush. The downside is that it is not the best when it comes to feather sticking or portability.

A shorter blade will be much lighter and more versatile than a longer blade. You will still be able to tackle any of the tasks a longer blade will except the brush clearing. The shorter blade will make wood carving and starting fires a piece of cake.

The ideal blade length is around five inches. Anything much longer or shorter will be a little less practical with certain tasks and less comfortable in my opinion.

Use Case

The use case for a camping knife will vary from person to person. One might want a camping/survival knife to carry when hiking or for emergencies. Others might want a solid, high-quality camp knife for long-term camping to do it all.

You might use your camping knife to do more food prepping than wood splitting or use it more for brush clearing than starting fires. See what the most common task will be done with the knife and what elements you will expose it to. That will give you a better idea of what to look for in your camping knife.

Our Top Camping Knives

I have compiled a small list of the best camping knives you can buy now. Each one earned its place because of a few factors. Their versatility, durability, comfort, and brand reputation.

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