So there I was, standing next to my truck looking at the cutting tools that live in there permanently - not staged for some fancy photo shoot, but the ones I actually grab when work needs to get done. And it hit me: most people are completely overthinking their cutting tool selection while missing the tools that would actually save their bacon when it matters.
Look, I get it. Walk into any outdoor store and you'll be bombarded with a thousand different options, each claiming to be the ultimate survival blade. But after years of using and abusing cutting tools in the real world, I can tell you that the difference between having the right tool and the wrong one isn't just about convenience - it's about whether you get the job done or spend all day fighting with inadequate gear.
Let me break down what actually works and why most people are making the wrong choices.
Alright, let's start with machetes because they're probably my favorite cutting tool, and I know that's going to trigger some axe purists out there. This ON3 machete that I designed with Bear Forest Knives might be my favorite blade I've ever owned, and yeah, I might be a little biased since it's my design, but I'm just trying to tell you it's probably the best one out there.
Here's why machetes dominate in my world: I live in Georgia, and where I live, there's lots of loose, hanging, viney briars and stuff where having that extra reach comes in really handy. A machete allows you to get down there and cut briars and thorns and clear your campsite out really efficiently without having to bend over constantly.
Now, a lot of people love axes, and I'm no different - I think an axe is a really valuable tool. But where I live, personally speaking, I find myself grabbing a machete way more often simply because of the environment. Your results may vary, but efficiency matters when you're trying to get work done.
I always wrap paracord on my blades so I can choke up closer to the center balance point, and that allows me to do more delicate small carving and chopping tasks. It makes the tool more multi-purpose and versatile.
Check this out: I've got two axes here, and neither one of them is expensive. This Fiskars I've had for at least 20 years - probably longer. I think I might have been in high school when I bought this thing for about 30 bucks. It's made in Finland, has a pretty much indestructible handle, and just like my truck, you can't break the thing.
I use it for pounding stuff, beating on construction projects where I need to move a post with a thousand pounds of weight sitting on top of it. I'll take this axe and smack the crap out of it, and it just keeps working.
But here's the thing about axes - they can really hurt you if you're not paying attention. I was chopping wood one time, on my knees, working through a branch with a small hatchet. My brother looks at me and asks, "Hey, is that thing sharp?" I chop, look up at him, and say "Yep." The axe glances off the wood and goes straight into my leg, right above my kneecap.
Cut through my pants, laid my leg wide open like cutting into a raw steak. So much for the Thanksgiving Day party we were having - I needed stitches instead.
Get this: if we're talking about getting firewood efficiently, it's really hard to beat a saw. This Silky Big Boy right here is just about the perfect portable but big-enough size where I can get some really good-sized firewood going. This thing can cut through a lot of firewood in a really short period of time, and it's a whole lot safer than swinging an axe around.
You can get cut with a saw for sure, and they're nasty looking when it happens, but rarely is it lethal. With an axe, you've got all that heavy weight with a razor's edge flying around at high speed - if it glances off at an inappropriate angle at an inappropriate time, it can really hurt you.
Listen, I'm a fixed blade kind of guy. If you're talking about knives, I like fixed blade knives because they're so much simpler, more durable, and they're going to stand up to hard use. It's a lifetime tool, a lifetime investment, and I appreciate that.
This ON3 EDC knife I designed is big enough to get 99.9% of knife jobs done, but small enough to carry every single day without even noticing it's there. It's got a two-and-three-quarter-inch blade and a three-and-three-quarter-inch handle - big enough to get your whole paw wrapped around it.
The steel is 52100 ball bearing steel with a convex edge, which makes it last a long time without having to resharpen the thing. Talk to any guy out there that uses and abuses his tools - not a collector, not some bushcrafter doing fine feather sticks and posing for Instagram pictures (I'm not picking on anybody, but I'm picking on you) - ask anybody who really uses their tools: a convex edge is really handy.
I've cut insulation with this knife. I've pried paint cans open. I've pulled staples out of boards. I field dressed a deer from walking around being Bambi to in the freezer - took a deer from start to finish with this knife and never had a single complaint.
Now let's talk emergency stuff. You've lost everything, you're lost in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by aliens, life as we know it is coming to an end, and you've got nothing but you need to figure out a way to survive.
If I'm wearing pants, I'm typically wearing a belt. I choose to wear a Wazoo cash belt because it's got all the necessities and I can carry it every single day without even knowing I've got it on. It's like an insurance policy.
In my belt, I have a spare blade and a fire starter - a small ferro rod and a teeny tiny ceramic blade. Trust me when I tell you this thing is sharp. It's scalpel sharp with a chisel grind, and this thing is wicked sharp. It'll lay you open if you're not careful because of how sharp it is.
I've cut through pretty good-sized saplings about this big with this tiny thing. I've gutted fish, cut paracord, done fire prep, created tinder - you name it. It's ceramic, so it's brittle and you've got to be careful with it, but there's nothing sharper out there. The sharpest scalpels on the planet are made out of either obsidian or ceramic like this.
Okay, let's talk multi-tools. I like them, I think they're great, but they're a little big and bulky and heavy to carry in your pocket all the time. So I don't carry them on my person, but I do keep them handy - in the door of my truck, in my packs, close by.
The knives on multi-tools are typically stainless steel, not that easy to sharpen, and there's a little bit of wonkiness and wobbliness in the blade because it's a folder. But if you need to cut tape, cut some cordage, scribe something, poke something, gouge something, the blade will get the job done.
This Leatherman Rev might be the cheapest Leatherman out there - I think they're like 40 bucks. But that pair of pliers alone with the wire cutters is just about the handiest thing on the multi-tool.
Here's thinking outside the box a little bit: it doesn't have to be a knife or axe to be a cutting tool. This Russian special forces shovel is pretty handy actually. This happens to be a titanium one, super lightweight, and it's not going to rust on you. I can throw it into the ocean and it won't rust, which is really nice because I like low maintenance.
I don't like to work on stuff, I don't want to oil everything up all the time, I like it when it just stays the way it is. A shovel like this is pretty handy for a lot of situations. Is it as good as a great big full-size shovel? Absolutely not. But which one would you want to carry if you had to carry it?
Having a small portable shovel, I can get a lot of work done in a very short period of time. I can do some light chopping, some hacking, just like you could do with a machete - not quite as well, but it gets the job done. It's kind of a multi-tool, and I do like that. A very robust, strong, sturdy, simple multi-tool.
Listen, I keep it simple when it comes to sharpening. I use a fine diamond stone with two sides - coarse and fine. I almost never use the coarse side except maybe on machetes if I hit a rock. I use the fine side and just very lightly touch up my edge with a few strokes.
Generally speaking, that gets it back to where it needs to be, to a serviceable edge where it scrapes my thumbnail. That's what I do with all my cutting tools - just a few strokes on a diamond stone and it's back in action.
Having a 90-degree sharp spine on the back of your knife is pretty important because while you can scrape and scratch things with the blade edge, having that sharp spine saves the edge. If you're scraping something at 90 degrees to the blade, eventually you're going to get that thing pretty dull.
Get this: my probably most-used cutting tool is the ON3 EDC that I keep on my belt because it's handy, convenient, and always there. Next to that, maybe a machete - I probably use my machete more than any other cutting tool.
An axe from time to time, not that much, but when I need firewood specifically, that saw is hard to beat. The point is, you need to match your tools to your environment and your actual needs, not what looks cool or what some YouTube bushcrafter says you should have.
Most people collecting knives and tools are like the guys with a hundred guns in the closet who haven't shot any of them and can't hit the broad side of a barn. They'll tell you they can do amazing things, but when it comes time to actually use the tools, reality hits different.
The difference between having cutting tools and knowing how to use cutting tools effectively is the difference between getting work done and spending all day frustrated with inadequate results.
What's your take on cutting tools? Are you a machete person, an axe person, or do you swear by something completely different? Let me know in the comments what actually works in your environment - specifics welcome.
P.S. Forward this newsletter to someone who needs to hear it. The prepping and survival community is filled with fantasies - let's spread some reality instead.
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