In 1982, Sylvester Stallone starred in a movie that defined much of his career and introduced a character that would always be associated with a popular and unique style of knife. First Blood is the story of a Vietnam veteran and Green Beret John J. ...
Search Results for: survival knives
Bushcraft Knives vs. Survival Knives
The terms “bushcraft knife” and “survival knife” probably go back to the 1980s. The first comes from a seminal book by the Canadian survival expert Mors Kochanski. Bushcraft was published in 1987 and is an instruction manual on how to live in the ...
Survival Gear Everyone Should Have, Plus Urban Survival Tips
When a frail, leathery man covered in grease from burned whale blubber staggered into a whaling station on the coast of Antarctica, the Norwegian workers couldn’t believe their eyes. The men who worked along the rugged coast knew as well as anyone ...
New Knives From the 2023 SHOT Show
SHOT Show isn't just about guns and ammo, it's also one of the biggest venues for new knives and knife companies every year. Almost every major knifemaker shows up as do a whole lot of small bladesmith shops that always have something exciting and ...
TOPS Knives Has Something New for Everyone in 2023
I love TOPS. Nobody does ridiculously large but still functional blades better, and they also have a bevy of practical-sized knives that are built like absolute tanks. What's more, they’re all made right in Idaho. Here's what they have in store for ...
Survival Kit: How to Build and Organize One the Right Way
“Organization is correlated to efficiency, efficiency is correlated to productivity, and productivity is correlated to success,” I recall saying that as a teacher to my students over the years in both an academic classroom and an outdoor setting as a ...
10 Pieces of Must-Have Survival Gear You Can’t Live Without
How do you pick the right survival gear? It comes down to the Rule of Three. Of course, you know the average person can survive up to three weeks without food, but only three days without water and only three hours outside of their core ...
The Fallacy of the ‘If You Had Only One Survival Tool’ Debate
I’ve been a professional survival instructor since 2007. Before that, I worked as a canoeing and kayaking outfitter from 1998 to 2006. I’ve seen the booming interest in survival television shows, the popularity of survival gear surge in retail ...
Winterizing Your Survival Kit
Growing up in New England, I learned to appreciate the frequency of the seasons changing. When the seasons changed, so did the way we had to live with the corresponding weather and environmental conditions. Spring teaches you to deal with rain, ...
$2.5K Knives and Cougar Sausages: Meet Master Bladesmith Josh Smith
Josh Smith held a long blade in his hand. Maybe 18 inches long, it was still black and ragged from the forge, but he had a point he wanted to make. He held it up, so that the group of close to 20 in his shop could get a good look. All were ...
10 Knives That Would Make Crocodile Dundee Proud
“That’s not a knife …” In 1986, Paul Hogan (no kin to Hulk Hogan) uttered quite possibly the most famous quote in the entire knife industry. Indeed, Crocodile Dundee was a man’s man (who was manlier than most men). From the Australian ...
10 Outdoor Survival Skills That Everyone Should Master
The finest outdoor equipment in the world is of no value if you don’t know how to use it properly. Knowledge of key outdoor survival skills and when to pull them out of the bag trumps the best gear every time. Here are 10 indispensable outdoor ...
From Battle to Field: 5 Popular Military Knives That Are Also Great Hunting Knives
Every human has the knife-appreciation gene in their blood. We’ve inherited the recessive trait from our earliest and most inventive hunter-gatherer brethren. While the trait is not expressed in everyone, for those who served in the military or spend ...
Survival Knife: Understanding Blades
There is no such thing as a survival knife. Knives have been called that and have been marketed that way — as some kind of magical tool that will save your ass in some unlikely situation. But that idea is inherently flawed. Sure, some ...
Good In The Woods: Surviving The Wild With Laura Zerra
With the state of humanity in chaotic disarray, I have often found myself wondering how well I would survive in the event of a total global apocalypse. Would I be able to hold my own if I was forced to seek shelter in a woodland sanctuary? How long ...
Mess Kit History: Feeding Backcountry Adventures for Generations
The first time a Marine Corps sergeant instructor told me that chow is continuous in the field, I remember thinking, “That’s unexpectedly considerate; I get to eat whenever I want.” In reality, no time is set aside to eat, so figure it out on your ...
How to Start a Fire Without a Lighter
You’re cold and hungry, and you just pieced together a hasty shelter. You need to get a fire started to dry off and stay warm through the night, so you grab your trusty lighter out of your pack. You’ve used it for years and it’s never let you down — ...
The Free Range American 2022 Holiday Gear Guide
Below, you will find our staff picks from some of the hot new BRCC gear that just dropped for the holiday season. Below those you’ll find outdoor gear selections from our motley crew of staff members and contributors — all hunters, anglers, ...
Deer Hunting Gear: What You Need to Get Started
Because chasing whitetails is a popular pursuit, deer hunting has become a big business. Hunters spend $6.4 billion on hunting gear yearly, not counting trip expenses, guide fees, tags, or licenses. Manufacturers understandably clamor to grab a ...
Disaster Prep: The Importance of Everyday Readiness
Unless you’ve been half asleep, you probably have noticed that 2020 was remarkable. COVID-19, double — correction — quintuplet hurricanes, murder hornets, threats to public health, and civil unrest. We couldn’t get a break. The fabric of our ...
Desert Nomad: Overlanding Lessons From Afghanistan
Wilfred Thesiger, a British Military Officer, writer, and explorer, once said, “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry the imprint of the desert, the nomad, and he will have a yearning to return for this cruel land can cast a ...
How To Survive on Wild Edible Plants and Not Get Dead
Terence McKenna, famous American philosopher, ethnobotanist (one who studies a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of local culture and people), and author once stated, "Nature loves courage. You make the ...
Bushcraft 101 with Kevin Estela
“Bushcraft” is a term used interchangeably with “survival,” but they are not true synonyms. Bushcraft is the art of doing more with less and using nature’s resources whenever called upon. Survival is the art of getting by at any cost and is generally ...
Hands-On Mountain Man History Lesson: DIY Tanning Beaver Tails
A few weeks ago, my landlord came knocking at my door on a Tuesday morning. When I answered, he said, “I’ve got a dead beaver out here. You want it?” What are you supposed to say to that? “Sure, I’ll take it!” The words fell out of my mouth ...
5 Ways to Ensure Medical Preparedness
As a woman, I always take my role as protector of my children and any children in my company very seriously. As a registered nurse by education, the tendencies to gravitate toward being a healer come naturally to me, but as medical ...
Safety and Security While on the Road
I’ve always enjoyed a good road trip. Ever since I received my driver’s license, I’ve enjoyed packing up my vehicle with provisions, looking at a map, and going from point A to point B. It has been said, “it is not the destination but the journey ...
Tom Brown Tracker: The Knife From ‘The Hunted’
Every so often, a movie will make a gun or a knife astonishingly and surprisingly famous. Dirty Harry did it for the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver, First Blood did it for sawback knives with hollow handles, Crocodile Dundee caused a ...
7 Backcountry Hacks That Will Help You Survive Deep Off the Grid
I’ve been fortunate in my career to be surrounded by an eclectic group of professionals, from Green Berets and Army Rangers to some of the best backcountry hunters alive today. All these friends and peers have taught me a thing or two about living ...
Cold Sharp Steel – A Guide To Putting A Razor Edge On Your Knife
The cliché exists because it is true. A dull knife is a dangerous knife. When our trusty blade doesn’t have the edge, it once did, we tend to force the cut a bit more. Or we simply reduce ourselves to sawing whatever it is we are trying to ...
Wilderness First Aid: The Backcountry Medkit Every Hunter Should Carry
Backcountry hunters obsess over dialing in their gear. There’s ultralight gore-tex this and treated down that. But there’s one piece of gear to which many hunters don’t pay enough attention: wilderness first aid and the medkit they carry. Jimmy ...