cold steel spike for survival???

i was looking through LTs reccomendation for survival knives and one of them was the spike, could someone please explain this choice, the knife looks a little small for this type of thing

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

I wouldn't rest my life on it...

Live Free or Die Trying.

"some people say laughter is the best medicine.  I disagree.  Demerol... that's the best medicine"  - Mike Hild

I think if you look at his basic philosophy of more than one at all times it makes sense. One knife for overall duty such as a Bushman or like and a secondary for more delicate work. Spikes can be useful in many situations, I have a Tanto Spike and use it quite often, I look at it as a gap filler knife between a folder and a large fixed blade, both of witch have some limitations.

"Breathe in breathe out move on"

Unless your planning on fighting a bear most things that you are going to need to do in a survival situation do not require a large knife. IE: dressing small game, cleaning fish, digging for roots.  One would be nice to have but its not a necessity.

I cannot for the life of me see how that knife would be of any value to me in the wild.

i feel the same

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

If I needed a cheap knife to take. I would take the shanghai shadow. Its on sale right now and I usually take it camping with me and it works out great.

The only thing I see is it being useful like RD said. It does have a pretty thick stock...idk. I'll take a cheap bushman I think.

Loud and Proud.

think of it in medical terms. using it as a scalpel rather then use your primary knife that might be not as sharp from being used. alot of decent med kits include a scalpel, might as well make it a good one.

"Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle won."  Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington.

Little Nick


think of it in medical terms. using it as a scalpel rather then use your primary knife that might be not as sharp from being used. alot of decent med kits include a scalpel, might as well make it a good one.

That's why I got a K4 neck knife...I leave the heavy stuff for my Bushman or machetes.

We tend to look at the huge projects and forget the small.  I always say that anyone who makes fun of the little tweezers on my Swiss Army Knife just shows they have never been in the back country with a little thorn buried someplace.   (Peter Hathaway Chapstick --a great guy to read--said that he had rather go on Safari without his rifle than without his Swiss Army Knife)
I agree with Nick and XXO and RD.  For shelter building--Nah.  but for surgery, eating, cleaning very small fish and game, repairing a hangnail.   Its the little details that make the difference between surviving and living well. 

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."  Thomas Jefferson to George Washington. 1796

I would keep a spike in a survival situation. I was thinking about getting one for my fishing bag.
 
At the end of the day, it's still a knife.

Godspeed

perhaps he envisions this knife uesd in a situation where a spear is urgently needed. perhaps you are wounded and it would be much easier to lash on a knife rather than to carve a spear.

besides, this little knife is tough. its spine is thick and its made from a single piece of steel. it could probably baton through logs just as well as some other knives of its length.

the more you know, the less you carry - Mors Kochanski

Well if we are talking about using it as a spear then why not use a bushman knife? It is obviously a better knife and would be able to become a spear in no time.

i meant for a sishing spear. maybe if you were hunting boar you would use the bushman. but if you were trying to spear fish with that huge thing, you would tear it to shreds. the spike would be a perfect size for medium to small fish.

the more you know, the less you carry - Mors Kochanski

i have a sling spear for that

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

ElMaskedAsian


i meant for a sishing spear. maybe if you were hunting boar you would use the bushman. but if you were trying to spear fish with that huge thing, you would tear it to shreds. the spike would be a perfect size for medium to small fish.

Oh. I could see it as a very small fish spear.

na, wouldnt work to well, might use it to make a fishing spear tho

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

i believe the cord wrap on the handle would make a great lashing material for lashing the knife to a piece of wood to make the spear.

the more you know, the less you carry - Mors Kochanski

yea, but the fish would slip off, a better use would be making a three pringed spear, ive been spear fishing since i was 13  and believe me, single pronged spears dont work so well

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

That's actually a great idea.

what? his or mine?

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

Yours. I never thought about making a three pronged spear using it.

well i meant using it to cut prongs into a stick...but i guess you could use the knife its self if you had three of them

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

oh. I thought you were gonna take three of them to try and make it.

naw, but thatd be fun to try...its jsut that when you're spear fishing theres a good chance of hitting a rock if you miss the fish, so that could be a death wish for your blade

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

I would love to see someone make one. This gets me in the mood to order a new knife.

the upside i immediately notice (im holding my tokyo spike as i type this) its really compact, the secure x sheath makes it easy to strap to your traveling supplies and its a really simple light knife that cuts well for its size. even just as backup, its a good thing to have on hand. with no moving parts, you dont have to worry about dirt or sand jamming up the knife and stopping you from using it (granted, any fixed blade is that way)

you could take three or four spikes and be carying less weight than the average survival knife.

I would use the Bushman as primary knife and the Spike as backup.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
Sun Tzu 

hey sirupata,
where did you find LCT's recommendations for survival knives?  is it on the CS website?  i would be interested in reading them. 
 
i think the spikes are good knives to have in survival situations if you have a larger primary blade.  of course, ideally i would want a machete or two, an ax or tomahawk, a couple large fixed blade knives and a couple smaller fixed blade knives.  i would also want minions.  minions are good to have regardless of the situation.