Stuart Mitchell "Survival Knife" Prototype (Pic Heavy)

[cbr6fs]

Oh, I know who it is

Tango for a partial Tango sounds like a fair deal to me :p

[martineden]

"Survive" it's all about: shelter, fire, water, food, navigation. For me, a "survival knife" is the tool that I will use for making/found the things above successfully. The SM Survival Knife seems to me enough compact, robust, comfortable and versatile to do what needed in a survival situation. That said, a SAK too is a perfect survival knife if you know how to use it properly.

[Stuart Mitchell]

Back with me, for now....

A couple of issues attended to and now has a convex edge...

Away again on Thursday

[Chris the Cat]

Why the edge change Stu?
All part of the 'seeing what works' field testing for a prototype?
Or do you have other thoughts?
Nice to see you again at the show by the way.
My best.
Chris.

[Stuart Mitchell]

Why the edge change Stu?
All part of the 'seeing what works' field testing for a prototype?
Or do you have other thoughts?
Nice to see you again at the show by the way.
My best.
Chris.

It's always good to see you mate, it really is...

Just to see how it performs now we have an idea how the secondary bevel did, by swapping to a convex I have been able to thin the edge slightly too, just an experiment really...

[martineden]

Stuart, you have PM

[ANDYLASER]

The "Handy Dandy - Proper Chopper".

[JonathanD]

Guess what I'm doing this weekend!!!!

The missus is going to well miffed as I'll only be just back from Tanzania. It's good to spend time with the love of your life. And I DO really love my knives from Stu.

I hope she has the camera charged up for when I get back.

[Claire Grills]

It is interesting what people class as a 'survival' knife. Since nobody is likely to put themselves in a 'survival' situation willingly, but would rather find themselves in such a situation, a survival knife would be something you'd have with you whilst you were doing something else other than surviving initially in my mind!

e.g. on a camping/hunting trip and became stranded, in a plane crash...

I think that is exactly what Nightfly had in mind for it. Part of a survival kit inside his plane I reckon.

[bwildered]

Excellent review Maarten, good looking knife Stuart. I do like the orange handle liners. Be interesting to see how this progresses

+1 to all that. Really like the crisp lines, and even the orange on this one.

I am not sure about handle shape, can not imagine this handle design is comfortable to hold in a variety of grips.

I quite like the look of the handle, even from ergonomics point of view. The only reservation I'd have is the sharp corners on the belly side of the bolster, where your forefinger goes. The big chopper, on the other hand, looks superb from all aspects.

Re. the 'survival' semantics, I think it's been said before that a survival knife is the knife you have with you, when you have to survive. Which I guess is every day... Which makes all knives survival knives. And all shirts survival shirts, all handkerchiefs survival handkerchiefs. Just a matter of either using the word for marketing or not.

[Stuart Mitchell]

... The only reservation I'd have is the sharp corners on the belly side of the bolster, where your forefinger goes.

That was the second thing I altered, after the edge, those corners are not as sharp now as they were before....

[bwildered]

That was the second thing I altered, after the edge, those corners are not as sharp now as they were before....

[Stuart Mitchell]

En route again....

[JonathanD]

En route again....

Me too very soon. We should meet up somewhere in central England around midday on Saturday.

[JonathanD]

Apologies for the delay in getting this up. I've been a bit busy.

First impressions of the knife when I unwrapped it was a certain cool factor to the design. In a world where almost every knife design has been made or seen, it was refreshing to see something a little different and what I'd consider modern and quirky.

The knife came in a generic kydex sheath. Not the design it will eventually be seen in as this was a quick job just to house the knife on its initial test period.



I'm putting the knife side by side with my Stuart Mitchell DB in these pictures for a good reason I'll get down to near the end because I've been using my DB alot in Africa recently, moreso than usual and it had a direct effect on my use of the SM Survival. Pictures of the knife in use have been catalogued very well in this thread anyway, and I'd just be repeating other posts as it performs all tasks very well, from food prep to feathersticks, tool making and tree batonning.

Obviously, as you'd expect from Mr Mitchell, the quality of construction and attention to detail are at the top of the handmade knife game. We all know and expect that from Stu, so I don't need to go into more detail there.





When Stu sent me the knife, he re-finished it with a highly polished convex edge...



The blade shape and thickness are perfect for a robust multi use, multi tasking knife. The only thing I would personally change (and this has aleady been addressed and will be on the MK II), is the gap between the choil and the knife edge. It needs to come forward right to the edge of the choil. Whether it needs a slight protruberence to protect the bulging flesh of a gripping finger from creeping over onto the blade during a stabbing motion is something I've pondered over. It is a survival knife, so such an action in an emergency if stranded in an area where wild game is abundant, it is certainly possible you may need to use it in that fashion. During my time in Africa, I've seen that this may be a very real danger, even in safer places with other people. So food for thought there.

The overall length of the knife is compact and about the same as any of the well known smaller utility knives we all know about. In my opinon a survival knife needs to be small, otherwise it is more often than not left in a pack or basecamp. Not great when you are cut off from those places and in real need of a survival blade. It is however quite heavy because of the bolsters and blade thickness. It is a strong knife, so whether strength would be sacificed too much with lightening the whole thing is maybe something Stu can answer. I certainly wouldn't want to weaken a knife your life may depend on.





The handle profile as you can see is quite thick. My DB is very thick to aid in prolonged use and comfort. Something that can be sacrificed slightly in a survival knife. The butt has a significant amount of surface area which is great if you need to pound something. I would like to see a couple of MM of steel protruding beyond the scales as this would protect them somewhat and prevent too much force from impacting or splitting them. Perhaps a more pronounced convex shape would also achieve this. Again, this is something I would want to test as I'm speculating. Unfortunately I wasn't able to with this knife, but Stu will be supplying me with another blade I can really batter in a full on extreme field test.

On handling and using the knife over a period of about an hour - just sitting down and whittling a stick to get used to it, I found that the lanyard hole that sits below the palm pad of my first finger started to cause a burning blister. This obviously is down to the positioning, but was caused by the whole knife constantly pivoting in my palm. The way the handle is shaped where my index and second finger rest wouldn't allow me to grip it in a way to stop in moving. The rear of the handle I could grip firmly, but the front moved up and down however hard I gripped it. Something at the front just prevented me from securing it in my hand sufficiently. On laying it over my own knife, it's not difficult to see why. I need a touch more bulk for my index finger.





The majority of the handle just goes in and out in exactly the opposite places to my knife. So although I could easily have the handle being much flatter, the tang for me personally needs to be higher and beefier at the front choil area.

This is the reason I have pictured the knives together. I try to be honest and impartial in my reviews, and it's a no brainer that the first inch of handle just doesn't work at all for me. But we are all different and the DB has evolved from what used to be purely a weekend bushcrafter knife, into a tool I take with me for much more than wood working and countryside bimbling. I used to work for Rolex and spend all my time in the cities of the UK with a Mont Blanc pen as my main tool. Now I'm a field herpetologist and I'm always outdoors with a knife and a snake hook, and over the last four months, I've been using my DB more than most Brits have been using a brolly. My own personal DB handle is also too much for most people and doesn't work for them as I have a wide palm and long fingers, which is why Stu makes a slimline version for his normal customers. So his new survival knife handle is going to work for the majority of people. And not just as a survival knife either, but an everyday outdoorsmans knife. It is robust to the point that I know I can beat on it with rocks, railway sleepers and god knows what else.

So in short, im looking forward to the MKII with the closer edge to the choil, and to see what other changes Stu makes from the input of others testing it. If indeed, any are needed. It's a beautifully crafted and well designed knife even in its prototype form.