The one thing I would caution with big knives and chopping is hand fatigue. Most of us don't get to chop branches and wood with a large heavy knife on a consistent basis. After 30 to 40 chops, hand fatigue can set in and that's when accidents can happen. If you do a lot of chopping consistently you'll build up hand and arm strength but the weekend warrior should be careful. At work we only allow two handed machetes just for this reason.....a lot more control and less chance of a bad injury to the body. In a survival situation, even minor injuries can be fatal. Keep up the good content!!

A good demonstration, and a good subject. I bought a TOPS Firestrike 45 completely because of an advertisement for it. It showed a picture of the knife, dirty, held in a dirty hand, chopping a piece of wood about five inches in diameter. The caption said something like this: “You suddenly find yourself stranded. No food, no supplies, a hundred miles from the nearest road. But at least you have the knife that will save your life.” It was spot-on advertising. 👍🏼👍🏼 My favorite “survival” tool is the TOPS Armageddon. A couple of my favorite “one tool options” are my Bark River JBA Prototype, and my TOPS Tahoma Field Knife. The Condor Matagi is an excellent choice also.

Am a blacksmith I made me a bushcraft/survival knife 14" in length blade is 11" 5160 carbon steel leafspring truck spring.

For big knives , my go to is the Tops SXB because it’s versatile for Bushcrafting as well as features for self defense. I’d also like to get a Hablis Self Reliance Tool for strictly bushcraft duties. Every nook, cranny and curve in these two big blades have a useful purpose. I’ve carried that Camillus on my property for hacking down briars for a couple of years w no problems back in the day

I think you may like the Kodiak as a large survival knife 👍

My two cents for a big knife. 1. The Busse Battle Mistress 2. Philippine Bolo. Both of these large knives have been beaten to hell and back while keeping a razors edge (easily touched up) and continues to rock on

Best “survival” knife would be a Mora Classic 2, Kephart style knife, any Marbles knife manufactured/assembled between 1999 and 2001. A good large knife would be an Old Hickory Butcher Knife with a 10” blade or the Stromeng 9” Leuku .

I highly recommend try condors new terrachete. I also love the kabar cutless machete. But really i find a 3-4in knife more important. I carry a folding saw so i don't really chop wood. KZfaq has a way of finding a solution to something that was never a problem. I love big knives just don't find much use. Unless its the skrama not much can compare to that price an quality.

Bark River Bravo 3, Bravo Crusader and the Bravo Machete my belt knife is the Bark River Aurora Scandi.

I love my Tops SXB and my Work Tuff Gear Silvanus. Work Tuff Gear has some excellent heavy duty knives, I love them. I've also used Khukuris in the past, another great knife.

A jack of all trades master of none...Often better than the master of one.

in America it is called woodsmanship ! see Bradford Angier's : How To Stay Alive In The Woods ! good vid !

Good introduction. 1:46 "..has to be a FULL tang .. " OK, let's start there. Why? Strength? How many times do knives actually break between the beginning of the cutting edge and the pommel (ie the area where the tang is)? The chances are infinitesimally small! With a really thick blade (say 5/16ths or 8mm), even a less than full tang is NEVER going to break, not even under extreme conditions. Two of the prominent large knives (Cold Steel Trail Master and Falkniven Modern Bowie) employ "through tang" construction, where the tang goes all the way through, but edges not exposed; ie the tang is slightly narrower and enclosed in the molded handle material for the full length. No critic worth his/her salt is likely to consider these great knives to be "weak" because of its tang construction. 3:15 BK 9 - Great knife! Not really my style, as I don't like the very broad, blunt point design. This is, however, a personal preference issue, not necessarily a performance one, as many people find it great to work with. 4:08 Ontario SP53 Bolo - I don't really regard this as a knife as such. 5:16 Camillus Inject - Wow! Rambo knife on steroids. Seriously? 6:52 ESEE 6 - In my opinion the 6 is too small to be classed as a Large Knife, both in length (6 in vs 8 1/2 inch plus), and thickness (1/4 inch/6mm+). I would class it as the upper end of belt knife territory. Very good knife, but a bit miscategorised here, I think. I have a Cold Steel Trail Master (San Mai III version, hand made in Japan). The TM is superbly balanced, has a thick stock (5/16) and a fine tip. The handle is very grippy, even when very wet, or when using gloves. The blade is a full convex ground laminated steel with NO secondary bevel. Because of the design, blade tip speed is very high making slicing very easy. With all discussions about such knives, there is a point I'd like to raise. Wherever one might be, and have this kind of knife with you, I'd say that it should be standard procedure to be carrying a folding saw as well (say a Silky Gomboy, or even Bigboy). Failure to do this would, in my opinion, be tantamount to gross negligence. I will NEVER subscribe to the " ...if you only had one tool with you" school of thought. My answer is that, in that case, I would not be out there. In addition I would have other knives as well anyway - like a belt knife (say Victorinox Venture Pro + kit) and a multi-function knife (like a Victorinox Hercules or Ranger Grip 79). With such a combination one has multiple blades for a multitude of different tasks, with the result that one would have little need for sharpening, even on quite lengthy excursions. [The Venture Pro kit actually has a diamond sharpening kit built into the sheath system!] Thanks for the video. Cheers mate!

Terrava Skrama 200. Case closed.

For large I would choose BK9, BK4, and the Terava Skrama

Number one thing is STRENGTH!

“I removed the coating” I do not like coated blades either. Liking my 5160 for its springiness on my RTAK 2. I have compared a lot of steels and large blades, a better steel is 3v in my opinion. 1095 has the coating because it rusts and I found it chips, rolls and dulls even on Essee or Tops higher end knives. I’d rather have less rust and not have to sharpen or repair my knife edges often.

id like to see the esee junglass in the comparison, that's my go to big blade

the very best survival knife in the world ?... is the knife that you have with you !!! I can not make myself leave the house without a custom cold steel recon 1 in my pocket /also carry a sheeple knife ( tiny )! I have the Mtech 151 $20.00 ,2019 ( get 3 and don't worry about breaking ) /custom kydex sheathe( cost 2x more than the knife ) in my pack ( bug out get home ) been carrying a pack sense 1970s ,now it has a different name ! and a folding saw ( $10.00 from drug store camp section ( still sharp after many summers of grandkids learning)!

you mentioned modifying your bic lighter with a zip tie. definitely a good idea but the best thing you can do to your bic is pry off the child resistant shield around the spinning striker. makes em way easier to use, especially when your hands are cold. I also like to wrap mine in duct tape because that stuff is good for lots of things and you can light it up if you need to. burns really well

Nice knives, thanks for sharing, God bless !

I got a Kershaw camp 10 , buck 119 , couple of Mora companion's and a Gerber bolo

Good stuff bro ✌️

Marine raider Bowie

My favorite big knives are a couple of custom knives I had made for me. As for production, Junglas, El Chete, Kershaw Camp 10, several Condor machetes.

I like my Ontario rtak 11

My choice is the ESEE 6, I really like mine, good content

Why do you strip off the coating? Should I? And how do I prevent rusting

I like the esee cm6, the handle fits in my small/medium sized hands. The 3 and 4 are awesome too. I got 2 4’s too.

I've been almost buying that esee for 3 years. I'd remove the coating as well

Mine: ESEE Junglas 24" Tramontina machete (GGK, Kailash, EGKH) 11-13" Khukuris

Great knives. The Esee 6 is a must have. My 1st camping trip from Canada into the US back in the 1980s I carried a buck 124 and a Victorinox champ. Now I keep a Canadian military jump knife and a British MOD in my emergency kit.

Kukri for me

ONTARIO RD7, ontario sp5, becker bk 9 mais est léger, rtak 2, machette kabar kukri, machette kabar cutlass ; kabar robuste grand. Ontario Kukri, couteau tout usage idéal pour marbre, .crkt mah chete .

PS: if you‘re looking for an indestructible knife: Cold Steel American G.I. Tanto.

Have Esee 5

as far as the Esee's just go with the esse 5 its more of a chopper

I would prefer an Esse and a saw. Big knives are less safe and more weight.