Posts Tagged ‘Survival’

Guidelines To Survival Knives

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Lack of proper equipment during an outdoor urgent situation has been the cause of death for several whom may possibly have survived if a suitable disaster kit had been available. A particular item that every last kit has to need in the event you are outdoors is a survival knife. A survival knife should really be designed with one particular objective in mind, trying to keep you alive right until you are rescued.

A survival knife ordinarily has a smooth blade for hunting animals or preparing foods. This particular smooth edge likewise assists in field sharpening. The blade generally offers a serrated side for cutting tree limbs for firewood or shelter building. Serrated blades do the job better on clothing, and animal flesh, but are time consuming to sharpen in the actual field. A survival knife might also have a hooked blade for cracking open cans or slicing rope. Cutting and chopping definitely will be the knife’s most important function. The perfect survival knife though is one that will certainly complete the jobs you require it for and fits within your hand perfectly.

A survival knife grip should certainly be rugged, comfortable and easy to grasp in almost any weather situation. Leather-based and bone are common selections for the grips. A survival knife should certainly also include a full tang. Full tang blades really are one piece that continues directly into the handle. The hollow handled knives are not necessarily going to endure the rigors of tough use from a survival scenario and should be avoided. Everybody appears to think that a huge, heavy knife is the best survival tool. This is not really the real true. The best survival knife is actually between 4 and 6 inches wide. A blade of this particular measurement presents a excellent compromise of proportions and control. A big blade can easily do everything a smaller knife can do, but a small blade can’t perform everything a large blade can perform. You just don’t need an enormous blade for any work you can possibly be faced with in the wild.

A survival knife must not become so expensive to buy, but make sure to get a reasonable one. It ought to come with a fixed blade, full tang, strong handle, and a safety sheath. The actual knives might be designed of a wide range of material, but a carbon steel knife will by no means rust if applied regularly. Survival Knives with carbon steel usually tend to hold a sharper edge, longer compared to stainless steel. The blade features fantastic edge retention, however the edge can also be repaired with reasonable ease even in the field. In the event that a person gets a option, the carbon steel is the way to go.

To summary it, take great care in choosing a survival knife due to the fact you may depend upon it to save your own life. Select a survival knife that is resilient and feels comfortable and stable in your hands. You really don’t need to devote a bundle of money on it however make sure to acquire a reputable 1 which can hold together in challenging scenarios.

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Bowie Knife Designs

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

Most people will see many different types of knifes represented as Bowies. Most of these knives have some of the characteristics of a Bowie knife but there are a host of characteristics which make a knife the genuine article. The distinctive sweep of the blade, hilt and size make a Bowie what it is.

Bowie knives have a blade design which will be familiar to anyone who enjoys studying fighting blades. The clipped end of the blade places the spine of the blade above the tip near the end of the knife. This design is intended to provide better penetration. In a thrusting attack, these knives are nearly as efficient as spears. The clipped end also makes them very agile knives and reduces the weight, increasing the user’s accuracy. At the base of the blade is another hallmark of a Bowie knife.

Every Bowie knife has a hand guard. The traditional hand guard on a Bowie has an angled top piece which points toward the front of the knife. This is intended as protection for the user’s hand. The angle is sometimes said to be used for catching blades, but the proximity to the hand makes it more useful as a deflecting device.

The clipped blade of a Bowie knife leaves little ambiguity as to the reasons behind its design. Positioning the tip of the blade lower than the spine lends agility to the point and makes it a more streamlined affair. In practical matters, this means that the tip is more agile when applied to everything from cutting meat to skinning animals. In martial matters, this means that the blade has lethal penetration characteristics and makes it an intimidating weapon. In both the literal and metaphorical senses, the Bowie has a balanced blade.

Bowie knives have blades that are both thick and heavy. Properly used, they can perform in a similar fashion to machetes. The heavy blade of the knife ensures that it can deliver a solid blow, that the blade isn’t prone to bending or breaking and that it is adequate to block another weapon, if needed. Like some other legendary blades, the Bowie knife is associated with a hero. Jim Bowie, an American frontiersman, was renowned for his fighting prowess and his fearlessness.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knives and glock grip extensions store.

What Lengths Do Bowie Knife Blades Come In?

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Bowie knives have been renowned or more than two centuries, thanks to their versatility, durability, resilience and tremendous power. However, if you are in the market for a new knife, you will need to know what length blade to look for. What lengths are bowie knives traditionally? What other lengths are these blades available in? What is the right length for you?

You will find that bowie knives come in blade sizes ranging from a compact six inches all the way up to a full two feet. This tremendous range of sizes is testament to the wide range of uses this blade design can be put to without damaging the knife. However, what size is right for you? In order to answer this question successfully, you will need to know more about your intended uses. While bowie knives are well known for their versatile nature, different blade lengths are more suited to different tasks. How do you determine what’s right?

While the smaller blades mentioned above are certainly convenient, you will find that medium length blades are the most common. These run between six inches in length all the way up to about twelve inches in length. Such a blade is the perfect bowie knife for things like skinning prey or helping around the campsite. These blades are more than versatile, which is the reason that they are so enormously popular with such a wide range of knife owners. You will also find the widest range of handle materials, handle designs, blade designs and manufacturer’s names in this size range, as well.

Twelve to Fourteen Inches – These are enormous blades. You’ll find that a bowie knife with a blade in this size range is truly formidable. Whether used for clearing brush or for personal protection, these knives are more than handy. However, you will find that jobs requiring precision cutting are not so easily accomplished and that you might need to carry more than one knife with you for the different tasks that you will encounter. However, bowie knife blades in this size range are quite sturdy and provide tremendous resilience for hard use.

Blades larger than about twelve inches are a bit more unwieldy than smaller blades are. However, they are ideal for heavy chopping and can even be used to clear brush in a pinch. However, because of their immense size, carrying these blades can be a bit difficult though you will find that they are more than eye-catching when worn.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knives and glock grip extensions store.

Does Carrying Bowie Knives Require A Permit?

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Do you have to have a permit or a license for bowie knives? You should certainly know the answer for this important question. Actually, you will find that you do not have to have a permit or licensing of any type to own bowie knives. That said, this applies only to your own home. Taking your knife outside of your home might change the rules just a little bit. How do you know what laws apply to your area? How do you know if you can safely take your knife out of your home without worrying about facing criminal charges?

In Your Home – Do you need a permit to own bowie knives and keep them in your home? The short answer to this is “no”. You are legally allowed to possess these knives within your home and you can keep them wherever you see fit. You can display them, put one beside your bed, or hide them away for future needs. However, when carrying such a weapon outside your home, things become stickier.

In most states, you do not need a license to carry a knife, unless you plan to carry it concealed on your body. For instance, the state of Arizona allows you to conceal your bowie knife on your person in public, so long as you have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. That said, some states take a very dim view of bowie knives and other large knives. Take Washington DC for example: you cannot carry any knife over 3 inches long, whether concealed or in the open. Therefore, you need to check with your state’s laws before you take your knife out in public.

Take Arizona for example. Arizona state law allows you to carry bowie knives on your person in public, so long as the knife is not concealed (concealed carry requires a permit). However, the laws of many Arizona counties and cities prohibit the carrying of these knives, as well as many other weapons. Therefore, you should check the laws of your local area (a quick call to the sheriff’s office will suffice in most cases).

By informing yourself ahead of time regarding your rights involving bowie knives, you can stay on the good side of the law and enjoy the use of these tools. You should also ensure that you follow any laws governing the carrying of bowie knives in your vehicle, as well.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knives and glock grip extensions store.

Hunting Versus Bowie Knives

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Bowie knives are hunting knives, aren’t they? This is a common question. However, bowie knives aren’t technically hunting knives – they are multipurpose tools. Hunting knives are usually very specific in their intended use. For instance, a gut hook knife is intended for an obvious purpose. Likewise, a skinning knife is used for skinning and doesn’t perform very well for other uses. Bowie knives, on the other hand, can be used to skin, gut, chop, cut and numerous other things.

Therefore, you’ll find that bowie knives differ from hunting knives in several different ways. How do they differ? As mentioned, bowies are used for many different things. While they have long held a place in hunting, as well as camping, fishing and general use, they also serve a purpose in self-defense. Hunting knives, while they can be used for purposes other than those intended by the knife’s creator, usually don’t do an adequate job in these different areas.

The largest difference is that your bowie is a multiuse tool. It can be used for skinning or for gutting. Likewise, it can be used for chopping vegetables, wood or even slicing through meat or fruit. Bowie knives are far more versatile than general hunting knives. You will also find that most bowie knives are far larger than hunting knives. The average hunting knife is only five inches long, or less. A bowie, on the other hand, is usually no shorter than six inches in length, though they can surpass twelve inches in many cases. So size is certainly one of the differentiating factors.

As you can see, a bowie knife is very different from a standard hunting knife. However, they are often classified as hunting knives and are sold in sporting goods under that label. This doesn’t mean that they are for use in hunting alone, though. In addition, you will find that a bowie knife will put you in good stead for a variety of situations, whether you need to do some work around your home, or just want protection in your car.

Bowie knives provide versatility, durability and longevity. This is a tremendous advantage over traditional hunting knives. With the right bowie, you can carry just one knife with you, rather than having to pack and carry several different types of knife to deal with any situation that might arise.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knife and glock grip extension store.

Save Your Money For An Active Vacation For The Experience Of Your Entire Life

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Some individuals think an excellent vacation involves a peaceful time near a beach or up in a mountain cabin. They have dreams of being treated as a member of high society without a care in the world. For some people, a fabulous vacation includes adventure!

These are people who like to stay active. They enjoy mingling with fellow travelers. Is this is bio of you? Are you tackling a decision of what kind of adventure travels you want to try on your next vacation? Choosing the right adventure trip can be difficult. There are so many options available! These are some of our top adventure vacations.

Do you enjoy photography? Have you always dreamed of photographing the world’s most famous locales? Photo Explorer Tour can make your dream come true. These are international tours led by internationally renowned photographers. The company comes up with tours of places throughout the world. If you are unsure of your desired destination, that is fine. You can join a group, after making travel plans that are convenient for your time schedule. Photo World Tours plans specific tours to specific places on specific dates. Just join any tour group and go with them wherever they are, when you have vacation time. Enjoy the spontaneity of it!

If you’re an enthusiast of extreme adventure travels, why not try out a hot air balloon trip someplace? What about going white water rafting? Have you kicked the idea around of Bungee jumping? Some people are thrilled about skydiving. Undoubtedly, you can find places to do this in many towns. With an extreme adventure vacation however, you can go skydiving over the Grand Canyon. Take a hot air balloon across the Australian outback. The world is a giant playground when you become an extreme adventurer. Many extreme vacationers are attracted to India, for paragliding. Why not give it a try?

Are you a food connoisseur? Do you tantalize the idea of learning about and taste testing cuisine from around the world? How about going on a culinary tour? For obvious reasons, Italy is among the most popular of destinations for food connoisseurs who want to have the experience of tasting cuisine it its “native habitat.” Ireland, Spain and Greece also offer fabulous “culinary tours.” In addition to tasting the food after it’s prepared, by “native” chefs, these tours also allow you to learn how to cook a variety of dishes on your own. This is a terrific adventure travel for a chef on the rise or any lover of food.

Not all adventure travels have to be about risking your life. You can have an exquisite adventure vacation without bungee jumping, skydiving or hoping a shark won’t destroy a cage. At the same time, for the adrenaline fueled, that risk is half of the fun of any adventure based vacation.

How about a bicycle tour? There are companies that will follow you in a van in the event that you get so tired or sore that you need a time-out. You can bike all over the world in French wine country or Australia or the entire British Isles, including England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. What better way to truly immerse yourself in a country than seeing it from the back of a bike.

The trick to taking a truly memorable vacation is to challenge yourself while still having fun. Get on with it!

The solution for affording a superb holiday like these is profitable internet business ideas which you can uncover in our business ezine.

You Can Master The Art Of Fire Starting

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Fire starting has become somewhat of a lost art. Decades ago, it was an essential skill for survival, but modern technology has made it so simple that most people would be at a loss to start a fire if they were without a cigarette lighter or matches. However, anybody can learn to start fire without either matches or a lighter – rain or shine. Let’s look at the necessary ingredients for starting fire.

Fuel, oxygen and heat are the essential elements for fire. In this article, we’ll especially consider your options for generating sufficient heat to ignite wood, since that is the most likely fuel you would be relying on in a survival situation.

Without a flame from a match or lighter, how can you generate enough heat to start fire? First, you could use an old method the Indians used – rubbing sticks together. Well, it’s a bit more involved than it sounds, but nevertheless, that’s the idea. Friction between pieces of wood can in fact create a coal which can then be used to ignite tinder. The most common way to do this is with a drill or bow and drill combination. We’ll look more closely at this method in a future article. Here’s the bottom line – people who have learned to start a fire this way carry with them another method since they understand just how much work is involved in starting fire this way. So let’s turn to another method – sparks.

By keeping a small fire striker with you at all times, you can assure yourself that you’ll always be able to start fire. Fire strikers consist of a steel piece and a striker which can produce sufficient spark to light tinder. Good quality strikers will actually produce a shower of sparks. There are many on the market, it comes down to which style is most comfortable for you. The great thing about a good fire steel is that it will produce sparks, even when wet.

Keep in mind that you’ll only have consistent results if you light tinder first, and then use that to ignite the wood. Dry grass, bark shavings and dead tree moss make excellent tinder. You might want to carry tinder with you when you’re on your outdoor trips. Whatever method you choose, the only way to be sure you’ll be able to start a fire when you really need to is by practicing. With persistence, you can master the art of fire starting.

Griz Garzo writes about wilderness survival and primitive skills. We hope you enjoyed this article about firestarting.

Using A Bowie Knive As A Throwing Knife

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Your new bowie knife is an ideal tool for a wide variety of different things. These tools can be used to clean fish scales, to gut deer, to skin prey and to help around camp. They can help you cut wood, remove the bark from sticks and much, much more. However, if you think that a bowie knife would make a great throwing knife, you have another thing coming. Why shouldn’t you use your bowie knife in this manner?

For a knife to have any hope of being accurate, it has to be correctly balanced. This ensures that the knife flies through the air properly. Bowie knives are not balanced for throwing. They’re balanced for hand usage. Hold a bowie knife in one hand and a throwing knife in the other and you will feel the weight difference. Balance each in turn on your hand and you will immediately notice the different centers of gravity. This means that bowie knives are not a good choice for throwing.

For instance, if your knife hits the target slightly askew, the point might stick, but the sideways motion of the blade and handle might bend the tip, or the blade. You might also notice that bowie knives are so heavy that you are forced to stand closer to the target in order to hit with enough force for the point to stick at all. While this might not seem problematic, it can be an issue. For instance, it takes very little for the knife to bounce off and come back in your direction. While the knife will likely not have enough force to cause damage, or even to reach you, the potential remains.

These are only a few of the things that can happen when attempting to use bowie knives as throwing knives. A much better option is to use them as they were intended to be used – as handheld tools. Throwing knives can be purchased in almost any size and you can even find bowie style throwing knives that are balanced correctly for the purpose.

However, the fact remains that general purpose bowie knives make poor options for throwing. If you are interested in throwing knives, it’s highly advised that you purchase knives designed for that purpose. This way, you will be able to continue using your bowie knife without fear of damage and you will not void the warranty. When cared for properly, these knives can last a lifetime; however, that will require that you know what to do and what not to do with them.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knives and glock grip extensions store.

Why Bushcraft Survival Is Useful Today

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Bushcraft survival, or the creative use of things in nature for survival, is more than just a hobby.Many see it as entertaining, particularly as we think of media survivalists like Ray Mears or Les Hiddins. But why would it be so useful for the average person to know how to build natural shelters, carve with bushcraft knives, make natural cordage and start a fire with sticks? Wasn’t that just something early American mountain men or the ancient Indians needed to know but not those of us living in modern society?

But is there a practical use for these skills today? It turns out that interest is growing in bushcraft survival especially among outdoor enthusiasts such as backpackers, climbers and hunters. A variety of situations can arise in which it could mean the difference between life and death to know some basic wilderness survival skills.

But what about the rest of us? Unfortunately, everyone now faces the very real possibility of disaster scenarios in this new terrorism age when the actions of a few people can put hundreds of thousands or even millions in peril if they don’t know how to survive. A mastery of these skills can actually mean the difference between life and death for you and your family.

While these skills can be learned through books or videos, the internet offers a rich sources of information on the subject as well. However, the bottom line for bushcraft survival is actually mastering the skills for yourself. This means you have to practice the various arts until you can perform them with predictability and with various resources. This is where the men are separated from the boys, as they say.

Bushcraft survival offers a great sense of satisfaction to children as they learn to be creative in problem solving using natural things which are available. It’s also a terrific family activity in that it’s fun and productive and gets everybody out in nature all at the same time. In the future, we’ll take a closer look at specific skills like natural fire starting and water procurement. Hope you can join us!

To find great resources onBushcraft Survival and read more of Griz Garzo’s articles, visit http://www.bushcraftsurvival.net.

Can I Use My Bowie Knife As A Screwdriver?

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

In the face of such a question, the only answer possible is a resounding “NO!” However, why is “no” the only answer here? Why can’t you use your bowie knife as a screwdriver? Why can’t you chisel or punch with the blade? What happens if you attempt to use your knife as a pry bar? In short, each of these uses, while seemingly innocent enough, can lead to serious damage to your blade and may even lead to injuries.

Many people make the mistake of using bowie knives for purposes for which they are unsuited. For instance, if you choose to use your knife as a screwdriver, you’ll encounter some problems. This will likely lead to a bent tip, or might even snap the tip off your knife altogether. If this happens, you will either need to repair the blade, take it to a professional cutler for repairs, or reshape the blade as is.

Let’s look at using your bowie knife as a pry bar to get an even better feel for why these versatile knives should not be used for such tasks. When prying on something, it generally means that the item is either rather heavy, or it is jammed and stuck. While your knife might fit quite well under whatever that object might be, you can rest assured that you do not want to put the blade there. Even a small amount of pressure can actually bend the blade of your bowie knife, leading to some serious problems.

Now that you know a bit about why you shouldn’t use your knife for situations such as this, you should know a few other things. First, using your bowie knife in such a way will instantly void the warranty on the blade. As you’ve probably spent a pretty penny to purchase a high quality bowie knife, this is not a good situation to be in, particularly if an issue comes up for which you need that warranty protection.

Punch – Punches are used in a variety of different areas, from leatherworking to stonework. However, your bowie knife is most certainly not a punch. While it might do an ok job on leather or cloth, you’ll find that anything harder than this will leave your knife a ruined mess. Therefore, do not use your bowie knife as a punch.

Dave is the owner of an online bowie knife and glock grip extension store.