BEST LARGE Bushcraft Survival Knife | Becker ESEE More

What is the best large bushcraft survival knife in the market? Who knows

but I'm going to show you four of my favorites and why I love them so much

Stick around. So the question comes up a lot. What is a good survival knife to start with? And of

course there's tons of opinions and tons of options these days. So what do you

pick? Where do you start? Well, it's very difficult for sure, especially if you're

new to this game. But if you are a collector of knives, of course you

probably have several that you like and prefer. But recently I've been playing

with more bigger knives as my kind of dedicated survival knife, whatever that

means. And I wanted to show you four that are in my collection currently and that

I feel are pretty decent options. But what I want to do is I want to do a little testing with these, kind of head-to-head and see how what they do

go over their specs, and just talk about them. By no means these are the best or

the perfect knives. Selecting knives is a very personal kind of process and you

need to pick what's best for you. But for me, I really enjoy a larger knife for a

survival type utility, do-all, all-purpose knife. And that's what we have here today

and that's what we're going to talk about. What are the features that a survival knife has to

have to make it survivable? Well, I think the first thing is it needs to be full

tang. That is a non-starter for me if it doesn't have a full tang. And you want it

to be fairly beefy in the spine so it can take some abuse because a survival

knife, you have to remember, is going to be something that is very much jack-of-all-trades

maybe not master of none, but it will be useful in doing a variety of

chores and tasks while you're in the woods. And primarily, you're going to want

to use it for wood processing. Wood processing is, of course, an important

component. Being able to start a fire, also being able to build shelters, things of that nature. So you want your knife to be rugged, be able to take the abuse because the scenario is you're probably not going to be carrying an axe or multiple tools with you. This could be a scenario where you're just out on a day hike or something like that or maybe you're not carrying a lot of tools with you. So the big knife is going to be a good substitute for an axe or a hatchet

And be able to do multiple things. Also be able to do some fire making skills, possibly cleaning game or processing game of some sort. So the big knife fills that role pretty well

So the first blade we're going to look at is this. This is the Becker BK-9. Now this one has some custom features added to it. This is not a stock BK-9. The finish has been stripped. It has these custom scales added to it. Of course, I've got a braided lanyard on it. Also the sheath is a custom feature

The sheath is from a custom Kydex maker along with a Lester River Bushcraft knife pouch. So not stock, but the heart and soul of this knife is 1095 Crovan. It's a 9 inch blade, runs about 140 bucks and it is a flat saber grind

So it is a very big knife, straight back with that drop point on it. And then we've got kind of a thumb ramp with jimping on it. We have the Ontario SP-53 Bolo. It is kind of a machete knife hybrid, I guess you would call it

This has been stripped. This is the stock sheath that it comes with. So it's a very basic sheath. It's a nylon sheath with a plastic insert. But you can tell with this knife, it has a very pronounced Bolo swedge to it. Straight back, it has the rubber Tootsie Roll style handle that is on a lot of the Ontario survival knives

It is a 10 inch 5160 carbon steel blade, flat grind. It runs currently about 70 bucks. Unfortunately, I think Ontario has been sold. So I don't know if these are going to be being made anymore. So if you like this knife, you may want to go out and get one and do what you want with it because it is a very heavy chopper compared to that BK-9. And we'll see that here in a minute when we start messing with it

Next up is a very budget friendly survival knife. This is from Camillus. This is the Carnivore Inject. And these are made overseas in China. It is found at Walmart, Amazon, places like that

It has a very nice Kydex sheath for such a budget knife. And these are running around $30 or $40. But this is very different than anything else we're going to look at because of the blade shape. So it is more of a pronounced Tanto style or Tanto style blade

And then we have these very aggressive sawbacks and then a notch for cutting cord, but also is great for picking up the pot out of a fire. And then it has a contoured rubberized handle. And kind of the nifty thing about this one is it has a little hidden utility blade in the handle. So if you're on a budget, this may be a good option

This is a 12 inch blade. So it is the longest one we're going to be looking at. And it is a 420 stainless steel. They say it's titanium bonded. I'm not sure what that really means. It's probably some type of coating that's applied. But I reviewed one of the older Carnivore X knives in the past, one of my older videos. And it was a surprising knife. I was blown away by how well it did in the woods. So we'll take a look at this one

And then I thought I'd throw into the mix something a little bit different. This is smaller than all the other knives, but I feel like that this is kind of a standard in survival knives and in the knife community. This is the SE6. This one has also been stripped from its coating. And this is the basic slab handles that it comes with. It's a six and a half inch knife, 1095 high carbon steel

SE knives have excellent heat treatment. And it runs about 140 bucks new. This is not the stock sheath. This is an upgraded sheath from Knife Connection with a leather backer, dangler on it. But when you start talking about survival knives and outdoor knives, you have to have an SE

And unfortunately, I don't have a Junglas or the new Junglas 2. I don't have any of those. So and I've used them. And I think I had a Junglas a long time ago, but I wish I had it back. Because that would have been probably more of a fair comparison to these other ones. But I feel like you have to show the SE6. If you have it, show it. And because it is a fantastic all purpose heavy duty survival type knife. And it's worthy looking at for sure

And what I like to do is I like to have in my pocket always is some type of good, solid utilitarian pocket knife. So it doesn't matter what you pick. You can be a Victorinox like this one. This one has a locking blade, also has a saw and some other tools

So it's a very versatile knife. I can use this for smaller tasks like feather sticking, cleaning small game, doing different small projects around camp. So always have some type of tool and it doesn't matter you pick what you want, what you're comfortable with. Some people like multi tools. Some people like the Victorinox. Maybe it's just a really good lock back knife like a buck 112 or something like that. So always have something to go along with your bigger knife

So one of the first tasks you're probably going to perform with a larger knife is probably some type of chopping. And you want to be able to do that efficiently. You don't want to be spending a lot of time chopping through something. So that's why the larger knife, the longer knife and also a little bit of a heavier knife is more useful

So I'm not expelling a lot of energy to get that chopped

Even the smaller SE-6 can be capable. So here we have something a little bit bigger

Okay. Hmm

A little bit of bounce on that bolo. Okay

Use this as a means of driving

That's where that wide bolo really comes in handy because now I've got a pretty decent hammer

Now we're getting into much larger, denser pieces of wood

Can a small knife do it? I don't know. Let's see

Not bad. It actually, the SE bit pretty well, but there's not much weight behind it. So it doesn't go as far and it tends to bounce a little bit

Just keep rotating that wood. So one thing I love about this Lester River Bushcraft pouch is that it slips on and then you can actually screw it down right there on the edge, both sides

So it attaches to your sheath. So if you have a Kydex sheath and it's a big sheath, this pouch fits perfectly

What's awesome about it is you can carry a lot of gear inside of it, which if you're really talking about a survival knife, to me, having a pouch of some sort on the sheath, it makes a lot of sense

That way you're not carrying a lot of extra stuff with you. It's all in one kit. So in here I've got a couple packs of MRE toilet paper

I have my brass match safe that has a good oil-filled compass

Let's see. There she goes. She's starting to work. And it all has gaskets in it

This was from a company called K&M. And I don't even know if they're around anymore

I've had it for a while. It's a nice waterproof match container with the compass built in

And of course a ferro rod. Gotta have a ferro rod. And this is a nice big beefy one. I think this is just one of the Amazon ones that you'll find

Nothing fancy. But we're going to test the knives on this as well and see how they strike, if they have that ability

And of course just a Bic lighter. I need to modify this one and put a zip tie around it so it doesn't come open or doesn't release gas when I don't want it to

And then that pouch is big enough to hold a tin, so this is an Altoids tin

I'm going to keep in here just a couple extra items. We have a small survival fishing kit with some lures, line, a small bobber

And then in the bottom I've got some tinder tabs. Those are from Black and White Firestarter. You can find those guys on Etsy

There's some brass snare wire. There is a beeswax candle and then an extra safety pin

So the other task that I foresee is splitting wood. And yes, you could just throw this in the fire. That's not the point

When you split wood, you're trying to get to the center of it, which is drier

So if this was a very wet condition out here right now, this wood was soaked on the outside

And I needed to get to the center to start doing feather sticks and doing a one-stick fire

I would have to split this. And the thinner pieces are going to be more soaked, more wet, because they're smaller

This is going to have a dry center, so that is the task of splitting

Dry. Very dry in the middle. Very hard. Pretty good seasoned wood

This is a good heavy-duty pommel. Strong, solid, heavy-duty. I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire

I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire. I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire

I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire. I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire

I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire. I'm going to go ahead and put this on the fire

So a good heavy-duty pommel. Strong tip, so you can do things like this

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

No deformity in the tip whatsoever. No deformity in the tip whatsoever

So that does pretty good there. So that does pretty good there

And I've got this little knife, which may be a great... And I've got this little knife, which may be a great..

Oh yeah, that's like the best one yet, right? Oh yeah, that's like the best one yet, right

Pretty awesome. So some of the other tasks that you're going to be wanting to do

So some of the other tasks that you're going to be wanting to do is some type of notching, just general woodwork

is some type of notching, just general woodwork. is some type of notching, just general woodwork

So if you need to create a notch in the wood for a pot hook, you can do that. So if you need to create a notch in the wood for a pot hook, you can do that

So if you need to create a notch in the wood for a pot hook, you can do that. That's where the smaller knife comes in handy

That's where the smaller knife comes in handy. Of course, green wood

Of course, green wood. Something you're going to have to possibly work with

Something you're going to have to possibly work with. Something you're going to have to possibly work with

Something you're going to have to possibly work with. Something you're going to have to possibly work with

And this may be kind of hard to see, but here in Ohio, And this may be kind of hard to see, but here in Ohio

we have this multiflora rose, this very thorny, very invasive species of plant

this very thorny, very invasive species of plant. It's everywhere, and when you're trying to make your way through the woods

it's everywhere, and when you're trying to make your way through the woods, you will get hung up on it

you will get hung up on it. So the machete-style knife is going to be definitely a plus

So the machete-style knife is going to be definitely a plus, because then you can chop through that stuff if you have to clear a path

because then you can chop through that stuff if you have to clear a path, or if you're setting up a tarp

It's a rarity that I get out in the woods, and I'm able to take a bunch of knives with me to test and play with it

and I'm able to take a bunch of knives with me to test and play with it, so it's been a lot of fun just messing with these things

and it's brought a few things to light for me that I didn't know about these knives. Few of these are newer acquisitions

so I noticed that there's some work that needs to be done on a few of these. One of them in particular kind of underperformed

and that was the carnivore. I think the Bolo from Ontario is going to be fantastic

I think the Bolo from Ontario is going to be fantastic. I think the Bolo from Ontario is going to be fantastic

It just needs work on the edge. That edge is a little iffy right now. The Becker is a treat to work with

It has the length, the strength. Also, it's not overly heavy, so you don't feel a lot of fatigue in your hand when you're chopping with it

so you don't feel a lot of fatigue in your hand when you're chopping with it. It bites pretty well, I think

I'm definitely going to touch up the edge a little bit more on it. I think overall, it's probably my favorite of the larger knives

I think overall, it's probably my favorite of the larger knives. Of course, you cannot go wrong with the SC6

It is a workhorse. Of course, it's small. You're not going to do a lot of the bigger chopping

so you really need to use this in conjunction with a saw. But even a good wire saw

or a smaller hand saw like a Baco or a Silky or a smaller hand saw like a Baco or a Silky

with an SC6 is a great combination. Then pair that with your pocket knife

and you have three tools that can do a lot of stuff because the SC is just very well built

It has a very good edge, a very good heat treat on it. Just stock, these knives are fantastic

Then with a little imagination, some elbow grease, you can do some pretty cool things with it, stripping the coating

and doing some neat stuff with a patina on it. You can, of course, change out the handles on these

There's some custom handles available and custom handles available for the Becker

Two knives I would probably choose over and over again are these two right here. They are awesome

Hopefully, just with this little bit of testing we did today, Hopefully, just with this little bit of testing we did today

you can get some ideas of what these big knives are supposed to do or at least what I think they're supposed to do and how to use them

Alright guys, thanks for watching the video. I'm going to get out of here. Please check out the social media

links down below for Facebook group, Instagram, check out my Amazon store if you feel like checking out

some of these knives and the prices. Also check out preparedwanderer.com. That's the website. It's growing. I'm trying to add articles to that all the time

There's links to all the videos and articles and also to the Big Cartel site that sells

stickers, patches, and I just started selling prepared wanderer survival kits. Mini survival tins. We'll be doing a review of that here shortly

So check that out on Big Cartel. And as always, thank you so much for watching

and we will see you next time on the Prepared Wanderer. Prepared Wanderer Survival Kit

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