Camping Lights

There are many different uses for camping knives and tools, depending on where you are going and what the plans are. When camping in the woods, a knife is useful for trimming trees as well as cutting food before cooking, but the size of the camping knives will be decided by their use. For many people, it is not unusual to use their knife for a variety of tasks, which makes their choice important so they do not have to carry a different knife for different purposes.

Knives with a serrations may be ideal for cutting tender objects, such as a loaf of bread, but probably will not work if it has to trim small branches for a tree to use for roasting hot dogs over an open fire. In some instances, camping knives may be called upon to fillet fish and using a serrated edge may make this job harder. While most view camping knives as a long, fixed-blade tool to carry in a sheath, others prefer folding blades to make them easier and safer to carry.

An evergreen favourite is the Swiss Army knife (above) full of useful extras. An extension of that idea is the 12 in 1 multi function pocket tool which includes pliers, wire cutter, hammer, hatchet (axe), fish scaler and hook remover, phillips screwdriver, knife, can opener, hex wrench, saw, file, slotted screwdriver and folds to a convenient 7 1/2″ x 4″ x 1″ with a nylon belt pouch.

There are of course purpose built tools such as hatchet and the good old folding shovel. Saws can also be a useful addition to the camping kit, including the commando wire saw which wraps up to be carried in the smallest of places.

If you are camping in established camping grounds then the requirement for tools may not be that important whereas, should you be going into the wild, you need to be as prepared as possible. In this situation you may want to consider one of the survival knives that come equipped with useful accessories like a compass, fishing line and hooks, signalling equipment etc.

Another specialist area for tools is for the hunter. There are many purpose built hunting kits containing different knives such as skinning, boning, saws and axes.

Do Not Carry Unprotected Knives

It may seem elementary, but camping knives should be carried either in a protective sheath or be able to have the blade fold into the handle. This is only common sense, but there are many accidents every year from people being cut or stabbed while carrying an open-bladed knife in their backpack or pocket. The sheath should also be sturdy enough so that the blade of camping knives does not accidentally cut though the side.

How the sheath is positioned on the belt is also safety related. It should be far enough to one side so as not interfere with the wearer’s ability to stoop or bend, yet close enough to the front to allow easy access. Care is also needed to make sure the sheath housing the camping knives does not end up poking in the pocket or getting hung up on passing brush.

Those choosing to carry folding camping knives are advised to insure it is a lock-back knife to prevent the blade from slipping closed while being used. The lock-back feature requires the use of two hands to close the blade, but also eliminates the accidental closing when the fingers may not be out of the way.

Regardless of the use of camping knives, they need to kept clean and sharp at all times. Even if they are not used for cutting food, if they are allowed to dry with sap from a tree branch on the blade, even stainless steel blades will suffer and become weak. The blade should never be held over an open fire to clean it, as the heat from the flame can cause the blade to lose its strength and snap off under normal circumstances.

Last but not least is not to forget to take a good knife and tool sharpener to keep everything working at it’s peak..

Best Buy

Time after time we’ve checked site after site only to find that the cheapest camping knives & tools are to be found at Amazon.

Other sites may discount a few dollars, but this is lost (and more besides) after you add delivery charges on top.

As well as that, many other sites may offer a lower price, but they never have any in stock. In most cases they hope to lure you in with one product they don’t have, in the hope you’ll purchase something else from them while you’re there.

Our advice? Stick with Amazon for your cheapest camping knives & tools. They really are, consistently the cheapest source of camping knives & tools. In almost every case, products purchased at Amazon qualify for super saver and include free delivery. Certainly if you buy a couple of other things besides.

This is why we almost exclusively select Amazon as our best buy stockist, and why you can still get the cheapest camping knives & tools from them.

Stan Craigie is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.