When you are in a survival situation, perhaps the greatest tool you could have at your disposal is a knife. The amount of use you will get out of it could make it worth quintuple its weight in gold plus a billion more. There are seemingly endless ways to use a knife for survival.
Your knife can be an important tool for you. So much so, in fact, that those with a knife in any survival situation have a survival rate roughly 70% higher than those without a knife or blade of any kind.
Why is it that a knife can be so essential for your survival? It’s pretty much a “can-do” instrument for just about anything you might come across. You may also see us continue to refer to a knife as a tool too.
When we write this, we’re doing it for a reason. Knives are, basically, tools. Perhaps, they are not going to be seen as something similar to a tool like a hammer or a screwdriver. However, tools like that might be good for at-home projects or stuff you do at work. Yet a knife will work just as they do in your survival situation.
What are some ways to use a knife for survival? Let’s examine just 5 critical things it brings they bring to the table.
Table of Contents
1.) As A Weapon
We should not wait for too long to mention the most obvious use for the knife. You’re going to perhaps deal with some problematic issues in survival. Due to this, you need all the help you can get.
A good knife can help to protect you against numerous animal species you might deal with. In fact, a knife could also help protect you against people that might want to do you wrong too. It is clear that you cannot trust everyone.
Some might be trying to survive just like you and therefore, be willing to do anything to accomplish that. When you’re in a survival situation, it’s often a kill or be killed world. You cannot avoid taking advantage of an opening if it means you survive just one more day.
Thus, people can and likely should try to come for your stuff to help them. This is where your knife is so critical. By having it, you have a much better chance of preventing them from taking anything from you.
2.) As A Hammer
We mentioned relating your knife to a tool like a hammer above. However, sometimes a knife can be exactly that. When you’re making things in the wild or in any survival situation, you’re going to have a need for a blunt instrument at some point.
While you won’t get much hammer use out of a classic pocket knife, you could certainly get this out of a fixed blade. There are a few ways it can be used for such a purpose.
First, you can just use the butt of the handle. This will be a great way to use it as the butt is typically made to be pretty tough and can manage well being used like that. You can also use the back portion of the blade.
Unless your knife is bladed on both sides, the back portion of a fixed blade knife will be perfect for hammer usage. It’s obviously made with pretty durable steel more often than not. You have the handle to hold onto just like you do with a hammer too. Therefore, you’ll be able to get a good swing with it and everything.
3.) Use It To Make Things
A knife is not just a hammer or protective device but it can also help you create too. You might need spears for example. Cutting a fine point can be essential and a knife will help you do that, same with arrows you might want to make.
You could also use it to put your shelter together, which is one of the most important things you’ll need in survival. If that’s not enough, the knife can be used to make fire by helping you get proper sparks going with the right rock.
If you can find a flint, it’ll be perfect for making fire. But you can get sparks with rocks just the same, so long as it’s the right type. Another one of the ways to use a knife for survival is simply to help you split firewood to use for the previously mentioned fire too.
Even more so regarding fire, a knife can help you make tinder bundles that’ll help get a fire going with a spark you’re going to get with the same knife. It’s clear that using a knife for just fire creation alone makes it worth having.
Yet helping you make other weapons and shelter are also extremely huge uses.
4.) For First Aid
Possibly the most underrated way to use a knife for survival is in the world of First Aid. Sure, it might not seem like an obvious one…but really think about it. You’ll need your knife to help you possibly with several medical needs.
If you have someone in need of a small yet emergency surgical procedure, a knife will be used to cut them open. You might also experience an issue where this might happen to you. There are several stories of survivalists having to open themselves up in the wild.
It is a very rare situation, but it has happened. However, there might be normal uses such as cutting makeshift bandages. On top of this, you might develop bad blisters or even vesicles. If these arise, you’ll often need to drain them or anything like them.
The same might go for a bug bite that could become infected. Cutting them open to drain out some of the infection or poison is a huge thing. At the same time, you might also just need to open them to drain some of the blood out to release pressure causing you pain.
If this is done, you’ll always need to make sure your blade is perfectly sharp, as clean as possible (sterilized), and you have bandages handy. Bonus points go to those who have medicine to put on them though.
Honestly, in cases like First Aid, knives are literal lifesavers.
5.) For Hunting
While we previously highlighted how a knife can be used as a protection weapon as well as help you make other weapons, there is much more. Sure, it can help you keep yourself protected while also helping you make other protective or hunting tools.
However, the knife alone will help you while hunting. For example, your knife could help you make small traps for small game while also helping you make larger traps for bigger game. At the end of the day, the animal is trapped but still needs a killing blow.
Your knife will be what offers that blow, honestly.
You might also just choose to go right at an animal and take it down, stabbing it as long as you must until it’s gone. We do not advise this but it’s an option.
On top of that, you can use your knife to help you catch fish. Sure, it’ll help make fish traps where you’ll put in a final blow just like hunting. Yet you could also go straight in and surprise a fish, by stabbing right through it. This is a bit dangerous, so be sure it’s not your first option.
If animals are not your thing, it’ll also help you cut out possible fruits, vegetables, and other edible plants. Not to mention, it’ll help you cut all of these things up to better eat them.
Proper processing of the food you get is essential. This is especially true if you’re not alone in your survival and must evenly distribute food you have caught or gathered.
