Tools for the outdoors

Outdoorsmen often find themselves wondering what to bring into the bush. There are sometimes heated discussions about whether to bring a knife, axe or machete out into the bush. Everyone agrees that each reigns supreme in one area or another, but one can still hear folks say that they prefer one or another generally above all else in survival. The simple fact remains that were anyone to be sent anywhere in the world, there is always a better tool for the job.

George Washington Sears, famously known by his pen name Nessmuk, had an idea for what he liked to carry in the late 1800s that many stand by today. A famous illustration by Sears displayed the “Nessmuck trio,” including a folding knife, a nessmuk style knife and a double bit hatchet. These were Nessmuk’s choice tools for any excursion into the wilderness.

I am partial to bowie knives. They not only skin game the best of all the larger bush tools, they also can do most other jobs nearly as well. The axe is definitely the best at splitting heavy wood and cleaving branches. The machete is best on green brush. The bowie knife is not the best at cleaving or splitting. The machete cannot split, but I have seen people clean animals with them. I have heard self-professed outdoorsmen talk about skinning an animal with a finely honed axe, but I find them to be woefully unviable for the task.

If one were allowed to bring two, most everyone would choose a large knife and an axe or hatchet. That achieves the best of all worlds.

Teddy Roosevelt once passed through Maine on a trip to New England, where someone crafted a combination tool that has since seen many replicas. The tool was a fine axe with a knife sheathed in the end of the handle. These axes were later referred to as “sportsman’s axes” or “the president’s hunting axes.” I am sure Roosevelt was quite pleased with these unique tools, though his famous quote did not mention “carry a big axe.” If only one tool could be chosen, I would choose the bowie.

The old west bowie has suffered a sour outlook. This is mainly because in today’s outdoors world, the craze is for all things lightweight. Bowies, by definition, are not lightweight. They are big, heavy chunks of steel, built to beat on things. The classic bowie knife started life as the blade of the long hunter in eastern Blue Ridge Appalachia and found fame as a fighting knife in the mid-1800s in the famous Sandbar fight. There, the tool’s namesake, James Bowie, fought several attackers with one. The bowie is a well-balanced, elegant device. A well-made bowie with a sharp edge can hog on trees, removing limbs and chopping into logs one second, while then skinning fish and large game the next.

I have done all these things and more with bowies. They can be used to pound tent stakes into the ground with the flat face, or to scrape against a fire starter. There is an old anonymous saying that goes, “a big knife can do small knife things, but a small knife cannot do big knife things.” This seems to be most true when it comes to bowies.

Whenever out in the wilderness, I always feel naked without a trusty bowie, especially in the mountains of Montana. Not only is there a wealth of history supporting bowies as a key choice, but there is an esteem in doing things in the old way. Sorry Teddy, but like the Montana mountain men and west goers of old, I recommend taking along a big knife, instead.

Reach John Dowd at [email protected].