If it’s that time of the year again and you want to pit your skills against the forces of Mother Nature, make sure you don’t leave the safety of your home without your old, trusty survival knife.

How Far Will Your Resourcefulness Go?
Survival knives are your #1 tool to support your resourcefulness. You can accomplish a lot of things just by letting your common sense, imagination, and resourcefulness work together. Survival knives can help you build fire, traps, rafts, and so much more. You just have to find a way to maximize on the resources you have in the wild.

Health and Safety
Contagious diseases are just as dangerous as wild animals that roam in the dark, but you can use your survival knife to make your camping trip as healthy as possible. You can create provisional mosquito nets and herbal remedies. You can ensure that your food and water remain sanitary with containers and covers made from wood, leaves, stones, and whatever else you can find of use in the woods.

Building a Home
In the even that you lose your tent and sleeping bag, your survival knife can be of help to build you functional shelter. It won’t be as luxurious, but it can at least give you protection from storms of all kinds.

When building a makeshift shelter in the wilds, be sure that you choose the ideal location. Even the sturdiest shelters won’t make a difference if you build them directly out in the open. Try to look for areas where you can use a solid surface to serve as at least one side of your shelter.

Feeding Yourself
If you run out of provisions, you need to find a way to get yourself food and water and again, your survival knife can help you with that. You can build traps on the ground or hanging from trees. You can spear fish with your knives and gather fruits from trees.

Defending Yourself
Last but not the least, a survival knife can do what it’s meant to and that’s to ensure you survive. If someone or something attacks you, use your knife.

An Important Reminder
Before leaving home, make sure that your survival knife is still in good working order. Be sure that its edges are still razor sharp and without any rust. It must also come with full tangs; if its handle was to break for whatever reason, its design allows you to use a makeshift handle for your knife.

The Leatherman Wave is like a Swiss Army Knife, but with more tools. You can use it for home repairs and more.

The Leatherman Wave is probably one of the most popular tools nowadays. Its outside-accessible set of blades can be started up with only one hand. It has multiple tools inside of it that can be used in any place, whether you are repairing your roof or fixing up your basement; going out on a camping trip or hanging around in the wilderness; or simply using it for any task in your everyday life. With good use of the Leatherman Wave, you could be the McGyver of your household.

What are the different tools available in a typical Leatherman Wave? There are several knives in any Leatherman Wave model, and they can be serrated or a simple blade. The Leatherman Wave also has several pliers, as well as wire cutters and strippers. These can help you especially when you have to work on electrical wirings or on metal fences or cages. The Leatherman Wave also features a screwdriver, as well as bit drivers. There will also be a pair of small scissors, as well as files. The wood or metal file is a simple model for simple filing tasks, while the diamond-coated file should help you with more complex tasks, or with sturdier materials.

There are more tools in a typical Leatherman Wave. You can use a built-in saw for your cutting needs. There is also a bottle opener, as well as a can opener. You can also measure things with its 8-inch ruler. Some packages that are included in the Leatherman Wave are screwdriver bits, which can go as small as those needed to repair eyeglasses.

A Leatherman Wave will be made of stainless steel, from its body to its handles, and it can be opened with the use of one hand. All its blades and tools can be locked in, so that children will not be able to use it unless they use a lot of force. Nevertheless, it should be kept out of children’s hands. The Leatherman Wave also has its own lanyard ring, which will allow you to fasten it for a better grip on other tools, or onto your belt. At 4 inches and weighing a little over 200 grams, this small tool is as formidable as it is portable.

For more information on where you can get a good Leatherman Wave, ask your security and tools retailer. With good use of the Leatherman Wave, as well as practice, you can turn yourself into a great McGyver!

If you think a knife is a knife is a knife, then explain how you could use a butcher’s knife to perform the job of a fillet knife, or vice versa. If you frequently go camping, go on trips or like the outdoors, you might want to invest in a good survival knife. Here are tips on choosing one:

Know what it looks like
It can range in length from 4 to 6 in or can even be longer. It is frequently manufactured as a fixed blade, which means it cannot be folded. It is sturdy, made of strong materials, has a sharp edge (some survival knives are designed to have two sharp edges) and a sharp tip.

Choose a good size
Most people have this idea that since a knife will be used for survival, it has to be big. It doesn’t have to be. Survival knives come in different sizes, so choose one that will offer you the most function at the size that will be convenient for you to carry, conceal or use. If it’s too small, it might not do a good job for cutting or chopping. If it’s too big, it might be too heavy and cumbersome, so choose one that will fit your purpose and capability to handle.

Check the tang
The tang refers to that part of the knife that secures the blade to its handle. Look for a full tang. If it’s full, you can rely on it for heavy duty use. Should you hit a hard object, you won’t worry about your knife snapping off.

Look for a solid handle
A good tang should be wide enough. If you choose a survival knife with a narrower tang, just make sure that the handle is well designed and built solidly. It should be fitted and must either be welded or bolted securely in place. The handle should feel secure and comfortable in your hand. If it doesn’t, you might find it difficult to use the knife.

The blade must be solid
No matter the length of the blade of the survival knife you choose, just make sure that it is sturdy. It should move as one metal and should not bend. Look for a sturdy tip as well because this is usually the part where the blade is weakest. Remember that a survival knife isn’t flexible so check for strength.

One edge or two edges?
If you’re a beginner, best stick with a survival knife that has a single-edged blade. It’s safer for you to use and will be sufficient. If you’re not experienced in using a survival knife, a double-edged knife might prove too difficult to handle.

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