The best magazine
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Follow the directions in my previously-published article, "How to Make Your Own Knife," to make a full tang, Green River skinner-inspired knife.Take particular care to temper the steel slowly, a minimum of three times. You want a happy medium between steel that is tempered enough to resist shattering or snapping when it it dropped, struck or twisted and steel that is so flexible that it bends without returning to shape. - 2). Design your knife with as few parts as possible. Be sure that your knife had a full tang incorporated into the design. A shank knife is usually more reliable in a survival situation than a folding knife. Although tactical liner lock knives have many great features that make them an excellent knife to have with you in a survival situation, the more moving parts a knife has, the easier it is for one of them to fail.
- 3). Design your sheath for a quick, one-handed draw. You may be fouled in climbing gear or need to fend off a grapple from a human or animal attacker. A snap closure is preferable to a buckle on your sheath.
- 4). Make your sheath and belt pouch from vegetable oil-tanned leather if you will be forming the sheath to the contours of the knife. A contour-formed sheath will fit the knife better, preventing loss. Use the information in Chapter Four: Sheathmaking in Tim McCreight's book, "Custom Knifemaking: 10 Projects from a Master Craftsman," published by Stackpole Books in 1985.
- 5). Fill your belt pouch with two or more disposable lighters; a flare pistol and flares; a reflective, insulating sheet of Mylar to use as a blanket, chunks of cut up firestarter in a loosely woven cotton or burlap bag; fish hooks and fishing line; a mini first aid kit and two weeks worth of water purification tablets.
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