Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6649001" data-attributes="member: 2011">Nonsense. In the middle of the night in a torrential rain when the ground is flooding and you didn't think you would need to trench your tent ahead of time and a knife is your only option (or the knife is the first tool you can find in the dark), you'll use the knife to dig the trench.  You'll then sharpen the knife later on. Sure, it's great if you brought a trowel for that task and have it at hand. The best tool for the job. And if you have an axe, you might use that. And note: before you post that one always digs a trench around their tent, trust me, it doesn't always happen when you have backpacked 20 miles and are bone tired at the end of the day. In fact, many national parks and such prohibit you from trenching your tent (leave no trace).As a general rule, I agree with you. Use the knife to carve a digging tool (assuming that you have wood nearby) or pry out a rock and use it. But in an emergency or survival situation or one where other options are not available, yes, I have used my knife to dig. It tends to dull the front part of the blade, but it doesn't ruin it. I suspect that you do not have actual experience with this because the thought of doing so horrifies you.It's not the first choice, but it is an option. I have also done similar things to what is in that video. I've also tripped over the large rock in my campsite when doing that type of thing. It happens. I've also used a sharp stick and water to bore a hole into the ground to start a hole in hard ground to then pound a larger makeshift stake into. There are a lot of techniques, it just depends on situation. Try using the large rock technique when there are no large rocks nearby, or when you have down to dig down through snow and/or frozen ground to get to them. Don't make assumptions about what your options are.I was talking about a more emergency/survival situation when using a knife to dig. Frankly, most any tool can be used for a lot of things if one is not in a hurry or have limited options. I've been in several situations where it's getting dark or a sudden storm is coming in, and I got to get a lot of tasks done quickly and I'll sometimes use the fastest but less optimal solution instead of the much better but more time consuming solution. Anyone whose been out in the wilderness knows that crap happens and it happens quickly. Accidents, weather changes, injuries, wild animals, equipment failures. Stuff happens and quite frankly, I have dulled a few knives (even broken a tip off a knife blade, and damaged some other tools and equipment) coming up with a fast makeshift solution. Compared to the alternative, I could give a rats rearend about not using a knife for what it is supposed to be used for.A lot of tools can be used for a lot of things if one has the time, but when time crunched in an emergency, I just find that a knife has more utility. IME.Have you ever been cooking breakfast when a bear waltzes into your camp and hovers over your shoulder? That happened to a friend of mine while we were backpacking. Sure, yelling and throwing rocks near bears works fairly well, but trust me, it doesn't work as well when they are pawing through your food supplies. Eventually it'll run away with some of your food, but not necessarily right away. Emergency situations often require alternative approaches. Shouting and throwing rocks did not work for us that time, we finally managed it by pounding a stick on a log, for some reason, the bear didn't like that sound. I've only had two close bear encounters in the wilderness (and one in my backyard in Colorado, fortunately there was a barbed wire fence between us and I just backed away, it never tried to get past the fence). I'm ok with not having another such experience (probably one of the reasons that I've never hunted bear). I even made a serious tactical error with my first bear encounter. My buddy and I were backpacking and a black bear showed up nearby. He started grabbing rocks and shouting, while I tried to grab the camera off his backpack to get a picture. An incredibly stupid thing to do, but I was very young at the time and a lot more inexperienced. I knew to scare the bear away, but I thought at the time that a picture would be great to go with the story. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" />Personally, I would think that hiking is one of the more dangerous activities because people do not bring a lot of gear when hiking. At least with backpacking, we prepare for many possibilities. I've never done a lot of hiking. In camping situations where one can set up their camp with everything in its place and they can bring a ton of equipment and many of the proper tools, things are different.</blockquote>

Verification