CampingGearReview » 2011 » May

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I have gained experience after several trips to the woods, that would not have come any other way.  One of the most used tools is a camp knife.  In the beginning, I thought bigger is better, and started with a Cold Steel GI Tanto.  At first it seemed to make perfect sense: large heavy blade for camp chores, paracord wrapped handle in case it needs to become a spear head, inexpensive, to take abuse, etc.  All these ‘features’ turned out to be useless: large blade is a pain to carry, handle is uncomfortable, cheap steel dull easy, and it looks scary, when you run into other people on the trail.  So… the GI Tanto has been replace with a Buck Omni Hunter 12pt with gut hook.

The Omni Hunter has a large curved handle, made of black Kraton.  It is textured for good grip, and is not slippery even with blood on it.  There are ridges on the top and bottom of the handle to increase traction in all conditions.  A lanyard hole is in the back, you can easily feed 550 cord through it for extra lashing.  This handle is large, even someone with large hands should find it comfortable.  If you have smaller hands, the curve of the handle makes it easy to use in every situation.  It is a full tang knife, as you can through the lanyard hole.

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