A survival knife is best considered your lifeline in survival situations. You have the power to do so many things when you have one on your hands. Aside from the basic functions mentioned above, here are some of its survival-related functions:

• Digging the ground,
• Food preparation (preparing food in survival cases is more efficient and much cleaner when using a good survival knife than without it),
• Shelter building (to survive the wilderness, you need to learn how to create makeshift shelters with whatever material around you, and you cannot do that without a survival knife by your side),
• Fire making,
• As a prying tool,
• For signaling,
• For hammering (the pommel of a good survival knife is strong enough to hammer things down),
• As a makeshift screwdriver (this does not really require some skill set to use it in such way).

What You Should Avoid

Everything starts with a good understanding on the things you must avoid when looking for a good survival knife. A double-edged blade, however fancy or effective it may seem, is not really an ideal survival knife since it has lesser functions.

The principle behind it is for thrusting, instead of the most important survival functions, like chopping and cutting. A double-edged blade is also known to have a weaker tip as compared to its single-edged counterpart. This makes it more prone to breaking. And since reliability is a vital trait of the survival knife, you should tick off the double-edged blade feature from your list. Besides, you will be minus the baton feature with it.

It’s also smart top stay away from fancy Rambo-style knives. These intimidating monsters are not really designated as survival knives, but rather as offensive weapons to ward of predators, just like how they are portrayed in the movies. Consider them as just for show due to their aggressive looks, as they are too heavy to carry around and are too impractical to use in the more important survival chores.

What Your Survival Knife Must Have

After identifying the basics of what to avoid, you can now focus on crucial features that makes a survival knife simply the most effective and efficient there is.

The Fixed Blade Feature

Note that great survival knives are defined by their durability and reliability. Since the outdoor world is a harsh and tough one, your main survival tool must be suited for all the abuse coming its way. Folding knives are never good enough for these. They may be excellent backup knives, but the strength of the fixed blade structure especially with a full tang construction where the blade extends through all the way to the handle makes it the best survival knife. This is largely because of its smart construction. The full tang feature guarantees the strength and durability of survival knives.

The Issue of the Plain versus the Serrated Edge

Effective survival knives must always feature a plain edge. Serrated edges are known to be more useful in urban environments, especially when cutting through synthetic materials (ropes, or seatbelts). You could still perform this though using the plain edge feature; you can also do a whole lot of functions with it. Plus, plain-edged blades are easy to sharpen anywhere, which is a very important edge against the serrated type.

The Shape of the Blade

It would be best to avoid blades with relatively narrow or thin points, as these are known to break easily. Just imagine all the activities and abuse you will have to subject your knife to in survival conditions and you’ll get the idea. What you really need is a sturdy point that can both take abuse and perform the finer chores in survival situations.

A drop-pointed blade style is highly considered the best choice for anyone’s idea of the all-around survival blade. You are also better off with a decent-curved edge on the belly part. This is important when skinning and slicing.

Blade Size

Size always matters everywhere. And in the case of survival knives, yours must be robust enough to handle abuse and yet small enough to use for comfort in other “smaller” survival tasks. A blade thickness at an 8th of an inch should be enough for various heavy duty functions, while still ideal for other smaller tasks. A 4- to 5- inch blade length is also ideal for survival mode. Anything less would make batoning wood a very difficult task.

The Handle

A comfortable handle is something that gives you a feeling that your survival knife is just like an extension of your hand. And to achieve comfortable handling, see to it that the handle is made using a durable material. Stay away from hollow or plastic-made handles since these are never dependable. Your knife is also best suited for survival with a flat and blunt edge at the handle’s end for hammering with force.

At the End of the Day

When it comes to choosing a survival knife, going for less gives you considerably more; it’s best to forget all the fancy things you see on TV or in the movies. You are better off hanging your fancy movie prop knife on the wall and appreciating the simple concepts of skillfully-designed survival knives. It is all about power and performance.

Note that function, not style, is what helps you get through the day all the time. Performance should always be your priority. Consider it as a faithful partner with the ability to be with you all the way. And to do just that, look for proven features – these are what make a great survival knife.

What Disasters Can Take Place In Your Area?

An essential component of survival preparedness is knowing what has occurred historically. Is your area known for having massive floods? Are you living in an earthquake zone? Has your town or city been a target of terrorist attacks? Consider these factors when making your plan, they may immediately eliminate some choices or make others more favorable.

What Are Your Strengths And Weaknesses?

Considering these can help adapt your Bug Out Plan to complement your strengths, mitigate your weaknesses, and give you a much higher chance of survival. Are you very fit? Great, you will be able to carry more survival supplies and plan a longer route. Do you know how to perform survival first aid? That could be vital if a member of your group gets hurt. Identifying weaknesses can be as simple as understanding what survival skills you need to train in. Can you build a fire reliably? Are you able to navigate at night with your map and compass? Do you have a working knowledge of plants and animals in your area? Learning these things and other survival skills will make your Bug Out Plan far stronger. Remember, the more skills you have, the less you need to carry.

Plan on Multiple Possible Destinations

Best practice for survival planning is to have at least 4 destinations as a part of your Bug Out Plan, one for each cardinal direction on the map (North, South, East, West). This can however be narrowed down due to both geography and the likeliness of particular events occurring. For example, if you lived on the western bank of the Mississippi River and were preparing for a flood, you would not need to consider bugging out to the East.

Having multiple destinations in your plan, as well as multiple routes to each adds a level of flexibility that simply must be planned out ahead of time. Going through this planning effort will make you ready no matter what disaster fate throws at you.

Have Specific Destinations In Mind

Having a destination in your Bug Out Plan gives you a goal to work towards as you travel. This will have an enormous positive psychological impact on your survival scenario. Surviving is incredibly difficult in even favorable conditions and having a positive state of mind makes a substantial difference towards success.

Certain types of destinations, such as a second home, relative’s house, or designated camp also allow for caching survival supplies both at the location and on the routes to them. Besides giving you an even greater psychological boost, this will massively increase your likelihood of survival as well as lessen the amount you have to carry. If none of these alternatives are available look for large public facilities or designated shelters. No matter what it is, having a destination is a key element to your Bug Out Plan.

How Fast Will You Be Able To Travel

This is vital for planning your routes. If you can calculate your average travel speed you will know how many hours or days it will take you to reach your destination. This then informs you as to how much survival gear and supplies you need to either forage, carry, or cache along the way. Your average travel speed will be most heavily impacted by the following variables:

Weight of your Bug Out Bag

An average person should carry no more than 25 percent to 30 percent of their body weight in a backpack. More than this is possible but highly challenging, plan your Bug Out Bag accordingly. It is even better if you can try and perform a test carry of your bag over a significant distance when planning it. You need to be able to carry your pack for hours, if not days. Bringing too much weight will hobble your progress, bring only what you need to survive.

Terrain you will be crossing

The average walking speed with a pack is 2.5-4 miles per hour over FLAT ground. When considering your route you need to be aware of what type of terrain you will be crossing. People often make the mistake in thinking that hiking downhill is easier than uphill. This is often not true as hiking with a pack downhill will mean that you need to take special care to have proper footing and to brace your steps. Will you be picking your way through rubble or crossing a body of water? Plan a realistic pace as a part of your survival planning to have a better outcome.

Overall fitness

A very fit person will obviously be capable of covering more ground than an unfit person. Assess yourself realistically for this trait, there are no egos in survival. If it has been a while since you went for a run, plan accordingly. The great part of making a Bug Out Plan is that it brings to light your weaknesses. This allows you to address them BEFORE they become a liability. If your plan would benefit from additional fitness, start off slow going for walks or runs and then build up to conditioning your body to hike with the additional weight of a pack.

Makeup of your party

If you are creating Bug Out Plan for accompanying people you will have to consider this as a factor. If you are moving with elderly people or children, you should incorporate into your survival preparedness the additional resources and time required to assist them. Do this by planning the progress of your routes based on how far you expect to travel at the pace of the least fit/mobile of your party.

Factors to Include in Your Bug Out Plan

Plan on packing an extra waterproof or laminated map with your routes and destinations clearly marked. It is additionally helpful to mark landmarks along each route to assist navigation.

If you are bugging out with others establish a rally point for you all to meet. Doing this beforehand prevents a messy situation where you are all wasting valuable time desperately attempting to contact each other when you should be on the move.

Also bring along a list of emergency numbers for friends, family, and government agencies. This will enable you to stay in touch and keep up to date on the disaster situation as it developments.

This may seem obvious but actually USE your Bug Out Bag to make your journey easier. This may mean using your hatchet to fashion a shelter or a pry tool to open a door to access a shortcut. There is no point in planning, packing, and carrying awesome survival gear if you are not going to employ them. Have you ever gone camping with a friend who brings a bunch of gadgets that they never even take out? Battery powered tent fan, anyone? Do Not Be That Guy.

Plan on looking for a place to spend the night 2-3 hours before sunset each night. You may not like the idea of trading that much travel time in but this will give you enough time to find a safe, dry place to camp, prepare food and water, and establish your shelter.

Know that a 160 lb person will use up more than 400 calories in an hour while hiking and more than 500 if carrying a full backpack. This is a level of exertion comparable to that of aerobics or running. Incorporate into your survival planning rest breaks and methods of keeping yourself hydrated and fueled up.

Conclusion

Creating a Bug Out Plan is an indispensable step in your overall survival planning. Utilizing these tips to build a simple, effective survival preparedness plan will ready you and your loved ones to survive when disaster strikes.

To learn the basic wilderness survival skills, one should enroll in a survival skill program offered by a survival school. Participating in survival training seminar could also be an option. Various schools and institutions may have their own survival programs. Nevertheless, the programs offered may integrate the basic survival skills.

Survival schools may give instructions on aboriginal survival skills. One can check out survival schools or survival programs in local community or schools. It is also possible to learn the wilderness survival skills by reading survival articles on some websites and practicing them in local wilderness areas.

One should know the how to, where to, and what to in when it comes to wilderness survival skills. When staying in the wild, it is all about survival. Tending for the personal needs is of the utmost concern. Self-defense may also have to be learned as the dangers in the wild will likely be numerous and unexpected. Optimism is the best attitude that can be employed in addition to courage, faith and hope. There are various things that should be considered when having a trek or staying in the wilderness.

The importance of wilderness survival training is that individuals will have a greater chance to stay alive in harsh conditions thanks to first hand experience with the necessary techniques. By participating in a wilderness survival course, individuals may realize the importance of life in a more traditional way while learning first hand from an expert. Individuals may also have a better insight on what to do in the event a survival situation may come unexpectedly.

Learning the necessary skills that can be applied in the wilderness is perhaps one of the great academic achievements in life. Although most people tend to avoid dangers as much as possible by living in an environment where they think they are safe, people should also comprehend that things in life, particularly those that are extremely challenging, demand physical and mental competence. Involving oneself in wilderness survival program can help him overcome the various challenges in life.

Unfortunately, many disasters are not small. Take Hurricane Katrina of 2005, for example. Hurricane Katrina spread destruction across 7 states, with New Orleans, Louisiana being the hardest hit. If you don’t live in an area which typically suffers attacks from hurricanes, how safe are you from other natural disasters? The extreme temperatures of 1980 killed 1260 people in the United States.

The 1980 disastrous heat wave and drought caused crops to fail and the resulting food shortages brought increased food prices to consumers. Since storms typically cause over half of natural disaster fatalities, why not focus your initial survival planning there? Storms often knock out electrical power from wind, flooding or snow, so plan for storm disasters first; especially if you feel overwhelmed with all of the “what ifs” disaster scenarios.

Stage 2. Once you are satisfied that you and each member of your family can survive an emergency for three days, then immediately make a survival plan for one week! Yes, I am talking serious disaster preparedness here! Last winter a storm hit our area with 90 mile/hr. winds and the power went out.

One section of our community was without power for two weeks with below zero temperatures. Another community in our state had a total snowfall of 18 feet in January 2012 while another community had 27 feet of snow. There were no deaths, and neighbors helped neighbors, people didn’t panic, a lot of small generators powered up, wood stoves burned through lots of stored wood, and all survived. People hauled water when their pipes froze, and didn’t starve, because they were well prepared with canned and smoked fish, frozen moose meat, and canned/frozen berries and garden veggies. Local community agencies offer many resources to help residents survive. By this time you may be thinking that our climate is harsh.

Yes, and we don’t run from it, either. We stock up on food and wood and other supplies all summer. We hunt, fish, can, dry, and freeze foods to store for winter. We prepare, dig in, and survive! You can, too. Even if you are living in an urban setting, you can buy items on sale, and stock up!

Stage 3. That brings me to the subject of extreme disaster preparedness – planning to survive one month! Yes. Our winters in Alaska are 8-9 months long! Oh yes, we have cities here. We work and buy food at stores just like everyone else. But if you have ever been here, you may have left with the impression that Alaskans are serious about their rights to subsistence fishing. Moose hunting season empties a lot of offices around Anchorage and Fairbanks in the fall season. Winter comes once a year, and it’s rough, so we make ready.

Sounds easy? Well, someone told me that researching something is the easiest part of any project. The hardest part is to stop researching and START DOING!

So let’s start with the easy part – research. There is a plethora of information available online. There are disaster plan guides you can download, survival lists, and gardening tips galore. There are government agencies with resources to help.

Utilize your LOCAL community resources to find out about local edible plants and how to get the most out of your gardening efforts for your own climate and soil types. Check out university extension services in your area for edible plants indigenous to your area and plant the seeds they recommend. These are just a few ideas.

START DOING NOW! Revise your Survival Plan to supply you and your loved ones for at least one month. Include renewable resources native to your region and a few hand tools. Drill it down to just the essentials on your list of survival items. If you can survive one month, you will survive 9 months! By doing your research, you have the knowledge you need for most emergencies.

Collect your survival items on your list and keep to the essentials. Survival products make your job easier. Most of the planning is already done for you. Most websites have product categories which have your major survival concerns organized. Make your survival items list and shop carefully for first aid supplies, survival kits, storage foods, and survival equipment based on your research.

But what should you do to prepare for the upcoming apocalypse? What do you need to do to prepare for disaster – either in the form of natural disaster, economic or governmental collapse, or even hostile invasion?

4 Things To Help Prepare Youself

1. Discover survival techniques and strategies.

Read up on survival tactics and techniques. Even reading just a few of the best survival books and courses will give you a foundation of knowledge that can see you through many disasters.

They say that ignorance is bliss – but that’s just not true when it comes to you, and your family’s, very survival.

2. Have the best survival gear.

Put together a survival gear checklist. Make sure you have the bare essentials on hand, and that you know how to actually use them (it won’t do you any good to have the best survival gear if you don’t know how to use it!). You will be surprised by how little gear you really need to stay alive in a disaster, as long as you have the BEST survival gear.

3. Stock emergency food and water supplies.

In most survival situations, your biggest danger is running out of clean water and/or having nothing to feed yourself and your family. Luckily, stocking emergency food and water supplies is surprisingly easy and takes very little effort – IF you are stocking the right food supplies (i.e. long-term food storage, and light weight emergency food kits), and IF you properly store your water in the right kind of barrels. Proper water storage containers and filters should be at the very top of your survival gear checklist

There must be no worse feeling that looking down at your kids who are dying of thirst, and knowing that you have NO access to clean water. Don’t let that happen to you – prepare before the disaster strikes!

4. Learn how to protect yourself and your family.

If a disaster strikes and society breaks down into anarchy, the strong but unprepared will have to steal from others in order to survive (i.e. from YOU). There is a good chance that if the government collapses and anarchy rules, you will have to protect yourself, your family, and your survival supplies from marauding bands of thieves. Learn how to protect yourself, and make sure that you have the best tools for your protection on hand.

These are just a few things that you can do to prepare yourself to survive the apocalypse. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more that you need to know.