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Long-time knife collector/accumulator here. The Parry knife is a little too gimmicky for my taste... I mean it’s curved and re-curved, has a nail puller, hammer, short bit of serration along the top edge. It’s a borderline fantasy knife. And it’s too expensive, as fantasy knives always seem to be. Best to avoid them. They’re wall hangers, meant to impress rather than be used. And quarter-inch stock is a little too thin for me in a big survival knife anyway, furthering my suspicion that it was never designed to be a hard-working knife.

But there are things I like about the knife. It has a full tang, which is attached by what look like three good hefty screws. Rivets are a good choice as well. Screws, rivets, you generally want three of them. It’s got a Micarta handle, an excellent choice for strength and durability. For heaven’s sake, avoid horn, wood and stacked leather washers like the plague. The first two will crack or break on you with hard use, and leather will rot in a jungle environment, as our troops discovered in Vietnam, with the KA-BARs. I’m not saying KA-BARs aren’t good knives. Indeed, just the opposite; they are excellent, excellent knives. Everyone should have one. Hell, get two. They are only going up in price, last I heard the price is north of $50.00 right now. But that’s cheap for a good knife nowadays. There are different companies manufacturing them these days, at least a couple of them doing real nice work. Make sure you get one of those, nothing from China, etc.

You just have to know where you’re going with a knife, and what it’ll be exposed to once you get there. I would take a KA-BAR anywhere, no qualms. I just wouldn’t take one with a leather handle into the jungle, if I were going to be there for awhile.

Now, if you’re going to be in a survival situation for any length of time, you’ll want to have more than one knife with you anyway: a small one for small detailed tasks, a medium-sized knife, like a KA-BAR for heavier work or light chopping, and a machete or Kukri. How about a hatchet and an axe? It all depends on where you are going, how long you’ll be there, and what you’ll be doing while you are there. And if it is a true long-term survival situation, say for the rest of your life after the SHTF, where your life will absolutely depend on having these tools, you’ll want backups of each.

Here are some knives I like and own and could see my younger self going into the you-know-what with a selection them... KA-BAR, Cold Steel San Mai Trail Master, Randall Model 1, full-size Boker Smatchet (a truly frightening chunk of steel), a large assortment of Benchmade folders, and many others.

Good brands include Cold Steel (check out their videos on their website), SOG, Benchmade, Randall. There are many newer ones, which I am not very familiar with, since I quit accumulating knives about 10 or 15 years ago, but those are some old standbys.

Good luck (and check out some of the knife forums for further advice and guidance, and tons of articles).