It always bugs me when I see a "survival knife" advertised in sporting good stores. If you're going out hiking or on a boat, you need a good knife anyway. Why would you want another knife to carry around? Furthermore, these "survival" knives are pretty much crap. They often have hollow handles full of fishooks, an insignificant amount of fishline, a bandaid and maybe a match or two. Anybody that thinks they will survive based on the contents of a knife's hollow handle is fooling themselves. (Not to mention the inherent weakness of a knife whose blade doesn't go into the handle. NO WAY would I trust my life to something like that.) Instead of a lousy knife that I wouldn't even give someone as a toy, I propose: The Survival Spear. Much like the knife, you get a blade and a hollow handle. BUT, the handle telescopes out and locks in place forming a shaft of decent length. I guess the mechanism would work something like an umbrella, but naturally a rather strong one. With this spear you could conceivably kill something and eat it- you could spear a fish or throw it at something for example. You'll never do that with a knife unless you're Rambo. I'm not saying that this would be better than the contents of a REAL survival kit- namely a rescue beacon, food water and a GUN... but it's better than one of those stupid knives.-- Madcat, Oct 12 2003 Baked: Survival Staff by Pat Crawford http://www.crawford...m/survivalstaff.htmHere is everything you guys asked for. [Knife Knut, Jan 29 2005] I've seen hiking staffs that had several hollow containers within. Since they're usually 4 or 5 feet long, theres lots of room for a full first aid kit, etc, etc.-- krelnik, Oct 13 2003 +. I need 10 of these for this Christmas.-- wombat, Oct 13 2003 [krelnik] If I had a hollow hiking staff, I think I'd still like to carry my first aid kit in my backpack. I've hear that a pound attached to your foot is as tiring as two pounds carried on your back. I assume the same would be true of a walking stick that you have to lift repeatedly.
[MadCat] I agree with the sentiment of this idea, but it seems to me that it wouldn't be very difficult to cut a stick to be the right size and diameter to fit snuggly into the handle of a survival knife: thus converting it into a spear. So there isn't much need for a telescoping rod that takes up space that could otherwise be used for bits of fishing line. :)-- scad mientist, Oct 13 2003 I have seen this baked, but I will have to hunt down a link.-- Knife Knut, Jan 26 2005 //inherent weakness of a knife whose blade doesn't go into the handle// - but what about the inherent weakness of a handle which //telescopes out and locks in place forming a shaft of decent length//?-- wagster, Jan 29 2005 There are hollow handled knives made from single piece of metal. I think they're handmade, and thus expensive. Chris Sebenza or something like that.
Also -- I could be making this up -- i think some company mass produces large knives where the sheath can be screwed into the butt (pommel?) to for a short spear.-- tiromancer, Jan 31 2005 Shouldn’t a survival spear be, you know, something you make yourself - as in howtoengineerit.com page 2?-- Shz, Jan 31 2005 random, halfbakery