This post may contain affiliate links. Buying something through these links doesn't cost you anything and helps support Know Prepare Survive. For some light reading, check out our affiliate disclosure.
How to Put Together a Survival Knife Kit
It is important to have a survival kit whenever you’re away from home in the outdoors. Since knives are essential for survival in the wilderness, it only makes sense to make a survival kit around this tool. Having all the equipment you need in one place makes it easy to carry and take with you when you go out (you never know when disaster will strike). Lugging around a go bag with you everywhere you go can be tedious but a knife based survival kit can be stored in a glovebox, in a drawer, or anywhere else easily accessible. Here are a few tips on how to get started building your own kit.
Tips on Creating Your Own Knife Based Survival Kit
Do Your Research
1. Research knife based survival kits in books or online. A great book to start with is Build the perfect Survival kit by John D. McGann. There are plenty other books and resources out there so make sure to do your homework before you get started.
This is the phase where you are going to decide on what will go into your survival kit. Planning out what to include will help you decide on the other parts like what knife to buy or what type of fire starter to include. It’s best to write down all of the items you will need first and then go from there.
Pick a Survival Knife
2. Select the knife for your knife-based survival kit. The knife can be any size you desire but I recommend a fairly good sized knife possibly serrated for added function. You want to go with a quality fixed blade. In this case, the sheath is as important as the actual knife since it will be the structure for our survival kit. You don’t need to get the biggest one or the one with the most features, necessarily. Just one that fits your needs.
Pick a Fire Starter
3.The ability to start a fire in a survival situation is crucial. Matches protected from the environment or a flint bar are a must in your knife based survival kit. You can either buy a fire starter kit like a magnesium and striking rod combo or waterproof matches or you can create your own like the battery and gum wrapper trick. Personally, I would recommend buying a kit as those things will create a 3,000 degree spark in almost any environment. These are much better than rubbing two sticks together.
Grab a First Aid Kit
4. A small first aid kit is another essential item. Out in the wild, a small cut can lead to infection and a blister or rash can keep you from walking your way to safety. You can make your own medical kit with items around the home or purchase a first aid kit. Mandatory items are gauze, bandaids, and antiseptic but don’t forget pain relievers, ointments, and any prescription medications.
Don’t Forget a Flashlight
5. A small flashlight can be a very handy item in a survival situation. Whether you’re trying to find your way through the brush at night or checking out what you hope to be an abandoned cave. One that doesn’t require batteries would be the best. LED flashlights are also preferable since they use less energy and the bulbs last much longer. If you can’t find a non battery operated flashlight include extra batteries in your knife-based survival kit (which, as mentioned before, can also be used to start a fire!).
Gotta Catch Some Food
6. Eating is fairly essential to survival so you want to pack some equipment to catch game with. Small game snares and fishing gear are the best choice in this case since they don’t take up much space. All you need is some snare wire, fishing line, and hooks. The fishing line can be used for multiple tasks so having it in your kit is a good idea whether you are near water or not.
Put It Together!
7. Now for the fun part, we get to put it all together! Before you do anything, lay out all your gear so you can decide what goes where. The goal is to have everything in a tight, efficient package that will be easy to carry and is packed properly enough that nothing will fall out. Depending on your sheath, you may want to purchase a pocket (or sew your own). Some of the items like the fire starter come in their own case so you can easily add them to the kit. Pro tip: Use paracord to tie everything together (you can also use the fishing line for some items. Multi-use!). Cordage is invaluable in the field so using it in your kit will keep you even more prepared.
There are plenty of other items you should/could add to your knife based survival kit but these are the main staples. What have you included in your kit?
