Find a Good Camp Kitchen Knife
Since most camping families don’t have a lot of packing space, they should find a good mid-size, general-purpose, camp kitchen knife that can easily cut most meat, fruits, vegetables, and bread. This camp kitchen knife should be long enough to cut large melons, strong enough to cut cabbages & hard root vegetables, and sharp enough to thinly slice tomatoes and fresh bread. Furthermore, it should be small enough to pack with other kitchen utensils.
Unfortunately. such a knife is hard to find. Chef’s knives and butcher knives are too big. Pairing knives are too small and too thin. Hunting knives and survival knives have saber or scandi grinds that don’t slice well. And folding knives are too weak in the folding joint and could close up on your hand. A good camp kitchen knife should fall between these extremes. Here are a few knives on the web that would make good general purpose camp kitchen knives for less than $100.
Best Camp Kitchen Knives - 2024
In my opinion, the best general purpose camp kitchen knife is a mid-size knife with a total length of 9 to 10.5 inches, a blade length of 4 to 5 inches, a blade width of 1 to 1.5 inches, and a spine thickness of 1.5 to 3 mm. When you buy one of these knives, or any other knife for your kitchen, sharpen the edge bevel to 18 degrees for maximum slicing effectiveness.
River Traders French Ball Knife with sheath, $60.
Strengths: Very comfortable 4.25 inch maple handle, has a great feel & balance, thin 1.6 mm flat-ground blade great for slicing most foods, total length (9.25 in) packs well with other kitchen gear, blade length is 4.75 in, heel width is 1.25 in, weight is 3.5 oz. Limitations: carbon steel (1095) blade requires extra care.
Spyderco Bow River with sheath $50.
Strengths: Flat ground blade good for slicing. stainless steel blade, blade length is 4.5 in, heel width is 1 in, spine thickness is 2.7 mm, packed length is 8.75 in, weight is 3.9 oz. Limitations: short 3.75” Micarta handle.
Dalstrong Gladiator Non-Serrated Steak Knife with sheath, $25.
Strengths: Thin Granton-edge blade produces maximum slicing and peeling effectiveness, stainless steel blade, & comes with a sheath, packed length is 10 inches, blade length is 5 in, heel width is 1 in, spine thickness is 1.9 mm, & weight is 4.4 oz. Limitations: Black 4.25-inch G10 handle is small, must be bought as a set of 4 for $100, soft steel edge requires frequent stroping or honing.
Wusthof 4.5 Multi Prep, $90.
Strengths: Comfortable (4.25-in. long) black Darlin handle, thin 2 mm flat-ground blade is a good slicer, stainless steel. total length (9.0 inches) is easy to pack with other kitchen gear, blade length 4.25 in, weight is 4.25 oz. Limitations: Expensive, heel (1.44 in) is unnecessarily wide, and no sheath.
The River Traders French Ball knife is a great general purpose camp kitchen knife.
The Dalstrong Gladiator non-serrated steak knife makes a good general purpose camp kitchen knife.
The Spyderco Bow River is a good general purpose camp kitchen knife and it packed easily with other kitchen gear.
The Dexter Russell Green River knife makes a good general purpose camp kitchen knife.
River Traders Hudson Bay Roach Belly with sheath, $70.
Strengths: Very comfortable 4.5-inch long handle, includes sheath. heel width is 1.25 in, spine thickness is 2.5 mm, weight is 4.75 oz. Limitations: Longer 5.5-inch blade makes it harder to control when slicing and cutting small fruits and vegetables, total length (10.5 inches) requires more packing space, carbon 1095 steel blade requires extra care.
Dexter Russell Green River 2212, $25.
Strengths: Economical price, thin 2.0 mm flat ground blade is an excellent slicer, total length 8.5 inches will pack well with other kitchen gear, blade length (4.5 inches) is long enough to cut most foods but short enough to control, heel width is 1.0 inch, & weight is 3.5 oz. Limitations: Short 3.9 inch rough handle is uncomfortable & must be sanded, does not come with a sheath, carbon steel blade requires extra care, & bullnose tip does not pierce cabbage & melons easily.
OLD HICKORY 5.5 outdoor Hunting KNIFE WITH SHEATH $25.
Strengths: Economically priced, thin 2.4 mm full flat ground blade is a good slicer, good balance, blade width is 1.25 inches, weight is 4.75 oz, reasonably comfortable wood handle. Limitations: Hard to find, 5.5-inch butcher knife style blade is a little long and hard to control, total length (10.5 inches) requires more packing space, 1095 carbon steel requires special care.
Opinel SS #10 Folding Knife, $20.
Strengths: Economically priced, thin (1.9 mm) flat grind stainless steel blade makes a great slicing knife, packs into small space, lightweight, folding design does not need a sheath. folded length (5.0 inches) can easily be packed with kitchen gear, blade length is 4.0 in, handle length 4.5 in, weight 2.3 oz. Limitations: Not strong enough to easily cut many foods. heel width is only 0.75 inches, small pivot point is not as strong as a fixed blade knife, could break or fold up on hand, requires more effort to clean. Note: makes a great back-up food-prep knife but I would not choose it as my only food-prep knife.
The River Traders Roach Belly Knife, the Old Hickory Outdoor Hunting Knife, the Wusthof 4.5 Multi-purpose knife, and the Opinel No. 10 all make good general purpose camp kitchen knives.
A good general-purpose kitchen knife should have a spine that is 1.5 to 3 mm thick.
Tips for buying a camp kitchen knife
Here is a list of features to consider before buying your general-purpose food-prep camp kitchen knife.
STEEL: The first feature consider is the type of steel used to make the blade. Dozens of steels have been developed for knife making, but typically, they are divided into 3 categories: carbon steels such as 1095, older stainless steels such as 440 C & 154 CM, and newer super steels such as CPM S30V. Each has its strengths and limitations. For example, newer super steels are more rust resistant and very hard but - they are expensive to make and hard to re-sharpen. Many cooks prefer good carbon steel knives because they are inexpensive to make and easy to sharpen - but - they must be dried immediately after cutting each food. Each of these steels is available in blanks or billets of varying thicknesses. For kitchen knives, this steel should be about 3/32 inches (1.5 to 3 mm) thick so that it is strong enough to handle all kitchen chores - but thin enough to easily slice through tomatoes and other firm foods. Bush-craft and survival knives usually start with a thicker piece of steel.
OVERALL HANDLE DESIGN & DIMENSIONS. After selecting your preferred steel, you should consider the knife’s handle design and its overall length, width, and thickness - because these features determine the size of the initial steel billet used to make the knife. For example, I prefer a full tang design (rather than a partial tang or folding design) because it is the strongest design. And I specifically prefer knives that are about 10 inches long with blades that are about 5 inches long, 1.3 inches wide, and about 3/32 inch thick. Longer knives are difficult to control while smaller knives are not large enough to preform some common kitchen chores. Thinner knives are great for slicing small fruits and vegetables but not strong enough to cut cabbage and dense root vegetables. Thicker knives are stronger but make poor slicing knives.
BLADE SHAPE & GRIND. After buying the steel billet, it must be cut, ground, and/ or forged into its final shape. Most kitchen knife blades have either a trailing point, straight back, dropped point, or sheep’s foot design. And a few kitchen knives have a clip point but this design is more common for hunting and fighting knives. I personally prefer the straight back design because it has a good point for piercing large, dense foods and a full belly for slicing tomatoes and other fruits. And finally, the blade should have a full flat or hollow grind down to the edge and then a straight edge ground to about 18 degrees. Thicker blades, especially those with saber and scandi grinds, will initially drag - and when you apply more pressure, they quickly slice at an unpredictable angle so that your sliced food varies in thickness.
HEAT TREATMENT: After the knife has been completely shaped, it must be hardened and tempered. Each steel has its specific heat treatment protocol. Carbon steels are usually easy to treat and, thus, can be easily made in a home workshop with basic equipment. Newer super steels are more difficult to treat and frequently must be contracted out to speciality heat treatment shops. After the treatment, good knife blade should have a Rockwell hardness score HRC = 55 to 60. Higher values (frequently found on Japanese knives) mean harder steel that holds a sharp edge but hard to resharpen. Lower values (frequently found on German/ French knives) mean softer steel that is easy to sharpen but needs more frequent sharpening.
HANDLE DESIGN: The handle of a good general-purpose food-prep knife should be 4 to 5 inches long and be thick enough to feel comfortable in your hand. Smaller uncomfortable handles will cause cramps and rub blisters on your hand after prolonged use. To reduce the handle weight and improve balance, a full tang should be tapered or drilled. To keep the knife from slipping out of your hand, the butt of the handle should have small swell or quillon. Traditionally, kitchen knives have black or dark colored wood or synthetic resin handles but I prefer white and light colored handles. And finally, you may want to consider the pins or rivets used to hold the handle scales in place. Stainless steel pins will not rust but traditional looking knives should have brass or iron pins or rivets. I personally like the very old copper “birds-eye” rivets.
SHEATH: Finally, kitchen knives with fixed blades should have a sheath to protect users from injury, to protect the blade edge from damage, and to protect other kitchen ware from damage. Folding knives would not need a sheath.