How to Survive with Nothing But a Knife

As humans, we want to be prepared as much as we can and have the necessary equipment to do so. Learning how to survive with a knife is an important factor for survival. Successfully surviving on our own takes both knowledge and experience, and if you know how to effectively use a knife, surviving with nothing else is very possible.

1. Collect Wood
You can use your knife to collect firewood in order to start a fire. Your knife will be most useful when collecting tinder and kindling. You can cut bark and smaller branches off of dead trees or carve out wood shavings to help you feed a spark. You can also cut sticks into kindling-friendly sizes for your fire.

2. Start a Fire
Knives can work as a great flint. By striking the blade on the sharp edge of a rock, you can create sparks to catch on your tinder and start a fire. When doing this, you will want to use a hard rock that will be strong enough to shave off the necessary amount of steel to create a spark. Flint is the ideal rock for starting a fire, but you can also use other hard rocks like granite, obsidian, and quartz.

3. Build a Shelter
A knife can help you fashion each component of a sturdy shelter, including stakes, cordage, or notches. You can also use your knife to cut the branches that will create the frame of your shelter. You can sharpen the ends of these sticks and drive them into the ground for increased stability. Then you can cut thin strips of wood to use as cordage, carve notches into your framing, and lash the sticks together. And finally, you can use your knife to cut and gather underbrush and leaves to use as the roofing of your shelter.

4. Go Hunting
While knife throwing might not be a feasible hunting skill for you, you can create various different hunting methods using a knife. You can carve sharp sticks or bones into fishing hooks and catch your dinner that night. You can also fashion different components of animal traps to set. Carving arrowheads for a bow is also something that a survival knife can do to help you hunt.

5. Preparing Food
Once you have gone hunting, you’ll need to prepare your food. Use your knife to clean a fish or skin an animal. Smaller knives usually work best for skinning an animal, but in a survival situation, any knife will work just fine. Once your food is cleaned, your knife can help you carve the meat of the animal that you’ve just caught and get you ready for cooking. You can clean out bones, organs, and other parts that you don’t want to eat or would use for another purpose.

6. Find Water
Water is essential for survival and finding it in the wild is one of the first things you’ll want to do if you become lost or stranded. If there are no obvious water sources available, you may have to dig. Water usually collects downhill at the base of trees and in the bottom or gullies or dried riverbeds. Use your knife to dig a two foot hole into the dirt and wait 5 minutes to see if water begins to seep into the hole. You can also carve into different plants or trees that may contain water.

7. Defense
A knife is not an ideal weapon and won’t kill an attacker instantly, but it is better than nothing at all. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to protect yourself against an animal or otherwise, you can use your knife to make stabs and slashes at your attacker to ward them off and defend yourself.

8. Carving Tools
A knife is a great tool in and of itself, but you can use it to make more specialized tools for whatever task you need. For example, instead of tying your knife onto the end of a stick and calling it a spear, you can carve yourself an actual spear. Make notches in the end of a stick in the shape of a cross and insert other sticks to hold them apart. You can sharpen each of the four points that you now have on the end of your spear. You can also carve an arrowhead and fit it into the notches. By using your knife to make the tools that you need, you will reduce the risk of damaging or losing your knife.

9. Use as Hammer
Along with making tools, your knife can be used in place of many tools. The butt of your knife can be an effective hammer when needed. If you need to pound stakes into the ground, use the butt of your knife for a solid hit on your stake to make a sturdy shelter. You can also use your knife to split wood. Pound the blade of your knife into a piece of wood and hammer it all the way through until the log is split. You can cut larger logs into perfect sizes for burning on your fire.

10. Sending an SOS
The reflective blade of a knife can be used as a signaling mirror if you are stranded or lost and are trying to call for rescue. Hold the blade in front of your face and move the blade to catch and reflect the light of the sun in the direction of your rescue. You can judge the necessary angle by spotting your rescue on the other side of the blade and adjusting the angle as needed.

A knife can be used for much more than its basic purpose and if you know how to use it, you’ll be able to survive in any situation.

Now we want to hear from you. If you could only have one tool in the wilderness, what would it be and how would you use it?