Reliance-ready

"Explore the pathfinder knife shop's latest-the scorpion and the camp & trail"

- Story and photos by Reuben Bolieu

Dave Canterbury and crew have been hard at it over the years, training students, designing gear for adventurers and creating knives that will most likely be heirlooms.

The Self Reliance Outfitters website has a list of five essential features that should be found in a survival knife: a full tang, a blade at least 5 inches long, be made of carbon steel with a 90-degree spine, and razor-sharp.

PATHFINDER KNIFE SHOP

Knives from the Pathfinder Knife Shop are made in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company provides a lifetime warranty on the blade. Two of its stellar, fixed-blade knives-the Scorpion and the Camp & Trail-were sent to me for review.

Both knives came wrapped in plastic to keep the oil on the blades. The sheath was separate in order to avoid getting gunky. Both feature curly maple handle scales, handsomely rugged, brown leather sheaths and legendary, 1095 high-carbon steel; and both have a rustic, forged finish that isn't a coating.

The Camp & Trail knife is a favorite of the Pathfinder School's lead instructor, Corporal Shawn Kelly, who also hosts the Corporals Corner YouTube channel. This old-time-looking knife comes in at a hair more than 10 inches long overall and sports a 5/2-inch blade that's 3/32 inch thick (which happens to be my favorite for fixed-blade knives).

The Scorpion has the essence of a Scandinavian puukko knife-elegant and sleek. Its overall length is 9 inches, with a 414-inch blade. This one has a 1/8-inch-thick spine and a high Scandi grind.