What Is A Bushcraft Knife?

Bushcraft is a popular term for wilderness skills, and also about flourishing in a natural environment when living in the bush.

Bushcraft Knives are different from survival knives, however, they are often mixed. Ask someone who has tried to split logs with a carving knife or a machete. Bushcraft knives are majorly used for carving, kindling a fire, and performing daily chores in the woods or bushes. These knives are also used for trap-making and skinning of small animals.

You can consider a Bushcraft knife to be a survival knife, but not all survival knives are Bushcraft knives. Since, Bushcraft knives are well suited for rope trimming, carving wood statues, and cutting tree limbs, these knives are required to be long-lasting, dependable, and bendable. 

These knives come with a firm grip and a full blade to carry the force and accuracy required for Bushcraft. Once you master the skill of using Bushcraft knives, you can do multiple things with them. A full tang Bushcraft knife is made of a single piece of metal, which is unbreakable and thus, is the most preferred choice for many. 

What size should a Bushcraft knife be?

A really large Bushcraft knife is not recommended, it’s just not required. No doubt, a large Bushcraft knife looks great, but it won’t function that well at many necessary fine tasks. Similarly, small blade knives are good for complex and intricate work, thus, you would need an extra inch to baton through a wider tree limb.

Hence, we recommend Bushcraft knife blade should be between 3.5” (89mm) – 6” (152mm) that too depending on your comfort and the tasks you need to complete with the knife. A Bushcraft knife should be thicker and smaller (shorter) than a regular knife as that will provide toughness and consistency. 

The ideal size of a Bushcraft knife is about 10” which is the overall length including the handle. Thus, you can have a blade of about 5”, depending on the design of the knife, plus it is comfortable to carry around at all times.

You can use this knife to cut branches for making shelter, or to prepare firewood, etc. This is even easier to carry with you 24/7, unlike those 12” knives or machetes which can get a little tricky to handle.   

Are Bushcraft Knives legal in the UK?

You should have a legitimate and obvious reason for carrying a knife, or as the Law states -‘

Reasonable excuse or justification

As per the UK Knife Laws, any knife with a non-locking blade that is less than three inches in length is legal to carry in the UK.

Owning or carrying a fixed blade knives or locking blade knives is not illegal. But, you should be able to provide reasonable justification for carrying the same. If you are somehow unable to provide that justification, then you could be put on trial for the same.

If you carry a Bushcraft knife to skin animals, cut woods, or build shelters, it will be accepted as a reasonable excuse.