One Knife to Rule Them All!?! - The Perfect Knife

I've been on the lookout for quite some time for my perfect knife. I'm not talking about an every day carry (EDC) pocket knife, like my Kershaw Skyline, but my perfect outdoor fixed-blade knife. The one knife that does it all - fine carving, batoning, chopping, food preparation, striking a fire-steel, etc - one that's comfortable to use, not too heavy, holds a good edge, and able to take a beating and still come out on top.  I want all this without breaking the bank. If possible, I would like to stay under $100. Maybe that's asking too much. Can any one knife fit that bill?

 

A few knives I've played with thus far are:

Ka-Bar Becker BK7

I really like the overall size of this one - big enough for some light chopping and plenty tough to baton. I took it backpacking last summer to New Mexico and it served me well. 

My two gripes about it though are that its heavy (I'm hoping to move to lighter weight backpacking) and its a bit big for finer carving tasks. 

Ontario RAT 3

I've not really used this one out in the field much but I've kept it by my wood burning stove and used it to baton wood to kindle my fire. I actually broke my first one doing this but Ontario replaced it. 

It's a bit short for much serious baton use and it's fat belly doesn't seem like it's helpful in finer carving projects. 

Mora Companion

I really like the Mora knives. They are wicked sharp, easy to sharpen, inexpensive, comfortable to hold, and great carvers. 

Some of the negatives are that they are not full tang (maybe more like 3/4) making me nervous for batoning, their spines are not well finished making them poor for striking a fire steel, and they are so light weight that they are pretty much worthless for chopping. 

Mora Heavy Duty Companion

This is my most recent purchase. It has the same basic info from the standard Companion, just a substantially thicker blade. I'll be keeping this by the stove to see how it handles batoning and will bring it camping next month. 

Ontario Spec Plus Marine Raider Bowie

This knife is a beast! It is absolutely huge, placing it at the top for chopping and batoning. It is comfortable in the hand, has a super sharp tip, and seems to hold an edge well. 

Negatively, because it is so large it is practically worthless for finer work, and definitely more weight than I want to carry on a backpacking trip. 

Ka-Bar Fighting/Utility

I really like this knife. If I had it to do over again I'd go without the partially serrated edge. 

Again it's a bit heavy for backpacking and probably a tad large for finer work. I also don't like the rat-tail tang. Because the tang is so much thinner I bent it a bit with some heavy batoning. 

Well that's my journey thus far. I think I'm concluding that there really can't be one end-all-be-all knife. If I want a good batoner/chopper it'll take a big, heavy, full-tang blade. If I want a fine detail carver and food prep cutter it'll mean a smaller overall knife. In the end I can probably make the smaller knives, like the Moras, fill most backpacking/camping/bushcraft roles. 

Get out there!

~Rhyno