Best Camp Knives of 2021 - Hard Use Fixed Blades for your Outdoor Adventures 

David c Anderson got me watching videos for knives i don’t even need.

My condor Hudson Bay is razor sharp after power stripping it and it chops & batons like a dream.

I got a Kershaw Camp 10 years ago...it was on sale and bought it on a whim not really expecting to like it, but thought it might make a good yard knife around he house. I now do not go camping or in the outdoors without it. love that knife, comfortable, easy to maintain, carry, sharpens quick and razor sharp, takes punishment and just does a lot of jobs really well.

A clean blade is a happy blade 😜😜🥸🤓

I'm so glad to see the bk-9 was on your list. I've cut split and batoned at least a cord of wood with mine and skinned many a deer with it. I've had mine for 8 to 10 years it has never let me down.

No shame in being biased towards a knife of your own design, especially one as nice as that Canteen Knife.

Loved seeing your personally used knives.

Nice to see a big guy wielding a BIG blade around. It surely is you DCA!

BK-2 is a freaking beast

Esee Junglas 2 would’ve complimented this list .

Thank you! I only "need" three of these.

The Schrade Frontier broke on my first wack of a one inch branch. I returned it and ended up buying a Benchmade bushcrafter 162.

Still using ole trailmaster after 12 years. Still impresses people when i pull that baby out.

Go ahead and be biased! Your knife looks fantastic! In fact I say you make a video of you taking it through its paces. Show us what it can do. Cook with it, chop with it, light some fires with it. I would love to see just what it's capable of!

I'll never not watch this guy talk fixed blades!!!

The El Chete would make a great pizza cutter. I do have the Camp 10, it is a great chopper and super comfortable to hold.

Canteen is always the one that catches my eye, though I had no idea you were the one behind it.

Interesting selection. Including some variants I hadn't considered before. Thanks.

The TOPS ATM is a wonderful trail and camp knife it will chop and cut your dinner and you can split wood with it because of the Hatchet shape

Scandi-grind and convexed edge into 8 inches blade lenght : best and versatile combo for all - camping chores and food prep. ! Tested!!

I had a backpacker client and he wanted a folding camp/filet knife. I haven't made many folders as they take more time to get right when you don't have a mill and so the price to labor is lopsided. He didn't care about the price, he was concerned about weight. So I made the requested 6 inch blade out of 3mm or .118 AEB-L at HRC 59/60 and the body was all aluminum with small 3/16th lightening holes and a titanium liner lock. The Aluminum was made from 7075 T6 1/4 flat stock I'd had for years and I ground a nice curve with a couple of finger grooves to fit in his hand. The blade had a flat grind edge to spine, think of a wide and curved filet knife in a folder. It was 7 inches closed and almost 14 inches open. A friend worked in a metal shop and anodized the aluminum then applied a bronze dye before sealing it. (7075 only anodizes clear) I drilled 5 lightening holes in the blade after heat treat with carbide drill bits from 5/16ths to 1/8th (actually #30 .128) and I jeweled the blade using Cratex. To open you pulled it open as a thumb stud wasn't practical. Besides the lightening holes I did a nice checker pattern on part of the handle. I used beryllium copper washers for the pivot. It weighed just under 6 ounces, I could have made it lighter, but my client insisted on a 6 inch blade. A word about 7075 T6 aluminum, after anodize it is stronger and harder than #2 titanium and weighs less. The titanium liner lock was necessary because the 7075 isn't flexible, plus the titanium will never wear out. Final price with tooled leather belt sheath? $600, the second most expensive knife I ever made. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture.

Love that El chete. Big knives can actually be great for food prep as well, though that one may be a bit on the heavy side. Some chefs go with huge blades even for their fine work, for any work.

If I ever catch that Canteen Knife in when I also have the $... I am really intrigued by that Ontario Hunt Plus too, honestly. Thanks and stay well, DCA and the KC Crew.

Two weeks ago I watched this video. Since then, I couldn't get that White River Camp Cleaver off my mind. Well today I got tired of thinking about it and just bought it. $260 later not sure if I should thank you or curse you lmao

The Grohmann #4 would be right at home in this list.

Arguably, the best camp/camping knife is the one you have, trust, and is effective. All the knives shown are good or great choices. If I had a choice, I'd pick DCA's knife for all-around effectiveness on many tasks. Others especially the choppers are meant for one main task only. I would also lean toward the Esee JG-5 for a smaller form factor and its Nessmuk shape for cutting options/uses and the made in USA leather sheath is nice, too.

The Esee Junglas should have been in this list.

I could watch these videos all day.

Thanks, as always, Mr. Andersen. I'll add an option that I find compelling - the Condor Mini Duku Parang, Stainless Steel. It can certainly clear brush and chop wood VERY effectively, but it's way more versatile than that. It's 10 inches, all curvature, with a very high convex grind on a 0.20 thick 420HC blade. It's a BAWSE in the kitchen! And, because of the long handle, it is actually quite well balanced, allowing for surprising precision and nimbleness when carving wood. The tip is not a fine piercer, but it is strong and on the centerline, making it effective for bow-drill building. The only thing it would not serve best for is skinning, and even that it can do in a pinch (pun intended). In case you haven't guessed, it's my go-to camp knife.

I took my TOPS Prather War Bowie to Montana for a nine day fishing/camping trip. It made a surprisingly good camp knife. It processed firewood and cleaned fish very well. The Tahoma Field Knife is better, but the War Bowie did just fine.

Love your videos, thanks for posting them.

If your a true "Camper" or spend any amount of real time in the woods you should own a quality axe or hatchet for your wood prepping needs and not so much a knife.. I'm not saying you can't have a quality knife that can task it, just Shouldn't rely on it.. Always need a good prep knife at home base/camp as well and something to start a fire with.. Edit:. Need to get my hands on your Nordsmith knives David as I use my knives multiple times a day, AND fairly hard at that. Being someone who's used knives daily for 30yrs now I think I'd be a good test subject..Tbh I can't swing almost $400 on one however..

Great list! I desperately need to save my pennies for your Canteen knife. That is awesome!

That canteen knife is ba💣

One of the best 1 knife solution and do all knife imo is the CRK Pacific

Love your videos brother. Thanks for sharing

You do a great job sir. Years ago my father gave me a Falkniven A1. Always goes into the field with me on serious excursions.

Tops Hog 4.5 is one of my top picks!

my goto camp knife is always Mora Eldris 🌝

great video !!! need some more videos like it. thanks David :)

Love your knife, definitely a future purchase.

I love my white river camp cleaver!!

CRKT Humdinger didn’t get much love from the community but it’s a shoe in for this lineup too.

Surprised the Old Hickory butcher knife isn't on the list. They work great with a KaBar 7" sheath

always thought an Old Hickory made a nice camp knife. and with the price if you forget and leave stuck in a stump, you're not so upset.

In the beginning of the video you paned across the knives. There was two setting side by side that jumped out at me but one of the two looked amazing. The perfect knife and it’s the one that you designed. Great job Sir. In the near future I have to have that knife, hopefully my wife doesn’t use it on me.

Cool! I like that Canteen knife. I made my camp knife from a 8 inch german butchers knife. Looks a bit like that Condor.

Great that you mention that chopping with a big knife or machete is safer than with an ax or hatchet, let alone a tomahawk. Batoning is safer than chopping. Decent food prep and chopping/batoning is hard to combine so I usually bring different knives. Most of all because a slicing knife needs a really sharp edge and a batoning/chopping knife a stronger edge. I also prefer my food prep knife to be stainless steel.

I really like the canteen knife design.

awesome video. Great job David

Great videos David. Keep it up 🔪🔪🔪

Tops Silent Hero would be an excellent choice as well.

Nice video 👍. I own a Hudson blade myself, it's a awesome blade for hacking thow the bush 😀. Way lighter than a masheet, & has multiple personalities. It's my go2 blade most of the time 😉

my hats off to you,the nordsmith is my favorite knife,havnt been able to afford it.,but I like it

My favourite knives that I carry camping are my Ontario Rat 1 in D2, condor blue river machete and something I was kind of surprised wasn’t on here the Buck 104 camp compadre

That Canteen is simply gorgeous, besides being functional. Made me think of pirates the name "canteen".

I bought 2 knife center exclusive spyderco dragonfly’s for myself lol

Camp canteen is my fav I can't believe you helped with ,it's shaped for almost every day use, perfect except,,,,pricey....

Excellent blades, like the look of your design, but I'll stay with my Kershaw Outcast in D2 and Spyderco Jerry Hossom Design also a custom MLknives Trail Fighter # 2 thank you Sir......ATB

i would love to see that canteen knife made more for an edc carry... like 6.5-7" oal... that would be awsome!!! as usual great vid keep . coming!!👍🤙

Kershaw camp10 is amazing for the money. Can hold its own against against a chopper at any price range.

DCA: Camp Master

I like the three in the middle 🔪

that hunt plus tho DAMN

Really nice knives 👍

Remodeling home, sort of like camping.

Your knife is the best by far!

For the food, I like to use the Svord curved skinner knife with the polypropylene handle. If needed, I can do my bushcraft with it, but it’s not a chopper. Anyway, I thought I should push the idea of a curved skinner.

The Hudson Bay and Mini Hudson Bay don't get enough attention. They're underrated knives. BTW El Chete is a BEAST! Rigged it up with a Larry Vickers sling, and you can easily concealed carry it on your side above your belt line.

I recently bought a Condor Mini Duku with these kinds of tasks in mind. Without DCA's endorsement, I'm not sure if I did it right though. Basically I thought it could both chop and handle some wood-processing tasks, but because of its gentle continuous belly, it might rock on a cutting board if I wanted to try that too. Obviously given the length it's approaching a small machete size, but I think the blade steel is just shy of 3/16", so it's far from a flimsy slashing-style machete. I'm looking forward to giving a a robust test in the summer.

That El Chete is your camp pizza knife for sure...

camp cooking is the fun part

Cool video. I'm looking for a premium neck knife right now. Haven't found the right one yet. Too bad the Benchmade altitude is discontinued. Or maybe a Bradford g necker... I don't know.

You need to take a look at BPS Knives.

Man I want to go camping with DCA. You know he's eating good at camp. As a thicc boi myself I respect that.

I like the mora

Nordsmith Canteen is where it’s at for me 👍🏻

Hey David l, love the videos. I have the Becker BK2 that I moded and the Condor Silknam both are great knives in my opinion! Mynext one will either be the BK9 or the Condor Hutson Bay or maybe both, still up in the air. Have a great day and keep'em coming.

I love the Canteen knife but a little rich for my pay. Nice blade profile. Beauty steel. What’s not to like.

Best budget camp knife? Old Hickory. Hands down. Geesus that Tops El Chete is like the size of my whole arm!

Finally! A large knife is safer to chop with than a hatchet. The dangers of over or under strike should be obvious. Breaking the hatchet handle or injuring your leg.

That Nordsmith is my grail camp knife. I'll be picking one up closer to camping friendly weather.

At 21:20 not Ontario it's a Condor but for $68 I thinking of getting one.

Ka-Bar Camp knife. I bought the last one being sold here in Canada a few years ago.

If I wouldn't get kicked out by the mrs I'd cop the canteen knife absolutely beautiful knife

rhhaa i waited this ! but no not for today, tomorrow :)

Full flat grind, drop point, and blade wider than the handle. The best camp knife for me, essentially a beefier funayuki.

The El Chete would be great slicing pizza!

Best camp and hunting knife I have ever used is the Benchmade Nestucca! Discontinued but you can find them on Ebay.

I so much wish Kershaw would make the Camp 10 in 3V or some other high performance steel.

I've a couple of Moras & Schrades...but for all around use I'm thinking Becker.

Love your knife !!!j

Would be great if knife center stocked work tuff knives. A puzon makes for a killer camp knife.

Nice list, I recently upgraded my primary camp knife from a ESEE 6 to a Junglas that I have been very happy with but many times I camp just to play with my knives and I will bring 8 to 12 with me just to go medieval on because where else am I going to use them? If it’s a camp ground I’m going to I even bring my own whole logs just to process when that could have been done at home a lot easier with a maul, pretty sad I know.

Caption should be... "Next Level Folders Of 2021" LOL

I would take a grinder to that white river and get something near the nordsmith but s35

Tops Camp Creek and Operator 7.

Slightly larger than average hunger at the campsite

They need to make a g10 ka-bar bk2

A suggestion....in the wide shot could you show all the knife blades in full? It would help in a side by side comparison of size.