Page 53 - Blade (February 2020)

5,000-YEAR-OLD EDC

eyond work-a-day use, tiny fi xed
Bblades such as neck knives can be

used for bushcraft tasks. Otzi the Iceman,
a 5,000-year-old mummy discovered in
the Alps in 1991, made his entire outfi t,
clothing, bow, backpack frame, etc., with
a knife that had a 2.5-inch fl int blade.
I don’t have Otzi’s skills, but for some
years I have worn a 2-inch-blade neck
knife via a dog-tag chain. With it, while
demonstrating such skills for students,

I’ve made field-expedient bows, arrows,
atlatls and spears. I’ve split bone for

needles and fishhooks, cut scrap skins
into usable thongs and split various plant
stems to make cord. I’ve also used the little

blade to make fish traps from discarded
plastic water bottles and to dress fi sh and
small game for cooking. Most of the time
I don’t even notice it’s there under my
shirt—until I need it. I have other knives,
but it’s a comfort to always have that little
sliver of steel.
Yes, neck knives work.—by James
Morgan Ayres

appearance of having been scaled down
from a larger model.
The cleaver-style blade did not
penetrate as well as the other two review
knives’ pointed patterns. As a result, we
usually turned to one of the other blades
to punch through wallboard. We found
that the Challenger’s relatively long
edge paid off when trimming wallboard
or reaming out a hole for cables. The

The CRKT Owlet excelled atat
The CRKT Owlet excelled
penetrating wallboard.
penetrating wallboard.

D A VID E LLIS
DAVID ELLIS

Abs Mastersmith - Purveyor - 760-945-7177
exquisiteknives@gmail.com - www.exquisiteknives.com

FEBRUARY 2020 blademag.com 53