A good quality knife.
A good quality knife should be made of Carbon steel, Stainless steel will need to be sharpened much more often because the steel is not as hard. The solid carbon steel will allow you to baton wood, without breaking or bending the blade also.
When selecting a knife, also make sure it is full tang. Full tang means that the steel from the blade, extends fully through the handle. Here is an example of a full tang knife without the handle cover.
Now lets talk size. I actually have this Tops Armageddon(below). This knife looks cool. But is very heavy and is not very efficient at processing wood. A much lighter silky saw processes wood much more efficiently. I will talk about the silky saw next week
So a great size to wear in the woods, or keep in your BOB is a knife with a 4"-6" blade. You can do everything you need to do with it. It is relatively light, and it is small enough to let you do any detailed wood work you may need to do. The knife I keep in my BOB is the Morakniv Bushcraft Carbon Steel Survival Knife with Fire Starter and Sheath. It is a great knife for the money. Costs around $50-$60.
A similar knife with a little better quality is the Tops BOB(Brothers Of Bushcraft). This knife is also nice. Side by side they are very similar. This one will cost $110-$120. Here is what it looks like below.
This is what I consider the most important tool in my BOB. If anyone has other recommendations or if anyone has any questions, I would love to hear from you.
