A knife has three basic functions:
– To puncture
– To slash or chop
– To cut
A knife is also an invaluable tool that you can use to construct other survival items. In the wilderness, or in an emergency survival situation, you can improvise a puncturing tool and a good chopping tool from stone. This won’t hold a good edge but some stones, such as chert or flint can be shaped to have fine edges that allow some cutting, as well as scraping uses.
To make a stone knife, you will need a sharp-edged piece of stone, a chipping tool, and a flaking tool. A chipping tool is a light, blunt-edged tool used to break off small pieces of stone. A flaking tool is a pointed tool used to break off thin, flattened pieces of stone. You can make a chipping tool from wood, bone, or metal, and a flaking tool from bone, antlers, or soft iron.
Start making the knife by roughing out the desired shape on your sharp piece of stone, using the chipping tool. Try to make the knife fairly thin. Then, using the flaking tool, press it against the edges. This action will cause flakes to come off the opposite side of the edge, leaving a razor sharp edge. Use the flaking tool along the entire length of the edge you need to sharpen. Eventually, you will have a very sharp cutting edge that you can use as a knife. Lash the blade to some type of hilt with sinew (or dental floss), leather, twine or whatever you have.
