Should a Prepper Carry a Neck Knife?

Should a Prepper Carry a Neck Knife?  That is a good question.  In the guest post below the author will discuss some pros and cons.  For myself, as the owner of this site I wanted to add my thoughts as I carried a neck knife everyday for 15 years – even in places that did not allow concealed weapons (its a tool right)… For utility and easy carry a neck knife is hard to beat.  If you have a good design.  I have tried bad designs of heavier knives and friction fit sheaths and ended up loosing my knife.  For self defense there are better options.  It can be hard to draw (without practice) and if you are on the ground being pounded the knife is in a perfect spot to be used against you.  You can also be choked with the lanyard.  The featured image shows a young lady wearing a neck knife on a breakaway lanyard made by Knives and Lanyards.com.  You should check them out

If you know what you want and work around the cons, then a neck knife is a great tool – now on to the article:

Preppers and survivalists are always discussing survival knives and that they might actually be the most important gear you carry. Not many discuss the importance of where you wear your survival knife though. Throughout history man has worn a knife from a chain around their necks.

This includes Native Americans and Vikings. In modern times Mors Kochanski who is recognized as the granddaddy of bushcraft and who actually wrote the book on bushcraft uses a neck knife and even more recently Cody Lundin from Dual Survival fame also wears a neck knife as their primary knife.

In this article I’ll go over what are the pros and cons of a neck knife.

Pros of neck knives

• Because it’s so small and light, it can easily be used as a back up blade if your primary blade breaks or gets lost. Your blade might be your most important piece of equipment you carry so always having a decent back up blade is handy
• Sitting on the ground or on a log with a knife on your belt can be annoying
• If it’s worn on the inside of your shirt, you’ve got a hidden knife that others won’t know about unless they give you a hug. Even though there are better weapons when shtf the neck knife could be used as a weapon of last resort
• If needed, most neck knives can be switched to be carried on your belt
• It allows you to not have to wear a belt which means you have more flexibility in the pants or shorts you choose to wear
• If you’re walking through a creek or small stream and it goes to about waist height, if you’re wearing a neck knife it won’t get wet
• They’re inexpensive so preppers with a tight budget can afford them as a good backup knife

Cons of neck knives

• If it’s worn on the outside of your shirt, it can get in the road every time you bend over which is annoying
• It it’s worn on the inside of your shirt, it’s hard to get to quickly
• If the chain is made out of beads it can pull at your chest hairs and I’m not a fan of having my chest hair pulled out
• It’s not practical to have a big knife dangling around your neck because it will just get in the way. So if the knife is small it doesn’t lend itself to heavy duty tasks like chopping or batoning but if you’re primary chopping tool is an axe or machete you can get away with carrying a small bladed knife as your blade to do the finer tasks like processing game or whittling wood
• When you re-sheath, you’ll need both hands
• If the chain is not a break away type of chain it can be a choking hazard if worn on the outside of your shirt
• If it is a break away chain, the chain could snap at an inconvenient time meaning you’d end up carrying the neck knife on your belt or in your pocket.

Neck knife wrap up

I’ve always loved redundancy so I always carry a back up blade when I’m in the woods. Neck knives are an inexpensive way to have a decent back up blade on your person at all times. To find out more about neck knives for survivalists check out the ultimate neck knife guide by Top Survival Weapons.