Here is the small list of survival knives on our radar. These knives are a little on the expensive side, but sometimes you have to pay more to get quality. Read on to find out which tools made the list.

Helle Arv
I’ve always loved the lines of the Norwegian knifemaker’s inimitable blades, but most Helle knives felt a little fat in my small, weak hands. Enter the Arv, Helle’s newest fixed-blade beauty. It has all the hallmarks of a Helle, with a 3½-inch triple-laminated steel blade with a slight drop point, and a handle of stacked bone, leather, and curly maple. But the handle definitely has a slimmer profile, and I think it’s the best-looking Helle out there. It comes with a great leather sheath to boot. $169; helle.no

White River Firecraft Series
This family-operated outfit from Michigan builds a pile of lovely knives—except for the ones built to chop and hack their way out of nasty survival situations. These knives are all brawn. Designed for serious survival situations, the Firecraft Series of full-tang knives is ground from S30V steel with a stonewashed tone. The canvas Micarta handles have plenty of texture for working in wet, slick conditions, unlike many Micarta handles with paper or other laminating components. The Firecraft goes multi-tool with a stainless-steel fire-bow divot set into the handle, and a sharpened ferro-rod striker notch on the top spine. Nice. It comes in three lengths: 4-, 5-, and who-you-calling-boy? 7-inch blades. $240–$320; whiteriverknives.com

Spyderco SpydieChef
It’s not a cooking knife, although its roots are in the culinary blades of European knifemaker Marcin Slysz. But this is an all-around EDC folder, with the translated lines of a chef’s knife and all the high-tech Spyderco could cram into the package. The 3.32-inch blade has a full flat grind, and is built of LC200N steel, the next-step-up from the company’s wildly popular Salt series of highly corrosion-resistant nitrogen steels. You can easily hose out innards thanks to two open-back titanium scales, and slash with abandon thanks to a Chris Reeve-designed lock mechanism. If you like to kill stuff and cook stuff, here’s your one-stop shop, a wicked celery dicer and backstrap removal tool wrapped in a pocketknife. $330; spyderco.com

Every survivalist and adventurer needs a trusty knife they can depend on. Now you know which knives come highly recommended so far this year. Do you have any additional knives that you would like to recommend to your prepper friends?

If you want to know more about these tools, check out Field & Stream for details.

Featured Image via Guns America