Elk Ridge ER-555 Series Fixed Blade Knife with Survival Kit, 10.5-Inch Overall

I have been using, testing, buying, selling and trading knives for over 35 years. My first knife was a Buck and my most recent buy was an ESSE. I never write knife reviews though I do rely on them to make purchases. I was looking for a bushcraft or camp knife that didn’t break the bank and could be in car or truck. I am so thoroughly impressed with this knife, it’s sheath and it’s fit and finish, I must write a review in praise of it. After my own personal appraisal, butchering a small deer, chopping saplings (use lanyard loop) and as a utility knife- I do feel that for 20 bucks (presently on Amazon) you would be hard find a knife better than this to do as many different survival or utility or camp chores. It is truly an excellent low cost but not “cheap” hunting knife, deboning and slicing meat it is very accurate and sharp. It is one of the few knives that ever came to me “Shaving Sharp” where I was able to remove a half dollar of hair off my arm with one stroke. The only real competition (feel free to chime in, I am not an expert just have my own experience.) in this price range would be a Mora type knife. Moras are world tested, with a long tradition in the bushcraft community and last I checked the most basic model with the red wood handle was around 15 bucks? This knife is not better or worse than the Mora, they are both VERY different, yet this Chinese knife seems to be intended to compete in that arena. But the difference between this knife and a Mora is immediately obvious in it’s weight and balance. To compare them is not my intent but to point out some of the pros and cons of this one. I personally feel the mora is too light for some situations that I come across, especially regarding chopping. I typically carry an ESSE 3 or 6. In NO WAY am I comparing this knife to the ESSE. However I do think this knife has a lot of merit, and want to address the two criticisms of the knife as well as adding my own that are maybe valid.1) THE SHEATH has been criticized for not having a plastic insert, my knife did come with a plastic insert so either they resolved that problem or there was a production problem. I personally find the sheath more than adequate for retention in the woods and for safety, as well the belt loop is velcro and can be taken off and on without taking off the belt. I do think the loops on the back which are meant for MOLLE are weak and I would not trust them as they only have Velcro. SO if you want this for MOLLE? I would expect to do some stitching or ranger bands, but for belt Carry or shoulder strap of a pack carry, it is kind of the perfect size. Would prefer if they got rid of the MOLLE Velcro loops in back and added a second retention strap for the handle. I feel retention is adequate and could easily add another snap loop with my sewing awl. Also the pouch for the ferro rod and striker is adequate and will hold much more. I was impressed that actual paracord (though cheap) was used for the leg strap down and ended up just putting that in the pouch. Lower of the MOLLE Velcro snaps can actually go around the front of the knife and add extra retention to the pouch and it’s contents, while the upper Velcro MOLLE strap can go around the knife handle which adds perhaps a bit more retention.THE TIP BREAKING: The tip design of this knife, if treated like a carbon knife like the Becker Companion, etc. will not compare in terms of stabbing and lateral thrusting. However I have batoned oak with it and had no issues, but yes it is something to be cautous of, as with the Swedish knives and really any knife. The bonus of this type of tip is in meat prep (deboning a whole chicken) and fine cutting jobs. It cleaned a trout and did fine stabbing into semi rotten wood. Tip width is not much different than a Marine Combat KaBar, however this is not a carbon steel knife, it is 440. That said, Randall knives still makes their stainless knives in 420, last I checked. So is the tip particularly weak, NO. Is this a Becker Companion prybar, NO. Just be careful like someone else said. :) Also in a survival sense, if the tip were to to break the knife is still very usable as a tool.PERSONAL CONS: The striker for the ferro rod is useless, it has no sharpness to the serrations, you would be better off adding your own or using the knife edge in a real emergency. Also, the striker does not unscrew the hollow handles as some say, though a dime will. I find the contents of the handle having three cheap matches and no striker for them a little insulting, better to add two fish hooks and 10 feet of line. Having to carry a dime to unscrew your handles seems like something that can be improved. Fix the striker. Fix the MOLLE straps.PERSONAL PROS: I usually don’t like hollow ground knives but this one, is so well done that it deserves mention, it works so fast on meat and cordage and is fairly easy to resharpen because of the grind angle.WHY FIVE STARS: If it has some weaknesses why am I giving it five stars? Every knife and their sheaths have weaknesses, especially if you count in cost. Here the cost, the quality and the bonus features like real paracord, hollow handle, ferro rod, etc make it stellar when compared to other cheap survival knives that cost twice this much but deliver less. It is actually my hope that by writing this review someone will buy this knife and not a piece of crap and they will put it in their car or bug out bag and it will save their lives one day. Also I like the pakkawood handles, it gives a lot of value to a knife at this price point. This knife may be undeserving of this much writing on my part but when I find something so serviceable at such a low price, it feels like it is worth it to related all this, even if you end up disagreeing you can return it. I feel this is an advancement in terms of what you get and how it could save lives. It was actually a huge design break though when buck came out with it’s fold over flap leather sheaths because so many hunters had lost nice hunting knives because of single cheap straps on cheap pressed leather hunting knife sheaths. Trends change, serviceable knives are still of great value, especially if you don’t have much money, are just buying your first knife, or looking to buy multiple knives to store in multiple cars, BOB’s, Caches, or stocking stuffers. And hey, it’s 20 bucks!!

So, how could a $20 and change knife possibly be durable enough for bushcrafting? Well, at that price line, and for a beautiful looking knife, why not take the chance? That's exactly why I took the chance!The knife looks just as good in person as it does in pixels. The scales are really attractive, and feels good in the hand. I find the weight of the knife suits me well, since it does a good job chopping, but doesn't have excessive heft for more delicate tasks. The edge was adequately sharpened and shapened, but a few minutes across my ceramic rod and it glided smoothly, cleanly through paper. I've put it through some hard use, such as batoning, and the edge has held up fine. The batoning has caused a very slight bend at the very tip, but not a big deal to me. I took a file to a portion of the spine to expose the bare metal, and now it is producing a nice shower of spark via ferro rod. That black coating has so far shown to be a very durable material. So far, batoning through wood has not shown any wear to it. The nylon sheath is nothing special, but functions just fine, being carried on the belt in the bush.I like this knife a lot, and its been my favorite belt knife for the past few months. How durable it is remains to be seen. I intend to use/work it hard, but not purposely abuse it just to see when/if it will break. So, I will have a future update. If I could get this knife in CPM V3, I would probably have my perfect knife!

I used this knife for everything on a recent camping trip. I cut logs with my saw, split them with my tomahawk, and then split them down smaller by batoning with this knife. From there, it went to cutting vegetables, butchering a rabbit, and then carving feather sticks. Stayed sharp all weekend.The hollow handle is great, though the square edge makes it a little uncomfortable to grip. It came with a few matches and a needle and thread inside the handle. I added some fish hooks and 15 ft of fishing line to help round out the survival kit a bit.The ferro rod and striker are a bit hard to use. The steel striker isn't exactly right for getting a spark. It will, but it's harder than others I've used. You could use the included sharpening stone to grind the striker some or to take the paint finish off the spine of the knife to make it spark easier. Overall, not bad, but could be better. The striker also works as a flat head screwdriver to open the handle. If you lost the striker, you could always carve a stick to a chisel point to open the screws.While I prefer leather sheaths, this nylon sheath is well made. There is a pouch for the ferro rod, striker, and sharpening stone. The sheath can be worn horizontally or vertically. The sheath also has about 8 feet of paracord you can use for a thigh strap, or just good to have cordage for a survival kit.