Hans_vermeylen
SOC-7
No self-respecting scout would go anywhere without one of those... :rofl:
IISS Knife
- Thread starter Hans_vermeylen
- Start date
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Oh come on...
Years ago, I started working on the details of a proper "ISS issue Scout Survival Knife", with lots of stuff in both the knife and the scabbard... but never finished it.
I was hoping you would give me some ideas, or at least inspiration... but NOOOO.
:nonono:
Years ago, I started working on the details of a proper "ISS issue Scout Survival Knife", with lots of stuff in both the knife and the scabbard... but never finished it.
I was hoping you would give me some ideas, or at least inspiration... but NOOOO.
:nonono:
Hans_vermeylen
SOC-7
Have been considering calling it a Sword Worlds Interstellar Scout Service knife... And yes, I'm ashamed.
selunatic2397
SOC-12
Okay BlackBat242...what did you come up with???
Don't hold out on us.....cmon...give!
Don't hold out on us.....cmon...give!
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
It must have a bottle opener and a thing for getting stones out of K'kree hoofs...
Wouldn't the Scout Service have two versions of this item? One for wilderness survival for the Field Scouts and one for the desk-bound bureaucracy? Think precise nail file, mini scissors, mini magnifying glass and a 25mm sharp blade for the hard to open inter-office memo packets.
Here's a pretty good place to start for Ideas about a Scout knife ( or knives). Personally I prefer carrying a small folding blade, and then a belt knife as well
http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/e...survival+knife&list=10&range=11&order=Default
http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/e...survival+knife&list=10&range=11&order=Default
Arthur Denger
SOC-12
...unless that Scout was able to get hold of one of these:
Many Scouts consider pocket tools with multiple blades & accessories redundant, burdensomely slow and not terribly efficient for their mass.
Consider this: the US Military issues a multi-tool, and also issues a combat/survival knife, and allows a pocket knife in addition.
So I would expect an issue small multi tool and an issue survival knife, plus commisary carried purchasable bigger multi-tool, field knife (treat as Blade), and pocket tool kit assortment, as well as your basic survival belt-kit.
Each scout gets to pick what he carries, so long as he has that multi tool, and if in the field, has a survival blade.
I have found my leatherman a very useful tool, and larger multi-tools of little to no use. My allen-wrench and Elect-tech multi-tools have gotten far more use. (The ETMT had small, tiny, really tiny, and jeweler sized flat, phillips, and had Torx T10,T12,T15, and T20, plus a screw retriever.)
I would expect fidderent scouts to have different multi-tools tailored to what they expect to do. I doubt many would have a "survival knife" instead favoring a good utility knife and a decent GP multi-tool (like a leatherman), and a pouch with utility/snare wire, water purification, fishing line/hook, and firestarting magnesium/aluminum/flint.
So I would expect an issue small multi tool and an issue survival knife, plus commisary carried purchasable bigger multi-tool, field knife (treat as Blade), and pocket tool kit assortment, as well as your basic survival belt-kit.
Each scout gets to pick what he carries, so long as he has that multi tool, and if in the field, has a survival blade.
I have found my leatherman a very useful tool, and larger multi-tools of little to no use. My allen-wrench and Elect-tech multi-tools have gotten far more use. (The ETMT had small, tiny, really tiny, and jeweler sized flat, phillips, and had Torx T10,T12,T15, and T20, plus a screw retriever.)
I would expect fidderent scouts to have different multi-tools tailored to what they expect to do. I doubt many would have a "survival knife" instead favoring a good utility knife and a decent GP multi-tool (like a leatherman), and a pouch with utility/snare wire, water purification, fishing line/hook, and firestarting magnesium/aluminum/flint.
Good Points .
Consider also that the Navy and Marines and Army would also have varations on that same multi-tool tailored to each service then add combat knives, survival tools, pocket knives etc. Add to that, some kind of utility knife/Multi tool(s) in the ships locker, each DC locker and lifeboat.
Any ideas what kind of cutting tools are carried in the tool boxes of our Military units?
I use my leatherman tool about as much as I do my pocket knife ( about half and half )and my utility knives the rest of the time and keep one of the latter in my car, tool box , and kitchen drawer.
Arthur Denger
SOC-12
Considered, but not necessarily accepted as a valid analog. This is one country's current military policy; I do not accept that said policy would apply equally to the military or quasi-military Imperial Services of the 57th Century. It depends on the value the 3i places on redundancy, compared to efficiency. I share your opinion, that Scouts would have the wherewithal to select their own personal gear, given the inherent challenges and dangers they face everyday. However, I'd argue that the needs served by a multitool would be met by either the blade weapon or the survival kit contents, thereby making such a tool quite redundant.
aramis said:
My point, which you have reinforced, being that many of the appendages on a 'swiss army knife' or Leatherman-style multitool are either unnecessary, redundant, or obsolete. IMTU, the multitool of the 57th century would bear a stronger resemblance to (what we consider today to be) a cell phone/PDA, something more along the lines of Star Trek's original tricorder. The multitool of the Third Imperium should have image and data scanning, storage and retrieval capability, short to medium range comm capability, basic electronic and medical diagnostic features, flashlight (torch) and probably a simple adjustable laser cutter of some kind, which could double as a fire-starter.
Not meant as an affront to present-day multitool users (I carry a Victorinox myself, in my own personal hiking kit), but many of the tool blades are already becoming or have become obsolete by the 21st Century: can opener, corkscrew, flat-blade screwdriver, bottle top opener, the list goes on. These will seem as quaint a hundred years from now as shoe button hooks, candle wick trimmers, and hoof scrapers would seem on a multitool or pocketknife of today, (and yes, I am aware that the pocketknife of those individuals with Equestrian skill probably still has a hoof scraper). As far as driver bits, we can either assume that by the far future fasteners have become more standardized or (likely) far more diverse, necessitating the need for an even wider range of specialty drivers in multiple sizes, more than would ever be found on any pocket tool.
Arthur, you're not making your case successfully
I do use the can opener. Not for opening food, per se, but for opening anti-tamper packaging. It's also decent for skivving leather. It also is a nice twine cutter.
The flat head is useful far more for it's levering potential than as a screwdriver, but I still use it as a screwdriver frequently; household wiring, ya know. I've also used the narrow one as a wire punch tool.
The Phillips head is often used.
The file and saw blade (on mine, one in the same) is a useful tool for case mods, fingernails, and de-self-tapping screws. Augment, definitely; replace, no.
The pliers and wirecutter are generally useful.
The awl is also highly useful for a variety of items: starting a hole for screws or nails, cleaning fingernails, opening friction pins, pulling cotter pins, flipping dip switches, picking teeth, and even doubles as a jeweler's screwdriver in a pinch.
The ruler is nice, too.
I've used EVERY tool on my leatherman in the last 6 months. And, except for the pliers/wirecutter and the ruler are the same tools on the basic victorinox of the 1800's.
As a general multi-tool, it's the all around best fit.
I STRONGLY disagree that electricity-using gadgets will ever replace the basic multi tool. most especially for military and paramilitary applications.
I do use the can opener. Not for opening food, per se, but for opening anti-tamper packaging. It's also decent for skivving leather. It also is a nice twine cutter.
The flat head is useful far more for it's levering potential than as a screwdriver, but I still use it as a screwdriver frequently; household wiring, ya know. I've also used the narrow one as a wire punch tool.
The Phillips head is often used.
The file and saw blade (on mine, one in the same) is a useful tool for case mods, fingernails, and de-self-tapping screws. Augment, definitely; replace, no.
The pliers and wirecutter are generally useful.
The awl is also highly useful for a variety of items: starting a hole for screws or nails, cleaning fingernails, opening friction pins, pulling cotter pins, flipping dip switches, picking teeth, and even doubles as a jeweler's screwdriver in a pinch.
The ruler is nice, too.
I've used EVERY tool on my leatherman in the last 6 months. And, except for the pliers/wirecutter and the ruler are the same tools on the basic victorinox of the 1800's.
As a general multi-tool, it's the all around best fit.
I STRONGLY disagree that electricity-using gadgets will ever replace the basic multi tool. most especially for military and paramilitary applications.
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Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
IMTU standard IISS gear is mostly pretty dull - not *bad*, just designed by someone sitting behind a desk. No self-respecting Scout would be seen dead using it.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
Exactly. When has a deck jockey ever really known what is needed in the field?
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
From an unfinished story of mine:
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
During my time as a USMC intermediate-level avionics tech I purchased a Leatherman (the basic model), and wore it in uniform (working, not formal) for the last 4 of my 8 years in.
Before I got out I had to have several parts replaced, as I used it so much they simply wore out.
I have (since 1978) a Survival knife (with metal handle) with an end-cap which contains a compass, and unscrews to allow access to the hollow handle... which contained the pouch with everything you mention, along with leather-weight sewing needles (both straight and moderately curved) and suture line.
The knife's blade is the same size and style as the WW2-standard USMC K-bar combat knife (plus a saw-toothed back edge), and the handle is a little larger/longer than the K-bar's.
Combat knife and survival equipment storage in one item.
This is what I was trying to update for the ISS Scout Survival Knife... with specifics for each 2 T.L. increase (starting at 8). The scabbard would have things like a short-range com, sharpening feature, pocket for emergency med drugs, etc.
I still don't have the lists of included features done... but only because it got dropped way down on the priority list.
In general, I won't use a knife which doesn't have a full tang as a utility blade. Too easy to snap when using as a weapon, for chopping wood, or as a climbing tool; uses I'd not but a leatherman blade to, except in the direst of circumstances.
A full tang blade is far more useful than the hollow handle; put that crap in the scabbard!
A full tang blade is far more useful than the hollow handle; put that crap in the scabbard!
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
Re:Blade composition
Would the higher tech versions of the IISS knife, have a non metal blade i.e a hard wearing ceramic type as a default , or would traditionalists insist on retaining a metal blade made out of crystalliron....?
Would the higher tech versions of the IISS knife, have a non metal blade i.e a hard wearing ceramic type as a default , or would traditionalists insist on retaining a metal blade made out of crystalliron....?
I suspect both, Fieendish.
I suspect the issue blade will be a metal, simple due to the general reliability and maintainability, and not crystaliron... more than likely, a high quality damascus for maximum durability.
It's not sharpness, but durability that is key. The guys who need hyper-sharp will have ceramet.
And I suspect crystaliron has known fault planes and will thus be less used than damascus. I might be wrong, but IMTU, machine-rolled damascus is the preferable material.
I suspect the issue blade will be a metal, simple due to the general reliability and maintainability, and not crystaliron... more than likely, a high quality damascus for maximum durability.
It's not sharpness, but durability that is key. The guys who need hyper-sharp will have ceramet.
And I suspect crystaliron has known fault planes and will thus be less used than damascus. I might be wrong, but IMTU, machine-rolled damascus is the preferable material.
