In the 1970s into the early 1980s is when the "bushcraft" craze began in the UK and spread to the USA, (until then, no true red-blooded American would ever have dared calls woods or forest "the bush"), thanks to SAS former members teaching survival skills classes, and also my namesake SM Lofty Wiseman, SAS coming over here to help stand up our Delta Force, and Lofty himself going on to found a survival school, write the famous SAS survival handbook, market videos, etc.

The tool of the trade was the MOD knife, Ministry Of Defense Jungle/Arctic/Aircrew survival knife, a "finalization (MOD 4)" of earlier designs (such things never finalized, not even the name, and latest versions made quite differently today), which went on to be THE knife as for teaching survival skills across the pond, old photos will almost always show students in the UK, civilian or military, wearing one of these with extra goodies taped to sheath back, and oversized retention strap for extras wrapped around handle.

THE knife where batoning taught as something which later would take over the world as for some sort of ironclad manner of knife evaluation, even if knife never designed for such.

Although the bushcraft crowd now obsessed with ridiculously small knives for survival, THIS knife clearly made to take any ground survival punishment, whether prying/hacking way into or out of aircraft wreckage, jimmying doors/windows/lock hasps, trenching/digging, splitting or cutting trees via batoning or hacking, even to driving nails/pegs/wedges with the flat of the blade. Oversized handle scales and recessed rivets keeping bare hand contact with cold or hot metal to a minimum.

This older earlier 80s model rather neat compared to later, as it appears hot forged. And before anyone chimes in with, "ah, but my earlier Wilkinson Sword is better and prettier and etc," let me point out no matter how marked, only one company, J. Adams, ever made these knives, of the same steel (a superior/cleaner Euro numbered 1095 type at shock resistant 54Rc to 55Rc) and they marked them however/whoever had the contract at that point wanted them marked. This MOD knife may not be the cutter of some earlier, smaller, prettier tries at such a knife, but is far stronger.

Note the unique lengthwise hot rolled blade surface and even the hot rolled primary edge bevel with only minimal grinding. The blade thickness is greatest just above the primary edge where metal displaced by the forging process, and thinner (metric equiv. of 1/4" thick thinner) towards the spine.

Blade also has distal taper towards the front, even as blade depth increases, again, from hotworking, probably rolled thinner/deeper. The unobtrusive, just large enough to keep hand off blade, guard is hard silver soldered top and bottom to radiused tang.

With the convex edge, and max thickness just above edge, wood flies apart when this blade strikes or is struck, and no binding or sticking. Born to hack. An axe edge disguised as a knife.

Although this knife looks new, it was used quite a bit early on, and maintained its finish thanks to an exceptionally tough, smooth, hard parkerize more as what I am accustomed to seeing on an old M1 Garand or M14 receiver, and use was suspended when I realized there were not gonna be anymore like these.

The later knives appear more conventionally and simply ground flat thick barstock, and have dyed black phenolic/micarta handles. They still work just as well, somehow, which is why the change was allowed.

There are numerous import copies of this knife, so make sure if ever shopping for one of these "beauties", to get one with the broad arrow acceptance mark and NATO stock number marked on handle of older knives, and blade of newer knives. Wood will NOT fly apart and the blades WILL stick/wedge with the imports. And know that no matter what maker name on either old marked or new marked version of issue knives, they are made all by one company, and always have been.

One always rides with me in case of emergency.

You want tough, we got tough....it even inspired Ethan Becker early on to explore the concept of "tough" with his Becker Knives and Tools line.