Re: Best survival knife for under $200??
I've been through the sheath knife phases for probably over 50 years now, starting back when I was a Second Class Scout.
I don't carry sheath knives anymore. My right trouser pocket always (except on restricted real estate, like Departure Lounges and VA health Care Facilities) contains an inexpensive multitool and a Kobalt two bladed folder, with a beefy serrated 3-4" lockback blade, and a lockback that accommodates standard utility knife blades. There's also a small snap-link-like hanger.
Since back when I was trained to be a woods tools instructor, I learned and now teach that massive knives aren't necessarily either mandatory or advantageous. They tend to do more for the ego than for the task at hand. Lug 'em around if you feel you must, but the stuff like my knife gets more of the job done, and are easily and cheaply replaced whenever such things become advantageous. Mass? Sure, I use a wooden mallet, handcrafted on the spot, to tap and drive my serrated blade through the tough work. The utility blade is so finely dexterous, it carved over a half dozen neckerchief slides in three days during a rainy patch during Trek a few Treks back.
As a fighting knife, both blades extended, serrated blade pointing out past the heel of the hand, and the utility slasher sticking out the thumb end, I don't feel diminutively heeled in the least.
My (mostly imaginary) knife fighting style is loosely modeled on boxing technique, with the passing slash to augment it. Other times, I mentally envision employing the fighting knife in the same manner as a Shoto (or Japanese short sword) is wielded.
I don't do demos; I treat the fool to his surprise when he earns it.
Outwardly I am a mild and gentle person, and when I shake a man's hand and look him in the eye, if he's a stranger who comes without a positive into, I will sometimes actually run mental scenarios about how I would respond to his potential hostility; all with softly lidded eyes and a benign faint smile on my lips.
I am never disarmed; it's all just a question of what constitutes a weapon and how well one is prepared to wield it with effectiveness.
Of those I know, I am the least capable of aggression or conquest; and the day I lose that humility is the day I become truly vulnerable.
Greg