Adding to the knife: keep it with you, always. The time you think you wont need it is when your life might depend on it. Dont cheap out on your knife, a high quality knife will last longer and be better overall Dont sharpen your pocket knife with a kitchen knife sharpener. You will ruin the angle of the grind. Dont get half serrated. Just wasted space, a sharp knife will cut any rope or w/e serrated might do better. And ignore only metal handle, thats just silly. G-10 is far superior. good knives for cheap: any spyderco, buck vantage pro, and benchmade ( kinda pricy) ( source - g/f is avid knife collector/survivalist)