A LOOK BACK AT THE SKACHET SURVIVAL TOOL

Have you ever heard of the Skachet Survival Tool?

Well this survival tool was all the rage many years back.

I picked one up off of Ebay to see if the Skachet is all I have heard it to be.

You might ask what a Skachet is? Well it is a multi-purpose tool that is built for wilderness survival in mind. It has a blade for skinning and cutting, a gut hook for opening game, a hammer head, and a threaded shaft hole to twist a green branch or sapling into for a field expedient handle for using it as a traditional hatchet.

I have had my eye on getting a Skachet for almost two decades. For this year’s Valentines Day the Mrs. made my quest come true.

Well the first thing needed for a proper review is a handle. Heading off into a chunk of reclaimed industrial acreage turned suburban wild lands my quest began. With so much invasive and thorned bushes in that area the search was interesting. Larger tree’s branches were just too thin, high up and bent for a good handle. I came across an unidentified overgrown bush that had long, thicker, and somewhat straight branches. For speed of handle procurement I brought a small folding saw to harvest my future Skachet handle. I cut about a 5 foot length of straight length branch/trunk that is about the width of the accepting Skachet handle hole.

That branch then was cut into three roughly same sized lengths. I shaved a little on the ends to accept the Skachet head and tried all three. The best of them became it’s new handle. The green wood with bark accepted the threading imparted on it by the Skachet easily. When I could not twist on any farther it was ready for use.

In the below image you can see the hammer head along with the threaded handle shaft. Wood and bark particles are inside some of the threads from use.

I found the handle length of about 22″ worked the best for my applications. The review pictures were taken after the testing.

In this image you can see the curved blade and the gut hook clearly.

The leather sheath can also be used as a protective covering when a handle is used.

In use I found the Skachet with handle attached makes a great light hatchet. While it took a little bit to find and fabricate a handle it worked well nevertheless. The blade is probably sharp enough to handle skinning a deer but for small game you will need a sharper, non axe bit bevel ground blade. The edge did hold up well to chopping anything wood.

DEADFALL TRAP BUILDING FROM START TO FINISH (VIDEO)

The hammer head was quite handy too. That steel is quite hard and has a PING! to it when you flick it with your finger or sharpen it.

A search on the history of the Skachet lead me to what appears to be the original patent images.

 

There is even a sketch of a woodsman using the Skachet.

Also found was an interesting advertisement or instructions for this unique tool. Notice they say you can cut a quarter inch metal bolt without damage. I certainly would not try that especially with the collector prices the original Skachets fetch online.

Charter arms added the Skachet to their popular takedown AR-7 survival rifles. Notice my Skachet does not have any Charter Arms inscriptions or “SKACHET” like the below image has and also the leather sheath is of a different design.

Original Skachets are not cheap but there are newer made replicas that are available. I have not yet reviewed these so I can not tell you the quality of them.

PACK A .22 FOR SURVIVAL AND FUN? CHECK THIS ONE OUT

If you are into prepping, outdoor survival, an outdoors enthusiast or a collector of odd vintage blades the Skachet might just fit in your collection.

Do you like articles about the outdoors? You can follow him @ericthewoodsman on Twitter, The Classic Woodsman on Facebook, and @theclassicwoodsman on Instagram, The Classic Woodsman, and The Classic Woodsman YouTube Channel.