I have several Kabar knives including a Cutlass Machete I have used for several years on my property to clear brush (mostly mesquite) and break it down into smaller pieces. I had been looking at the Warthog for a long time and finally pulled the trigger on one a couple months ago and am glad I did. So far I have used the knife as a camp knife and in place of a small hatchet to break down wood into kindling for campfires. The weight and forward balance of it makes it a good chopper and it splits kindling almost as good as a hatchet. I think a knife like this could be used as a survival knife to build a shelter and prepare wood for fires. It is slightly limited in it's reach and having another inch of blade length would be nice, but at ~1 lb. it's pretty hefty as it already is. The finish holds up OK, not as durable as some of the Becker knives from Kabar and the sheath is OK for the price of the knife, but I don't think those are issues that warrant a deduction on the rating. The 1085 steel keeps a decent edge for a while and is a breeze to re-sharpen. If it's anything like my several-years-old Cutlass Machete, then I should get a lot of mileage from the Warthog.