However, as my skills have improved I started looking at other tools. One knife you will see a lot of on knife and wilderness forums is a Mora. I own the Mora Classic 1 and think it is the best of the line. The handle being shorter allows for a good grip but also for you to wrap your pinky finger behind it so you can safely do stabbing tasks since there is no guard. If you're just getting into bushcraft or woodcraft there is no better knife to start with -- the quality can't be beat at the $15 price point.
If you're looking for something more robust -- full tang construction and a larger blade -- check out the Old Hickory Butcher Knife for about $11 or the Condor Bushlore which comes in around $32 and is based off the pricey Alan Wood Woodlore. Both, while not as sharp or quite as good of cutters as a Mora, are great budget blades for woods use to get you started. I'll get more into those in later blogs.
I, like Dave Canterbury, like "bulletproof gear on a budget" as he says. Not that there's no value in an expensive piece of kit, but you don't HAVE TO buy a $300 knife to get a good quality blade. In fact, there is a knife that is pretty good for some smaller woodcraft/bushcraft tasks that most probably already own -- a utility knife.
These knives are not bad for backup blades for very precise cutting. Now you'll want to have some spare blades on hand as they aren't really re-sharpenable. I personally carry the Milwaukee Fastback II at work -- a great cutter with quick deployment and extra blade storage. Granted its flip mechanism probably isn't the greatest for outdoor use, nor is the large blade housing (as you'll see it can get in the way a bit for finer tasks like feather sticks) but it works pretty well I must say. A standard Stanley might be a better choice (and more likely to already be in your home). The main plus to the Fastback is its tool-less blade switching, whereas for the Stanley you need a screwdriver.
Here's a short video of my utility knife in action for some basic woodcraft/bushcraft tasks: