10 Knives Every Prepper Needs to Own

I like knives.  I like tools. And for me, a knife isn't so much a "weapon" but a very useful tool.  It makes sense to own an assortment of knives so that you will have the proper tool for whatever situation arises.  Here are the knives I find most useful:

1. A pocketknife.  I carry my basic pocketknife with me everywhere I go and it comes in handy about once a week for everything from opening boxes to cutting up an apple.
2. A folding buck knife.  I carry this in the dash compartment of my vehicle.  It is more substantial than a pocketknife, with a locking blade for tougher cutting jobs (or in a pinch, personal defense).
3. A fixed-blade knife.  Excellent for hunting.  Ditto for personal defense.
4. A heavy, very sharp, meat cleaver.  Here we are moving into kitchen tools.  I use this knife a lot in the kitchen, especially when chopping a slab of meat down to size.
5. A paring knife.  Another extremely useful kitchen tool for small cutting jobs.
6. An all around kitchen knife.  This is the third of three knives I keep in my kitchen arsenal.  While the spouse seems to like a dozen or more knives for kitchen use, with the three listed above, I am all set for any kind of kitchen duty.
7. A machete or "bolo" knife.  While I have never used this giant-sized knife for defense, plenty of people have.  I use my machete for cleaning up brush outside on occasion.
8. A utility knife.  This type of knife, which uses disposable razor blades for its cutting edge, is super useful for all shop-related cutting purposes.  I keep one on my work bench, one in my tool bag, and one in the kitchen junk drawer.
9. A multi-tool.  This item has a half dozen knife-like implements as well as a bunch of other tools attached to it.  I don't carry this with me as my pocketknife works perfectly well for me but I do keep my Leatherman in by BOB.
10. A very long, very thin Japanese sword.  I keep this, found in my travels abroad, for decoration.  Obviously I could use it for defense if necessary but having exactly no skill at sword fighting, the outcome would be iffy at best.  It does make a nice conversation piece, however.

And three knife rules: keep it cleaned, keep it sharpened, and you get what you pay for in most cases (so don't even think of picking up a knife at the Dollar Store!).