imported>ChelodojMolovek at 17:35, 15 January 2026

2026-01-15T17:35:38Z

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{{Infobox/Item
|name=
|image= Improvised Knife icon.png
|imagewidth=
|caption=
|item type = tool
|weight= 0.75
|craft =
|harvest= 1 × [[Scrap Metal]]
45 minutes
|repair= [[Whetstone]]
12-5 minutes<br>
3%-5%
|wintermute=yes|renewable=Yes}}
{{Quote2|An improvised knife made of scrap metal with a cloth-wrapped handle. Not as robust or nice to look at as one made by professional, but it'll do the trick.|In-game description}}
The '''Improvised Knife''' is a tool in ''The Long Dark'' for butchering, crafting and self defense.

==Overview ==
Improvised Knives are functionally similar to [[Hunting Knife|Hunting Knives]], but can be [[Forge|Forged]], weighing slightly more and are slower to craft/harvest with and less effective during struggles. Knives have number of uses: harvesting gut, hide and meat from [[Wildlife|animal]] carcasses, as well as [[cloth]] and [[Tinder Plug|tinder plugs]]. It may also serve as a makeshift [[Can Opener|can opener]] to avoid spillage, or to break through iced-over fishing holes for [[Ice Fishing]], and as a self-defense weapon during wolf attacks.

Improvised Knives are particularly useful on Interloper mode, where Hunting Knives never spawn, or Custom sandbox with Loot Frequency set to "Low".

Improvised Knives are repairable with [[Whetstone|Whetsone]] or at the [[Milling Machine]].

Uses of Improvised Knife:

* Self Defense during a [[Struggle|Wolf Struggle]].
* May be used to [[Carcass Harvesting|harvest frozen carcasses]] (Knives have faster unfrozen meat, gut and hide harvesting speeds. Hatchets are only faster at harvesting frozen meat)
* Open or maintain holes in the ice for [[Ice Fishing]] (bladed tools break ice faster, but take more condition loss when doing so).
* Breaking down Old Bedrolls and Pillows (for [[Cloth]]).
* Crafting [[Survival Bow|Survival Bows]] and [[Arrow Shaft|Arrow Shafts]].
* Crafting animal hide clothing.

When carried and selected for self-defense at the start of a Wolf Struggle, Improvised Knives deal low damage with a low chance per-hit to cause the wolf to flee, and a high chance to inflict [[Blood Loss]] (which is lethal to the Wolf over time). Improvised Knives are almost as effective at filling the Struggle Meter as the [[Hunting Knife]] or [[Prybar]], especially on difficulty modes other than [[Survival Mode|Interloper]]. Hunting Knives take low damage from being used in a struggle. For more information on Struggles, see: [[Struggle|Wildlife Struggles]].
==Crafting==
{{Infobox recipe
|name = Improvised Knife
|amount = 1
|skill =
|skillpoint =
|tool = Heavy Hammer
|facility = Forge
|mat1 = Scrap Metal
|mat1qty = 3
|mat2 = Cloth
|mat2qty = 1
|time = 180
}}

Improvised Knives may be rarely found in all regions, usually near frozen corpses or structures. They may also be found inside structures atop/beneath furniture or in drawers.

Forging improvised knives is only possible at a [[furnace]] with a [[Heavy Hammer]]; [[coal]] is required to a heat furnace hot enough for forging along with the necessary crafting materials: [[Scrap Metal]] and [[cloth]].

In Interloper mode improvised knives and hunting knives will never spawn; requiring forging to create.

==Repair==
The improvised knife can be repaired using a [[whetstone]] and the [[Sharpening]] skill, restoring 3%-5% condition to the hunting knife (based on skill) and causing 5% condition damage to the whetstone.

A [[Milling Machine]] may repair a non-ruined hunting knife to 100% condition for one piece of scrap metal, during an active [[Aurora]]. Repairing Improvised Knives or Improvised Hatchets with the Milling Machine is more efficient with Scrap Metal than [[Forge|forging]] new ones.

==Trivia==
* Like the [[Improvised Hatchet]], the Improvised Knife is a flattened metal pipe with cloth for a grip.

{{Tools}}
[[Category:Tools]]
[[Category:Craftable tools]]
[[ru:Самодельный нож]]

Improvised Knife - Revision history

imported>ChelodojMolovek at 17:35, 15 January 2026