You will also need a strike rod. No, not the variety they used to beat a red-headed stepchild in years past. A strike rod is usually made of magnesium or a mixture of steel and magnesium. I recommend you use a string to affix it to your Clipper Knife if the handle of your knife has a hole that you can use, or attach it to your survival knife's sheath. At the very least a strike rod should be always available in your survival kit.
Lanyard holes are holes found on a knife where cord or rope can be fastened to. You want to make sure that your knife has at least one of these at the base below the handle. Some Survival knives will have additional lanyard holes below the blade so that the knife can be easily fastened to a pole as a spear. You can do this with one lanyard hole as well but 3 make it easier.
Some other things to consider are: a sharpener that comes attached to the sheath, the sheath itself, whether the knife sits is it quietly for stalking game, the options for attaching the sheath to your belt/ body. Also price. you dont have to spend 200 bucks to get the best survival knife but should be willing to shell out around a hundred bucks. With this type of knife the price is directly related to the quality.
Gather your tinder. You want loosely spaced, very fine thread-like shavings put together with slightly thicker shavings. A birds nest configuration should work well because it has built-in protection from the wind. If you need to, you can smash thicker bark against a rock to expand the fibers of the wood. You can use your survival knife to make small thin shavings from bark. Some barks like Juniper or Cottonwood are especially great for tinder but any dry bark should do well. Dried grass can also be used. It isn't a bad idea to save this kind of tinder in a dry Ziploc bag for future use. The tinder will need to be dry. While you can most likely get away with wood or even kindling that isn't completely dry, you will be out of luck if your tinder is wet.
Lay your tinder near to the site you made. Place the strike rod barely above the tinder or lightly touching the tinder and strike the rod with the backside of the blade of your survival knife in a downward movement. This will cause the spark to fly off the blade and on to the tinder. You can also keep the knife stationary and move the strike rod down the length of the backside of the blade of your survival knife if you wish. I like to leave the strike rod stationary and as close to the tinder as possible, but this is based on preference. The moment an actual spark catches on the tinder you will need to apply air to your budding fire by blowing gently on the glowing tinder. As the red glow grows bigger, apply more air. Remember you aren't the big bad wolf blowing down the three little pig's house.
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