Many of you have said you carry only a folder, then talked about the sharpened pry bars you have tried. For day to day use in the woods, I leave most of my folders home and use a fixed blade -- with a 3 or 3.5 inch blade. The KaBar (note the second half of the name) and the Cold Steel SRK are great field tools and I have several knives of this type. Their blades are WAY too heavy for good general purpose cutting though. If I were back in the service, a clean 5 or so inch blade (the SOG pup is a good design though I would probably buy a Mad Dog ATAK) would again return to my belt. In the woods for general use this is way too big. I don't need to open cases of ammo or rations (they used to come with steel bands - now they are fiber), dig holes in the rocks, etc.

Doug Ritter has designed what I consider an excellent blade for survival use, but I would not normally carry it for every day use. One similar to it is in my aviation survival kit. I like his even better and will buy one if I have to replace mine (probably will buy one anyway :-). The additional size is excellent for some of the things I don't do normally in the woods with a knife.

My heavy hunting blade has a 3.5 inch length and a lot of sweep for good skinning. My normal field blades are in that 3 to 3.5 inch length, but more narrow like a small pareing knife or a pocket knife and not any thicker. Because they are fixed, they are stronger, lighter and easier to use (expecially as others have mentioned in cold weather). They come out and go back faster and with less fuss, particularly if you are squatting. Even my folders with clips are not as easy to remove in that position. I usually carry one of these fixed blades, a SAK (not for the blades, but as a tool kit), a saw for wood cutting and sometimes a light axe or machete when in the woods for work or play.

YMMV

Respectfully,

Jerry