In "Gear and Equipment", section "Selecting the Best Sharp", it says:

...a survival knife should have a blade at least four inches long, but no longer than six inches...

The problem is, 4 inches isn't legal everywhere, and it's usually quite a bit less (2.5" in Missouri, IIRC).

How much are you giving up by carrying a smaller knife? What sort of situations would you find yourself in that a knife with, say, a 3" blade wouldn't work for, but the longer knives recommended in the guide would? Is there any way to compensate for the lack of a longer blade? Maybe by carrying multiple small blades?

You must remember most state's defininition of legal length is for daily urban carry. Otherwise every restaurant would be creating felons from the chef to the customer. If your knife is carried in, or as part of an obvious camping or tool assemblage for legitimate use there is no real problem. Now, if you strapped on some survival bowie and walked into a convenience store for the supplies it is in violation.

Good point. I guess I was thinking about the "Don't Leave Home Without it" gear when I asked the question.

Right now, I have a locking folder with a 3.6" blade in my pocket. I think it's legal for where I am. If something were to happen, it'd be all I had access to. But what if I were carrying my 2.9"? What's more important... length or overall durability?

I'm just guessing, since I don't have a lot of experience with this, but here are some tasks I think I'd like a larger knife for:

• " battoning" a knife to split wood
• Cutting through tough, or thick material (but when / why would I do this?)
• Extended use without a sharpener.
• Abuse (Prying, scraping, sawing, cutting metal, etc)

On the other hand, a good small knife should be just fine for:

• Cutting small rope or cord
• Cutting cloth or canvas
• Meal prep (cutting small chunks of meat, veggies, bread, opening packages, etc)
• Making / modifying tinder (fuzz sticks, wood shavings, etc.)
• Creating sparks from a fire steel (spine, not blade!)

I'm certain that my lack of experience is the real problem. If I really knew what I need a knife for, it'd probably be fairly obvious if a small knife would work.

If you're walking down Main Street, you won't get suddenly swept off by a cyclone like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and dropped onto Gilligan's Island where you'd be in big trouble if you didn't always carry a 10 inch Bowie knife good for hacking through jungle with. I just wouldn't worry about it. The most common use for a big pocket knife in ordinary experience is for cutting food, i.e. if you want to slice through a loaf of bread or a big block of cheese, without having to go at it from all 4 sides. But you can always improvise. Really, for everyday situations, a regular size SAK is generally more handy than some huge blade, and it can be pressed into other duties as needed.

Of course if you're going out in the boonies, or equipping a ditch bag for a bush pilot plane, you may want to pack a bigger knife; but you'll also be away from those urban jurisdictions where big knives are restricted.

paulr:
If you're walking down Main Street, you won't get suddenly swept off by a cyclone like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and dropped onto Gilligan's Island where you'd be in big trouble if you didn't always carry a 10 inch Bowie knife good for hacking through jungle with.

Doug Ritter, "Gear and Equipment", section "On Your Own":
At its most basic, being "equipped to survive" means recognizing that what you have on your person may be all that you have available to assist you in coping with an emergency. No matter if your survival circumstance occurs in a city or in the wilderness, no matter how much equipment you may have in a survival kit stored at home, in the car, at work, in the plane or in the boat, it could easily come down to what you are personally carrying. You may be eternally grateful to have survived with just that much.

I've apparently given the impression I'm worried that I can't carry one of my large knives with me at all times. Actually, I could... Our CCW permit allows knives. That's not the point. All I'm wondering is what sorts of tasks are hard to do / impossible to do with a small knife that would be required in an emergency, and is there anything that can be done to compensate?

It really isn't neccessary to baton firewood all the way with any knife. If you can whittle a wedge it will baton nicely and save your knife. I've found the Moran, or convex edge to be very tough with good edge retention. Our species got along fine for millenia with small lithic,bone and wood edges that didn't even possess tangs. A good knife makes things much easier, but it's not a panacea for every need. Sometimes when reading various forums, I get the feeling these people are more into deforestation than simple survival <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Chris Kavanaugh:
Our species got along fine for millenia with small lithic,bone and wood edges that didn't even possess tangs. A good knife makes things much easier, but it's not a panacea for every need.

Ah. That answers my question, I think. Any knife is better than no knife. While some tasks will be easier with a certain size and type of knife, any knife can be used for almost any task with some degree of success.

Thanks, Chris.

Maybe because it was my first fixed blade hunting knife, or maybe just because it feels right in my hand, I prefer my old Craftsman carbon steel knife.

I can't remember exactly where in the house it is right now, but I think the blade is shorter than five (5") inches in length. I have bigger and smaller fixed blade knives, but if I am going into the woods, the Craftsman is my first choice for the belt. For an extended stay, I would put on the carbon steel Kalishnakov bayonet simply because it is more rugged. My three (3") pocket knife is always with me (except at airports) as is a small Swiss Army knife which resides on a leather necklace with my pealess flat marine whistle. My pack has redundency cover in the form of folding knives three (3") inches or smaller. You can always "baton" wood with a rock or another piece of wood.

If I am going into less hospitable situations where I feel a formidable circumcision blade would be appropriate, I like the idea of having my eleven (11") inch blade Swiss bayonet around in the event I have to threaten some thug with novice, inept, inaccurate circumcision. You are foolish to threaten a bear or any animal willing to attack you with circumcision unless they understand the King's English, and swatting at bees, horse flies, and misquitoes with a fixed blade knife could result in your own self-inflicted gender change.

I like the teachings of the Heinlien book "Doorway to the Stars", which advocates evasive and defensive action first and foremost.

We are never as strong as we sometimes believe and should leave that which we can not change or save alone.

Bountyhunter
<img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

We quite often discuss similar topic on Russian forums. And it usually comes to the moment when someone reminds the concept of 3 knives: one knife for cutting, one knife as a multi-tool and one knife for chopping and other hard work. This division was made because carving and cutting jobs usually require short and light blades while chopping requires long and heavy. If you combine carving and chopping in one knife, it will be a poor performer. You can combine multi-tool and cutting knife, but you will have to wash it too often for comfort, so again it is not the optimal solution. So, on the question if you should carry a few blades (knives), yes, I think it is a good solution.
If you are concerned about blade length, well, then you can substitute long blade by an axe or saw for heavy work. But they are good as long as you don't need to cut through bushes.
Regards,

http://www.ragweedforge.com/5629.jpg

Here you have a good solution.....

D.

I am sending this very combination to WOFT. The larger Lueko is a fair machete and will split smaller diameter woods and handle many large knife tasks. The smaller puukko is a superb blade for shaving fuzz sticks and other tasks. Both knives are cabable of razor sharpness. Ragnar stated one lueko did break from sever batoning in hardwood. These are rat tail tangs and relatively thin stock. Remember that in the land of the Sammi ( laplanders) the trees are smaller diameter birches.

well, yes, this Iissakki leuko is a beautiful well made knive, sharp and tough, with a blade thickness of 3 mm. I use it at home to slice bread and other jobs requiring a long and sharp blade.Not the greasy and dirty ones. The knife is a jewel. If one did brake, then it was certainly submitted to excessive abuse, trying to handle a job suited for an axe. After all knives are meant to cut things, soft things.

The Lauri blade, OTOH, has a thickness of some 4 mm and is a bit longer and heavier, making it a really tough heavy duty tool. Not very suited to be carried on your belt. Good for general work around the house (depends where your house is). Also very capable of shaving hairs from your arm.