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.