Adam:

In the winter, if you can't break a piece of wood over your knee because it is frozen stiff indicates the wood has moisture in it that is frozen. The energy and time required to split that wood is greater than to find a dry piece which will snap readily if it contains no moisture.

A folding pruning saw will do better at cutting large branches than a knife and weighs very little, plus it is "PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER." friendly.

If you really plan on digging holes, get the smallest combination folding shovel/pick combination you can afford and I am sure it will work faster and better than a knife, and again, it is "PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER." friendly.

Bountyhunter

BH, that's great if those tools are available.

If not, a knife that can do those things in a pinch is a real plus. Of course it won't do it as well as the proper tool, but if it works, who cares?

Don't confuse strength with wieght. Fallkniven tested their knives at an industrial laboratory. Peter once shared some confidential comparisons, and yes they work well for chopping and splitting. The Swedish AF issues them, US Navy passed them as optional flightcrew carry. A Fallkniven will likely bend before breaking. As an anecdotal example, I woke one early morning to discover my cat missing. She had slipped out and was in a 5' oaktree stump surrounded by coyotes. I grabbed the F1 and raced outside. We were seperated by one of those cheap wrought iron security fences with soft welds. I shoved the blade between two panels and leaned on it. A loud PING was followed by @ 80' of fence folding over ( even cheaper installation.) I grabbed my cat and walked back down the hillside, politely saying good morning to my staring nieghbors . Once inside I realised I was in my underwear <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Chris, I would have like to have seen that cat rescue, or the look on your face when that much fence fell over...but I probably wouldn't wanted to have seen you in your underwear!

Back on topic...

I'm something of a knife collector (as you might know). I've got all sorts, from Victorinox Classics to Gerber BMF's to Cold Steel Bushman's, Benchmade 100RR's and Myerchin A508's. In any situation that does not involve self-defense, a large fixed-blade knife is not of much use. A sturdy, sharp, fixed-blade knife with a blade of about 4" is all you can really handle for fine work, and for anything larger, you're much better off carrying a hatchet. Myself, I picked up a nice Gransfors Mini Belt Hatchet at the Woodenboat Show up in Newport last year (I never buy an axe without picking through several examples to find the one with the best handle). There isn't a chopping job other than bushwhacking that a large knife does better than a hatchet (and for that, you really want a machete, anyway).

Folders? They can be very useful, but the mechanism is always going to present a compromise. One thing that I will never use a folder for is any food or digging, for fear of damaging the mechanism. If I were absolutely limited to one knife (not that I can ever really see that happening, of the ones I currently own, I'd probably choose my Benchmade 190 Drop Point Hunter. Of all knives out there? Maybe an old-skool Marbles...good enough for Kephart, good enough for me.

But in Real Life, I never go anywhere with just *one*.

id have to say i prefer a folder for when your out and about in public and cant go with a fixed blade for obvious reasons.

but for any other time i definitely prefer a fixed blade.

My concern is that I may need to split wood to find dry material. A small pruning saw may be fine and more efficient to cut down a 3" dia. piece of dry wood than chopping it, although with a large knife a few swings will slice though that wood so you could argue which is more efficient, now if you are tired and cold it may not be as safe to swing a knife around. If you are really in a survival situation and you need a big fire and you can't spend all you time tending to it you need some large logs to keep it going. Small branches that you snap over your knee are fine for a small camp fire but if you need to signal a plane a large fire may be required. The coals that are devolved after a large fire has been going for a while will allow you to throw on large logs and just leave them to burn.

In the early spring it is always fun to go out just after the snows have melted and try to get a fire started with the available wood. Anything on the ground is soaked. Anything small off the ground is soaked. I usually need to cut down larger branches of standing dead wood and split them up.

As far as digging holes is concerned a knife is a decent digging tool. Why pack a saw and a shovel when a knife can do that and more.

And last but not least a nice sized fixed blade makes a good pry bar.

Don't get me wrong. I (unfortunatly) find myself in plenty of situations where I simply can't properly conceal my 4" EDC fixed blade (mentioned above) and in those situations I do reluctantly carry a BM AXIS lock folder, however, I would never "choose" the folder. It's alway a compromise that I sometimes (as rarely as possible ) have to reluctantly make.

Great feedback gang. I never expected so much response so quickly.

Now.. do you want to change the topic to "knife under 4 inch" fixed or folder vs over 4" fixed or folder.

Perhaps size does count.. shape(folder vs fixed) doesn't.

I'll start:
I believe that a 4" blade provides whatever we need for survival. The uses for and weight/size tradeoff for a large blade fixed OR folder... don't make me lean towards larger. What do you think?

I found that blades up to 4" are my preferred size. So far they were up to every cutting job. I even use them for dressing game. On a special occassion I had to butcher 5 wild boars (about 100 lbs each) that were killed in a collision with a car. The 4" blade was entirely up to the job. I only carry a larger blade when I know that I´ m going to need it.
I severely lean towards the fixed blade as many other posters here. The fixed fixed blades are simply more robust and can be kept clean much easier. For camping or survival keeping the knife clean can be a health issue. As carry my folders in a belt pouch lint isn´t really an issue. I carry the folders to work and in urban environment. My EDC fixed blade has a 2" blade and fits nicely in a front pocket of my vest (redundacy can´t hurt).

Ah ..... what won't we do to help a lady in distress ... ?....