Thoughts On Smaller Knives

A recent knife post has me thinking out loud....

Over the years I've bought and used a LOT of knives. My wife would say too many. I have an observation and a related question:

Personal Observation: I find myself leaning toward mid-length knives (4 to 4.5 inches long)with moderately thin blades (like the Mk3 and the Mora Robust). Though they seem to be all the rage on several of the other forums I read, I find longer (>6") and thicker (1/4" & up) blades awkward and too heavy. For tasks that require big hardware I'd rather carry a small axe & saw of some kind.

Side note: Was watching a "Mountain Man" shown on TV over the weekend and noticed every one of those guys carried some kind of axe with them most of the time. I'll agree with that thought, though they are indeed a tad to big for what I see as survival-related EDC and I do recognize the safety risk Doug mentions in his Sharps section.

Question: For those of you that prefer smaller thinner blades ... what kind of blade shape do you prefer? I'm thinking of the drop point like the Becker BK16 & Ritter Mk2? Or the more pointy Mora (Robust) blade? Or the somewhat in between Ritter Mk3?

BTW, I KNOW that folks all have different preferences and that none are right or wrong. Just thinking out loud.

Ken K.

My preference for blade shape, which I admit is largely driven by aesthetics appeal and my "gut feel" about functionality, is something like the ESEE RC-3 or similarly profiled Ontario RAT-3. But I use my Mora Clipper the most of all my fixed blade knives and I find its blade profile to be perfectly functional for day-to-day tasks as well.

I do not (yet) own the ESEE knife, so my preference for its blade shape would be a purely aesthetic thing, now wouldn't it? I've never even held one. I've just seen pictures in online catalogs and decided I like the knife based on that (and also on reviews I've read).

I know what Ken is saying about the love some have for the heavy knives. I too prefer something between 3.5 to 5 inches long and not too thick. I think the Mora Robust is a super knife, especially when you consider they cost $15. What a bargain!

I personally, and I mean my tastes, do not like ESEE, Becker, TOPS type knives. To me they seem like a tactical knife maker trying to sell to the "bushcraft" crowd. The knives they make are great but to my tastes the designs are just too close to the Rambo, black coated, Kydex sheathed knife artillery that seems popular with some folks. They are entitled to their own tastes. I don't have to share them though.

To me a knife needs to fit the tasks it is intended for. Do I need to chop down trees with my knife? Not likely. Do I need to take out the emeny with my knife? Maybe once upon a time, but not today. What I need is a knife that I can make feather sticks with, do some wood carving to make things. Perhaps to baton some small diameter sticks into smaller diameter kindling. I may need to clean a trout or bass, perhaps a rabbit. I am not hunting bison or using the knife to kill the bison.

In summary, for me something like 3.5 to 5 inches and 1/8" to 3/16" thick will do nicely. I do prefer a more pointy blade, that is one that does not have a lot of curve from the straight edge to the point. Somewhat like the Mora blades is ideal.

I think they all say that!

That said, I assume we're talking about fixed blade, outdoors knives here.

I've really always had knives around the 4 inch mark or less and, when looking at new knives, didn't really see the need to go much larger; I've never been in a situation where I thought I needed a bigger knife for the task at hand. That said, I do almost always have an axe and/or hatchet when I'm camping or backpacking.

As far as blade shape goes I like the drop-point and I also like my knife blade to be a bit on the thicker side for general purpose use. The extra thickness is, in my mind, an aspect that helps ensure your primary knife is a bit overbuilt for those just-in-case emergency scenarios (I'd prefer to wager on too thick than too thin here).

My newest blade is a modified drop-point with a length of 3.8" and a thickness of 0.18".

My most used fixed blade is a Benchmade 201+ Activator, which has an almost 3 3/4" blade length. It's a full tang drop point design with a slight recurve.



Most of my preferred fixed blades are wider with a slight recurve. For some reason I've just always found that design to work well. The wide blade allows for a nice thin edge grind, while maintaining a strong stout blade. The recurve helps the blade to bite into what you're cutting, rather than just skip across the surface (this is especially true when cutting rope).

My wife would never say I have too many knives, but I know she's thinking it.

I do carry smaller knives on occasion, such as trail hiking, most notable a Mora MG Clipper. but when in the deep bush of Minnesota's North Woods, I like a bigger knife. I'm not trying to convince anybody that I'm right, it just works for me. I go with the addage that a big knife can do anything a little knife can do.....

My most recent aquisition is a Jeff White Custom Nessmuk knife.

I will admit I bought it mostly for the way it looked, but also for the image of the life in the woods that Nessmuk lived. It's blade is thin and razor sharp 1095 high carbon steel, 5½ inches long, 1½ wide and 3/32 thick. Handle is 4½ inches long,made of curly maple It's about the same size as my vintage Western W36 that goes with me into the deep bush, but lighter.

I haven't field tested it yet, but really, should I have to? Nessmuk already approved the design.

I think too many people buy into the "One big Blade" mentality, and then later find that it's just not as "useful" as a smaller blade, and another tool or two.

When I am in the woods on purpose I carry 2 tools most of the time. A Fixed blade knife, either my BHK Woodsman pro, 4" blade 5/32" thick. Or my Cheap Mora High-Q. I also carry a Baco Laplander folding saw.

The Baco saw weighs nothing, the Mora weighs nothing, so why not throw them in the bag??? If it's not hunting season my good fixed blade may stay at home, and I'll carry the other two plus maybe my small forrest axe, or even a leatherman Wave. Just depends on what I am doing.

I'd take a pocket knife and my Baco folding saw over a Huge "Survival" knife everyday. JMO



opps in my rant I forgot to anwser your question about the blade type. yeah I like drop point blades myself, just a good all around shape.

I was reading Cody Lundin's book today on the subject of knives. He made a good point about knives the size of his Mora in that its eaisier to prep small game with a small knife than a big knife. Imagine skinning a squirrel with Turtle man's Thunder Bowie

I love the drop point blade and have an Elk Ridge on my GHB. Recently I bought a Cutco serraded drop point hunting knife. people swear by them for sharpness but the blade seems thinner than I would trust for any camp knife activities. I have yet to field test it.

Of all my knives I favor my Taylor/Seto MCR-11 Tanto. aprox 11 long with a 5 3/4 blade. A good all around knife for survival IMO

Notwithstanding a Bark River collection, my favorite knife - the one I actually take with me on road trips and on long hikes - is Doug Ritter's MK3. I love the feel of it, it is not too heavy and I trust his vision for it.

My other faves are Moras (especially the 2000, Bushcraft Survival and Robust).

Think I'm done with knife buying, unless Doug or Mora comes out with anything new.

My personal carry knife, and most of the knives I make and sell are 3 to 5 inch bladed, drop point or spear point knives, geared toward wilderness utility and survival. They usually are arount 0.150 inches thickness. Under modern circumstances, that's what most need.

If you were traveling a long distance, in the 1700's, with limited carrying capacity, and limited ammo, and had to fight off hostile natives, a large knife with better martial qualities and the ability to better process wood might be more practical.

Whatever one's circumstances are, a person's life is generally less difficult, if they're smart enought to adapt.

barbarian brings up a great thought.

In days of old (1700's & 1800's) I wonder what folks who traveled in the less populated areas carried with them. I suspect that they weren't typically "processing wood" with a knife, but more likely they carried a saw (how common was that???), an axe (almost certainly), and splitting wedges of some kind (maybe locally fashioned out of wood???).

Ken, in "pioneer" days, most explorers, longhunters, mountain men etc. would carry both a skinning knife, similar to the Russel Green River and also a longer knife for more general or combat usage like the Rifleman's Knife or the ever famous Bowie (once it became widespread). In addition, most also carried a hatchet or tomahawk. And a lot of them had a patch knife carried on their possibles bag or around the neck.

That's just the stuff that was carried on the person. If they had pack animals, you can bet they had a felling axe and other tools on the horse!

Jeff White makes some great blades, although I don't own one (yet). I want one of his Nessmuks!

Now, on to the main question...

My latest "outdoor knife" is the TOPS Band of Brothers Fieldcraft knife. It's about 4.5" long and I wouldn't want anything longer. It's pretty thick and solid too. So far I've been able to use it for just about anything, including making fuzz sticks and carving and some heavier work. I also have an ESEE Izula II that's great for when I don't want/need the heavier blade. I also have a couple of Moras that I love, but I think I'd want something full tang for "survival" use.

So, in my opinion, those two blades cover most of what I'd need for emergency use. If I'm going camping, my hatchet/tomahawk comes along. A larger fixed blade is just extra weight and overkill in my view.

I own a gazillion knives, big and small, fixed and folders, BRKT's, ZT, Benchmades, Swamp Rats, ScrapYards, Fallkniven, Buck, etc., collected over 40 years or so. My favorite all around hard use knife is my BRKT Canadian Special. Almost as funky looking as the Nessmuk, full tang 4" x 0.17" A2 tool steel, convex edge, very pointy, but thick right to the point, easily sharpened on a strop with compound and the sharpest knife I have ever seen. Sliced right through two leather BRKT sheaths without even noticing, one of which sliced deep into my hand - also not notice until it began bleeding profusely. I have yet to find a task where this knife does not excel. I would not try to use it to remove a splinter however, unless you plan to cut your hand off at the wrist.

Normally, it's a Bark River Fox River. Generally paired (or tripled ;-) ) with a "pocket knife," like sak, or old trapper or Barlow 2 blade and a "pocket clip" knife like a 710hs, Spydie or similar.

I have a SRKW Camp Tramp that is a great knife but too big for small stuff, and frankly I prefer a hatchet or axe for real chopping.

This does not count multi-tools, since you said knife.

Yes, I carry too much, and faced the fact I may need to dump weight, but at least I have it to dump if it ever becomes necessary.

In my book a knife is one of those things that calls for redundancy.