A lot of great information, and I think you're right. Look at the knives still made by hand in Lapland/Finland; the puukko. The blade on most of these are 1 to 4 inches long. There is no finger guard, and the blades are scary sharp. These are the traditional knives of a people who lived in the subartic and had to live off the land and process large animals for food and clothing. Even their military knive are puukko's, almost identical to their field knives, but just a little bigger.