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*.