Which size for a blade do you prefer? I have never bought anything under 5" myself but it seems to be popular aound here. I like the rat-5 but I heard about qc issues plus its ontario. So the rc-4 is the closest thing. Im just afraid it will be too small. If someone can prove me right or wrong, that would be great. The only advantage to a 4 incher I can see is that it would be easier to carry and it would be more likely to be carried on camping trips as opposed to my usual folders.
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5" vs. 4"
- Thread starter 3wolves
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I say 4". If you are gonna be doing any trap making or whittling you will appriciate the control of the 4" blade.
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Funny I'm possibly getting a 5 inch blade and I'm wondering if it's going to be too big...I think it all has to do with what you're comfortable with, I've seen guys on here who could carve works of art with machetes and others who could field dress an elk with a pen knife..Personally I feel if battoning is something you do the extra length is a good thing...If not a shorter blade has more control, and attracts less attention.
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- Mar 26, 2007
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She prefers a... Oh, right, never mind...
I prefer a 4 in. blade or less, simply because I usually pair it up with a hatchet/axe, and if I know I won't need to be doing any chopping I just leave the axe and the 4" is lighter, more controllable, etc. plus, I can put one on my belt and not even know it's there.
All of this is just my personal opinion of course, but I think anything over 5" is just a compromise that is neither efficient at chopping or doing fine carving chores, unless of course you start getting into really large choppers like machetes. Even if I lost my pack with my axe in it, I still would feel comfortable asking a 4" knife to do everything I need it to do, it just wouldn't be as convenient as the axe. In fact even a 5" would add any convenience, I don't think a 5" knife offers anything that a 4" doesn't. I don't think you can really make much of an argument for anything over 4" until you get up to about 8" and over.
P.S. For some reason "axe" is not part of my spell check dictionary for Firefox, weird...
I prefer a 4 in. blade or less, simply because I usually pair it up with a hatchet/axe, and if I know I won't need to be doing any chopping I just leave the axe and the 4" is lighter, more controllable, etc. plus, I can put one on my belt and not even know it's there.
All of this is just my personal opinion of course, but I think anything over 5" is just a compromise that is neither efficient at chopping or doing fine carving chores, unless of course you start getting into really large choppers like machetes. Even if I lost my pack with my axe in it, I still would feel comfortable asking a 4" knife to do everything I need it to do, it just wouldn't be as convenient as the axe. In fact even a 5" would add any convenience, I don't think a 5" knife offers anything that a 4" doesn't. I don't think you can really make much of an argument for anything over 4" until you get up to about 8" and over.
P.S. For some reason "axe" is not part of my spell check dictionary for Firefox, weird...
I use a 4" blade (HRLM) for almost everything without any problems. IMO, you don't really gain any significant advantage going from a 4" to a 5", or for that matter, a 5" to a 6" and so on and so forth. The two knives I use for the great majority of my outdoor tasks are the 4" HRLM and a 7.5" Ratweiler and to be honest - If the Ratweiler didn't act more like a 9 or 10" blade while chopping I would choose something else that did. To answer your original question though - I prefer a 4" (or even a 3.5") blade for the majority of my needs as I can control them better.
Hi 3 woves, and everyone else I like the 5" blade over the four
inch for several reasons ONE I just like the longer lenght for
kitchen duties cutting up veggies I like my 5" blade over
my 4" blades for doing the same work big potatos,big onions,
and tomatos that 1" longer difference is just something I find
works for me.
TWO snap cuts are easyer to do that with a 5" blade on trail clearing.
I cut trees for my living and even though I carry a chainsaw there
are still times that I will cut smaller branchs out of my way with my
knife IF I do not have my saw going.
THREE splitting wood or battoning even if you are only going to split a 3"
round of wood I still like to have that extra inch of steel to hit with
the baton yes it can be done with a 4" knife and I have for years
done so but when it comes to personal prefernce I like the 5" over the 4" blade.
FOUR one more inch just gives you that little extra reach.
Now here is the kicker WHAT IF you for some reason had to
use one knife the to do it all from kitchen to camp to what ever
may come your way I think the 5" inch works better
Every bodies life experinces will dic tate what works for them.
I am now making my own knives and my personal every day
carry do it all in case I were to lose all my other sharp tools is
a 5" Blade orange handle knife that gets used from kitchen to
camp and every thing in between. Here is a few pics
This is what I use to carry until I made up my dream knife because I did not
find a 5" blade that I like well enough to buy and I have tried a few as you will see.
This is what I mean buy a few.
Try both and see which on fits the bill as Nessmuk would say.
Hope this helps
Bryan
inch for several reasons ONE I just like the longer lenght for
kitchen duties cutting up veggies I like my 5" blade over
my 4" blades for doing the same work big potatos,big onions,
and tomatos that 1" longer difference is just something I find
works for me.
TWO snap cuts are easyer to do that with a 5" blade on trail clearing.
I cut trees for my living and even though I carry a chainsaw there
are still times that I will cut smaller branchs out of my way with my
knife IF I do not have my saw going.
THREE splitting wood or battoning even if you are only going to split a 3"
round of wood I still like to have that extra inch of steel to hit with
the baton yes it can be done with a 4" knife and I have for years
done so but when it comes to personal prefernce I like the 5" over the 4" blade.
FOUR one more inch just gives you that little extra reach.
Now here is the kicker WHAT IF you for some reason had to
use one knife the to do it all from kitchen to camp to what ever
may come your way I think the 5" inch works better
Every bodies life experinces will dic tate what works for them.
I am now making my own knives and my personal every day
carry do it all in case I were to lose all my other sharp tools is
a 5" Blade orange handle knife that gets used from kitchen to
camp and every thing in between. Here is a few pics
This is what I use to carry until I made up my dream knife because I did not
find a 5" blade that I like well enough to buy and I have tried a few as you will see.
This is what I mean buy a few.
Try both and see which on fits the bill as Nessmuk would say.
Hope this helps
Bryan
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
- Messages
- 4,209
Hi 3 woves, and everyone else I like the 5" blade over the four
inch for several reasons ONE I just like the longer lenght for
kitchen duties cutting up veggies I like the my 5" blade over
my 4" blades for doing the same work big potatos,big onions,
and tomatos that 1" longer difference is just something I find
works for me.
TWO snap cuts are easyer to do that with a 5" blade on trail clearing.
I cut trees for my living and even though I carry a chainsaw there
are still times that I will cut smaller branchs out of my way with my
knife IF I do not have my saw going.
THREE splitting wood or battoning even if you are only going to split a 3"
round of wood I still like to have that extra inch of steel to hit with
the baton yes it can be done with a 4" knife and I have for years
done so but when it comes to personal prefernce I like the 5" over the 4" blade.
FOUR one more inch just gives you that little extra reach.
Now here is the kicker WHAT IF you for some reason had to
use one knife the to do it all from kitchen to camp to what ever
may come your way I think the 5" inch works better
Every bodies life experinces will dic tate what works for them.
I am now making my own knives and my personal every day
carry do it all in case I were to lose all my other sharp tools is
a 5" Blade orange handle knife that gets used from kitchen to
camp and every thing in between. Here is a few pics
Bryan
I agree with Bryan except for one additional aspect for me. Since I always carry at least one folder for smaller chores, I try to get the largest blade I can comfortably carry and that has alwasy come back to knives with a blade around 5-5.5". Once I get to the 6+inch blade lenghts, I need a drop leg rig or it goes in the pack; FOR ME, it's just too cumbersome to always have a knife that large on the belt and I want a fixed blade I can always have with me. Additionally, as Bryan stated, that extra inch or so really does help with the larger chores.
I still have plenty of blades in the 4" category that get as much field time, but if I had a preference and ability, I would step up to the 5" blades for a little more versatility. As mentioned, it's a compromise, but it works for me
A few in my 4.5+ to ~6 inch range:
ROCK6
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
- Messages
- 4,209
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2007
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- 2,798
That is similar to mine, except mine goes like this:
4" for EDC and short one day hikes in easy to moderate terrain.
Add axe/hatchet for longer hiking and multiple days.
Sicily does bring up good points though, and I drool over his home made knives every time he posts them. It all comes down to personal preference. Like someone else said, try both and see what YOU prefer.
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2007
- Messages
- 831
3 to 4 inches with a fixed blade for a all purpose camp, hunting, skinning, fishing, survival knife. Easy to control for most chores. I would rather have one small knife than only a big 7 -9 chopper. Of course I carry both. But small would be my choice of "Only One". My "only one" would never be a folder.
Most of my outdoor knives (I consider kitchen knives to be in an entirely different class) have 4.5" blades with useable choils. I would prefer a little less length, around 4". On knives without choils I'd want the blade closer to 3".
I don't have any use for knives between 4.5" and 9.5".
I don't have any use for knives between 4.5" and 9.5".
- Joined
- Sep 27, 1999
- Messages
- 3,164
Yeah, adding the hatchet will work too! I didn't want to add too many variations. Sometimes for long backpacking trips where I want to be light and there are no open fires allowed I go with just a 5". But yeah adding an axe/hatchet and keeping the 4 is great too.
I tend to carry two knives: a small one for precise work and a larger one (or an axe) for the possible bigger, rougher tasks. With that, I'm of course almost never going to carry a 5" knife, since it's too large to be small and too small to be large. The small knife will be a fixed blade between 3 to 4 inches of blade, and the larger will be from 6" up in blade length. There's not much room for 5-inchers, except occasionally just for the heck of it. It's a fall-between, compromise kind of a blade length. So, 4" for me.
The small knife will be a fixed blade between 3 to 4 inches of blade, and the larger will be from 6" up in blade length. There's not much room for 5-inchers, except occasionally just for the heck of it. It's a fall-between, compromise kind of a blade length. So, 4" for me.Well I guess its a toss up since I havent owned a blade less than 5". I will be taking a hatchet regardless of 4 or 5 inches. I don't know whether to buy a rat-5 or a rc-4, I admire the shear simplicity of them. The only thing stopping me from buying the rat-5 is Ontario. I havent heard anything bad about the rc and the warranty is awsome. Would you guys get the rc or the rat if you could have any one? Is losing the extra inch worth getting a slightly better product?
I had the rat-5 for the blade length but the handle was to thick for me. So my nephew
got it but now that I am making knives he wants me to make him his own pathfinder with
the orange g-10 scales. After using both 4" and 5" knives he likes the 5" blade too and has
been carrying his Grohman #4 survival till I get his pathfinder made. Just looked at the weather
and sunday and monday are rainy looking days soooo my knife making will be commencing.
3wolves if I was not making my own knives I would wait for Jeff and Mike to have the there
5" sere knife come out. But that is just me. I do not plan to do business with ontario knives
any more after there dealings with Jeff and Mike.
Boo hiss boo hiss, on you ontario knives.
Bryan
got it but now that I am making knives he wants me to make him his own pathfinder with
the orange g-10 scales. After using both 4" and 5" knives he likes the 5" blade too and has
been carrying his Grohman #4 survival till I get his pathfinder made. Just looked at the weather
and sunday and monday are rainy looking days soooo my knife making will be commencing.
3wolves if I was not making my own knives I would wait for Jeff and Mike to have the there
5" sere knife come out. But that is just me. I do not plan to do business with ontario knives
any more after there dealings with Jeff and Mike.
Boo hiss boo hiss, on you ontario knives.
Bryan
Listen, I see it like this. A nimravus is the same thickness of the Presideo same grind, same cutting ability,only diffrence is that the presideo has a few more ounces and 3 more inchs added to it. If you dont mind the small extra weight and the 5" has good cutting efficiency and isnt overly thick (Over .190 for me) then I wouldn't mind.
"With that, I'm of course almost never going to carry a 5" knife, since it's too large to be small and too small to be large."
Agreed, 4" is recommended for most bushcraft duties, and if you need chopping power, take something much bigger to complement the smaller one. Like a 12" machete or hatchet.
Agreed, 4" is recommended for most bushcraft duties, and if you need chopping power, take something much bigger to complement the smaller one. Like a 12" machete or hatchet.
I am not a fan of the larger blades, but Sicily makes some good points. Those are all reasons that I think are good for having a larger blade. I carry a machete for some of those reasons. If a person did not though, they could take a larger knife.
After EDCing a 3" fixed blade for a year or better, you realize how much finesse you lose going to a 4". I can only imagine the loss of going to a 5". That said, I still feel the same draw toward big knives everyone else does, I just resist the urge...so far!
After EDCing a 3" fixed blade for a year or better, you realize how much finesse you lose going to a 4". I can only imagine the loss of going to a 5". That said, I still feel the same draw toward big knives everyone else does, I just resist the urge...so far!