...and a small knife for fine work?

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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8,250
I have a question for the large chopper guys about the secondary or piggy backed knife that a lot of people carry. Why so big for the secondary? I see a lot of guys with thick(3/16") and long(4-5") knives as their secondary. If your main chopper has the strength, wouldn't you want your fine work knife to be all about cutting? I'm thinking 2.5-3.5" blade at 1/16" thick. You know, something that would do some serious cutting.
 
I agree that it seems allot of small blades are thicker then they really need to be. Maybe not 1/16, but 3mm I think is enough for a 3-4" blade.
 
And I'm mainly talking about thickness. My Izula and my SAK have the same blade length but I reach for the SAK because it cuts better. Against wood there's no difference but on material like fruit and meat where the knife has to travel through the media, the thickness of the blade plays a big part. Pun intended. :)
 
Agreed. I prefer a 3.5" small blade. It seems to be a good size blade that isn't too small for moderate tasks. I like 1/8" or 3/32" thickness for small blade. Even with a chopper, I still use my small blades for light batoning (e.g. bowdrill hearth) and working wood demands a bit of stiffness. I leave my cheese slicer in the drawer at home where it belongs.
 
I, too totally agree with Shotgun.
Shorter blade should be thinner, proportionally to it's size and profile.
 
^ I'd agree w/ that for the sake of the OP's question, but some folks (count me as one) carry one knife and mine happen to be on the "small" side- my "small" knife I want from 1/8 or 3/32" stock- it needs to do the fine stuff and some of the heavier stuff, so ultra thin isn't going to cut the mustard (although it would spread the mustard just fine :D)
 
LOL - 2 knives!

I take a big chopper and a medium general duties knife and a Scandi for wood stuff (whittling/carving/whatever) and a slicer for food prep and a SAK and a multitool. Of course that is just my minimum.
If I was into mountain climbing I'd probably cut back to the minimum knives of coarse.

For fine work the Scandi or FFG type blades would be the best bet - I usually have a Mora and an Opinel so those are covered quite nicely. The good thing is that adding a knife for fine work adds very little weight to you pack - if you tossed in an Opinel #6 would you be able to notice the weight?
 
If I'm carrying a big knife for heavy stuff... wither a necker or more likely a locking sak is my other blade.
 
As far as thickness goes I generally prefer 1/8"ish as a companion knife. Depends on the grind, steel, etc. etc. For example, the Bark River Colonial Patch is 0.150" thick, but due to the grind it easily out slices several of my thinner blades. In the 7" OAL range seems to work well for most light duties. I have a Bruce Culberson necker that's 1/8" that also does a very fine job as a companion. Just picked up a 3/16" from GL Drew. Gerry took the grind almost to the spine, making for a very thin thick knife. Guess my point is this...thickness doesn't always matter as much as execution.
 
JCavSD said:
Guess my point is this...thickness doesn't always matter as much as execution.
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So says the fat guy on the electric chair :)

Yeah - there is a lot that can happen between edge geometry and the thickness of the stock used in creating a knife. Sho'nuff! (I just re-watched Barry Gordon's The Last Dragon - ha, what a hoot!).
 
If I am going to carry a large chopper, my companion is usually a thin caping blade. Almost like a paring knife. I would say it gets 75% of the use. I agree, I like my companions just like my wiminz, thin...
 
Just had Scott Gossman make me up one of his WUK (Warnicliff Utility Knife) it differed in his regular specs. I had him make mine out of 3/32 thick and 3/4" wide stock. WUK Jr i guess. It is great as a companion uses it alot in camp and home kitchen prep, general slicing, game processor.
 
JCavSD said:
As far as thickness goes I generally prefer 1/8"ish as a companion knife. Depends on the grind, steel, etc. etc. For example, the Bark River Colonial Patch is 0.150" thick, but due to the grind it easily out slices several of my thinner blades. In the 7" OAL range seems to work well for most light duties. I have a Bruce Culberson necker that's 1/8" that also does a very fine job as a companion. Just picked up a 3/16" from GL Drew. Gerry took the grind almost to the spine, making for a very thin thick knife. Guess my point is this...thickness doesn't always matter as much as execution.
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True but I guess my point is that a thin knife with the same execution would be superior.
 
mtwarden said:
^ I'd agree w/ that for the sake of the OP's question, but some folks (count me as one) carry one knife and mine happen to be on the "small" side- my "small" knife I want from 1/8 or 3/32" stock- it needs to do the fine stuff and some of the heavier stuff, so ultra thin isn't going to cut the mustard (although it would spread the mustard just fine :D)
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I carry a 1/8" belt knife also because when I do carry a chopper it's a hatchet that rides in the pack and I want a knife on me that can take some batoning just in case I get seperated from my pack.
 
I agree a thin light blade is best for a backup slicer and dicer. I'd recommend a Buck Paklite skinner if you're on a budget, but an Izula, RC3, or something like that also works well. I'll admit I'm one to pack heavy for tools, sometimes it's just for fun, other times I justify it as backup for backcountry adventure. I'd rather pack one too many knives than have one break on me and not have enough. I'd check out Koyote's smaller knives, his scandi grinds are unbelievable slicers, with great edge retention and are super light.
 
Lately, I've been carrying my MMHW DV8, a Mora as a secondary, and a little Opinel as a tertiary for picking splinters and other 'extra fine' work.
 
I had a small kydex sheath built to hold a SAK "Hiker" & scout firesteel to my ESEE 6
DSCF1002-2.jpg
 
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PayetteRucker said:
I agree a thin light blade is best for a backup slicer and dicer. I'd recommend a Buck Paklite skinner if you're on a budget, but an Izula, RC3, or something like that also works well. I'll admit I'm one to pack heavy for tools, sometimes it's just for fun, other times I justify it as backup for backcountry adventure. I'd rather pack one too many knives than have one break on me and not have enough. I'd check out Koyote's smaller knives, his scandi grinds are unbelievable slicers, with great edge retention and are super light.
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I have an Izula and it's too thick IMO. Great lightweight knife but I still feel I have to team it with a SAK for cutting ability where the Izzy is a mini batoner/splitter.
 
Try a BRKT bravo necker with scales. It's thinner than the Izula, feels great with handles and has a full convex grind (zero edge?) so it slices like a knife that's even thinner. I've yet to use a knife that will peel or slice an apple better. Just my experience.
 
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