Best lightweight thin fix-bladed knife?

[hollowdweller]

Yes and who you are and what you can do. Consider a very active and physically capable man. Would it really be sensible for him to limit his knife to not being able to utilize his strength. Does that not seem to be obviously and severely flawed. This is no different than users picking suitable axe head weights and would anyone expect a 15, 35 and 65 year old man to all use the same axe - all may very well be active in woodcraft / survival. Consider for example if you had a knife which when you used it, the knife made you 95% weaker, would that not be a glaring problem. Well a knife which can handle 5% of your optimal strength pretty much has this effect because your extra strength has no benefit. You are the primary survival resourse so your equipment should be chosen to maximize your abilities which means you better find out what they are and choose accordingly.

-Cliff

True. That's like the whole khukuri weight thing. A lot of people like a very heavy one because you can take out a lot of wood with a single swing.

I like one that is lighter because I find if I use a really heavy one for more than about an hour it really hurts my tendons. I'd prefer mine have more belly and be very sharp so I can cut more precisely than swinging hard, and use it for a longer period.

Same way with my favorite hatchet. That double bit. It's only 12" long and a little over a pound but it has 3" bits. It doesn't cut as deeply on a single swing as some of the smaller bit heavier axes some might use, but on something thick I find I can cut it faster and with less wear and tear on my tendons because it is ligher and the big bit small handle help me cut more precisely.

Somebody bigger and more muscular with stronger tendons could probably carrry and swing a much heavier blade for longer.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

That's like the whole khukuri weight thing.

Yes, when I first used the Trailmaster it had a very nice heft. I could put a lot of power into it and still work with it for a long time. However after spending a lot more time with an axe and a lot of large blades, knives like the Trailmaster are just too light. Even the SHBM, which is much heaver than the Trailmaster still doesn't have enough heft. This is due in part to balance issues, but I now tend to prefer long blades of about 900 grams or so and I can use them for basically all day.

Somebody bigger and more muscular with stronger tendons could probably carrry and swing a much heavier blade for longer.

That's the thing, and you have to get out and do it to find out. Talking to people definately helps but you also have to get some experience, these are complementary. You get some use and this allows discussion of specific issues. "What is a knife similar to the Endura but cuts better and is easier to sharpen?" is much more informative than "Hey, I am looking for a good 4" folder." The second is pretty much completely open ended.

-Cliff