BIG or small .... which will it be?

not2sharp

not2sharp

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
20,342
I was over the Custom Knife Forum and noticed the latest rendition of the "how many knives do you own?" thread.

Para posted some pictures of a really nice collection of knives. Just the same I couldn't help but notice that they were all really, really, really small (like 4" on average). Then I looked at my collection and noticed they were really really big (like 9+" on average) - you know the type of knife that causes your pants to fall off every time you hit a bump.

So are the rest of you BIG knife people or small knife people? BTW, as far as I know no one has found a correlation between your knife size and anything phallic. So relax and answer away.
 
Big, big, big, big, big , big, big, and big!!!!
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Usually with any model knife, I choose the bigger version.

That's MY knife preference.

I like the little ones too(CaseXX)!!

--The Raptor--
 
Definitely small. Most have blades under 3".

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Dave

Let no one ever from henceforth say one word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous even to speak of how here and there the individual may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war is hell, and those who institute it are criminals. Siegfried Loraine Sassoon
 
I like both, but will pick the large one when given a choice.
I only own 3 knives with blades over 5", one Bowie has a 14.5" blade.
 
I carry one of each. Both Cold Steel. One, a 5 inch Gunsite, and the other, a 3 inch plain Clip-Point Voyager (my "working knife").

I think "as a rule", I lean more towards the bigger blades. (CS Trail Master Bowie, CS 9 inch Magnum Tanto, CS LTC...).
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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
glockman99@hotmail.com
ICQ# 53675663

[This message has been edited by glockman99 (edited 01-08-2001).]
 
i like both.
i carry a big knife clipped to my right pocket, usually a BM 710bt, but now it's a MT LCC which i just got and love
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and inside my left pocket is usually a spyderco dragonfly with serrations.
i carry the small one cuz it cuts well with the serrations. some stuff it better cut with serrations than the plain edges of the bigger knives

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~Fumbler
the crazied knife weilding Sarah McLachlan fan =)
 
Folders- I've got nothing over 3.75" in blade length. For me, anything past that is just too wieldly for the tasks I require my knives to do on a daily basis.

Fixed Blades: I prefer to carry them as neck knives, so I don't have anything over 4" in blade length.

Although I've seen some really nice large blades, I just can't carry them to the office.
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Firebat

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Name's Ash......Housewares.
 
I am a little confused about your comment regarding my knives not2sharp.

Most are fixed blades. Most have blade lengths in the 3 to 5 inch range. But the Overall length (OAL) is in the 7 to 11 inch range. I do not think that is 'small'. That is the most useful and practical size for a general purpose fixed blade (for me).

I only have a couple of folders, and those are indeed small (3 to 4 inch blade length). But I think you May be misreading the length information. I generally post blade length, not overall lengths.

All that being said, my everyday carry knife (not on my site) is a small slim gents folder with a 3 inch blade. It replaces a Spyderco Centofante with a 2 7/8 inch blade. My production folders all have blades in the 2.5 to 4 inch range.

It is true that I do not have any Bowie or camp knives (yet) with blades in the 8 to 11 inch range. But my single largest knife is a custom Persian fighter with a 8 inch blade with is almost 14 inches OAL.

I primarily collect fixed blade hunters (7 to 11 inch OAL), and will continue to do so. I like that size, it is practical, and relatively less expensive for very high quality work compared to custom folders and larger fixed blades. My future folder purchases will probably have blade lengths in the 2.5 to 3.5 inch range, because I find that comfortable for pocket carry, and they are legal everywhere. I probably will get a large camp knife and a Bowie or two with 8 inch blades in the future, but so far these do not meet my useability criteria. I have no practical need for really big fixed blades (Bowies or fighters), or folders with blade lengths greater than 4 inches.

Paracelsus, clarifying a possible confusion
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some of My Knives

[This message has been edited by Paracelsus (edited 01-08-2001).]
 
For folders, I find the 3.5" blade size to be about ideal.
For fixed blade, 4" to 5" size.
 
Para: sounds like you have a nice collection! I think that a reasonable split for fixed blades is:

small: under 4"

medium: +4" to pretty close to 6"

large: anything above the 6 inchish range

I think that the market is moving towards small/medium blades, Like the nimravus, D.H. Russell/Grohmann belt knives, CrayolaMade knife I made for my girlfriend, the Bud Nealey stuff we see, etc. I think we are replacing our folders with fixed blades, so the 4" range is where we are beginning.

So, according to my theory, Para has a length appropriate collection, but not a "purpose appropriate" collection. We are replacing our folders with tactical fixed blades intended for bad guys, not deer, even though we will use them for sandwiches, mail, string and finger nail cleanings!



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"Come What May..."
 
Para,

Everything is relative. In the field I tend to carry stuff in the 3-5" blade length; But, I collect large bowies, and camp knives. Have only tried hiking with one of these once, and my knee still hurts...

Obviously, I suffer from having watch one too many Rambo movies as a kid. Then again I may have fallen under the spell of the Iron Mistress.
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[This message has been edited by not2sharp (edited 01-09-2001).]
 
OK then. I was just mixed up about why fixed blades in the 3 to 5 inch range would be considered 'really really really small'
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I am really into forged fixed blades with traditional sort of handles. Nothing tactical. Buying smaller fixed blades (hunters) is an easy way to afford examples of different makers high quality workmanship without spending really large sums of money.

But I admit having developed a new interest. But that is very high quality 'traditional' folders (lockbacks, friction folders, slip joints) in Small pocket carry sizes (blades less than 3 inches).

I have ZERO interest in most so called tactical blades. So I know I have different tastes than a lot of you guys. But so do all of us. That is what is so much fun about Knives, there is something for everyone, Big, small, rich, or poor.

Paracelsus, big guy with really really really small knives which have made me both poorer, and richer
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Walter Brend use to refer to his 5" model 2 fighter as a miniature (it was also available with a 7 1/2", 9", or 12" blade). Now that's a knife that will get Crocodile Dundee's attention.
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My collection tends toward the small size, but I have a few biggies. And about a dozen machetes too. And do hatchets and axes count? I have about six hatchets.

I prefer hunting and utility knives so small to medium is cool for me. But lately I've discovered the utility of regulary carrying a small big knife into the field--something like a Fallkniven A1 or Becker Companion, used for quickie chops on annoying brush and also handy for fild dressing small game (a chop here and there is handy).


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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Small it is. Looking over my typical carry pieces, not one of them has a blade at 4". All of my fixed blade users are 4" or less. The only >4" fixed blades I currently have are my last ditch fece****therotaryoscillator KaBars in my truck and ATV.
 
I lean towards 3" blades. That's just the size that suits me. But it really depends on the overall knife. Sometimes a bigger/smaller blade goes better with the particular handle design. If it doesn't fit my hand, it won't get carried. Even on fixed blades I don't really care for anything over 4".

Paul
 
Crayolas classifcation is about the same I use. My favorite fixed bladed knives are medium sized. Form 9 cm to 14 cm (3 2/3in - 5 1/2in) blades. When I use a knife I mostly use a puukko with 4 in blade although I sometimes wish that it was 1 cm longer.
Many manufacturesrs do have 4 in blade but 4 1/3 seem to be wery rare. For collective pieces I like the upper medium sized knives (5in) as there the handle and blade are nicely balanced.

Still most of my knives are folders and I feel that they are compromises between having no knife and having a knife. I can't make my mind which is my favourite folder size. Like which is my favourite compromise... the newest one - size dont matter.

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"Good tools to sustain life, or at least make life more convenient"
-James Mattis
 
A famous knife-dude was quoted as saying "A big knife will do what a little knife will do, BUT, a little knife will NOT do what a big knife will do..." Pretty much sums it up I think. Mike, newgraham.com BLADES2DYE4
 
In Texas we think BIG!!!! I like almost anything with stag handles, but it has to look mean.
 
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