Buy a longer bladed knife?? Need your thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

jeremy1517

jeremy1517

Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
1,036
I'm trying to decide whether I could use a longer bladed knife or if what I have is good enough.. I love the knives made by ABS Bladesmith Ray Kirk. He made me the two fixed blades that I use. One is a shorter fixed that I edc everyday. It has a 3" blade and is 7" oal. Ray also made me the identical blade only with a 7" blade and is 11" oal. He recently told me he made another blade like mine which has a 9" blade and is 15" oal.

I use my small knife all the time and usually have my longer blade in my car or pack for when I need it. I use both blades all the time.

My question is, since my longer blade is 7", would a 9" blade even be worth having? If I need a longer blade would it be better to have Ray make me a 11-12" blade? Or, can I do everything the long 9-12" blade would do with my current 7" blade?

I'm not into spending money on stuff just to have it. I'm not a collector and buy products I will use.

What are your thoughts, opinions and experiences????

I'm hoping I communicated what I'm thinking about.............

null_zpsba46dd89.jpg


null_zps8c8898eb.jpg
 
It depends in what you want to do with it. I'd have it be no less that 10" personally, because 9" and 7" isn't a huge difference, but add another inch in there and it makes a world of difference. What would you use the longer blade for exactly? I ask because it is not necessary to have in longer blade for some uses, but it can certainly help a ton with other uses.
 
The only time I would use a longer blade is when I'm hunting, camping, or hiking. Chopping branches, camp chores, etc...... My thoughts were if I was to get a bigger knife I want a longer one, a 9" wouldn't be much of a difference between the 7". I thought I would ask you all for thoughts though. I've never used a really long blade. I usually carry a HI Khukri. The Khukri is awesome, love it, but it is very very heavy.

When hunting I usually stalk and track deer/elk and end up covering many many miles. The Khuk gets a little heavy after a while.

Also, looking at the blade designs of my pictures. Would a 12" blade in that design work well?

On the 7" it has a rubber horsestall mat handle, I actually love the handle. Most comfortable handle I've ever used.
 
I wouldn't make it hollow-ground if I could help it though. IMO hollow grind isn't ideal for chopping like a flat grind is.
 
If you actually use it a lot for brush wracking and some chopping, a 10 - 12 inch bolo or parang would do the job. I would recommend getting a Condor to test how you would like it first before spending on a custom piece. It looks like the set up you have would be all you really need....nice big knife too.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top