can a knife be too big

J

JJ20198

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well of course it is hard to skin a rabbit with a 24 inch machete. but in my opinion if you wanted a do it all knife. i would recommend a 12 inch knife such as a bowie or the SOG Jungle Primitive is good. that way it is not too unorthodox for smaller tasks. but is still big enough to hack through brush. the knife rambo uses in the movies is good to and yes you can buy one.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

Actually, the SOG jungle primitive is pretty poor, from all I have read.

I like big knives, but they always have a smaller companion for detail work.

Edit: the knives Rambo uses in the movies are expensive customs, and the junky replicas are not worth buying.
 
I personally have sold all my larger knives, except my Ranger RD9. I just find that I dont use them as much as a solid well made 6" knife. Been in the woods whenever possible for 30+ years now, and I have had to "hack" thru the foliage exactly 0 times. Besides I tend toward leave no trace. And as I have gotten "older" I find that I have less wrist control over a really large blade, and the becomes a safty issue.
 
A "do everything" knife that's 12 inches? I don't hack through very many jungles. A small knife that is easy to carry is much better for me, it will cut things with much more efficiency.
 
A knife can be too big.

That said, I'd rather bring too much knife than not enough.
 
A lot depends on where you are and what you do. North woods or southwest desert? Car camping or exploring wild country for a week? Experienced woodsman or beginner trying out a variety of shiny new knives. :)

Generally speaking, I see a 4" to 6" fixed blade as big enough for any but the most outrageous situations. A small knife or multitool might even see more use. Don't forget, for every one time you need to hack at something,. there will be many opportunities for more precise cutting: filleting a fish, making a fire, picking a splinter out of your foot.
 
^ i agree...here int he darkest of the hillside thickets in BC, one spends a LOT of time hacking fallen trees, limbs , devils club (10' tall) etc etc etc. I find i RARELY use a small blade, (but i still carry one...)

probably about 95% of my knife use is chopping, the rest is smaller knife use. My large knifes range from 15" to 24" and my Kabar Khukuri sees the brunt of the chopping duties.
 
JJ20198 said:
well of course it is hard to skin a rabbit with a 24 inch machete. but in my opinion if you wanted a do it all knife. i would recommend a 12 inch knife such as a bowie or the SOG Jungle Primitive is good. that way it is not too unorthodox for smaller tasks. but is still big enough to hack through brush. the knife rambo uses in the movies is good to and yes you can buy one.
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Rat Finkenstein said:
Welcome to Bladeforums!

Actually, the SOG jungle primitive is pretty poor, from all I have read.

I like big knives, but they always have a smaller companion for detail work.

Edit: the knives Rambo uses in the movies are expensive customs, and the junky replicas are not worth buying.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what Rat said. Whether a big knife is useful will depend on where you are. When you backpack in the chapparal you don't need a big chopping knife. And if you stick to trails in wooded habitats you still won't. But a smaller 3"-4" blade is always useful.
 
imagine that you are stranded in The forested part of alaska. and you only have one knife because your buddy has your small knife. (i would have beaten him up to get it back) now this is highly unlikely but that is what I am talking about.
 
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Alaska is a big state. :)

Are you going fishing along the coast or a river? Are you hiking cross country? In the mountains? Summer or winter?

Only one knife and I don't know what I'll be doing there? Maybe I'll take my Dozier Wilderness Knife and Dozier Canoe, or BRKT Gameskeeper and Micro Canadian. (Right, that's two knives, but the seconds are very small. :) )
 
I like big folding knives - but fixed knives shouldn't go over about 6.6 inches of blade, in my opinion. I've never tried this one but it seems like a good, go all over the world, do all knife. Like, for a long canoe trip down the Amazon. Or, two weeks in the Sierras. I'll totally admit that a 4 inch blade in a bushcraft style is really all you'd ever need. Would even be superior, really, because of the weight you'd save. But the Rambo in me likes this one, especially the way it has a flat back of the handle so you can hammer stuff with it rather than some "skull crusher" nonsense.

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Unless stranded unexpectedly, I doubt I would have only one knife on me in the woods. I have a Dozier Wilderness knife that I am still playing with. (I have not made up my mind about this blade.) I love my Dozier canoe. I feel that if you need to be hacking bigger stuff regularly with a knife, you probably have the wrong tool for the job. Saws and axes are quicker and less fatiquing. Machetes work well for smaller stuff.

I love big blades, but honestly feel that a 4-5" blade is about all I ever need for cutting. I experimented with blades and my dexterity and precision is much better with a smaller blade. I use pocket knives more than anything else. Of late, my companion pocket knife is a SOG mini-vulcan which I love along with a SAK Adventurer.

I like SOG blades, but the Jungle Primitive is one of their poorer blades. Try something else.
 
JJ20198 said:
imaginethat you are in alaska and you only have one knife now this is unlikely but that is what im talking aabout
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So you are making a sweeping generalization based on a single, highly unlikely, set of circumstances.
 
If I was stranded in the wild of alaska and could only have one knife, it would be a swisschamp. Sure, you can't chop with it, but you can certainly make it through lots of wood cutting jobs with the saw.
 
Abacus said:
If I was stranded in the wild of alaska and could only have one knife, it would be a swisschamp. Sure, you can't chop with it, but you can certainly make it through lots of wood cutting jobs with the saw.
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Ok, while that's a perfectly rational response, I just have to say:

Oh no... Not another "If you could only have ONE knife" thread!
 
Knives like most tools are sized for the job at hand. Sure a sledge hammer will drive nails, but a regular carpenter hammer will make the task easier.

Same thing with knives, that is why we often carry more than one. The larger fixed blades will do certain jobs better than the folder and vise versa. I carry 3 knives for that reason. One large fixed blade, and two folders each has its purpose.
 
If I knew I were going to be put into a situation where I could be stranded in the woods in Alaska, I would bring a satellite phone. :D

But for cutting tools, I'd pick a medium sized knife and a mid-sized axe over a big knife.
 
JJ20198 said:
well of course it is hard to skin a rabbit with a 24 inch machete. but in my opinion if you wanted a do it all knife. i would recommend a 12 inch knife such as a bowie or the SOG Jungle Primitive is good. that way it is not too unorthodox for smaller tasks. but is still big enough to hack through brush. the knife rambo uses in the movies is good to and yes you can buy one.
Click to expand...

I always carry either a small knife (CRK Aviator) or multi-tool (Leatherman TTi) and a hatchet (Wetterlings) into the bush, although I have a Busse Fat Fusion Battle Mistress coming that may take the place of the hatchet if my arms are up to it.

There really isn't any way to chop with a small knife, or do precise/fiddly work with a large one, so I recommend resigning yourself to carrying two tools that are both right for their respective jobs. Besides that gives you double the opportunity to buy new cutters! :D
 
When it's too big to be a knife it becomes a sword. And who brings a sword to the woods these days? Maybe to the mall though, along with a nice ski mask and black PJ's!

Well, in all seriousness I do like large knives but 4-6 inches does cover just about everything you would possibly need a knife for. Heavy chopping / tree cutting is done with other tools.

As for all the "but what if you where trapped in the middle of nowhere, naked in a blizzard with only ONE knife..." scenarios? Well I'd just fly back home like Superman, because that's in the same level of reality as the events leading up to this ever happening, right? Right.
 
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