I have seen this topic debated hundreds of times. So I decided to to a little test of my own. Now I am no survivalist or great woodsman. Atleast not compared to some on here. I have spent quite some time in the woods hunting and playing as a kid. I know basic stuff. For me, I mainly use a knife to field dress game, build a ground blind and gather some wood. I will and do chop and baton with my knives. Yes I know an axe is better but I travel as lite as possible and I just never take it.
I grabbed 3 of the most common knives I have to represent the different sizes of knives we may use out in the bush.
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Chopping and batoning - This didn't need any further testing. The BK9 is easily the best of the 3 followed by the BK2. I don't even try to chop or baton anything bigger than a sapling with a Mora.
Notches - I couldn't really tell much difference in this test. I set the blade on the stick and hit the back of the blade with the palm of my hand. If I were forced to pick maybe the BK2 won. It was really a tie between the 2 and the 9. The mora did fine but the thinner spine was not as comfortable to smack with the palm of my hand. Yeah, I know...don't use the palm of your hand dummy.
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Plane wood and drill hole - I do plane wood out in the timber for various things on occasion. I was able to do it fairly easy with all three of the knives. Though the BK9 was the easiest of the three for me follwed by the BK2. The extra length on the BK9 just made it an easier task.
After I got the wood nice and flat on one side I decided to drill a hole, kind of like making the base of a bow drill. Though I will admit I have never used a bow drill before. The Bk2 was the winner on this I would say. The BK9 dug out the hole faster than any of the knives but for some reason it just wasn't as clean as the hole made by the Mora and the BK2. The Mora seemed like it took the longest to drill out the hole with.
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Tent stakes/Pointy sticks/fuzz sticks:
I am just going to lump all this in together because the results are about the same. It was easier to make tent stakes and fuzz sticks with the Mora and the BK2. The Bk9 was able to do the tasks easy enough but the smaller knifes were a litte easier to use for the chore, especially on the fuzz sticks. The smaller knives just provided better control.
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What does the prove? Probabaly nothing but I think it shows in most tasks it really doesn't matter that much how big or small your knife is.
To me the real difference is as a chopper. If you don't ever plan on using your knife to chop then a big knife just wouldn't make much sense for you.
If you do use your knife to chop, or clear out underbrush then a larger knife is much easier for this. You can also do almost any task with your large knife as you can a smaller or medium sized knife.
I still need to try to field dress a deer with my 9.
Maybe this fall.
I grabbed 3 of the most common knives I have to represent the different sizes of knives we may use out in the bush.
Chopping and batoning - This didn't need any further testing. The BK9 is easily the best of the 3 followed by the BK2. I don't even try to chop or baton anything bigger than a sapling with a Mora.
Notches - I couldn't really tell much difference in this test. I set the blade on the stick and hit the back of the blade with the palm of my hand. If I were forced to pick maybe the BK2 won. It was really a tie between the 2 and the 9. The mora did fine but the thinner spine was not as comfortable to smack with the palm of my hand. Yeah, I know...don't use the palm of your hand dummy.
Plane wood and drill hole - I do plane wood out in the timber for various things on occasion. I was able to do it fairly easy with all three of the knives. Though the BK9 was the easiest of the three for me follwed by the BK2. The extra length on the BK9 just made it an easier task.
After I got the wood nice and flat on one side I decided to drill a hole, kind of like making the base of a bow drill. Though I will admit I have never used a bow drill before. The Bk2 was the winner on this I would say. The BK9 dug out the hole faster than any of the knives but for some reason it just wasn't as clean as the hole made by the Mora and the BK2. The Mora seemed like it took the longest to drill out the hole with.
Tent stakes/Pointy sticks/fuzz sticks:
I am just going to lump all this in together because the results are about the same. It was easier to make tent stakes and fuzz sticks with the Mora and the BK2. The Bk9 was able to do the tasks easy enough but the smaller knifes were a litte easier to use for the chore, especially on the fuzz sticks. The smaller knives just provided better control.
What does the prove? Probabaly nothing but I think it shows in most tasks it really doesn't matter that much how big or small your knife is.
To me the real difference is as a chopper. If you don't ever plan on using your knife to chop then a big knife just wouldn't make much sense for you.
If you do use your knife to chop, or clear out underbrush then a larger knife is much easier for this. You can also do almost any task with your large knife as you can a smaller or medium sized knife.
I still need to try to field dress a deer with my 9.
Maybe this fall.
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