Era of the short knives

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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I am not sure if I am the only one but I distinctly get the impression these days that knives are getting shorter.

I mean the length of blades are shrinking. There used to be a time when a knife is not considered a knife if it is less than 9inches long.

Then a couple of years ago, it shrank to 4inches and below. These days, manufacturers are talking of 2 and 3inchers!

So what's the take on this? If this continues, very soon it will be just "tooth-pick" sized knives.

I am not very keen on small knives. Not too small, that is.

I like my knives to retain that "manly" look, whatever that means.

Small knives, anybody? :D
 
I think in part it is the human animal moving away from the wild and becoming more a city dwelling civilized animal. In the city there is not as defined a need for a large field knife. So society in general says it is unexceptable to carry such a large knife in public. So we shrink the size of the knife to fit what society will allow us to carry without making the sheep uncomfortable. That is one half of the reason. IMHO I think that the other half is connected to the first, or the other side of the same coin. We, ARE moving away from the country and wild woods lifestyles that our forebearers knew. So many of us do not really need a large knife to help us with daily life. We adapt our tastes to reflect what we could most likely use or need in our lives. From a buying standpoint, I tend to buy first, the item that I will get the most use out of. The toy that I will be able to bring places with me and use, even if just for the fun of it. Next down the line on my buying list is the item that I will only get to look at, because for one reason or another I can not or would not carry it. All that said, I still buy mostly large knives, Khukuris are my favorite purchase. There is always one with me. Hidden in my bug out bag in public, but always there. I still find a wild glee in looking at a knife that is larger than a one foot ruler. Even better is one that is as large as a two foot ruler.
I am lucky enough to still live in the country and if I walk out my door there are woods to dissapear into and lots of things to chop up with my large blades. I hope that will never change!
 
Chopping is fun, and I get to do some of that with hatchets and/or machetes, but for 99% of what I actually do with a knife around this rural farm-stead a knife of 5" or less is perfectly fine. In fact I find 4" about ideal for this kind of field work, and even 3" works out OK most of the time.

When I go into town around here, I don't mind carrying a FB, but then I notice that 3" or so and under lies below the noticability limit for most folks around here, and I find a 2" blade, still big enough to do 95% of the cutting I do when off the farm, pretty well seems to disappear even carried openly. Also, when the smaller blade works, they are fun for me because I enjoy the fine control you have over the edge and tip.
 
I live in a city and work in an office. My company limits me to a 4" blade at work, so that is what I carry there. Outside of work my EDC is a 5.5" Camillus CUDA Maxx (supplemented with the 4" blade from work). I really haven't found many tasks that are harder with the Maxx and I have definitely encountered some that are easier. So I carry it because it's useful and because I like it. :)

--Bob Q
 
3.5" blade is the largest I would carry, most everything I use for EDC is 3" or slightly less.
 
Along with a few Spydies (Endura [almost a 4" blade]/Chinook [almost a 4" blade]/Delica [my smallest, with a 3" blade]), I also carry my Cold Steel Vaquero Grande...That MONSTER has a 6 inch-long WICKED blade, and opened, the total length is a hair (or two) over 13 inches!. Also, my favorite fixed-blade knife is my Bill Siegle Bowie...That monster has an 11 inch-long blade of 1/4 inch-thick steel.

...I guess that I like long-blade knives...:).
 
Well, in the United States, most states limit a person to a 3"-4" folding knife. If a person has a concealed carry permit they may carry a larger folding blade. So knife maker wanting to sell to in the U.S. market is somewhat limited.
A shorter blade does fit in every pocket comfortably, and hangs easily on every belt and belt loop without getting in the way.
Pen knives and "gentlemen's" knives didn't have much larger blades anyways.
I notice that in fixed blade knives there are more 5" and 6" fighting blades. I assume that this is to appeal to the concealed carry market.
Which is all a shame, since I find the proportions and lines of a classic fighting blade to be very attractive.
 
I'd admit taht the 5"-6" FB knife appeal to me because it can be concealed easier than a 7" (let's say BK7). If you carry the fixed blade inside the waist band, you'll know why some would not choose longer blades.
However I carry longer folders as long as they're managable. I like my Endura :D
 
I too most often carry an old endura w/o clip in my pockets. But I like the bigger knives. If the only use they get is in a daydream so be it. But I do keep some emergency equipment in the car and truck since I live in rural Nevada. A 16-18" khukuri among other things seems comforting.
 
I think its a product of our fearful society. Their was a day were you could wear a Bowie just walking down the street, but now people call the police, and most places HAVE TO send someone. People for some reason think its dangerous to know someone has a knife, gun etc... So people get these things smaller and smaller so, the sheep can walk threw life with blinders on. I often wonder how many more years our society will put up with this everything having to be PC garbage:rolleyes: I carry a Strider HT. Big enough to be handy, and small enough to conceal. Just my opinion.

Reagan
 
In the '50s and '60s I lived in rural communities and it was pretty common to see
men walking around with a knife in a sheath. Even then, a six inch knife was about
the biggest you saw, and a lot of the old-timers wondered why a person needed a
knife that big.

The medium sized knives like that are good for sharpening stakes. Much quicker
and easier than a pocket knife, but unless I have to cut a path through the woods,
a pocket knife is about all I need.
 
I think that blades get shorter, thinner, and more accutely ground as the users get more sophisticated. Before you gain experience using a knife a double-edge Roman short sword looks like a utilitarian blade. When you start using your blade you find a lot of extra length and material get in the way for your utility knife. You get to a point where you have a utility knife and a special purpose chopping tool like a machete when you need to chop. It is a pretty improbable situation where you go out to the field with a universal survival knife to do everything. As a teenager I used to hike with a 17" bladed Enfield bayonet. It was fun, but my scout knife was used a lot more. For combat purposes a gun is a good idea. The really long knife works here, but a smatchet might be better.
 
i know over here its actually illegal to carry anything over 3 inches and most european countried 4 inches is the maximum length you can carry legally, there are no such things as concealed wepaons permits over here either so if manufacturers want to sell to european markets they ahve to have a 3 - 4 inch range for us. I agree that the reason is so that the sheeple can stick their heads in the sand, if you knew what you were doing you could kill someone almost as easily with a 3 inch knife as you could with a 6 inch knife, and a 2 inch knife is enough to take someones jugular out... in fact a steel nail file would do the trick too, its the words of an idiot to claim that by restricting knife length you cut down on crime, criminals, by definition break the law so they would pay no heed to carrying a 12 inch carving knife or something if they felt the need, and many other things can be used as lethal weapons in the hands of a skilled person, and like i said you could kill someone with a very small blade or even something like a nail file if you were so inclined
 
Steel? Ability to hold an edge? New (ie resperine type) handle materials?

Maybe it's like film. 400 has as good a grain as 100 used to, years ago.
 
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