Joel Chamblin Swell Center 3 3/16"

[Senior14!]

I recently acquired this beautiful knife; however, it is my first one this small. It may take a minute to get used to. Would closed size would you consider too small?

 

[el gigantor]

8 inches overall is as small as I go. Nice knife, by the way!

 

[Senior14!]

Thanks El.

 

[ShaiHulud]

Opinel no.2 is probably too small for me

 

[knarfeng]

Joel Chamblin Swell Center 3 3/16"
I recently acquired this beautiful knife; however, it is my first one this small. It may take a minute to get used to. Would size would you consider too small?

Traditional knives are sized by the closed length, so I'm assuming that's what we are talking about.

It really depends on what types of cutting chores you want to address. Personally, I have several traditional knives in that size range. For me such a knife is a "3-finger knife" (held by the thumb and three fingers). I find that a knife that size is quite adequate for most of the daily cutting jobs I undertake: opening packages, trimming excess material ("flash") from injection molded parts. It is a sufficient blade to cut a seat belt in an emergency, and I have heard of folks who used a similar sized knife to successfully skin deer. After all, a Case peanut is 2 7/8" and lots of fellas find that to be adequate for their needs.

But if the jobs you typically use a pocket knife for are such that you need a full four-finger grip on it in order to apply enough force, then it's not going to work for you.

However, an SAK Classic, at 2 1/4 inches is the smallest I use on a regular basis.

 

[Senior14!]

Thanks Knarfeng. You are correct in that I was referring to the closed size. Most of my knives are between 3 5/8 - 3 3/4. It has been interesting to learn about the original size of traditional slipjoint patterns and modern makers own spin on pattern sizes, etc. Tony Bose made a number of knives in the 3” range.

 

[Senior14!]

Opinel no.2 is probably too small for me

Thanks ShaiHulud