knife size

runningboar said:
"Originally Posted by Cobalt
Someone stated that every professional they know has not needed a large knife. Well, I can tell you that some of the best profesionals carry large blades. In fact "the FRONTIER BLADE" was a large massive 14 inch long 1/4 inch thick blade that we discussed in another thread here just recently. But I guess those frontier trekers 150 years ago did not know what they were doing as they had wallmarts in every town to get supplies didn't they"


Certainly not wanting to get people fired up again but let's not forget that back in the day when those knives were popular they were a persons secondary weapon. There were lots of indigenous Americans that really enjoyed killing outsiders and the firearms of the day only shot once and were very slow to reload so the knife or the hawk was the second line of defense or offense, and in that situation I think anyone would admit that they would want a knife as large as they could wield.
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if you have ever held one of those reproductions you will realize that it would make a very poor fighting knife much like a Busse battlemistress makes a poor fighting knife. These knives are far to heavy with forward balance to be effective. A bagwell style Bowie is a fighting knife deluxe. Now as a stout knife to finish off large game, I will agree. Much like a secondary gun these days is used to finish off game. A big heavy thick blade could do the same without sustaining damage that a fighter style bowie would get if hitting heavy bone.
 
OK, now, if we're going to get into fighting knives, that's a whole 'nother ball of wax :D I agree with the Bagwell school of thought, fighting and survival blades are different. Much like big vs. small, a survival knife can fight, but a fighting knife will not fare well for heavy work.

Me, I like apples AND oranges. And I don't give a flying leap who thinks what about my penis, and how the size of my knives relates to that :D

As AnyCal said, :) to all, I mean no offense to anyone. Just having a bit of fun with that comment. I'm sure if we were all sitting around a campfire, beer would flow, knives would be passed around and admired, and lies would be told. ;)
 
Length: The biggest knife I'll usually carry afield has a 5.5 inch blade. I can't really imagine carrying anything longer than 7", it would just get hung up on so much stuff. And what would it do that a 4-5.5" blade won't do? Nothing that I've needed a knife for.

Thickness: If the blade has a distal taper, then 1/4 inch stock isn't too thick, because the majority of the blade isn't really that thick. If it doesn't have a distal taper, then 3/16 is as thick as I want, and 1/8 is usually enough.

Afield, I'll usually carry a decent sized lockback or 3-4" sheath knife (but sometimes not), a Trapper, and a multi-tool. I just don't need a really big knife. I have a Fiskars folding saw for if I need a saw, it's very light and fits in a day pack very well.
 
Thank you Moodino for actualy reading my first post. With placing this post i didnt mean for a knife fight on here what so ever. I like small knifes and i do admit it. From reading other posts i can see a use for a larger knife too. I live in CA its nice and warm out here. Im sure everyone has diffrent need from a knife and it seems like some people look at it from there point. I had seen some pics and seen some of the knifes people carried in the wild in the 1800. Just like here some carried larger blades and some carried smaller and most carried both. We all use what works for us. My post was to find out more about the large blade. What size is more usefull in real world out there. If i cant figure out how to use the blade i have better chance to kill my self with it. So that means i want a blade i can use at some point. Not carry a blade just in case i might need it. But got no use for it any other time. While everyone was throwing insults on here i were looking around. Trying to learn more. Sixgunner455 i agree with you about the blade. I do like Moodino blade too very much. I think its a great looking blade. I do expect more from the people on here. Come one guys chill out.
Another thing i dont understand people is why every one talks about the knife as its the one tool that would keep you alive??? for me a knife is a tool i like knifes and i like to play with them. ITS ONLY A TOOL FOR ME. I got less then 7 knives and i use them all

Sasha
 
sasha said:
. While everyone was throwing insults on here . I do expect more from the people on here. Come one guys chill out.
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Wow you think this little spat was bad, you would run for the hills if we got serious. :eek:

Use what YOU need, and what you like, IMO a little controversy is usually a good thing to really get to the bottom of an issue. Chris
 
Another thing i dont understand people is why every one talks about the knife as its the one tool that would keep you alive???
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BECAUSE YOU'RE ON BLADEFORUMS.:D :D :D

Your knife a tool?:eek: Sacrilige.:D
 
I dont know about you but i get a kick from playing with knifes. Last weeked i want to practice making a snare. I wanted to cut a trigger. I had so much fun using my mora that i keeped cuting untill not much left of the wood. So i picked up another piece and just shaved it down to nothing making lots of realy thin shavings. when i got tired of it i just pulled my steel and with the knife i lighted up the shavings.

great day of geocaching and playing in the santa monica mountains.

sasha
 
I still do what few care to anymore- I picnic and build my streamside or lakeside lunch from salami, cheese and baguettes! Nothing quite comes close to the sound of a SAK blade sinking into a fresh loaf and then slicing salami. Can you smell the smoked Gouda from where you are? No? Maybe get a little closer to the monitor! When I was a young lad, I'd carve patterns into greenwood sticks- a custom followed from on my Mother's side of the family. I also used to cook my catch of fish on an open fire. Man those were the days!
 
Moodino thats the best use for a knife. I like to take some bagels with some russian sasuage goat cheese green baby garlic and cold black tea with little lemon to wash it all down. Of course sitting on top of a mountain with the view of the ocean and a good book makes it perfect day. Hey the weekend in here.

sasha
 
runningboar said:
Yeah if I ever held one I would understand, dang Cobalt you know more about me than I do.:rolleyes:
.
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No I don't know anything about you and I really don't want to. I have learned to much already.:eek:

I just figured since you hate big knives so much that you could not possibly have ever held a copy of an original frontier blade which is 9 inch blade 1/4 inch thick flat ground and about 2 inches wide. It is a massive heavy blade.
 
Moodino said:
I still do what few care to anymore- I picnic and build my streamside or lakeside lunch from salami, cheese and baguettes! Nothing quite comes close to the sound of a SAK blade sinking into a fresh loaf and then slicing salami. Can you smell the smoked Gouda from where you are? No? Maybe get a little closer to the monitor! When I was a young lad, I'd carve patterns into greenwood sticks- a custom followed from on my Mother's side of the family. I also used to cook my catch of fish on an open fire. Man those were the days!
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One of my favorite things in the world , me and my wife go canoeing quite a lot and plan extensive shore lunches, premium cheese and hard salami is a must, a nice crisp cider or hefeweizen rounds it out.:thumbup:
 
No Joke. In most of the forums I visit, the TOP subject for traffic is food, followed closely by 'random pictures'...then they talk about the knives or gadgets or flashlights. LOL! After all, food is life:thumbup:
I had a great walk today- beautiful weather, new discoveries. I ate my picnic and the only blade I had on me was my SAK.


sasha said:
Hey i think i like the topic about food more then the knifes.

sasha
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Well, my post count doesn't earn me a whole lot of credibility around here, but here are my thoughts anyway, as I recently thought them and enjoyed the experience.

I have never seen much of a need for a big knife, as I carry a little knife and an axe. I always wondered about why there were so many big "bush survival" knives like the RAT-7, for instance.

I recently had the urge to buy a Dogfather, but couldn't quite justify it. After all, although I bet it would be the best knife I own, I don't think it would come close to my axe for chopping ability. And I can't see it doing the slicing work as well as a Mora.

But then, the other day, as I was camping up past Lillooet, BC, (right down on the Fraser River - I bet most guys here would have loved it) it occurred to me that for once, I was camping somewhere really dry, with lots of small wood there for the taking. It was piled up by the river the previous year, and sat all winter drying. Perfect!
Well, knowing all that wood was there, I left the axe in the truck. I could park about five hundred feet from the site, so I could see the wood before I arrived. I just brought down a four inch Mora - nice and light and easy. But of course being riverwood drifts, all the usefull wood was packed in there pretty good.

I didn't really wish for the axe - it was a bit much to go chopping about with in there to free up sticks. There wasn't really room a lot of the time, and the sticks I was after were only an inch think anyway. So, out comes the Mora...with no chopping ability at all. It ended up being an awkward process, and for once, I wished for a 7" compromise knife, so I could have just walked down with the one tool and left everything else in the truck.

Since then (that was about three weeks ago) I have been on the lookout for a seven inch bowie/fighter (come on Scrapyard, do us a scrapper 7!) to do double duty as a defense rig and as a "I don't need to have an axe and a Mora" knife. I think that the axe/knife combination is a far superior choice for serious work, but I am not always out there doing serious work. Sometimes, I just need a little bit of chopping, little bit of slicing, little bit of prying knife. I think a seven incher would do that perfectly, and also be short enough to control as a fighter (not that I do lots/some/any knife fighting!) but long enough to reach the important gooey bits of even the most ardent couch potato mugger.

So there you have it! The extended opinions of a low-post bit-player whose only credential is that he camps on the beach of a frozen Canadian river, in february!
 
misanthropist said:
Well, my post count doesn't earn me a whole lot of credibility around here, but here are my thoughts anyway, as I recently thought them and enjoyed the experience.

I have never seen much of a need for a big knife, as I carry a little knife and an axe. I always wondered about why there were so many big "bush survival" knives like the RAT-7, for instance.

I recently had the urge to buy a Dogfather, but couldn't quite justify it. After all, although I bet it would be the best knife I own, I don't think it would come close to my axe for chopping ability. And I can't see it doing the slicing work as well as a Mora.

But then, the other day, as I was camping up past Lillooet, BC, (right down on the Fraser River - I bet most guys here would have loved it) it occurred to me that for once, I was camping somewhere really dry, with lots of small wood there for the taking. It was piled up by the river the previous year, and sat all winter drying. Perfect!
Well, knowing all that wood was there, I left the axe in the truck. I could park about five hundred feet from the site, so I could see the wood before I arrived. I just brought down a four inch Mora - nice and light and easy. But of course being riverwood drifts, all the usefull wood was packed in there pretty good.

I didn't really wish for the axe - it was a bit much to go chopping about with in there to free up sticks. There wasn't really room a lot of the time, and the sticks I was after were only an inch think anyway. So, out comes the Mora...with no chopping ability at all. It ended up being an awkward process, and for once, I wished for a 7" compromise knife, so I could have just walked down with the one tool and left everything else in the truck.

Since then (that was about three weeks ago) I have been on the lookout for a seven inch bowie/fighter (come on Scrapyard, do us a scrapper 7!) to do double duty as a defense rig and as a "I don't need to have an axe and a Mora" knife. I think that the axe/knife combination is a far superior choice for serious work, but I am not always out there doing serious work. Sometimes, I just need a little bit of chopping, little bit of slicing, little bit of prying knife. I think a seven incher would do that perfectly, and also be short enough to control as a fighter (not that I do lots/some/any knife fighting!) but long enough to reach the important gooey bits of even the most ardent couch potato mugger.

So there you have it! The extended opinions of a low-post bit-player whose only credential is that he camps on the beach of a frozen Canadian river, in february!
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Very well said, I would say with a post like that you now have some credibility :thumbup:
 
misanthropist said:
Well, my post count doesn't earn me a whole lot of credibility around here, but here are my thoughts anyway, as I recently thought them and enjoyed the experience.

I have never seen much of a need for a big knife, as I carry a little knife and an axe. I always wondered about why there were so many big "bush survival" knives like the RAT-7, for instance.

I recently had the urge to buy a Dogfather, but couldn't quite justify it. After all, although I bet it would be the best knife I own, I don't think it would come close to my axe for chopping ability. And I can't see it doing the slicing work as well as a Mora.

But then, the other day, as I was camping up past Lillooet, BC, (right down on the Fraser River - I bet most guys here would have loved it) it occurred to me that for once, I was camping somewhere really dry, with lots of small wood there for the taking. It was piled up by the river the previous year, and sat all winter drying. Perfect!
Well, knowing all that wood was there, I left the axe in the truck. I could park about five hundred feet from the site, so I could see the wood before I arrived. I just brought down a four inch Mora - nice and light and easy. But of course being riverwood drifts, all the usefull wood was packed in there pretty good.

I didn't really wish for the axe - it was a bit much to go chopping about with in there to free up sticks. There wasn't really room a lot of the time, and the sticks I was after were only an inch think anyway. So, out comes the Mora...with no chopping ability at all. It ended up being an awkward process, and for once, I wished for a 7" compromise knife, so I could have just walked down with the one tool and left everything else in the truck.

Since then (that was about three weeks ago) I have been on the lookout for a seven inch bowie/fighter (come on Scrapyard, do us a scrapper 7!) to do double duty as a defense rig and as a "I don't need to have an axe and a Mora" knife. I think that the axe/knife combination is a far superior choice for serious work, but I am not always out there doing serious work. Sometimes, I just need a little bit of chopping, little bit of slicing, little bit of prying knife. I think a seven incher would do that perfectly, and also be short enough to control as a fighter (not that I do lots/some/any knife fighting!) but long enough to reach the important gooey bits of even the most ardent couch potato mugger.

So there you have it! The extended opinions of a low-post bit-player whose only credential is that he camps on the beach of a frozen Canadian river, in february!
Click to expand...

Do you think that something like a Scapper 6 would not have been enough? It would still have enough to pry wood out with. Or even something like a 5 inch Campanion? that is a stout little knife that might have had enough. Or is it that the reach would have required a 7 inch or longer??

And your right about the DF. Even though it is khukuriis in it's heft and balance it is still not match for a good axe, but then again it is quite a bit lighter.
 
Oh, no, I didn't mean seven as opposed to a stout six or maybe five inch knife - I bet the scrapper six would have done fine if I owned one. I kind of consider it in the same general camp as the "seven inch standard" which I arbitrarily lump all the BK7s, RAT7s, Ranger six or eight or whichever into. All the "mini-choppers" which seem to get built on an approximately seven inch blade pattern.

To get the wood out, I would have made a few chops with a stout knife, and then probably broken the last bit. But of course you can't chop with a Mora - there is just not enough mass there. Any stout knife would have done, I guess. But my usual combo is so specific - super slicer and super chopper - that I just didn't have any middle ground tool that would do this medium task.

The reason I mentioned the Scrapper 7 isn't because I REALLY NEED a seven inch knfe, specifically - I just missed the 6 and I hear a new design is coming out soon, so I hope it's something like a scrapper 7 that would do me for defense and middle-ground bush work.

PS: Thanks for the thumbs up there, Fonly - this sure seems like a friendly place!
 
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