Largest "useful" blade length?

Shorttime

Shorttime

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I'm a Town Boy, and I don't do bushie stuff because I like my bed and my coffee maker.

For my uses, a 4" blade is the upper limit of "useful size". If I need more than that, I'm probably doing demolitions, and I brought specialized tools.

I'm curious about what other people have found to be the biggest practical blade? Where does it become more practical to carry a hatchet or machete and leave the knife for finer work?

Pic is for attention.
 
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Shorttime said:
I'm a Town Boy, and I don't do bushie stuff because I like my bed and my coffee maker.

For my uses, a 4" blade is the upper limit of "useful size". If I need more than that, I'm probably doing demolitions, and I brought specialized tools.

I'm curious about what other people have found to be the biggest practical blade? Where does it become more practical to carry a hatchet or machete and leave the knife for finer work?

Pic is for attention.

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I'm a mailman, I use a knife to cut open bundles of advertising materials or newspapers. I found that around 4 inches is best suited for that task for me, though a curved spine is what's really important here (something like a PM2 doesn't work well for that). Longer blades aren't really a problem, though with a smaller blade (as mentioned 4 inches or below) I can work faster and more accurately.

At most we're talking maybe 25 bundles that have to be cut open, just for reference. These bundles are held together by two plastic straps about 5mm in width. I carry either a Sage 5 LW or a Manix 2 XL for that, before I got those I had a Civivi Elementum Button Lock and a Gerber Paraframe (the latter also didn't work too well). I'd also used some fixies for the task, like a Gerber Freeman Guide or Strongarm, but fixed blades tend to scare non-knife people so I ventured away from those.

When I'm in the woods I like something like a Fällkniven A1 and I'd like to go larger even, but money is tight right now ^^ not a hunter, never dressed a hunted animal, so I can't comment on that.
 
3.5” on a folder; 5” on a fixed. There are great reasons for bigger, but these sizes are the biggest that are useful, most of the time, to me. Usually, I have SAK on hand along with a Large Sebenza so I have “small” already covered.
 
Larrin Larrin , maybe you will be able to exlain. Why the knifemakers do not decrease the blades thickness when switch to powder metalurgy steels, or change the blade profile for the same knife from high flat grind to full flat grind? In both cases the knives will be more slicey with the same sturdiness, I assume? Thanks.
 
5"-6" on an outdoor fixed blade. They're long enough for most tasks, but still short enough to do most small knife things easily. 6 1/2" - 9" is sort of a dead zone to me as far as usefulness, it's the too long, yet too short range. 9 1/2"- 12" is a somewhat useful range depending on task.

Folders? 3 1/2" - 4 1/4" is the range I find myself mostly carrying. Up through about 5" I find useful, after that the handles start to feel ungainly sometimes.
 
It all depends on what the "use" is.

I carry 2 or 3 knives daily, a slipjoint, a modern folder of some flavor and a fixed blade in the 3" to 4" range as my EDC daily for general use.

For hunting a 2 3/4" on the smaller side to a 4" fixed blade on the larger end is all the blade I prefer. They are way more nimble in tight spaces and you really don't need a bigger blade to field dress and skin most game. For processing the meat at home I use 5" & 6" boning knives and a 10" scimitar.

When I'm bumming around the woods or camping I use 7" to 10" blades regularly. In the kitchen I use a 5" blade more than anything else, but an 8" for some things.
 
As an urban home owner, a folder with a four-inch blade is pretty much my upper limit for daily carry.
I usually carry something smaller, though it depends on the knife.
Notable exception is that I sometimes carry a Cold Steel Pocket Bushman. It has a 4 1/2" blade.
Though I have several folding knives with larger blades, they are more curiosities than knives which get carried on a daily basis.
 
As a man I have issues with answering this question truthfully.
Truthful answer: At hand, usually, and sees a lot of use is a gifted little itty bitty side opening auto with a sub 2" blade. To explain how shameful this is...I used black sharpie to cover up the VERY pink scales although pink does show through. Yes, it has a Harley-Davidson logo, no, I doubt Harley got paid for it.
Internet answer: Blade length? Bah, depends on the Mission Parameters.
What are you doing? Scything? Chopping? Protection? There's no "do it all" length, but in my opinion 4-5" is big enough for EDC in most situations and the knife you carry is the one you'll use.
 
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I think every home owner should have a big chopper to deal with large fallen tree branches that need removal....

I personally like bigger blades, and have comfortably carried 7" for EDC...but like most, 4-6" being most common
 
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