Possibly one of the most useful survival items !

[pitdog]

" But it's so small are you sure it will get the job done ?" ~ I'm sure you have all had that said to you before, I know my wife has said it on more than one occasion~ I am of course talking about pocket sized fixed blades !

When possible my knives of choice will be my Booshway and a SAK or similar combo but that is not always practical. Take today, I wore some lightweight hiking trousers that have no belt loops, many hiking pants are now like this so the obvious solution is to carry a knife in ya pocket or strung around ya neck.
After much deliberation I found that a knife of about 7" ( 3" blade, 4" handle ) was about the maximum size that was practical to carry in my pocket~ I believe this is around the size of many knives such as the Busse Wardens, ESEE Izula's, Becker Neckers etc which might well explian their popularity.

Today I decided to carry an even smaller knife to just to prove their worth, my TOPS Wolf Pup.

Using a batton it's easy to split up small tinder~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

Small knives also make fine feather sticks that easily take a flame~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

The shape of my Wolf pup also makes drilling wood very easy and so is handy for traps ( Ojibwa bird trap comes to mind ) and fire drill boards~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

Drilling the wood creates fine dust that will take a spark from a ferro-rod~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

Small knives are great for splitting roots when making cordage~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

Although not ideal, small knives can also be used ' beaver ' style with a batton to remove quite large sections of wood~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

So all in all I think a small fixed blade is one of the most useful things you can slip in your pocket and if anyone comments on how small it is just tell em it's not the size it's how ya use it !!!!

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

And before anyone asks, yes the girls were with me today~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-31

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Like we all know a small knife you have with you is Worlds better than the Big Knife you have at home..or in your Vehicle

As always --Great photos and Post

 

[jw2n]

Pants with no belt loops - Yikes! I have not seen these yet but I sure in the hell will not be buying any. Nice shots of the knife in use thou.

 

[Troy H]

Small knives can be extremely capable in the right hands. Thanks for the pics! :thumbup:

While not as small as the Wolf Pup that you used, a while back, River-8 did a fire-starting pictorial using his Howling Rat.
http://www.riverside-graphics.net/Skills/HRfire.html

 

[pitdog]

Small knives can be extremely capable in the right hands. Thanks for the pics! :thumbup:

While not as small as the Wolf Pup that you used, a while back, River-8 did a fire-starting pictorial using his Howling Rat.
http://www.riverside-graphics.net/Skills/HRfire.html

Thanks for the link buddy, I've always loved those Howling rats !

 

[hughewil]

smallest fixed blade i have is a Becker Remora. here it is compared to a meyerco necklance and a clipper

 

[pitdog]

smallest fixed blade i have is a Becker Remora. here it is compared to a meyerco necklance and a clipper

Yup that's a small one, how do ya like that ?

 

[TheGame]

I have been looking over a lot of small knives recently. I just can't put them ahead of all the large knives that I want.

 

[hughewil]

Yup that's a small one, how do ya like that ?

It's a good little knife. It is replacing the meyerco in my PSK and neck carry for when I am fishing.

It's tough enough

 

[pitdog]

This is my favourite pocket carry, anything larger than this would not be practical~

By pitdog2010 at 2011-05-17

 

[kgd]

He he he, I've been known to wear belts on pants without belt loops. No other way to put all my batman gadgets on the hip, now if only I can get teklock to work on suspenders...................................

 

[pitdog]

He he he, I've been known to wear belts on pants without belt loops. No other way to put all my batman gadgets on the hip, now if only I can get teklock to work on suspenders...................................

LOL, I've done the same but I don't really like doing it !

 

[Alan2442]

funny this should come up today when i just posted that my most used knife is Mark's Far North Bush knife. i actually carry this small fixed blade more than my many folders

Pit i read your comment on my post...did you get one of the batch that was made a while back?

 

[pitdog]

Pit i read your comment on my post...did you get one of the batch that was made a while back?

No I didn't buddy, was very tempted but I wanted one of Mark's Mora models and so saved my cash for that. Hopefully that is on it's way to me as I type !!!

 

[umberto00]

Great post - lot of my friends chide me for carrying small knives into the woods (leatherman juice and a Stubby Razel with a 2 inch blade!), but that's all I ever really need. If I do need to cut anything huge, I'll grab the folding saw or camp axe.

 

[HuntBomb]

Not as much fun but certainly worth having if necessary.
I just got the BK11 and it is much smaller than I expected...not a bad thing though.
Doesn't it produce a miserable shock to the hand when battoning with such a small knife???

 

[hughewil]

Not as much fun but certainly worth having if necessary.
I just got the BK11 and it is much smaller than I expected...not a bad thing though.
Doesn't it produce a miserable shock to the hand when battoning with such a small knife???

The BK13 is smaller than the 11. It didn't bother me batoning with it I wrppe dit pretty thick in paracord.

 

[Grateful]

Interesting thread. I have been thinking alot about a small fixed blade for outdoor use and as a sometime edc companion to my sak. 2 1/2 to 3 inches of blade are all I really ever need and something that could ride in my pocket or around my neck gives me options. Alot of the time a sak is enough but sometimes having a rigid nonbending knife as opposed to a locking folder would make me feel safer and just makes more sense. That wolf pup looks nice. I will have to give this further thought.
Jim

 

[prepper10]

I highly recommend the TOPS Key B (or Key A, for that matter). It's pretty much the perfect size for actually wearing around your neck. I wrapped the funky little handle with paracord and left a small lanyard hanging from it for ease of extraction. I also ditched the noisy metal bead chain it came on and replaced that with paracord. Super slim and super strong (1095)--just big enough to be practical and takes a wicked edge. Love it! I also love that it's the cheapest knife TOPS makes, at around $35.

 

[quattromori]

Glad to know that I'm not the only one around to think that a relatively small fixed blade is handier, lighter, and just as good (if not better) for normal "survival" use (camping, fire, hiking, etc).
I read that many people here carry big blades in the outdoors (some of which are pretty cool indeed, and awesome knives for sure), but I never felt the need for that. I usually carry a SAK and a fixed blade when I camp and never felt the need of something bigger. Maybe 2' is a bit small, but the biggest blade I have for camping is a Mora Companion...and if it had a shorter blade I would like it even more...I think that 3 1/2' is more than enough for a fixed blade to carry in the outdoors. And yes, a folding saw (or a small axe) is the right tool for major wood processing, and a machete is only useful in a jungle-like place...even tho if anyone likes to carry a 7' blade, then so be it.