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Slowly falling in love with small knives

I generally prefer 3.5-4" blades, but being stationed where I am in California has meant I am supposed to carry 3" blades and under. I have come to enjoy them, even if they aren't my first preference. Right now I'm switching around between Benchmade 707, Spyderco Yojimbo2 (only knife I currently carry that I carried before getting here), Spyderco Techno, ZT 0770, Spyderco Dragonfly--and usually stacked with either a Spyderco Manbug or Ladybug.

Also, at least from their sizes I consider it diminutive; occasionally I will carry a Benchmade 940/943 or Spyderco Caly 3.5 if I'm staying on base.

All the knives I mentioned are exceptional (in my opinion obviously)
 
Spyderco has really got it dialed in when it comes to small knives. The Poliwog has incredible ergos and because of its width it really fills out your hand. On many brands, other than Spyderco, when it comes to knives that are in the 7" and sub 7" range I just run out of handle. I love my small sebenza but I have to honestly say a native 5 fits my hand much better and give me a more confident feeling grip.

That said I still carry knives more in the 7" to 9" range than I do the smaller blades as I find the blade length more suited to a variety of tasks.

 
csisland said:
Let's face it, the majority of us, for edc, can do fine with a tradional smaller slipjoint. It's the truth.
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Or without a knife at all, but it's not about the "need" but the "want".

I'm more into knifes with more than 3 inches of cutting edge but I do carry smaller ones like the Sages from Spyderco or a JK Knives pocket fixed blade with about 2.75 inches of cutting edge. Those are the smallest I carry as my main knife, on top of that I always carry a Leatherman ps4 which is what I use for small things like cutting loose threads (it would look a little ridiculous whipping out a Benchmade 710 or Spyderco Police to cut a small thread off a shirt).
 
Long story short, I used to only carry folders 3.5 inches or longer, now I'm a lot more open to carrying shorter knives although anything under 2 inches is still very unappealing to me. Although there are many situations that I face where extra length and handle size is very helpful or even essential, I've found that about 2 and a quarter inches and up is plenty good enough for most cutting tasks and provides just enough handle length to work with. They are also lighter, usually easier to sharpen, take up less space and make a more subtle, unassuming edc despite lacking just a little in overall versatility. There's no way I'm going to stop buying/carrying larger utility and edc folders any time soon, but I am a lot more into the smaller blades than I used to be, especially for general purpose edc.
 
csisland said:
Most walk around with oversized, overbuilt knives only to cut pieces of string, a piece of tape, or it's an ego thing.:confused: we're all guilty of it.
makes you feel like a tough guy.
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That would be one way of looking at it, but from a different perspective maybe because this is a knife forum a lot people like to collect and carry various size, shapes, brands of knives. Sometimes we need to carry X. Type of knives till we find what it is we are looking for in a knife. I found my taste changes from time to time from big to small. :p
 
I like my Para 2 a lot but it doesn't get much of pocket time . I tend to like 3 to 2 inch blade love what spyderco has to offer Native 5 , Techno , Sage and Delica . I also edc some benchmade Mini grip one of my favorite and the 755 . I will edc some larger one but they have to be slim . One of my all time favorite the Kershaw Skyline and I will also go with the Benchmade 940 and the 943 .
 
Sonnydaze said:
No! It's NOT THE truth. It's YOUR truth.

If it doesn't fit my hand, it's useless. I need a four-inch handle. The large Sebenza is just right.
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Leghog, you missed the whole point. I cannot carry a small Sebbie. It slips out of my hand when I try to close it.

I need a four-inch handle....and the large Sebbie and countless other knives do that for me. I am NOT saying that I need a longer blade...but rather, a longer handle. Many fixed blade knives are designed for "three-finger" operation, but they don't do my any good either.

Of course there are millions of folks who carry a shorter knife...with a smaller, shorter grip...THAT HAVE SMALLER HANDS????

Try to leave room for personal opinions...
other than your own.

Sonnydaze
 
csisland said:
Most walk around with oversized, overbuilt knives only to cut pieces of string, a piece of tape, or it's an ego thing.:confused: we're all guilty of it.
makes you feel like a tough guy.
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It doesn't make me feel like a tough guy when I am using a larger knife. It's easier and more efficient to cut a tomato, a sandwich in half, or a piece of webbing with a bigger knife. Yes I could do it (less efficiently) with a dragonfly no doubt, but I just don't really see the point of it.
 
The Techno is the first small folder I've carried as my main knife and not feel I'm loosing out (much) to my larger knives. I do miss the extra blade length of my Military, Southard or PM2 at times, but the Techno packs a lot of edge in a small cute package that doesn't offend others.

It is also very stout and I feel comfortable doing hard cutting with it.
 
The Cat doesn't get a lot of love, not the best finish, "only" 440C, but I really like mine.
IMG_1817.jpg
 
DRK said:
It doesn't make me feel like a tough guy when I am using a larger knife. It's easier and more efficient to cut a tomato, a sandwich in half, or a piece of webbing with a bigger knife.
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Or a kitchen knife that's for cutting tomatoes and sandwiches in half.:p
 
Sonnydaze said:
Of course there are millions of folks who carry a shorter knife...with a smaller, shorter grip...THAT HAVE SMALLER HANDS????
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Not everyone that carries a shorter knife has smaller hands. Some just don't like carrying a large knife in their pocket or prefer something smaller because it's easier to carry and is good enough for every day chores etc..
 
csisland said:
Or a kitchen knife that's for cutting tomatoes and sandwiches in half.:p
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Do you carry a kitchen knife with you everywhere you go? I don't, that is why I carry a folder. When I am sitting in the middle of the job site I would like to think it is OK to cut my sandwich in half without bringing a kitchen knife with me. That said if you prefer to carry a smaller knife and then pack along a kitchen knife for other tasks maybe that's better for you. For me I like the big folder cause it also makes me feel big and tough too, especially when cutting up an avocado I can just here the gasps and people saying "hey man keep away from the guy cutting up the avocado he is a tough guy".
 
DRK said:
Do you carry a kitchen knife with you everywhere you go? I don't, that is why I carry a folder. When I am sitting in the middle of the job site I would like to think it is OK to cut my sandwich in half without bringing a kitchen knife with me. That said if you prefer to carry a smaller knife and then pack along a kitchen knife for other tasks maybe that's better for you. For me I like the big folder cause it also makes me feel big and tough too, especially when cutting up an avocado I can just here the gasps and people saying "hey man keep away from the guy cutting up the avocado he is a tough guy".
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I wouldn't use a folder in the kitchen though but that's me. Hey if you want to use a folder to cut up a tomato in the field go ahead, but it's much more sanitary to cut it up beforehand so you don't have to use an edc folder in the field. It's a free country, but our glorious president is slowly changing that, so do whatever you want. :thumbup: Good day sir.
 
I own a Techno and an Air, Neither of those or a Case slipjoint will gut a deer properly for me. Other's may have a different view on that, which is perfectly fine.
 
csisland said:
Not everyone that carries a shorter knife has smaller hands. Some just don't like carrying a large knife in their pocket or prefer something smaller because it's easier to carry and is good enough for every day chores etc..
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Yup, for several decades men with small hands, average hands, and large hands carried small folders. Our grandfathers never complained of being "under knifed" because they weren't.
 
alevin said:
+1 on Sage 1. But to me small is a Case Peanut and the Sage is full size EDC.
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I agree. A 3" knife is full size, or even large to me. 2.5" is medium. 2" is small. I've had "weapon" comments about a 1.8" Spyderco dragonfly.
 
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