Smallest Knife You have full confidence in !!!

What does it mean to have full confidence in a knife? I have full confidence in every knife I own... to be a knife. The list shrinks considerably when I add the functions of prybar, or hammer, or weapon, or axe, etc.
 
For hard use- NWA Skinner- O1, 4" blade, good secure grip. I have smaller and larger but this it the one. The smaller knives are not as secure for cold/wet hands applying pressure & my hand sliding up the blade will have a direct negative impact on my fine motor skills...
2Door
 
I have full confidence in my Mini Canadian, as far as its quality, edge, and construction. When it recently left me underknifed while trying to split up firewood, that was more due to my own shortcomings than those of the knife.
 
I like my Ka-Bar TDI. Sure, that's a small knife even by my standards, but it does a knife's job, and isn't fragile. Best of all, it's great value for the money. :)
 
Another vote for the Game Warden. Once properly sharpened it has become the sharpest knife in my fleet and the 3 inch blade is indestructable.
 
shecky said:
What does it mean to have full confidence in a knife? I have full confidence in every knife I own... to be a knife. The list shrinks considerably when I add the functions of prybar, or hammer, or weapon, or axe, etc.
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Full confidence that the knife will not fail while carrying out everyday knife related tasks cutting, scraping , slicing and stabbing !
To me the only time you should need to pry with a knife is if it gets stuck into wood when battoning etc. If you need to hammer use a wooden batton or rock why risk damage to your knife ?
I very much doubt if Ray Mears, Mors Kotchanski or the late Mr George Sears ever used their knives as a hammer !!!
 
I have confidence in my ability to properly use the knives I own. WIth care, I can extend the intended use of a very small knife, even a cheap one. This tiny 2 5/8" Sears Craftsman pen knife made by Camillus is the smallest I have yet used to entirely field dress, skin and butcher a whitetail deer. It wouldn't be my first choice for those tasks, but I was confident that I (and the knife) had the ability to perform them.





Again, not ideal for the task, but sufficient. Rambo would be appalled.

Codger
 
shecky said:
What does it mean to have full confidence in a knife? I have full confidence in every knife I own... to be a knife. The list shrinks considerably when I add the functions of prybar, or hammer, or weapon, or axe, etc.
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I have 100% confidence in my blade to do all the above and more.

Skam
 
I currantly use a Buck Omni Hunter 12pt. I took the rubber handle off, simply because I can't stand rubber handles, cord wrapped it, which gives me better handling and made a custom tactical leather sheath. The sheath was very easy to make. Now the knife is lighter and more compact with the leather sheath and cord wrapped handle. I also use a Buck Alpha w/ a gut hook and elk handle. I have been using Buck knives for a long time, both folders and fixed blades. I started off with a Buck 119, which I also beat the hell out of. Every knife has its ups and downs I think. As far as the confidence part, for a survivalist I would choose a good Buck knife any day. There are others though that have proven tough under the conditions; the old Gerber LMF's (the new LMF is great too), the Case Slabside hunter with the orange G-10 handle, the Gerber Freeman hunter and the Buck Nighthawk. I have tested all of these except the Case, a friend of mine owns that knife, and they're all great. When it comes to Gerber and Buck knives I have found that Wal-mart seems to carry cheaper versions of these brands.
 
Busse Active Duty. Great cutter, very, very strong blade. Used it for all manner of camp tasks last weekend.
 
My Bark River Woodland.
About 6.8 OAL with a 3 1/8" blade. Its the same length as my old EDC Benchmade MiniGrip and a almost a full inch shorter than my newest EDC, Spyderco Centofante 3.

I've tried to talk myself into a Highland or a Northstar but there just doesn't seem to be a task that the BRKT Woodland comes up short at. I wouldn't feel ill equiped with just my Woodland.

c
 
I would say Bark River mini skinner, little creek, or mikro Canadian II. In the 3- 4 inch range a Bark River Bravo-1
 
I had to split some wood last weekend, it was all very wet. I used a high quality semi custom (high hollow ground D2) knife to split some soft aspen wood that was 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch by 10 inches. I basically wanted to make 4 sticks out of one. I put the sticks on an old stump, inserted the tip into the wood, and with the heel of my hand, tapped the tip through. No twisting or pounding or prying, just pushing straight down. Did this about three times, and on the third time, heard a nice metallic "ping". I just lost about 1/4 inch off my nice expensive knife. Hardly abuse at all.

Took out my Busse AD, which I had thinned down. It cuts at about 90% of the other broken knife. I used it the rest of the weekend, probably split 50 sticks in the manner described above, and also with twisting and prying. In the end, it was still shaving sharp and unfazed.

I'll trade a slight amount of cutting efficiency for a ton of strength *any* day.
 
I don't know nearly as much about knives as most people on this board, I have discovered a few things that work for me and have stuck with them. So I haven't tried a bunch of different steels and shapes, however, from what I have read here, D2 is something I think I will stay away from. Chris
 
i have a utility HAK that i love love love. i think i use it more than most of my other EDC folders now. it's 440c, but it's kept it's edge pretty well. here's a pic (with some other EDC):

IMG_0229-1.jpg
 
runningboar said:
I don't know nearly as much about knives as most people on this board, I have discovered a few things that work for me and have stuck with them. So I haven't tried a bunch of different steels and shapes, however, from what I have read here, D2 is something I think I will stay away from. Chris
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D2 is good steel if tempered right !!!!
 
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