Thoughts and opinions on medium sized/ all purpose blades for hiking and camping

Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.

Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.

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Medium sized jack of all trades knives like the M6, SOD, BJ, Camp Tramp, Regulator, ESEE 5, 6, Fallkniven A1 etc.. are by far my favorite blades to own. I love the feel of a 6 inch or so blade with thickness good heft and I enjoy using them for general utility tasks like fire making, shelter building, and food prep while on the trail. Its nice to have a blade that has the length and heft to chop, but also the nimbleness to do finer work with. Changing from a chopper to a small knife then back to a chopper annoying when you want to do things quickly and efficiently. However when you really want to blast through some wood or need to clean small game, having a big chopper and a smaller 3-5in blade is quite useful.

So here is my dilemma, when I hit the trail I don't want to be carrying 3 knives, due to the weight but at the same time having one do-it-all medium blade won't get things done as well as a larger and smaller knife would.

My usual setup for hiking and camping when weight is an issue is a Junglas carried on my pack or drop legged and an RMD or rodent solution on my belt as my main utility blade.

As it stands, my Medium sized do it all blades like My regulator, despite being one of my favorite knives, never sees any use. Its too small to be a pure chopper and too big for light work.

Essentially I end up with a huge collection of Medium sized blades that I love but never get to use because they don't have the specialization that a larger and smaller blade provide. the M6 may be my favorite swamp blade of all time but I just sold mine because I thought I would never end up using it. a 16 ounce knife with a 6 inch blade is just too little edge for the weight.

What are your thoughts on the role of the jack of all trades blade? How do you use them and how do you fair without chopper or smaller utility blade?

and so this thread doesnt suck, some pics of awesome do it all knives :)
IMG00349-20110610-19083.jpg

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If I'm trying to save weight I take the do it all blade and make do. Other wise I would piggy back the smaller knife on the larger chopper. Personally I make do with the mid size knife, the trick is to find one that does all the tasks well even if its not optimum. I find that the medium size blade has to have a lot of heft to be effective for heavy duty tasks. So a thicker stock and a grind that leaves the most metal on the blade to be the best. Might not be optimal for finer tasks but it will still do them better then a 10" blade.
 
Agreed Kalel, my favorite setup is Junglas drop legged, RMD on my pack strap (handle down on the front of my left shoulder), and a leatherman tti.
 
Doesn't a Rat5 answer all of these questions? It's thick enough to chop with as long as you have a lanyard and small enough for any lighter task.

hope this helps but I have the same problems
 
Favorite 2 knife set up for me is either my B-11 and mud puppy or B-11 and war dog. I do like my de regulator a lot and agree it's in the middle and I think it will end up staying in my truck. I do think it is ideal for pig hunting. To only have one knife I might go with the ratmandu. Even though it's a 5 incher like the war dog, it's heavier weight will help with light chopping and large choil is easier to choke up on for detailed work.
 
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KalEl said:
As it stands, my Medium sized do it all blades like My regulator, despite being one of my favorite knives, never sees any use. Its too small to be a pure chopper and too big for light work.

Essentially I end up with a huge collection of Medium sized blades that I love but never get to use because they don't have the specialization that a larger and smaller blade provide.
Click to expand...

You need to get a Heavy Heart...'nuff said.





























:D
 
I use a folding saw (sawvivor) instead of a big chopper, and a 6inch-ish blade to split/do finer work/food prep. Seems to work fine if I really was weight conscious.
But if I had the luxury of carrying whatever I want - a folding saw, a larger (say 10inch) blade for splitting and de-limbing, and a 3-4inch blade for whittling/food prep.
 
I spend a good bit of time in the woods and my normal carry is a good medium-size fixed blade and a Vic Farmer. I have never encountered a situation that this combo would not handle well. The Camp Tramp, Mini Uncle Mojo, and BATAC are three that get a fair share of belt time. If I am on an overnighter or longer trip I always carry a good hatchet in my pack. I have several choppers and I take them with me when I want to, never because I felt like I needed to.
 
The new KhukRat............. then either the RMD,HRLM,or Rodent Solution for the small stuff.
 
I'm right there with you dude... I'm dangerously close to selling off a bunch of my stuff just because I NEVER use the mid-size stuff anymore. About the smallest large blade I'm willing to take is the Ratweiler (7.5" blade) and then I like to have a 3-4" blade on my belt or a nice folder in my pocket... All these ESEE5's and rmds and so on are just hanging around not doing much... :(

My promise to myself of not becoming a "collector" is being threatened... :p
 
I feel like there's nothing I can't do with my Rat Daddy and Rodent Solution or B11 and Mud Puppy, they're excellent paired together. If I had to take just one blade then it would have to be right around 7" so I wouldn't think twice about taking that Regulator. If you're wanting something with a little more weight then get a Ratwieler or Chopwieler, I would prefer the Ratwieler since it has a more useful tip.
 
Heavy medium fixed blades I've completely abandoned. Like you I had an M6 and although I liked it, I never used it. Using it for fine stuff is aggrevating and it's chopping ability was a joke. Ended up giving it away. For 16 ounces I can take my gb mini and a sak or Izula and actually have better performance for the same weight. If I wanted to go as light as possible and still have the ability to chop I'd just use the GB mini. It can out chop the M6 by a wide margin and similarly it doesn't fatigue the hand to use when carving or prepping dinner. For the one bladed tool arguments, knives are actually at the end of the list. Hawk, hatchet, axe, and machetes all come in way before a belt knife IMO.
 
My current set up in my get home bag, which I have used for short hiking trips too, has an esee 4, a fiskars hatchet, and a gerber folding saw. I really should have got a boss street while they were up. I would use it in place of the esee4. I have considered just carrying my tank buster and leaving the small axe and saw to save weight. I used to look for the "one knife" but have left that search behind. Gotta use the right tool for the job.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, I think the consensus is that 2 specialized tools, be it a hatchet, machete, chopper or saw, paired with a smaller utility blade is the way to go.

I just love medium fixed blades so much, the look, the feel, they are great. But I refuse to keep knives around that I don't use so I've been selling or trading most of my medium blades. Sold my M6, SOD, ESEE 5, and Mojo and gave my ESEE 6 to my dad.

I would love to have them all back but that's a lot of money is unused steel laying around.

I think for now I will stick with my Junglas + a RMD, RS, or my amazing S90V muck by Jim Rosa.
 
I guess I fall outside the consensus. I went camping, I just brought a RMD LE.

And it worked just fine. It's nimble enough to do small tasks (slicing cheese for crackers, cutting meat for the grill, cleaning game, etc.) and it's strong enough and long enough for chopping and splitting would for a camp fire, especially when you use a sound batoning technique.

Part of the fun of camping is using your tools (knives) for a bunch of different applications - even if they're not ideally suited for the task.

Plus, I don't like lugging around a lot of extra weight (especially when hiking long distances). I see many people who love their heavy rigs (a huge chopper with a smaller knife attached), and while they look cool and are extremely functional, they're also, well, heavy.

I like bringing one medium sized knife and just making it work. Again, it's sometimes challenging, but it's also a lot of fun to see how the knife performs in a variety of applications.
 
I do love this 7" mid sized range...for me, if there can be one, that's it...

IMG_2838.jpg
 
Me too... :(

I did a sell off awhile ago to get down to more users...that was a hard sell and I have a tough time embracing the "no regrets" mind set.

That knife took an edge!! I might have to get one again down the road...
 
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