What is a big knife for?

mr.trooper said:
Can you split a 4" thick, 12" long log with your Mora? No? A Ka-Bar can.

The point of Big knives is to fill the gap between moras and hatchets

"In the begining the Lord Created the Mora from the Dust of the gound. And The Lord said "it is not good that the mora should be alone. let us make for him a helper". And so the Lord removed the Moras finger guard, and fashoned from it the long knife, to help the mora with large and stubron tasks."

THE End.
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Amen.... I love big knives I dont know why but I always have my rat3 there to do the lil stuff. I have a Grainsford brooks small forest axe and huntsman yet I always carry a big knife too. I carry all 3 it doesnt make much sense but many times I use my large knife to clear brush or take of limbs instead of my hatchet because I like the quickness of my Custom Matthew Roberts or Fitch or Steel Heart as opposed to the GB. Yet I need the small knife like mentioned above for skinning and gutting fish and other chores that a small knife just does better. The axe I use for splitting wood and shelter making etc. I like having all 3 but if I HAD to choose 2 it would be the GB and the small knife cuz I know the GB could do it all, I just like the big knife.
 
I want to get a Mora, but they look kind of flimzy, like a rapala fillet knife. Of course I've never seen one in person, just in photos. How thick are the blades???
 
sd550 said:
Before FIRST BLOOD came on in the early eighties about the only knives I noticed around camp were Bucks, Ka-Bar styles, & USAF survival styles. After everyone saw John J. Rambo win his battles with his knife, we all had to get one or two or twenty-three :rolleyes: .

Later..............sd550
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sd, I take your point. The camping knives I recall from my salid days were all clip or trailing point "hunting" knives. But 7" "Ka-Bar's" -- or even the USAF "Survival" pattern -- are in a different class than my MORAs. (Not too far from a leuku, however.)

Also, I don't know when Rambo appeared. I can truthfully say I never watched more than a couple of minutes by accident. But Randall came out with the Model 14 "Attack-Survival" in the 1970's 'cause it's pictured in Ken Warner's 1976 book. Relatively thick and wide knives were very popular in the 1970's, and in that book Warner had a chapter entitled "The Sharp Pry Bar." One of the "sharp pry bars" he illustrates is a 1/4"+ Hibben from the 1960's. And let's not forget the "bowie." Whatever it looked like in its various manifestations, it was a stout, long knife before it shrunk down to a "mere" 7" or so in the 1870's. Morseth, Randall and Ruana were all making longish 3/16 - 1/4" thick knives in the late 40's. So I don't know if we can blame "Sly" for more than terrible acting -- and making POS knives popular.

In fact, Warner touches on this "big" vs "not big" debate in his book. This is Ken Warner, who has already said he like 4-5" bladed-knives AND has already spoken well of the 3" puukko:

"People are fond of saying that the real experts carry short knives, the implication being that a guy with a longish knife is a klutz. That just is not so. . . . [One way to look at the issue is] that you probably keep a pocketknife around for short-blade chores so you can get whatever benefit a long blade affords for no penalty in handiness."

I carry what I carry backpacking because it seems to be enough for me to get done what I typically need to get done where I backpack. But I'm not casting stones on the guy who totes a 14" OA length Ranger RD-9 because it sure splits firewood nice -- and I don't have to carry it.
 
Why can't someone enjoy using a certain knife without bringing down the others? If a Mora works for you, God bless. If you like big blades, right on there too. Use what you like, if you let someone else dictate what you want to carry, that's just sad!
I like big blades, and small blades, where does that leave me?!
 
The blades on the regular cheap Moras are about 1/10th of an inch. The tang construction is either a through tang riveted at the back or a hidden tang. They look flimsy but I have beaten the hell out of my plastic handled model and it is still going strong.

Some of the heavier built scandi-knives start at .125 thick and up and have a substantial pommel that the tang is riveted on to at the back with a hefty brass guard up front. A few are even full tanged.

What I had half hoped for when starting this thread was a more factual discussion of how knives are actually used and for what purpose rather than a big bash up....(well maybe some good natured sparks) maybe I named the thread wrong?

I bought an 8" Leuku blade and will make it up into a big knife just because I like the look of it. I am hoping that it will be a usable design it has a fairly thin blade compared to something like my Trail Master. Hoping it will be a good wood worker and a decent butcher knife. Cleaning caribou I use the Inuit method of skinning before gutting and then taking off the front and rear legs and a nice big thin knife is a good thing for long cuts. Also be a good tool for snowhouse making. 10,000 Laplanders can't be wrong!

A long thick knife is more of a puzzler to me although I know some people really like them. Truth be told I really like my Camp Tramp but I never take it anywhere... It seems too big to have precision and not in the same league as a small axe if you need real power. I love that resiprene handle and maybe I'll take it out more and see what it can do for me. Seems a shame to leave it in the bag but I am a bit skeptical about it's real utility.
 
tknife said:
Why can't someone enjoy using a certain knife without bringing down the others? If a Mora works for you, God bless. If you like big blades, right on there too. Use what you like, if you let someone else dictate what you want to carry, that's just sad!
I like big blades, and small blades, where does that leave me?!
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In the same boat as a lot of us, I think. Big knives, small knives, IMHO it doesn't really matter. Just about every knife mentioned here so far (little Scandinavian blades, khukris, Kabars, Horking Big Combat Bowies, SAKs, etc) could save somebody's life. They're all perfectly valid choices, and good to have out there in the woods if you know how to use them. My personal experience and tastes lead me towards the big knife/SAK combo corner, but some of the stuff the small-knife proponents have been posting here has been pretty darn educational and I think I'm going to be experimenting a bit this summer as a result :).
 
I have several moras and they are great knives for most chores. However, I have broken one while battoning it. Which is why my favorite knife is my F1, which I don't think I could break with my bare hands. However, a big knife is capable of doing more things. It is just a fact. It doesn't mean i carry my A1 all the time, only when its going to be of use.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Hey, Mr. D. Is that a Bark River in your nice picture?
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Yep, a Highland Special, probably the best bang for the buck Buscraft knife out there, dispite my unhappiness with BRK&T in another thread, this particular model is fantastic. In fact the little Vixen cut me really bad too, first cut in thousands of blades handled over a year or so. Its OK though, daddy still loves her. ;)
 
What I had half hoped for when starting this thread was a more factual discussion of how knives are actually used and for what purpose rather than a big bash up....

What is a big knife for?

I have heard it said that a small knife can't do the task of a big knife where a big knife can do the job of a little one. When trained in the use of a baton I think this is almost exactly wrong. The tough small knife can do big knife chores only a little more slowly but the big knife lacks the cutting and maneuvering ability to do small knife chores at all well.

If there is lots of light vegetation why not leave it alone and camp 10 years away where there is none? Similarly if the wood is too long why not put it cross ways on the fire and burn through it letting it heat me rather than cut it and having me heat it?

I have never seen a native person use a big knife except the Inuit

I'll be careful. Not trying to cause a flame war.

What am I missing?
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First I'd like to say that my favourite all round blade is 8" and to have only one blade, my choice is that. From preparing food, cutting wood, making traps, digging holes, making shelter, butchering dinner, protection, scraping a hyde, collecting tannin, CHOPPING IN GENERAL ....

Little blades can be made to do big tasks if you have to which is a reason why we carry a scalpel blade in our kits. For heavy duty jobs the little blade just "doesn't cut it" in my opinion.

One reason for carrying a big blade is to rely on only one blade rather than having to carry a machete and small blade .... in my opinion.
 
I'm a big Mora fan. I can't imagine heading out into the bush without one. In fact I'm heading out for two days this afternoon and I will have an Erikson, rubber handled Carbon Mora and my daughter will have a Mora 2000.

I find the Mora's excell at all the small tasks that you demand from a knife and they weigh next to nothing. I teach big knife tasks with the small knife because if you only have a small knife then you have to make it work for shelter and fire building. They are far more capable than people will give them credit.

Here in Brazil a machete is not an option and paired with a Mora you have a very potent combination. One big knife task that the Mora does not do is clear trail.

That said I will have my BK-7 on my belt this week. I don't like having a machete on my belt as they are uncomfortable. I use the BK-7 all the time for cutting vines that have snagged my legs and impromptu brush clearing. It is also a far more effective weapon than a Mora and here in Brazil a weapon makes sense.

My BK-7 is more than a big knife, it is also the PSK I have grown accustomed to. It fills more of a niche for me than just cutlery. The entire knife/PSK system is the one piece of kit I don't want to be caught without so it stays on the belt.

Some of the woods here are very hard and I have seen some edge damage to my stainless Mora SWAK's. The thin edge slightly ripples under impacts when hammering them through dry bamboo and also stripping the leaves off of dead palm branches (green ones are no sweat). So far all of these have smoothed out on the stone.

Can a BIG KNIFE carve traps and other small detail wood working, yes. It is FAR from ideal for this though, actually it's kind of a pain. Can a small Mora do big knife tasks, absolutely if you know what you're about, but only to a point and it takes more time and effort.

The more kit you carry the less knife you need. Personally I'm amazed at the people that only carry a SAK, but then again they are most likely also solving most of their problems with titanium and miracle fibers that I can't afford.

One piece of cutlery that gets far too little press is the saw. A pruning saw is a great alternative to the "chopper" for many applications and should be considered. Not much glamor in a saw, no movies yet, but even Mors carries saw blades and makes the rest from the North Woods. Mac
 
North61, I wouldn't know any other way to skin a caribou. ;)

i agree there is no reason to turn this into a battle, like usually happens with these threads. You asked a legitimate question, and are looking, I presume for a legitimate answer.

I think a lot of it has to do with taste. We are all knife knuts, and as such, like to play with knives. Currently, I am really into the Scandi knives myself. Ragnar has some damn nice knives, and they are very inexpensive. And, as you said, most work can be accomplished, quite efficiently with a four inch mora.
But I am guilty of using my two favorite 8 inch blades lots. I get a certain sick pleasure out of lopping off a two inch limb with one swing. On long trips with conveyance, such as a canoe or snowmobile, I carry a GB axe and saw. Otherwise, on hiking or lightweight trips, I get along very well with a small fixed blade or two, and a SAK with a saw.
JoeDirt said you can do more things with a larger knife. I disagree for myself. Perhaps he can not do as much with a small knife, but that is not universal. A small or large knife can cut and split firewood. Although the large knife will be a bit more straight forward, once a wedge is made, the small knife is only a little less efficient. But, it is very cumbersome doing really fine work with a 8-10 inch blade, such as carving a spoon or small trap parts. I like to carry both if possible, but would choose a small, thinner knife like a Scandi, Dozier or a Grohmann, over a big knife if I could only have one.

The BIG knives are great for flipping steaks (man, they do look good!). My right leg learned years ago that a big sharp blade is more than a match for a paper plate, though.

That BRK&T with the orange handle looks THICK. How is it for slicing meat and cheese, or shaving wood?

Jim
 
Jim Craig said:
That BRK&T with the orange handle looks THICK. How is it for slicing meat and cheese, or shaving wood?

Jim
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It does a fiendishly good job of all of the above. I have a number of flat and hollow ground and this thing just blows them out of the water performance wise. You would think that it wouldnt do wood very well, it actually penetrates better than a hollow grind, it removes a lot of wood easily but it is also great for making tinder from heartwood (The test scenario was pissing down with rain for a week so you have to split a log to get dry stuff.) that will light from a fire steel. A2 throws a lovely spark too ;)

Long-stoke-sparking.jpg
 
pict said:
One piece of cutlery that gets far too little press is the saw. A pruning saw is a great alternative to the "chopper" for many applications and should be considered.
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The saw is a big part of why my Victorinox Rucksack goes everywhere with me. I do't use it anywhere near as often as the knife blade, but it has come in very handy on a couple of occasions. The most noteable one was about this time last year, doing some yard work over at my fiancee's place. This was still fairly early in the relationship, and we weren't engaged yet. She noticed a dead branch up a tree, and I just clambered up there, pulled out the Rucksack, opened up the saw, and started sawing away. She couldn't stop laughing, but she was impressed :).

And you know, being able to score points with attractive members of the opposite sex is an important long term survival skill :).
 
Here in Brazil quality meat costs less than ground chuck in the States. Brazilians roll their meat in rocksalt (not roadsalt!) and bang off the excess when it's done. It sounds very salty but it isn't.

These were cut with a Mora 2000. The guy doing the cutting handed the knife back to me after about an hour. He said it was too sharp and he was afraid of it. Mac

cookout2steaks16wu.jpg
 
A few folks have talked about saws and one that I have started bringing with me is the mini-sierra by Coghlan. About the size of a medium pocket knife but lighter. Not for cutting the great big stuff but sure does smooth cuts for many bushcraft projects.

I can see that the extremely fine edge of the Mora would be challenged by really hard stuff and might need to be reprofiled for other climes. It's also nice the hear that people are getting some real use/joy out of their big knives.

I want to like mine and truth to tell maybe it's a weakness in my character but I always feel like such a greenhorn when I strap a big knife to my belt. Maybe that's got in the way of giving this class of knives a fair shake.
 
LOL Mack, we are going to have to run a poll now to see how many spent more time looking at the meat than the knives :D
 
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