What make a knife "unwieldy"?

J

jaime_lion

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Jun 17, 2017
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So I am curious what make a knife "unwieldy"? for me it has little to do with length but more to do with thickness and heft. I have handled 15 inch knives that were awesome and very "wieldy" but have also handled 6 inch ones that were not. What for you guys makes a knife "unwieldy" vs "wieldy"? I have heard people say on forums that a 9 inch blade is too long and such and their fore unwieldy and others say 15 inches is fine. Trying to see if i can understand where this is coming from?

Mainly I am coming at this from a martial artist perspective. The 15 inch knives I have handled and worked with are butterfly swords used in the martial art Wing Chun.

Please lets try and keep this topic on topic and at a good maturity level.

Thanks
 
Lapedog said:
I would say weight distribution and point of balance
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Balance certainly is a factor. But we experience the feel of a knife through its handle. So next to the weight and how its distributed (balance) I think the design and comfort of the handle will determine how we perceive whether a particular knife as weildy or unwieldy.
 
Lapedog said:
I would say weight distribution and point of balance.

Distal taper is the enemy of unwieldiness.
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This is the majority of the answer. Also shape, size, and intended use. For instance, the old Al Mar Warrior knife is an oddball in the knifeworld, but once you read how the designer intended it to be used, everything clicks. Also, something like a sheepsfoot won't be a good skinner, and a good skinner won't be a good wire stripper, etc....

On the size thing, the physical build of a person has to be taken into account too. Things like hand size, height, etc.... all play a part too. Sometimes, no matter what you do, a knife just won't work for you.
 
+1 on what has been said already. I wear 2xl gloves and there is nothing worse then a fixed blade with a handle that feels 3 inches long and thin like a pencil. Like titt mentioned, physical size makes a huge difference and I have to be very aware of the specs of a knife if I can't handle before I buy.
 
I think balance is key to usability. How long have you been practicing wing chun?
 
Yes to balance. Yes also, to the "goldilocks theory", if I may attempt to coin a phrase. Which is to say that a knife can be too thin or too thick. Too big or too small. Too heavy, or too light. Using the right sized knife for the job, and also using a knife that is the right size for you.
 
Balance, handle to blade ratio and handle design. I have handled a quality replica of a italian spadone (a true two hand sword) and it floated in my hands despite the massive size. Also original cavalry sabers were not unwieldy despite being tip heavy. So a massive knife can be very well balanced and nimble like these swords.
 
jaime_lion said:
Around 7 years for wing chun and around 17 years for martial arts in general
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Wait a second...
Your previous posts had us thinking you were an untrained short round that was looking for a knife for defensive purposes, but now you're telling us that you're basically a walking, talking, killing machine.
Which one is it kid?

If I were you, I'd buy one knife for every one of your personalities.
 
I never found a knife, up to 11" of blade and 24 ounces, to be a significant enough item to be unwieldy, except for the effort imposed by dullness...

What I did find was that big knives (10" blade +), when really sharp (15 dps on >0.030") also do most small outdoor tasks better than small knives: By using a bit of blade momentum, they do cleaner cuts with more control, with flatter planes and truer resulting surfaces, than small knives can do with just "pushing"... "Pushing" is also less safe, as materials can give way suddenly. Even whittling is more quickly accomplished with some small hacking momentum, where the bigger blade will require less hacking speed due to its weight. Less hacking speed gives you a more refined control on small tasks, something I've yet to see mentioned anywhere.

I do believe skinning is better done with small knives, but most small outdoor tasks are not like precision pattern cutting (for which small Bushcraft-type knives are terrible anyway -compared to box cutters-), and the idea that 3-5" blades are generally far, far superior at accomplishing small outdoor tasks seems much overstated... Spreading marmalade sure...

For fighting knives, I do agree 6-8" is a proper blade range because, in violent effort while pushing, the blade length is leverage that is working against you, not for you, unlike what length does for hacking tasks (this is where I disagree with Bill Bagwell, who states this wrong. Although greater reach helps, leverage with length doesn't). Hacking while fighting with a knife under 14-16" is mostly defensive, and will not cause really deep injuries: Knife fighting is one area where to attack you need to push: Blade momentum on its own barely becomes lethal at 14" of blade or more... Even Kukris probably reach deep because of their points, not through edge momentum alone... For utility, 6-8" of blade doesn't offer enough hacking momentum, but it does offer leverage for prying boxes and whatnot, so 6-8" should probably be the range of a fighting knife intended for soldiers.

Gaston
 
Standard78 said:
Wait a second...
Your previous posts had us thinking you were an untrained short round that was looking for a knife for defensive purposes, but now you're telling us that you're basically a walking, talking, killing machine.
Which one is it kid?

If I were you, I'd buy one knife for every one of your personalities.
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I believe the great Egyptian warrior Sun Tzu had something to say about this. But I don't speak Celtic so I have yet to read his book.

I could also say something like "you see with your eyes thus you are easily fooled".

But enough philosophy. If you go back to my first post I asked if a blade would snap off in a front pocket. Just because I "know" how to "injure" a person with a knife does not mean I know the difference between 13crmov and 1070 steal is. Or if a 20 dollar m-tech karambit is as good as a cold steel karambit. Hence why I cam here asking.
 
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jaime_lion said:
So I am curious what make a knife "unwieldy"? for me it has little to do with length but more to do with thickness and heft. I have handled 15 inch knives that were awesome and very "wieldy" but have also handled 6 inch ones that were not. What for you guys makes a knife "unwieldy" vs "wieldy"? I have heard people say on forums that a 9 inch blade is too long and such and their fore unwieldy and others say 15 inches is fine. Trying to see if i can understand where this is coming from?

Mainly I am coming at this from a martial artist perspective. The 15 inch knives I have handled and worked with are butterfly swords used in the martial art Wing Chun.

Please lets try and keep this topic on topic and at a good maturity level.

Thanks
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I too have been trained in martial arts. IMO, different factors play in to make a knife wieldy or unwieldy. A wieldy knife blade doesn't always have to be long, but most of the weight will need to be towards the end of the blade kind of like a Chinese broad sword. In the case of your butterfly knives, if my memory serves me right, they are kind of short but have large wide blades, this would definitely play a role with them being easy to wield. An unwieldy knife is one that has a short blade and/or a heavy handle, like my Boker Bushcraft. Pretty much like others have said, it depends on the balance of the knife.
 
jaime_lion said:
I believe the great Egyptian warrior Sun Tzu had something to say about this. But I don't speak Celtic so I have yet to read his book.

I could also say something like "you see with your eyes thus you are easily fooled".

But enough philosophy. If you go back to my first post I asked if a blade would snap off in a front pocket. Just because I "know" how to "injure" a person with a knife does not mean I know the difference between 13crmov and 1070 steal is. Or if a 20 dollar m-tech karambit is as good as a cold steel karambit. Hence why I cam here asking.
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Exactly what are asking? You see to be a bit disjointed and rather specious in your posts/threads.
 
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