Wilderness Skills Question--READ CAREFULLY

WILLIAM.M

WILLIAM.M

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Wilderness Skills Question--


Do you feel it's harder to make a small knife do the tasks of a Larger knife
or is it harder to make a Larger knife do what smaller knives excell at??

What takes more SKILL and Time to learn???

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I'm not asking what is better--but what takes more skill to use outside of it's intended purpose.

There are 2 Camps here--

Camp 1 states that small knives are all you need and if you need more -it's due to a lack of skill or experience.

Camp 2 states that you need the biggest fixed blade you can carry-and if it's too heavy then you're too weak.

an Axe is a Great Chopper--but if you do not have one-can you use your 4" knife to build a shelter???

A Large Chopper is great--at chopping--but would be a hassle to clean a fish with.

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I'll go first..

I think it's harder to learn how to use a big knife but once learned you can do more with it.

I think one could make a smaller knife do most of the tasks a bigger knife could do but not as effectively-and not without possible damage to the knife in the process.(Battoning,prying,digging,etc)

Again--the question....

Do you feel it's harder to make a Small knife do the tasks of a Larger knife
or is it harder to make a Larger knife do what Smaller knives excell at??

By small I mean blade length of 3-4"

Large is anything past 5-6"

What takes more SKILL and Time to learn???

Thanks for your reply

Dr.Bill
 
In my expeirence it takes more skill to do small tasks w/ a large blade, and more time with relatively the same skill with a small knife and larger tasks. Which why I always take both.
 
Its harder to small work with a big knife and takes more skill. That being said the more skills I gain the smaller my knives get
 
I believe it is harder to acquire the skills to make a large knife do what a small knife does. I also believe you can do just as much with a small knife, assuming same construction, just smaller size, as with a larger knife. The skill to accomplish this goal is easier to learn as you do not have to reverse engineer your skill set. I am thinking we built the first buildings as one story huts; we did not start with skyscrappers and work backwards. My point, is you are much more likely to learn how to use the small knife first, then move onto the larger one. If you build your skill set then I believe more time is required to be as useful with a large knife as with a small one. The apes learned how to use tools and did not start off with a cresent wrench as their first design; unfortunately we are not far enough removed.
 
Interesting question. I think small knives are easier to learn but only because most people have grown up using them. Think kitchen/steak knives. They've had years of muscle memory built into that particular tool so a large blade is a little foreign to most wheras they can pick up a small knife and go to town. As for what can do more I'd say the big knife but then we get muddled down in what if's and what's needed for survival. It also doesn't take into account supplemental gear like tarps, multitools, etc.
 
Personally, I think that it is harder to use a big knife for small knife tasks (whittling, fine carving, cleaning small game/fish). On the other end of the spectrum, there isn't a big knife task that I can't do with my small knife, it just takes a while longer. For instance, a big chopper can just chop a huge chunk of wood in one swipe, whereas my small knife will just take little bites. In the end, the small knife can make the same cut, it just takes more steps.

As far as the batonning/prying/digging with the small knife - DON'T! Use the small knife to make a wedge, pry tool or digging stick!

BTW - my woods knife is a fixed blade with only a 2-inch blade. That, coupled with the saw and awl from my multitool, is usually all I need.
 
Alot depends on the handle.
I've had big knives that could do it all...and I've had big knives which were only useful for chopping.
Design is where it's at.:)
 
I know it is harder to learn how to make a big knife do all the tasks of a small knife. I believe the time and effort to learn how to use a big knife is well worth it. Look at history.Frontiersmen used huge bowie type knives to do everything from gutting an animal to fleshing the hide. I have always preferred a large knife.When the early settlers settled in this area the Native Americans wanted to trade for knives with 9 + inch blades.They lived in this area so if that is what they preferred then that is what I carry.There was a reason they preferred larger blades.I can do everything with a large blade that I can with a small blade but I cannot do everything with a small blade that I can with a large blade. Good questions Dr Bill keeps my brain working brother. If people truly worked at it they would be surprised at what you can do with a large knife and chopping is not all they are good for! BTW my woods knives all have at least a 7 inch blade coupled with a leatherman.
 
I can filet a fish, or skin a rabbit and make a figure 4 dead fall trigger with my 12" bolo, but cutting 3" thick lodge polls or 4" thick bamboo or cutting through any cactus with a Victornox is not my idea of a good time.
 
I find the big knife doing small work harder. I DO find the Barong design to be one of the easier big knives/short machete to do small work with. Broad from edge to spine, fine tip and thin material all combine to make it easier.

It is amazing what a little knife can accomplish though!
Bill
 
The most useful of the bushcrafting tools is the brain. Knife size is irrelevant. A skilled bushcrafter will adapt to whatever tools he carries, finds, or creates.
 
as mentioned the familiarity of small blade use in kitchen etc would lead to less of a learning curve with a small blade

large blades do take more skill and practice but are infinitely more useful imop. Although my learning curve started early and has flavoured my opinion.

I was using large butcher knives, boning and fleshing knives since 15 as my old man was the foreman at the slaughterhouse and had me working all school holidays(even xmas).

I can do many things with a 3 to 5 in blade but any time I am in thick brush/overgrown trails or need to make a fire easily the large blade wins hands down.

Using a small knife for everything just seems like a waste of energy and time to me. Pack an extra 5 to 12 oz of steel and your life in the bush just gets easier......unless your a dedicated carver or squirrel hunter.

Big knife and a folder is what I prefer
 
Excellent answers

The goal of a good question is to get the person giving the answer to think

There are some excellent answers so far

Bravo!!!
 
I am not sure which is easyer to learn. I do know that it comes down to practice to gain the skills to do both. I practice with larger and smaller knives. I hate using a small knife for a task that a longer bladed knife would just breeze right though, but not vise versa.
I can use a longer bladed knife and still get the job done. That has come with practice though.
It comes down to use and carry what you like. I like both so I use and carry both with out in the woods and in the kitchen.


Bryan
 
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I find the big knife easier to do smaller work with than the smaller knife to do larger work. I have used only a big knife a lot of the time and can do small tasks pretty good with them. That said, a small knife can do larger work but it will take much longer than with a larger knife.

Batoning and chopping are not necessary, but for people who enjoy to do them, it wouldn't be as fun with a smaller knife, because of the length of time it would take.
 
WILLIAM.M said:
I'll go first..

I think it's harder to learn how to use a big knife but once learned you can do more with it.

I think one could make a smaller knife do most of the tasks a bigger knife could do but not as effectively-and not without possible damage to the knife in the process.(Battoning,prying,digging,etc)

...snip....

Dr.Bill
Click to expand...

There is little point in me (essentially) repeating what you type above, I agree with it.

HOWEVER, I would point out that environment may play a factor in this. There are some environments where I am not sure a big knife offers any advantage. Simply put, I have gone on some outings recently where I carried a big and small knife and NEVER drew the big knife...so it seemed sort of silly (in hind sight) to have carried it;)
 
om nom nom, what a great brain think question. Of course, task varying, but, with regards to actually learning techniques, I think a small knife is in term, more favorable as a starting point. Learning the nuances of carving each side of a notch, how much pressure it takes to split a seam, where to cut when running a blade underneath a skin to separate it. How to carve with long strokes using your shoulder, not your wrist, cutting the curve out for a pothook or splitting a twig a certain way to make that L-7 trap to catch a large trout, these are all things nicely explored with a short craft knife first. By working with these, personally, I've seen how to make a larger knife behave like a smaller knife and act the way I want it to, to get the rough cut that would be easier with a small knife. I'm not saying I would want to skin out a deer by choking up on an 18" machete blade (though I have), but I know the thought process behind it because I've used a smaller knife.

To have control of the blade, you must have a controllable blade first.
 
I'd have to say some it is harder to do a small knife's work with a large knife.Filleting fish or carving spoons/trap triggers would be a PITA if not next to impossible with a 1/4" prybar.

I really struggle to justify the need for any knife with a blade over 4" or 5". I sometimes see a big knife and think " Wow that would make a nice camp knife !" but for doing what ??? If I was wild camping and making a shelter then an axe is far more efficient than a large knife, same goes for splitting wood for the camp fire.
I guess it's really the fun factor in swinging large knives but in reality a med knife+axe and/or folding saw are far more efficient tools, in fact even just a med knife and folding saw can get more or less anything done..........yeah I guess I'm getting old and boring !
 
I think it is tougher in terms of skill to make a big knife perform small blade tasks, but much tougher in physicality to make a small knife accomplish big tasks if that makes any sense.

I can take down a tree with a mora, I;ve done it numerous times
I can process fire wood with a small knife. But I 'm going to have to work a little harder and a little smarter to do so.

I was reading some article dealing with scattered tribes of the dwindling hunter gatherer societies that are around these days.. and something that struck me was that the 2 things that are aalmost unanimously carried regardless of location was a metal pot, and a large working blade (read as machete, parang, etc. Leuku, butcher knife)
these are the folks who are the real experts...
that being said I';m sure if they had the income to have 3 blades on them maybe the would,
but the fact is most time one blade is all the folks need and it;s usually on the larger size.

I;m not putting my mora back on the shelf any time soon.
but he usually travels with a big brother.
 
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