Micro, that's a well thought out and articulate OP.
I've spent a fair amount of time contemplating this issue over the last eight years. My initial choices were cringe-worthy naive. I've experimented with heavy Bowie knives, light Bowies, combat knives, butcher knives, bolo knives, machetes, "survival" knives, and so on, including several different Mora knives.
My meager "collection" includes things like '70s Gerber outdoor knives, scouts, campers, slipjoints, lockbacks, a few "tactical" folders, and an assortment of fixed blades. I've spent way too many hours online perusing evaluations, discussions, explanations, and the like. I (still) spend an unhealthy amount of time at knife counters harassing the counter guys, fondling stuff, and asking dumb questions.
Out of all this, I've reached some of my own conclusions, and in large measure they line up with yours, with some caveats.
First, in the "what you have with you" department, we have two distinct possibilities: either I'm in my truck or I am for some reason separated from it. My truck is my hardware store and, as I've outlined recently, it's got a fair range of cutting tools stashed in it. Should I be away from the truck and somehow be denied access to my trove of cutlery, I nonetheless have about my person never less than three knives, and usually more like five or six.
My vocation as a geek leads me to have a Leatherman Wave on my belt pretty much all the time. Likewise, on the other hip of that same belt is a full-sized folder. Right at this moment, that's an EKA Swede 92, a very competent outdoor folder that I rate fairly close to a fixed blade. Generally there's a medium folder, like a Buck Vantage in a pocket and a Stockman or other slipjoint in another pocket. And, if I'm wearing cargo pants (98% of the time) there's also an EKA/Wenger SAK with me as well. So, assuming I was riding with a friend and we got stranded, that's what I would typically have with me.
The Swede 92 is an amazingly versatile knife, and it's pretty much become my favorite full-sized folder. I frequently carry it's brother, the Nordic T8, which is really nice and I like it a lot, but the Swede 92 just works for me. That belt pouch will also (depending on the day) have a Buck 110, Case large Sod Buster, Benchmade Steigerwalt, or Kershaw Northside in it. In other words, I will always have a 3.5-to-4 inch blade with me.
I can't entirely agree with Cpl Punishment's remark about winding up in the wilderness without having the opportunity to choose what one is carrying.
Mostly? Yes, if I'm out in the woods, I probably chose to be there, and I've geared up appropriately. But not always. I live in North Idaho, and wilderness is the default condition up here. Sure, I spend most of my time in town (working in an office or at home), but driving up here can easily involve dirt roads with one-car-per-hour (or less) traffic. The driver's handbook for Idaho actually stipulates that you should have a knife in the car as standard equipment. When I lived in the Reno/Tahoe area, the environment was quite similar. It was common enough to have someone stranded in the mountains with less-than-minimum equipment. No, they didn't mean to go camping, it just worked out that way. And sometimes it works out that way in four feet of snow.
Consequently I try not to assume that I'll have advance warning and the opportunity to select equipment.
It's a good bet that, in an emergency away from home, I'll have whatever's in the truck, and that's it. If I'm riding with someone else, it'll be whatever's in his truck.
For those adventures that I get to plan? Yeah, then I get to rummage around and pick out whichever big blade suits my sensibilities du jour, and that might well be the Järvenpää Leuku/Puukko combo set or one of the other large knives with a Mora as adjunct.
I have a kukri and something like a Hoodlum in my future, but that will probably require money, so it will wait for now.
It took an unfortunately long time to overcome my prejudices, and that delay has proved expensive, as some of the knives I finally settled on had doubled in price while I was fussing around with fads and naive "oh, shiny!" infatuations.
I may never be "done," but at least I now have a prayer of being adequately equipped if the gods decide it's my day to be tormented.
) and being forced away from your vehicle at gun point and robbed of all your belongings.
, is ideal, and probably not too hard to have with you, with preparation. Usually when we are unprepared, it's from ignorance (guilty
) or having our heads up our backsides (also guilty