Are knives with blades longer than 4" useless?

[uneasy_rider]

To the guys who like large blades and posted photos of them, I really don't see any signs that the blades have ever been used. No scratches, no tarnish, grips still perfect.

Do you actually use them or are they just cool toys? If you do use them, what are they made out of that allows them to look completely new?

Why would someone camping or hiking want a knife with a 6 inch blade on it? What would he use it for? For small jobs, you need the control of a smaller blade, and for big jobs wouldnt you be better off with an axe or saw or machete?

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Bowie

I have a machete or three. All but one are made of softer steel. I've chopped wood with them, but it's more work than doing that same job with a good hatchet or camp axe.

One of them is a shorter, much heavier Ontario survival machete . . .

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. . . which is better for chopping and prying and hammering, but sux for smaller camp work.

I also have a few Bowies.

• One of them is a "traditional" Bowie with the large brass guard and a large, heavy, thick, wide, clip-point blade. I haven't found anything that it does well.
• One of them is a "historically correct" Bowie that looks like an oversized chef's knife. It does kitchen stuff, like carving, chopping, slicing (prep work, basically), and will even cut bread (it has a good edge), but the smaller the work, the clumsier it is. And it's heavy, too heavy to be any fun.
• Finally, I have an Ontario (that name again) Survival Bowie that's slimmer and lighter and thinner, and actually usable in a wider range of scenarios but, in the end, it's still too big for comfortable routine use.

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So I have some exposure to machetes and bowies.

I really wanted to like them. I wanted them to be useful for routine tasks.

*Sigh*

Maybe if I were eight feet tall.

After trying and testing dozens of different sizes and patterns I find myself with certain observations:

• Much in the same way that no one wrench or screwdriver is going to be right for every job, no one knife is going to be right for every job.
• A very large knife is more clumsy than useful.
• A tiny knife will do a lot of work, but not all the work you'll have will suit a tiny knife.
• A medium knife, having a blade somewhere between 3 and 5 inches long, with a good point and a good edge, made of tough steel, having a good grind and a fine, sharp edge, will cover a surprisingly broad range of tasks and be useful for all manner of small and large jobs.
• It's good to have another tool to use for all the things that would normally damage a knife (chopping, prying, etc.) and that tool might well be a hatchet or the like.

For example, some random medium knives . . .

and

and

and

and

. . . to name a few.
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So, yeah, I'm a fan of "somewhere around four inches" for a general purpose knife.

 

[JShirley]

If you look at post 20, I'm pretty sure I explained why I like kukuris.

As for work, I've done more work with some of my kuks, but...

 

[Brian Dale]

Do you actually use them or are they just cool toys?

I've answered those questions with regard to my own usage in this thread.

Since that time, I've used it on brush, as I mentioned earlier in this thread. For saplings, and for tree branches up off the ground, it's a lot easier to use than a hatchet or axe.

 

[Limeyfellow]

To the guys who like large blades and posted photos of them, I really don't see any signs that the blades have ever been used. No scratches, no tarnish, grips still perfect.

Do you actually use them or are they just cool toys? If you do use them, what are they made out of that allows them to look completely new?

Have to take a photograph of mine. Seen better days generally. There are scratches in the blade that I been cleaning up and the blade is ready for another sharpening. I hacked out a nice bramble patch with it, some sapplings and cleared the early summer garden. It lasted quite well.

My kabar on the other hand has rarely been used and still in as new condition in the box.

 

[uneasy_rider]

I hacked out a nice bramble patch with it, some sapplings and cleared the early summer garden. It lasted quite well.

Would a machete or axe have worked better?

 

[Piedmont Plinker]

I am 6' 7". I am not a small fellow.

My biggest blade is a KaBar Short Heavy Bowie. I think the blade is about 7" long.

I haven't really used it for anything- but not because I don't want to use it. I just haven't been camping since I got it, which is what I got it for.

It has a surprisingly sharp edge.
If I could only take one fixed blade with me anywhere, this would be it.

That said, it's not my favorite fixed blade. My favorite is my Mora Swedish Army Knife, about a 4" blade.

If I'm going to be doing any chopping, I'll probably use a hatchet, or maybe a machete. In fact, if I was allowed two knives in the woods, it would be my Mora and an SAK with a saw.

I also have a GLOCK knife. While it is more of a sharpened piece of metal than a knife, it isn't too huge, due to the fairly slim blade. It's a good stabber, and not unncomfortable to carry.

Note- to anyone considering getting a GLOCK knife, don't. Spend $4 more and get a Buck 119 from Wally World.


I have one Machete- it is a Cold Steel Latin Machete, 18", I believe.
I use it for garden work.

No- seriously. I weed with a machete. I hack at the base of the weeds, from an angle, and it loosens up the weeds, and in some cases, actually removed them.

I have a some back problems, and this more comfortable than kneeling, hunkering, or squatting.

I still threw my back out though- I guess I need a longer machete.

30" blade would be good.


As to folders- in a "tactical" style folder, my favorite size would probably be 3.5" blade, like on my Vex.

But, like on my Al Mar, I have nothing against longer blades, like the 4" on my Al Mar, or on the Buck 110 that I will someday get.

I also have several "tactical" knives with 3" blades, and some shorter. I'm probably going to order a Spyderco Ladybug sometime soon. Small blades have their place.

In the realm of Traditional Knives, I really don't have favorite size. I'll use anything from Peanuts to Trappers, comfortably.

Again, with SAKs- I'll use everything from my Classic to the rather large Helmsman.

I even occasionally pocket carry my Leatherman Kick.

Am I crazy, or what?

 

[Brian Dale]

Would a machete or axe have worked better?

You addressed this to Limeyfellow with his khukuri, but in the case of my parang, its heavy blade sweeps through thick stalks and saplings more easily than a machete does. The last time I cleared old blackberry canes with a machete, I had to swing it fairly hard. It's much more effective for those particular tasks than an axe would be. The greater speed of the stroke helps, and there's no need there for the precisely targeted, heavy blow of an axe.