3.25in vs 4in blade?

[VallesRobertsonII]

Hello all, I hope today is finding you well. I have a question that shows an area of my ignorance, that I am asking you kindly understand, because being aware it reflects my ignorance is why I am asking anyway, here goes; most bushcraft knives I find are around the 4in blade length, and the companion knives I seem to find (for if carrying a large survival knife) often have from a 2.5 to 3in blade. Pocket knives seem to have a sweet spot at 3.5in (which is also the largest it can be to carry concealed in my state), but are also usually folders. If I was looking for a fixed blade that I could carry concealed and was also wanting it to be as much as could be a companion to a large survival knife, but also as much stand alone bushcraft if I didn’t have my large knife on me, as could be, would a 3.25 in blade be a good size? What would I be giving up that a bushcraft size knife offers better than a large blade, what would I be giving up as a companion by being over the 3in? Is there a better size for what I am looking for (or might have custom made)? If I have an 8in survival knife, 3.25in fixed edc, would it be better to also have a bushcraft knife... or if I had a bushcraft knife, and a survival knife, and wanted a third knife, would a pocket folder or a 3in (or smaller) fixed blade be better? Thank you and I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[dogstar]

A general rule of thumb for bushcraft is the knife is as long as the width of your palm. For most people that is between 3.5"-4".

Is there gonna be a huge difference between 3.25" and 4" for bushcraft? I don't think so. You can split slightly larger pieces of wood by batoning with a 4" blade, but to me it's not a huge difference maker. The more you know, the less you need, so start practicing your skills! You will end up knowing more than most people responding to this post.

 

[ephsea]

Yes, all of those.

 

[shane45-1911]

If I have an 8in survival knife, 3.25in fixed edc, would it be better to also have a bushcraft knife... or if I had a bushcraft knife, and a survival knife, and wanted a third knife, would a pocket folder or a 3in (or smaller) fixed blade be better?

At the risk of being overly-simplistic, I would not feel under-knifed with both a QUALITY 8" fixed blade and 3.25" fixed blade. There isn't much that combo could not handle in a survival situation or hardcore camping trip.

P.S. Those that know me on this forum know I DESPISE the term "bushcraft knife". Any knife with me in the woods is a bushcraft knife.

 

[Bob Denman]

I go camping (well... rving!) about twice a year. Anything else is in the yard, garage, house, or office.
For edc use: 3" or less. In the garage: I'll grab a 3.5" that is built sturdier. Yard work gets the big guns: 12" and larger...

 

[VallesRobertsonII]

I love all your answers! Thank you, I truly appreciate it

 

[Bob Denman]

Happy shopping!

 

[POCEH KOCEB]

Best bushcraft (whatever this really means…) blades for 2021 are 4” to 6” long blades.
I personally wouldn’t go out with fixed blade shorter than 6”
‘The ”rule of thumb” mentioned earlier don’t make any sense to me, I don’t see any logic behind it and will be happy to learn where it came from if anybody bother to explain. It must be a “bushcraft” thing…

 

[Bob Denman]

"Bushcraft": isn't that anything from cutting marshmallow sticks in the back yard: to boondocking for 8 Months in Arctic Alaska?

 

[VallesRobertsonII]

‘The ”rule of thumb” mentioned earlier don’t make any sense to me, I don’t see any logic behind it and will be happy to learn where it came from if anybody bother to explain. It must be a “bushcraft” thing…

I’ve thought about this and think it might have to do with physics, the middle of the knife in correlation to the beginning of the blade, probably has differences made in the realm of where force is applied and how much transfers where, and although that would be true of all knives, I imagine there is a specific difference made if the middle of the knife is above or below (or at) the beginning of the blade. But I don’t know the math to know if my thought is correct, just what it might be... if it was, it makes sense to me that a ‘rule of thumb’ like that would come about even if such was understood when using the knife without necessarily needing to know the why of it... but that’s just my thought

 

[POCEH KOCEB]

I would think that if you work with the front part of the blade, and the more it’s over those hypothetical 4”, the more load you’ll experience in your wrist. But this is not a “bushcraft” rule, if rule at all, it’s a fact and common sense.
‘I like to see the actual “definition” but I don’t think we will be that lucky…

 

[VallesRobertsonII]

I would think that if you work with the front part of the blade, and the more it’s over those hypothetical 4”, the more load you’ll experience in your wrist. But this is not a “bushcraft” rule, if rule at all, it’s a fact and common sense.
‘I like to see the actual “definition” but I don’t think we will be that lucky…

I imagine that the physics of the applied force, has the added human aspect of our wrist in the equation... but I don’t think ‘rules of thumb’ can have a definition, by definition, it’s a rule of thumb or palm width etc. Bushcraft, if wanting a definition of that, I think can either be the primitive generic idea of the skill to live in the woods with as little gear as possible, a knife tends to be in the basics, and for those who do such intentionally and often, like a hobby, there are a lot of agreements (though much room for personality and preferences different) on things like the most useful knife if you have only one, for that skill, and all things considered, often enough the ‘bushcraft’ knife (generically) has a template of sorts. That said, I don’t think the knife decides the task, the task decides the knife, and at that point a ‘bushcraft’ knife might be someone else’s hunting knife, or vise versa, but there are design elements in a hunting knife that a bushcraft knife doesn’t have that hunters tend to prefer (and vise versa)... and all that said, my personal thoughts are that a bushcraft knife to me is the idea of the most ideal medium sized single knife within the context of living in the woods, with minimal gear...whatever that is for whoever that is, except it seems that past a certain size, the concept becomes survival knife... but again, just my thoughts

 

[The Zieg]

Hello all, I hope today is finding you well. I have a question that shows an area of my ignorance, that I am asking you kindly understand, because being aware it reflects my ignorance is why I am asking anyway, here goes; most bushcraft knives I find are around the 4in blade length, and the companion knives I seem to find (for if carrying a large survival knife) often have from a 2.5 to 3in blade. Pocket knives seem to have a sweet spot at 3.5in (which is also the largest it can be to carry concealed in my state), but are also usually folders. If I was looking for a fixed blade that I could carry concealed and was also wanting it to be as much as could be a companion to a large survival knife, but also as much stand alone bushcraft if I didn’t have my large knife on me, as could be, would a 3.25 in blade be a good size? What would I be giving up that a bushcraft size knife offers better than a large blade, what would I be giving up as a companion by being over the 3in? Is there a better size for what I am looking for (or might have custom made)? If I have an 8in survival knife, 3.25in fixed edc, would it be better to also have a bushcraft knife... or if I had a bushcraft knife, and a survival knife, and wanted a third knife, would a pocket folder or a 3in (or smaller) fixed blade be better? Thank you and I appreciate your thoughts.

A great deal will depend on the profile of the blade and the feel of the grip. There are Finnish puukot that excel with shorter blades because they fit the hand (well, MY hand) just right. The Vaarinpuukko (grandfather's knife) by Roselli is right around 3” blade length and I have used it for about 25 years as an accompaniment to many outback tools: Axes, hatchets, saws, machetes, and larger choppers. I have also carried it solo on adventures and did lots of good camp work with it. Staying in puukko territory, my 3.5" maaseppän puukko by Malanika does yeoman work in the same plan as the Roselli.

Finally, if you have a larger chopper, axe or otherwise, a great secondary tool would be a 111mm Swiss Army Knife. I have had good luck with such a setup.

Have fun with the search!

Zieg

 

[TrainedBullets]

IMHO, since you already have an 8” fixed blade, a 3.25” companion blade would be fine. I don’t think the extra 0.75” of a 4” blade buys you any needed utility if it’s just going to be your secondary knife.

Personally, I’m fine with a 3.75” fixed blade and 3” folder for three season trips anywhere I’d ever go.

 

[scdub]

Best bushcraft (whatever this really means…) blades for 2021 are 4” to 6” long blades.
I personally wouldn’t go out with fixed blade shorter than 6”
‘The ”rule of thumb” mentioned earlier don’t make any sense to me, I don’t see any logic behind it and will be happy to learn where it came from if anybody bother to explain. It must be a “bushcraft” thing…

I think it came from (or at least was taught by) Mors Kochanski. I believe he was typically assuming that it was as a companion to an axe however, not a stand-alone survival tool.

I personally like to have options/play with different knives, and rarely carry the same combination. In the woods I’m generally going to have at least one (usually two) fixed blades and a folder.

The more other gear I have and the more distance I plan to cover, the smaller the knives get.

Short distance backpacking - several knives to play around with, big and small.

Hiking with little other gear - a smaller fixed blade or folder plus and a larger knife (6”+), saw, or tomahawk. (More cutting ability because I’m going to need to make a better shelter if I get caught out).

Camping - big bag o’ knives!

 

[Wandering_About]

I'm not really a bushcrafter, but rather more of a hiker/fisher/general outdoorsman. I prefer a fixed blade in the 3.25-3.5 inch range myself. The 4 inch blade is nice in certain situations but I find myself carrying shorter blades much more often.

 

[VallesRobertsonII]

I'm not really a bushcrafter, but rather more of a hiker/fisher/general outdoorsman. I prefer a fixed blade in the 3.25-3.5 inch range myself. The 4 inch blade is nice in certain situations but I find myself carrying shorter blades much more often.

Would you mind if I ask for your insight on what the differences in the 3.25-3.5in compared to the 4in are that you prefer and why?

 

[115Italian]

A 3.25 inch fixed blade with a handle that fits you should be fine. It will serve you well for bush craft/ fire craft duties besides splitting large pieces of wood. As a camp knife it would be great too. A 6 inches blade would take on the larger work left behind. But you may be shocked how much a 3.25 inch blade with do.

 

[POCEH KOCEB]

I personally like to have options/play with different knives, and rarely carry the same combination. In the woods I’m generally going to have at least one (usually two) fixed blades and a folder.

The more other gear I have and the more distance I plan to cover, the smaller the knives get.

Short distance backpacking - several knives to play around with, big and small.

Hiking with little other gear - a smaller fixed blade or folder plus and a larger knife (6”+), saw, or tomahawk. (More cutting ability because I’m going to need to make a better shelter if I get caught out).

My hiking days are long gone but I think, the type of knife depends of the landscape you’re going to explore.
I spent two years in Siberia, forest only three times the size of FL, places where human foot never stepped.
We usually go out on Th and waste the weekend in the taiga till Monday. In 1980 we didn’t know what battoning was, we carried kitchen knives, around 6”blades, 7.62 rifle and small axe, some tarps, rope,blankets, case of vodka and some greasy shit for protection from mosquitoes. This was plenty for building up shelter, fire, set a trap for a rabbit or bird. The AKs were for protection from escaped in the forest prisoners, we never shot an animal with those.
‘Fast forward today, when every outside task or tool have a specific label and name and few thousand YTube videos how you should or should not do it makes me feel old and much smarter than all of those kids, trying to get some “exposure” on social media…

 

[Wandering_About]

Would you mind if I ask for your insight on what the differences in the 3.25-3.5in compared to the 4in are that you prefer and why?

I prefer the size/nimbleness and control of the shorter blade in my use. Also the shorter (and usually lighter) blade carries more nicely for me. I don't really do any wood splitting or other jobs that require a 4 inch blade so the extra length is not all that useful to me.