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- Feb 23, 2001
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The holy trinity of outdoors tools is the small knife such as a pocket knife or necker, a chopping blade and the 4"-5" fixed blade belt knife. Many of us on the forum carry this setup and it works perfectly. However, there are times when you may only have one knife and that knife might not fit into this category. You may keep a large bladed knife in your trunk just in case or one might ride in your B.O.B. I normally don't carry a big knife but I tried an experiment this past week in the woods. I wondered what the big blade was capable of and what the benefits and drawbacks of a large blade are. Here are my results. Just a note, sorry for the bad quality pictures!
My test knife was a Chris Reeve Jereboam II with a 9" blade. Awesome in every way! I really took a liking to it after a while.
Choking up on the blade for fine work was made possible by a large unsharpened ricasso. The top guard I found to be an incumberance but not totally unbearable. I just loosened my grip a bit. On the other hand, a guardless spine would be nice!
Fine work being done with the large blade. It sliced nicely and I found the long sharpened section took shavings off with one swoop.
Chopping was a cinch with the heft of the blade. I cut numerous small saplings and then spent some time working on woods of various densities. From punky to hard beech, it cut well but not as well as some large blades I have owned with a full height bevel. Overall, not bad. The handle knurling provided a positive grip but it did create a couple blisters in the palm of my hand.
A figure 4 made with the Jereboam II.
Final thoughts:
I enjoyed using the big knife as it has been a long time since I have. The big knife fits a niche in the outdoors world but it isn't one I regularly encounter. I have the luxury of planning ahead, carrying gear to suit the situation and will certainly go back to carrying the trinity of tools I find ideal. However, if space were an issue and a more formidable tool was needed, the big blade would come in handy and I wouldn't dismiss its utility.
My test knife was a Chris Reeve Jereboam II with a 9" blade. Awesome in every way! I really took a liking to it after a while.
Choking up on the blade for fine work was made possible by a large unsharpened ricasso. The top guard I found to be an incumberance but not totally unbearable. I just loosened my grip a bit. On the other hand, a guardless spine would be nice!
Fine work being done with the large blade. It sliced nicely and I found the long sharpened section took shavings off with one swoop.
Chopping was a cinch with the heft of the blade. I cut numerous small saplings and then spent some time working on woods of various densities. From punky to hard beech, it cut well but not as well as some large blades I have owned with a full height bevel. Overall, not bad. The handle knurling provided a positive grip but it did create a couple blisters in the palm of my hand.
A figure 4 made with the Jereboam II.
Final thoughts:
I enjoyed using the big knife as it has been a long time since I have. The big knife fits a niche in the outdoors world but it isn't one I regularly encounter. I have the luxury of planning ahead, carrying gear to suit the situation and will certainly go back to carrying the trinity of tools I find ideal. However, if space were an issue and a more formidable tool was needed, the big blade would come in handy and I wouldn't dismiss its utility.
i have been wanting one for a long time...