Is three inches enough?

I have a question regarding folding knives that I can't seem to find a good answer for: What tasks can a 4" blade perform that a 3" can't? Anyone care to comment?
 
Insipid Moniker said:
On the one hand, a 3" blade is more than enough for about 95% of knife tasks and a good, ergonomic handle is always a huge positive.

On the other hand, I've never seen tremendous value in fixed blades that size, as there's little if anything I would do with them that I wouldn't do with a 3" folder and I find the folder much more convenient to carry.
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I feel much the same way.

I've found that personally, my lower limit on blade lengths is right around 2.5-2.75in (anything smaller and it can't cut up my apple at lunch very easily). Anything beyond about 3.25 or so for a folder and I start feeling its a little large and cumbersome. I've yet to really find a 3in fixed blade that I like, usually because they give away too much handle real-estate to make the whole thing more compact.

For fixed blades I prefer about a 4inch blade. That gives me a good working area of the blade before the belly begins, and a nice comfy handle.

Thats my $0.02 at least.
 
johnnytoxin said:
I have a question regarding folding knives that I can't seem to find a good answer for: What tasks can a 4" blade perform that a 3" can't? Anyone care to comment?
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In one pass, cut something that is 1/2" thick and starts 3 1/2" below the surface of said object. :D

In all seriousness, I have a few photos uploading to photobucket showing sizes of 2 JK Knives compared to a DPx Heat. I will edit shortly.
 
My 111mm SAK has about a 3.25" blade (3" cutting length) and it works well for most of what I ever do with a knife. I carry a fixed blade in the woods that is larger generally. I seldom EDC a fixed blade (but I own some under 3").
 
I prefer a blade of about 3.5" or a little more. Most of my use doesn't need much blade length but I've found that when slicing apples or cutting up boxes, a shorter blade doesn't work as well. I was doing a lot of cardboard cutting as a test and a Spyderco Manix 2 wsa no problem, but when I tried it with a blade of 3" or so the blade kept coming out of the cardboard before finishing the cut. So if I can carry a blade longer than 3", I will.

The other thing I've found is that knives with 3" or less blade just don't give enough handle length for me to hold onto well. So if I had to do some hard cutting, even if a 3" blade worked, I would want more handle length. For light cutting the handle length doesn't matter as much.

I think for EDC a useful combo would be a slightly shorter blade and slightly longer handle, even though it would look a bit odd. A lot of EDC type fixed blades seem to be about 6.5" total length, with about 3" blade and 3.5" handle. Maybe a 2.5" blade and 4" handle would be easier to hold onto while cutting.
 
johnnytoxin said:
I have a question regarding folding knives that I can't seem to find a good answer for: What tasks can a 4" blade perform that a 3" can't? Anyone care to comment?
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That's 33% more blade:

Slicing cleanly through a 3.5" Apple. And much better for a melon or attempting a watermelon.

Slicing longer feathers on a longer stick.

Slicing something tough with that extra inch--radiator hose, etc.

Last of the mayonnaise.

.....Makes things just a little easier sometimes.
 
johnnytoxin said:
I have a question regarding folding knives that I can't seem to find a good answer for: What tasks can a 4" blade perform that a 3" can't? Anyone care to comment?
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When I was working security at Chrysler Headquarters, the 3.75" blade on my Spyderco Tuff enabled me to get the ice cream cake someone brought by out of the tray without getting gunk in the pivot. :)

We had no forks or other utensils around...if not for my Spyderco Tuff, the shift would have had to be endured without ice cream cake (it was really good too :thumbup:).

Or cutting a sandwich in half for sharing; a longer blade helps there for the same reason (keeping gunk out of the pivot).

Sometimes when cutting rope or strapping, a longer length of blade allows for more sharp edge to be drawn through the cut, enabling one to cut through in one pass.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.
 
My custom skinning knife is 3.25" and I have a wonderful Kershaw Field Knife Hunter the same length. Great designs and all I need for most things. A 4" to 4.5" blade is the right way to go if a person is restricted to one fixed blade; no larger.
 
OP, I'm with you on the size requirements of my knives. I don't need a long blade, but I really don't like skimpy handles. I've been carrying a Battle Horse Frontier Valley for the last couple of weeks. It's got a 2 5/8" cutting edge on a 6 5/8" knife. This gives me 4" to hold onto, which is a pretty nice grip in my opinion. If I'm camping or have some heavy cutting around the house I'll grab one of my bigger knives, but for walking around and tackling the odd cutting tasks that come my way the Frontier Valley does just fine.
 
With This many people preferring this size blade/handle combo, why is the DPx Heat as uncommon as it seems to be? Plenty of steels and scale choices to take your pick from too.
edit: the DPx heat has a full 4 finger grip with Large sized (mechanix gloves) being a little tight.

Scale in the photos, each square is 1/2".


 
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In MI, anything over 3 inches can be considered a dangerous weapon (although they would have to prove intent) so to make things easier, I stick to 3 or less. Delica 4, Minigrip, Boker Trance, SAKs, etc. Those knives are just fine for what I run into on a daily basis.

Only fixed blades I use are for camping/hiking and I like 5-6 inches for those.
 
Unless I am going out of the city to trek somewhere, set up camp etc, I find that between 3 and 4 inches does everything I need. It so turns out that I almost never carry my RAT 1 (for eg.) or even the ZT. My fixed blades for urban carry are the Boker TK Bowie, WRKT Backpacker, BK-14 (a fav) and recently the Schrade F-16 is impressing me more and more. Having said this, carrying an FB while wearing a corporate slave suit is just impractical. So I always find myself circling back to the RAT 2, Kershaw Leek, Kershaw Injection 3.0 etc. I have NEVER in my current lifestyle needed a bigger blade than these. In fact, these days, the smaller slipjoints, trappers, barlows are starting to look better and better as I age.
 
Three inches isn't even long enough to cut a decent sandwich in half without cramming mayo into the handle.
 
Bludgeon said:
Three inches isn't even long enough to cut a decent sandwich in half without cramming mayo into the handle.
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You dont have that worry with a bk14/24/11 and a bare handle. :D

I own an 11 and 24 and I didn't even think of those... Great knives and a good price tag on them as well. The D2 in the BK24 is Very resistant to staining, pitting, rust and even patina. I have owned mine for around a year and ut looks near new aside from wear and sharpening. With No preventative measures such as oiling or the like.
 
johnnytoxin said:
I have a question regarding folding knives that I can't seem to find a good answer for: What tasks can a 4" blade perform that a 3" can't? Anyone care to comment?
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As others have pointed out, food prep is probably the area where an inch or so of blade makes the biggest difference.
 
Bludgeon said:
Three inches isn't even long enough to cut a decent sandwich in half without cramming mayo into the handle.
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You can cut it radially. A three inch blade should be able to cut something with a six inch diameter easily enough. Might not be super neat, but it works in a pinch.

That said, for normal, everyday cutting, my sweet spot is between 2-1/2 and 3-1/4 inches. I like Saks, my Buck 303, the MiniGrip, Dragonfly, Chive, Sodbuster Jr., and a larger Antonini Sodbuster for most things. But, being a desk monkey in a company with the beginning stages of an anti knife policy, more often than not I just bring a SAK Classic. I don't even use it most days. But it comes in handy pulling staples when I can't find the staple remove, and cuts straps off boxes of paper just fine.
 
I like a knife that can open boxes, cut food, work around a campsite, and clear annoying branches out of the way when on a hike, all in the same knife.
For that, a blade of about 4 inches does pretty well.
 
I do plumbing work. Sometimes I need the extra reach in order to cut sleeves from around copper tubing or insulation. I may use only a portion of the blade to cut with and not dull the whole edge.
So, for me, a 3.5 to 4" blade is more useful than a 3" blade.
 
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