Short Stubby Knives - Did I Miss the Memo?

Charlie Fox

Charlie Fox

Joined
Oct 3, 2000
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It seems a bunch of makers have put out short thick stubby knives. One calls theirs a law enforcement or military tool. Have I missed something? When did these knives become the most useful things on the planet? To me they seem like what Jeff Cooper used to say - an answer to an unasked question.
 
To me the short stubby knives are just pretty box cutters.

You cannot cut fruit with them and they are just too small to do any good for me.

I want a knife that I can slice an apple in half with in one stroke.
 
I have noticed that too. Gerber and CRKT have a bunch.
I own a Spyderco, Salsa, which is one of their "small-big knives".

I love it. It does cut like a big knife. It is shorter than a delica but cuts more like an endura. The secret is in the heft.

I have no experience with gerbers or CRKT.
 
Stubby knives have been around a while, from the minimal Christy knife to the Cold Steel small fixed blades to Spyderco with all of their almost miniature folders. Along the way, a few companies started making them with more bulk to the little handles, for a more normal grip. There are plenty of jobs for them. After all, the blades are about the size of traditional slipjoints, and they work fine for many real-world jobs.
 
yea, I would say you missed the memo.
they have been around for a while. Schrade came out with one right before they went.
 
Hi Charlie,

Smaller knives with bigger performance have been around for at least 10 years.

Driven mostly by more restrictive laws regarding blade size and reactions from NKP's (Non Knife People) to larger blades.

"Little Big Knives", "Chunky knives", or "stubby" as you mentioned offer more strength and purchase without the negatives of laws or NKP response.

sal
 
A shorter blade can offer more tip control as well.

I have a Ka-Bar TDI and a Benchmade Activator, two short, stubby knives like you are refering to. And they are, to put it simply, two of the most useful knives I own.

The TDI is an amazing SD knife, but the shape also works well for normal utility. After a day of cutting with a TDI, traditionally shaped knives feel awkward to the wrist, and larger knives feel clumsey.

The Activator is very stout, but small enough to be perfect for EDC. It has the advatages of a fixed blade (versus a same-sized folder), but takes up very little space. It's great for people that want the strength of a fixed blade, but at the size of a folded-in-half folder rather than an open Skirmish.

I like big knives a lot. In fact, my favorite type of knife to buy and use is a big folder such as the Rukus or Military. But small, stubby fixed blades can do 99.999% of everything these bigger folders can do, and many things that cannot do. Small stubby folders have many advantages as well as they can fold even smaller.

These knives are so useful because they offer enough blade to do damn near everything you will need to do in an EDC scenerio, are not any bigger than they need to be, but are also very stout and strong.

No, they are not camp knives, but no one knife can do it all perfectly. A camp knife would likewise suck for EDC.
 
You can do small things with a big knife, but you cannot do big things with a small knife. :)
 
Joe Dirt said:
You can do small things with a big knife, but you cannot do big things with a small knife. :)
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That's funny. I was thinking pretty much the opposite!
 
Joe, I don't disagree with that statement in general, but doing small things with a big knife can be akward to the point that it isn't practical.

While a small knife can do virtually everything a big knife can do (speaking about EDC circumstances here, not camp or survival).

Also, at work I often need to get a knife into tight spaces. I have had some of my larger folders prove to be too big to do the task and was forced to use my small keychain knife if I didn't have another small knife on me.

I have never... EVER needed more blade than is provided by a SAK or Activator. In fact, those are even bigger than I need.

I think the saying really should be: "Small knives can do pretty much everything a big knife can do... short of things you need a machete to do"

And keep in mind I am a big knife fan. My big folders are my favorite knives and that is the part of my collection I am the most concerned with. But the fact is that I have never needed the extra length my big folders provide over a small knife. I have, however, often needed the extra "get in there-ability" of a small knife.

I find big knives to be appealing.. sexy even. They make my heart beat faster. Especially big folders. But for EDC and my specific job, small knives are just more useful.

I work in the warehouse of a local newspaper, so I sometimes have to cut ad inserts out of the inserter machine when they get jammed under a belt or between chains. A Rukus simply would not fit. It is also easier to cut bundles open by sticking a knife, blade-up, between the paper and the strap. A larger knife (from spine to edge) is harder (or impossible) to fit between a tight strap and the papers enough to pull up without the knife slipping. A long skinny knife would be fin, but most beefy knives like the Skirmish force me to use two hands and hold the strap up while I cut across it.
 
A nice wide blade definitely makes slicing easier b/c there's a sharper angle from the spine to the edge. That's why spear points and blades with a fat angle to the spine won't cut as well as something like a drop point where the grind goes all the way to the edge. I normally enjoy folders in the 3.5"-4" range just b/c the blade gets wide enough to slice through cardboard and the like with great ease. That's what they're achieving with these short and wide blades.

I'm all for stubby folders, for most EDC tasks they'll out perform skinnier blades for sure.
 
Hair said:
Joe, I don't disagree with that statement in general, but doing small things with a big knife can be akward to the point that it isn't practical.
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I agree somewhat with you too, but I find that if I need to do something really small with a big blade I can just hold the knife by the blade itself and do fine cutting.

I don't entirely dislike little-big knives but I don't find them as usefull as a "normal" knife.

What I mean is that I tried a Salsa out and thought I'd like it. I didn't care for it because it was too fat. If I have a blade that short I'd rather just have it be not fat. I like to have a point on a knife and if a knife is going to have a 2.5 inch blade I think it should have a decent point too. I think the perfect small knife is a Spyderco Dragonfly. Everything is in proportion. Where as the Salsa and other knives like it are way fat and out of proportion in my opinion. :)
 
I don't see the problem. I live 30 minutes from Boston. These people have a fear of knives you'd think was pathological. I can't have (legally) a blade over 2.5" in the city. Yeah, big knives are great. Still doesn't change the fact that people live with all kinds of different circumstances and a big knife is not always an option.

A better phrase to my mind would be that "stubby" knives are an answer to a question we as knife enthusiasts would rather not have to be asked. That question is of course a variation on something like "Who are you gonna kill with THAT thing?" or "Is that legal?"

It sux, but that's the way it is.

As for fat knives, or knives that are out of proportion, that may be so on some but I appreciate a full handle no matter the size of the blade. The dragonfly is a fine knife, but I'd rather have something like the Dodo with a full handle.
 
SpyderJon said:
As for fat knives, or knives that are out of proportion, that may be so on some but I appreciate a full handle no matter the size of the blade. The dragonfly is a fine knife, but I'd rather have something like the Dodo with a full handle.
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Good point. I forgot about the Dodo. Sucks they are discontinued. I do like the Dodo. The Paramilitary also comes to mind because it's only a 3" blade but a nice big handle.
 
Hey Joe, I don't think what one "likes" is at question. I "like" a 4" blade; I can process food like an apple more effectively, it offers more cutting edge, reach, purchase, etc.

But I find myself carrying 3" - 3.5" because of "where" I might be and "who" might watch me cut.

Jon has a point in how laws and public opinion limit our (public) carry.

We travel quite a bit and we've been watching knife laws worldwide and there is no question that restrictions are coming. Several conuntries have tried to outlaw knives completely (for carry) and others are setting in restrictions like; size, locks, one hand open, etc.

As much as I might dislike the trend, and it is a trend, shorter knives will be the "users" in the next 20 years! And I think you will like this even less, many will be "non-locking" :eek:

sal
 
I have just never understood short knives or neck knives for that matter. I see key chain knives too. I really don't get what they are all about. But then again I have carpal tunnel bilaterally so I want something I know I can hang on to and can feel in my hand.

The ideal edc for me is a handle that is realitvely thick and grippy. A blade with a minimum of 3.25" and of decent steel. I need to know I have it in my hand when using it especially for hunting or fishing etc. Thats just me though. Other folks around the different forums like little tiny knives to big knives that I wouldn't/couldn't edc, so I guess that is what makes the world go around and knife fanciers what they are!:D keepem sharp
 
I recently purchased an Al Mar (SLB) "Stout Little Backup".

Joe Dirt, and other posts here, pretty much defines the "working" results of these tiny blades.

They are (in a nutshell) not aerodynamically functional. That is to say....they are not practical!

They are basically just.....cute!

In other words:

A person who absolutely needed a knife at a moments notice (for any reason whatsoever.... and to do whatever they needed to do with it) would never, ever.... wish that s/he had in their hand, at that moment, a tiny miniture knife: instead of a non tiny miniture knife.

I would pretty much take that thought to the bank.

(But they are for sure.....real cute to look at)

Dan
 
I'm a big fan of very VERY stout knives, even the small stubby ones.

Some of us need to do more with our knives than just slice some fruit.
I've got kitchen knives for that.
 
Sal Glesser said:
As much as I might dislike the trend, and it is a trend, shorter knives will be the "users" in the next 20 years! And I think you will like this even less, many will be "non-locking" :eek:

sal
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I don't think we deserve any better. We call people that are afraid (more like hateful) of knives "sheeple" on these boards, yet we bend over backwards, and find creative ways to accomodate "sheeple" and anticipate what they will object to, instead of resisting their BS. Who's the real sheep in that scenario?
 
AmadeusM said:
I don't think we deserve any better. We call people that are afraid (more like hateful) of knives "sheeple" on these boards, yet we bend over backwards, and find creative ways to accomodate "sheeple" and anticipate what they will object to, instead of resisting their BS. Who's the real sheep in that scenario?
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I agree. I don't bend over backwards to please (or not scare) them. I just use the legal knives that I have and I don't care what they think.

If I ever get a real scared reaction or someone saying "what do you need that for?" I simply tell them I use it to cut things like it was made to do. I then tell them how they should think about getting a knife if they don't have one because they are much more useful than using keys or screwdrivers or butter knives to open things.

If they don't like the 3.5" Al Mar SERE in my pocket I don't really care because it's legal here. If if ever becomes illegal I'll probably still carry it.
 
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