Small Knife Blues

[Pelagic]

I think the only larger knives in the running for sprints would be the Native Chief, P4, and Military. And I get tired of hearing people whine about blade length legal issues. I just read about someone whining that the NC was like 4.08 and he wanted it 3.98 or something.

It's especially laughable when it'd take all of two minutes to alter with a belt sander, and maybe five minutes with sand paper and elbow grease.

Pretty tough to add blade length.

I was thinking the same way. I'm halfway surprised more people don't do this. My s110v Military is approaching pm2 size from all the use and sharpening. And aside from it being in need of a regrind, i prefer it to a new pm2. Modifying blades is easy and can be useful.

There's a subset of knife users that seem to think modifying a knife is taboo. I've even seen folks on here post stuff like "I have faith the engineers at Spyderco know there stuff, so why would I change the edge angle on my knife?"

Hahahaha. I laughed in real life at that. I'm sure you of all people can relate, sometimes even a smaller blade deserves a big handle. Not just for people with XXL hands but to use with gloves as well. I actually prefer taller grinds (in part) for more modification options. Look at a Benchmade 940... Nothing you can do with that. And after a year or 2 of hard use and constant sharpening it'll be a folding toothpick. I've often thought about making a reverse tanto/modified wharncliffe out of a voyager or recon 1 XL tanto. Large blades yield more options.

[jpm2]

It's especially laughable when it'd take all of two minutes to alter with a belt sander, and maybe five minutes with sand paper and elbow grease.

Pretty tough to add blade length.

I was thinking the same way. I'm halfway surprised more people don't do this. My s110v Military is approaching pm2 size from all the use and sharpening. And aside from it being in need of a regrind, i prefer it to a new pm2. Modifying blades is easy and can be useful.

There's a subset of knife users that seem to think modifying a knife is taboo. I've even seen folks on here post stuff like "I have faith the engineers at Spyderco know there stuff, so why would I change the edge angle on my knife?"

Hahahaha. I laughed in real life at that. I'm sure you of all people can relate, sometimes even a smaller blade deserves a big handle. Not just for people with XXL hands but to use with gloves as well. I actually prefer taller grinds (in part) for more modification options. Look at a Benchmade 940... Nothing you can do with that. And after a year or 2 of hard use and constant sharpening it'll be a folding toothpick. I've often thought about making a reverse tanto/modified wharncliffe out of a voyager or recon 1 XL tanto. Large blades yield more options.

That's the saving grace of a big knife, you can usually chop/grind it down to a useful size. :D
Just kidding... but not really.

[vivi]

"This knife is too useful, how can I make it less versatile???"

:D

[PeaceInOurTime]

Larger knives are more comfortable in hand, at least for me, and generally more versatile. I love that Spyderco uses 50/50 choils on their smaller knives, but they don't have the same comfort as a full size handle.

Thankfully, I live in an area where I can legally carry any size knife. I don't often need a 4" blade, but I always enjoy the large handle. If I ever move to an area where I can only carry a 2" blade, I'll modify a larger blade down to the legal size in order to keep the full handle.

This pic comes to mind. I believe Blade HQ posted it on April Fools a while back :D

[Albatross]

A smaller handle offers less control than a larger one. Too small and it had a tendency to roll and move in my hand. Big hands make small knives impractical for me. While I do still enjoy the small knives I have(3-3.5"), they don't get used much.

I hope the Native Chief gets Rex45, K390, 15V and/or Maxamet. Same for the Military, minus Rex45, since those have already been done. LC200N in both would be a nice option as well.

[Pelagic]

I hope the Native Chief gets Rex45, K390, 15V and/or Maxamet. Same for the Military, minus Rex45, since those have already been done. LC200N in both would be a nice option as well.

Absolutely. If the chief had large washers like the Military and big liners like the resilience or something, I'd be leaning toward 4V/cruwear/Vanadis 4e. As is, i think the Chief deserves a highly wear resistant steel exhibiting a long lifetime of slicing ability. I think both high vanadium steels and SE blades in general work best with longer blades due to the slicing performance they yield. I'm not saying a lil Native SE isn't a formidable knife, but the slicing ability is certainly limited by the lack of blade length.

[The Meat man]

... I think both high vanadium steels and SE blades in general work best with longer blades due to the slicing performance they yield. I'm not saying a lil Native SE isn't a formidable knife, but the slicing ability is certainly limited by the lack of blade length.

I agree, especially with regard to serrations. For me they don't really shine unless you have at least a few inches' worth.