The Limiting Factor of Small Fixed Bladed Knives and the Possible Way Around Such Issues.

 The Limiting Factor of Small Fixed Bladed Knives and the Possible Way Around Such Issues.

Question: What is the limiting factor with small fixed bladed knives?

Answer: It is the length of the handle. Because if the handle is too small to grip securely then the knife will be of little practical use in reality.

The 3 knives shown directly below are all at the limit for my 8.5 size hand to grip completely*.

By "completely", I mean exactly that, completely. Not partially, not with 2 fingers or 3 fingers, I mean with my complete paw.

Now lets examine the images directly below: The first two knives looking from top to bottom, I can just grip.

Note the end of the handle is only just within my palm.

Again with this above image, the handle only just sits within my palm

Whereas this  knife,  (By Pohl Force)

it is impossible to grip with any significant part of my hand due to the small size of the grip. This knife is marketed as a "finger knife" and whilst in a moment of stupidity I purchased it (I'm selling it) and from a physical shop, so i had ample chance to really feel the product in my hands (yes i  know this was STUPID!). The blade shape and the length of the blade is great, however the handle is way too short to allow one to fully exploit such a good blade design. (Sorry Mr Pohl Force, this was a BS design).

Ok maybe I'm too tough here, as it was marketed as a "finger knife" However, I would say "finger knives" are somewhat of a gimmick. The only exception I would make here is that the blade thickness of such knives is usually far thicker than an equivalently sized folding knife and hence there is some support for a "strength" advantage over a similar sized folding knife. BUT (yes everything before a BUT is BS) unlike the "Finger knife", the folding knife will have a decent sized handle to grip!

Here it is easy to see the differences in handle lengths. The funny thing is that the Pohl Force knife will have the greatest "levering effect" upon the small handle, this can be disadvantageous to the the user under certain circumstances.

In the above image you can easily see these differences I'm talking about.

Here is another example of the smallest I would go to. The ER Satre has a slightly longer grip than my 

Small Knives with a Good Grip

Now the following knives all have decent comfortable grips. Probably, the Kizlyar Supreme (middle knife AUS8) and the WTG mini Nomad EDC (In ATS-34 Limited Edition) are the most comfortable and also lighter than the WTG Mt Laguna (Wingman 115 Design) because it is using rather thick (it's still ok but maybe overkill) K110 6.25mm steel, ie 1/4" sheet and the other 2 knives are using 3mm (Kizlyar Supreme URBAN) and 4mm (WTG Nomad EDC). None the less they all have good handles and this is the limiting factor for decreasing size of a fixed blade knife for practical usage in MHO.

The above knives are not really hunting knives although like all things one could if they had to. The Mt laguna is too thick for this purpose and whilst the blade shape is not too bad to skin with, the handle is too wide IMHO, it's more of a lightweight but very sturdy camp/hiking knife for well walked to semi-wild tracks/camping. The Kizlyar Supreme Urban, good for fishing (it has a good point) -but not for filleting of course), hunting (narrower handle and tapering for a good comfortable grip during working with carcasses; the WTG EDC Nomad, excellent handle; excels at carving/woodworking and generalist duties; could also be used for hunting although I would have made the major arc of the belly closer to the tip for this purpose (Ok it's not meant to be a hunting knife).

Fox knives excellent FX-143MB (Niolox steel)

So how can you carry a small knife with a decent sized handle and also a decent sized blade. Firstly, for small knives, I would recommend one ONLY purchase them after trying them to see if they really fit your hand properly. Then check the carry system on how useful is it really because if the handle is really small then how will it be trying to extract it from the scabbard? I'm not talking some sort of tactical split second extraction, I'm talking about a normal extraction for camping, hunting/hiking, fishing etc.

Maybe you prefer a large folding locking knife In this case the Extrema Ratio RAOII - Expeditions version); this will give you the blade length, along with a sturdier blade (compared to a regular locking folding knife of similar (open) length).

You will get a bigger handle length and maybe (dependent upon the brand make and model) give you some lateral stability too (within reason) for a folding knife- BUT remember knives are for cutting NOT prying, regardless of what the marketing says.

The above image shows (from left to right) a large folding and locking knife closed (ER HF1T- no longer made), a medium sized fixed blade (RaidOps Black Tiger II) and knives you have already seen (if you have read this far), exception being the Extrema Ratio T4000S, which I include as another excellent small fixed blade).

How big is that ER RAOII when folded?

Similar sized blades of medium sized knives however one is folding knife (Extrema Ratio HF2D Drop point).

The following 3 images are all what I consider very sturdy folding knives,  (FKMD FX-446S ODS N690), Nieto Centauro XXL 440C),  Extrema Ratio HF1T N690), all with different locking mechanisms.

So there you have it, try before you buy is my advice if you want to go small because the handle may not fit you hand properly and if it doesn't then maybe the knife, no matter how cool the blade design is or how much you simply like the blade, it will never give you the performance because of the wrong grip.

Note all of the knives you see here have been extensively reviewed on @BushCampingTools and also here on this blog over the years. Any questions just drop me a mail or write in the comments here!

Thanks for reading!

BCT