The shittier the weather the bigger/sturdier the knife- reason to cut off the wet wood (if you are going to light a fire).

 The shittier the weather the bigger/sturdier the knife you are going to need- Reason to cut off the wet wood (if you are going to light a fire).

This is what I would consider a big knife (Kizlyar Supreme's Bastardo)

Ok when hiking during periods of wet or snowy weather, 

The author was having "fun" building a snow cave during a solo winter hiking trip. This was easily constructed by dragging and piling snow against a high bank and then simply digging back into the bank of snow. no need to cut blocks or any such thing. in fact it was quite cosy inside as it was completely out of the wind. You should always take a quality snow shovel (such as this Ortovox Kodiak 3.1) when winter hiking in the snow. A snow shovel can save you life and that of others plus just make your time more comfortable during snowy trips.

you have to pay attention to how long it has been raining for, even if the weather is fine now when you set out, why? Because assuming you will camping and or lighting a fire- sounds pretty good doesn't it? The you will need to burn wood and if all of the available wood is wet on the outside (maybe from snow or rain), then you will need to remove either the wet bark and or outer layers of wet wood in order to get it to burn. 

You might be surprised at how much energy is required to get wet wood to start to burn. Water is such a good absorber of heat energy and it works against us in such a situation.

In the above image I can be seen holding a relatively large (but not gigantic) fixed blade. The reason i choose this as apposed to taking out a hatchet was I wanted to travel as light as possible and prepare food to cook during the trip. Yes, equally I could have taken a hatchet and a folder (I did have a folder) and used this combination. However, I did not do this because in order to maximise the use of the hatchet I need to be able to access solid ground somewhere under that snow, so when I place my timber upon it and give it a wack with the hatchet, it won't sink into the soil (if not frozen solid). Using instead a large fixed blade I can simply hold the wood and hack away without the need to place the wood onto something solid. Or place the timber perpendicular against a tree trunk (my ground/solid surface) and do the same.

Maybe the first job to do is to cut your logs with a hand saw to actually check out the depth of the moisture within the wood, then you will need either a hatchet or a large knife in order to either split that outer wet part/s off or in the better case scenario, simply hack off several mm's of wet material and thus expose the drier inner parts. 

This latter task will be best achieved with a relatively sturdy and largish fixed bladed knife as compared to using a folding knife (although possible, you may run the risk of damaging your folding knife by using it in such a manner - unless of seriously overbuilt construction). 

Still, the better bet is to use a sturdy fixed blade knife for such a task.

Obviously there comes a compromise to the final size of knife to take. If it is only a one night camp/hike and you are walking no  more than 10km one way then if you are fit you might be able to take a hatchet or a fairly big knife. 

The further you go the fitter you need to be in order to cart that gear. Of course if you only hike and camp during summer months and or good dry weather then what I have said above becomes of lesser importance- however, remember hiking in mountainous regions and or tropical regions, 

the weather can change very rapidly.

BCT