You guys break me up <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Based on the responses I'd say most folks think a small knife is <=4" blade size, which is an interesting result in itself. With many pocket knives having blades 3"-4" in length, it seems a fixed blade knife with a pocket knife blade length magically defines it as "small".

Kinda cool, eh? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm a marketing guy, don't hate me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

anything under 6 inches is small to me. the dm is small, yard guard is medium, and df is large. my camp knfe is usually a big khuk or an rd9. the smallest I go is yard guard and I carry what to me is small with it like the dm or cgyk

The timing on this thread is perfect.
I just got a Comp SJTAC from the last ganzaa thinking I could use it as a hiking knife. It is very nice and it came very sharp from Busse. But, I think it is almost redundant with my S6 (which I am more likely to use)



I think anything over 5" on the trail is overkill for the kind of hiking I do.
So now I am thinking about selling it and getting a BATACLE to use as a hiker. Sounds like you guys like the RMD and HRLM better though? Is the BATACLE overkill for a hiking knife?

IMO the BATACLE falls into the indestructable hunk-o-INFI category. It has enough blade thickness and weight to chop with if you want. I find the BATACLE on the heavy side for hiking and think of it more as the indestructable camp knife.

For day hikes and overnight hike-in camping I prefer to carry a lighter weight knife like a Dumpster Mutt, Yard Keeper, HRLM, or RatManDu. If I was heading to a fairly remote area I would feel more comfortable carrying a bigger blade like the S6 or Skinny ASH.

As with anything else YMMV <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've recieved my Muppies and Bird Dogs.
I suspect that the YK will top those and be my favorite once they get here.
The dog bowl has been my first score of Bussekin anything.

I bought extras from the dog bowl in hopes of trading into the blades I've missed before.
A heads-up trade seemed like the only chance of leveraging into past items at the offering price point.

Getting SS4's for myself and my father is starting to look like a pipe dream.
Even if I get one, after paying a premium and finding it to made of Unobtainium from the planet Irreplacia, I'd probably be reluctant to take it out.
Another run on the SS4 pattern would make me pretty happy because I'd be able to enjoy it like a commodity item instead of a tenth generation heirloom.

My favorite pocket knife (before I lost it) was a Spyderco Endura.
Not that it was the best, but because I always had it on me and got constant utility out of it.
In the same vein, I can't own a pampered Kimber.
I'm much more the raw, utilitarian, Glock kind of guy.

I have had both the Muppy and the SS4 as a hard used modded not worth half of what it would have been knife. The Muppy can do everything the SS4 can other than being easy to sharpen.Put a decent thinner edge on your muppy and have a sheath with a diamond EZ-LAP on the sheath instead of a firesteel to keep it touched up and you have a fantastic bushcraft knife. A Muppy will actually fit in a fitted kydex SS4 sheath it is so close.

My Ss4 has no coating and a very thin zero edge(no secondary edge like a skandi)
and the same thing would work very very well with the muppy. The 154 steel can be run very thin safely.

The BAD's look like decent bushcrat knives.

I bought a SAR5 as one but it was to heavy. A anorexic Sar5 would rule though.

I don't like the big choil but my Desert Jack would make a very capable knife.

Don't discount the DFLE and Steel heart. Both of mine make great hard use choppers. The DFLE is also very light for the amount of blade.

The obvious quote that this thread brings to mind is, "That's not a knife. This is a knife!"

Well I just recieved a MPLE and by weeks end should get the YK and the Bravo-1 I ordered. I lend my opinion after I play with them.

I love the MP for outdoors near civilization, but I've gone with the YKCG every time for outdoors where I might have to depend on it. Anything more doesn't seem worth the weight penalty and anything less seems to duplicate the folder that's always in the pocket anyway.

I hate you.

IMHO the Ratmandu is as perfect as you can get in a knife that size, once you have held one you will know what I mean !!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />