UK vs USA

[Alfredo]

I'm just speaking about knives Please may someone explain me why USA bushcraft knives are pretty always bigger and oversized in front of the UK knives? I suppose trees are the same size in Europe and USA.
Also, why the grind of the USA knives is 99% times (any exception are Skookum or BCNW-O1) flat ground or convex, instead of the scandi grind that you guys choice 99% times?
Just curious about your opinion.
Ciao, Alfredo

 

[JonathanD]

I think it is down to culture and the way they are used. We too used to go for bigger knives until we accepted that people in older and ancient cultures used the smaller knife to a greater advantage and for more tasks. During the latter half of the last century, our switch to larger knives for general tasks may well have been influenced by the US.

 

[Adze]

One word... Rambo.

 

[apj1974]

Just a guess, it could have a lot to do with legality. Due to the anti-knife culture here in the UK, I guess many people have begun using saws and axes more and having a more tool like discrete knife for those purposes when a knife is necessary. Whereas in countries where knives etc are more acceptable a larger more general purpose knife may be the more obvious choice and more readily available.

I have no experience of the USA, but I'm assuming it might be slightly easier to buy knives on the high street there than it is here, which means that more often used are likely to be the popular ones that are stocked in shops, again guessing but ramboish.

 

[Tadpole]

Personally I think it is down to perception, in the UK, when most of think of a knife for use, we think “what are we likely to need it for” food prep seems to come first, then spoon carving, or just generally making stuff, and to be honest as most of the places we go in the UK are no more than a few days walk. /crawl from habitation, we are hardly ever going to need to build a raft, or fight off zombies. Whereas in the USA a great big knife seems to be a must, because it is perceived by most as a weapon first and useful as a tool afterwards.

 

[Retired Member southey]

I think the popular cowboy\frontiersman image has influenced the use of bowie siezed knives, where as here i guess if you could draw inspiration from pop culture youd have the knight with a sword and a dagger, the Robbin of the hood type in the same vain of tools,which would give you the sway towards a smaller knife for your non castle attacking dutys,

 

[British Red]

I think there is a lot of reverese snobbery in the UK to be honest.

Plenty of large knives are used by people who "live" Bushcraft - from Leukus to parangs to bill hooks to Khyber knives to Khindjals.

Its interesting to me how such things as "camp knives" are making a come back on BCUK now.

I think there is a place for a large knife and a small knife. Some cultures carry both (puukko, Leuku), some, like the US, tend to a larger knife and a folder.

I carry the tools that are useful to my planned tasks - I don't find one tool superior to the other. Its like comparing a claw hammer to a sledgehammer.

 

[Alfredo]

well, now something is more clear in my mind, anyway this (the Searles) was the knife that our ancestors used on 1700-early 1800 circa here in Europe

is this the ancestor of the bowie knife also...in summa, here in Europe we used big knives also in past.
By my own sense and experience, a bushcraft knife is intended as "one knife", good enough for everything. But, if a bushcraft knife is higly recommended for food prep or carving woods, it's not so good for chopping or batoning or branch cleaning, you could do these activities, but with a lot of effort (and risks).
This drive me to different choice and knives set-up: a 6"-7" blade (chopping and batoning and cleaning branches) + a good folder or a smal fixed blade 3" (food prep, wood carving).
If I had just one knife, I agree that a 4" scandi grind carbon steel is the better compromise.

 

[ged]

What a very interesting question!

It's seemed to me for a long time that the more camping I do the smaller my blades get. Between three and four decades ago I bought several knives to use for camping. They tended to have around six inch blades, nothing less than 4mm thick steel and in a pinch you could make a log cabin with them. Over the years I've found I don't often have the time to make a log cabin, and have the need less often still. Eventually I stopped even taking my larger knives with me and for many years I've managed just fine with a decent folder and a multi-tool. The multi-tool is a Victorinox SwissTool. It has a couple of slim blades barely three inches long, one of which (the one I use the most, but that's another story) is gently serrated for its entire length.

The Victorinox pouch is leather and has a Velcro fastener. It's starting to show its age, it's been getting to the point where I was worried about the tool falling out of the pouch and getting lost. Nothing wrong with the tool itself, but I thought it was time to try another. So just recently I bought another multi-tool from someone on this forum. It's a Gerber, and it has a sweet little knife blade just under 2.5 inches long. I tried it as my everyday working tool for a couple of weeks just to see how I got on with it, and I found that its nylon pouch was the most comfortable and secure of any that I'd ever used. Unfortunately I couldn't get on with the tool itself for several reasons; mostly because it doesn't have a saw, but almost as importantly because compared to the Victorinox it's a real performance to open it to use it for anything. So I went back to the Victorinox which I now keep in the Gerber belt pouch. The best of both worlds.

Almost.

I've used the Victorinox for many years, and I only used the Gerber routinely for a couple of weeks. But the funny thing is that since I've gone back to the Victorinox, every time I get it out to use a knife blade I feel slightly disappointed that it isn't the Gerber. :bluThinki

I'm going to have to do something about that...

 

[Everything Mac]

I think there is a general feeling in the US that bigger is better. - cars, guns, knives etc etc. - but I've never spoken to a like minded American so I have no idea if this is really the case.

its all horses for courses in my book. - though I admit that a big knife can often be more fun

 

[MikaelMazz]

"Whereas in the USA a great big knife seems to be a must, because it is perceived by most as a weapon first and useful as a tool afterwards."
I respectfuly dissagree with you. I agree that there are people here that do think that way. I can at least speek for this area.

Around here in this part of PA small knives are more common than large knives. The largest reason for carrying a knife in this area is for hunting or fishing and most guys I know carry a small folder or a medium sized fixed blade like a 4" blade. At least in this part of the country I nevere realy seen many people carry large knives.

I also was wondering, what is the biggest reason for carrying a knife in the UK. Is it bushcraft, general utility or work related, or something else. I am just curious.

 

[MSkiba]

I also was wondering, what is the biggest reason for carrying a knife in the UK. Is it bushcraft, general utility or work related, or something else. I am just curious.

Biggest reason to carry a knife in the UK is for street rep. us bushcrafters are in the minority, thats why we have to hide it in our backpacks.

If I was standing in the supermarket (mall) and casually said to my friend "im thinking of buying a new knife" all the people around me would look at me funny.

 

[Trackerman]

In Sweden we have a strong tradition of smaller knives and an axe, and here is also a strong anti-tradition against larger knives (Rambo wannabe). I tried for years to convince myself that large knifes and khukuris was the best choise over an axe. I´m now an axe-man (with a 4 inch knife).
As I have been reading on both UK and US forums for some years now, I have noticed there is a clear difference, both in the choise of equipment and also the mentality (of course). For example, very often when an american presents his BOB (bladeforums), it´s overloaded with gear, ammo, and weapons. Often there are like 4 type of knives in the bag!? I rarely see a British BOB at all, not containing ammo weapons (it can of course be becuase of strict weaponlaws). Well, I don´t mean to offend anyone or to generalize, it´s just an impression I got over the years from the serious world wide web Oh, I got away from the issue, sorry.

 

[Tadpole]

Biggest reason to carry a knife in the UK is for street rep.

I disagree. more people carry knives as a matter of either tradition or in the case of pen and pocket knives, for their use. Than carry knives for Street Rep. Please don't get suckered into the Daily wail view of street crime, and gangs. the fact just don't support it.

 

[woof]

I disagree. more people carry knives as a matter of either tradition or in the case of pen and pocket knives, for their use. Than carry knives for Street Rep. Please don't get suckered into the Daily wail view of street crime, and gangs. the fact just don't support it.

Well said, thank you.

Rob

 

[Shinken]

My dad lives in Tennessee and most of the people i see carrying knives are carrying folders (quite big ones compared to what we generally carry)

 

[MSkiba]

I guess the size difference is maybe just what is in the shops, being advertised and people recommend in the area.

 

[Claudiasboris]

Nessmuk?

Being a fan of big sharp things I spend quite a lot of time looking at the American stuff. Yes they have lots of big knives, and "tactical" is big (mostly I think because it looks cool (that's why I like them)) but there's also a school of smaller knives, backed up with an axe or big chopper when required, such as suggested by Nessmuk. Plenty of Americans seem to have discovered Moras and what we think of as bushcraft knives. Well respected manufacturers such as ESEE have 3 & 4 inch blades, as do Becker, Ontario, Bark River, etc all of which are small camp knives suitable for bushcraft and definitely not Jim Bowie/John Rambo show-off knives. Sure, all of these companies also make huge big blades, too, but lets not forget about our own (!) parangs & billhooks, lekus, Mora 749 (8 inch blade!), etc.

As far as tradition goes, one of our more traditional blades is the Anglo-Saxon saex, which could often be considered more short sword than knife, but was a general purpose, every-day knife.

Claudiasboris

 

[apj1974]

I also was wondering, what is the biggest reason for carrying a knife in the UK. Is it bushcraft, general utility or work related, or something else. I am just curious.

To be honest I suspect that these days very few people actually do carry a knife on a daily basis in the UK, those few who do probably just carry a small (less than 3 in) penknife discretely.
The main work knife in the UK is the Stanley knife (boxcutter or utility knife in US), which would probably be chucked in a tool bag. It would be very rare in the UK to see anyone with a fixed blade knife except in a fishing bag. Yes bushcrafters use them, but as I said it would be rare to SEE anyone ...

 

[Alfredo]

I just had a look on Bladefourm - Knifemaker's Market to make me sure: most of the knives called as "EDC" are 3 1/2" blade, most of the knives called "Bushcraft Style" are 5 or 5 1/2" blade. Here on the BCUK almost all the "Bushcraft" knives are 4" blade.