I have decided something about real big knives

[ChurchandSon]

Good thread...Nice stuff Chuck...I also lean toward the larger knives....There are a couple here over 12" blade lengths hanging around the barn for farm chores but my in town companion is a 35 yr. old Old Timer 3 blade pocket that's sharpened down to toothpick size blades.....
Out in the woods or on river excursions I carry this 10" Bowie with the 'hawk stuck in my belt on my back...I've split wood, skinned critters and dispatched all kinds of slithering things that were trying to eat me....
If I could only carry one into the wilds it would be a big Bowie/Heavy Butcher style...Heavy? Yes, but the option to baton firewood  is worth the weight...Although the versatility of a good 'hawk is amazin'....Guess that's why I carry both, in case I need them.......

[pony express]

mostly the onlyt knife I use is an old Buck 3 blade pocketknife. It has field dressed and skinned a bunch of deer, but I don't ever split the pelvis, just cut everything loose and pull through. But then I don't need to ever quarter a deer, beacuse everywhere on my farm is within dragging distance of someplace I can drive my John Deere. It will split the rib cage on a young deer no problem too.

One of these days, when we go back to visit my wife's family in the Philippines, I'm going to try and bring back a couple of bolos. Not the fancy decorated ones you sometimes see here, they're pretty rough made, handle usually unfinished, with unfinished wood scabbard. Outside the big cities you see them everywhere, they just use a piece of string to tie it around their waist. Used for everything from chopping wood, coconuts, etc, to weeding the garden or butchering. (Of course, more than a few have been used to chop people instead of wood)

One thing to remember when using one to chop up some bamboo for the cook fire-they won't cut any but the smallest bamboo, if you hit it straight across the grain! Has to be cut at an angle, or it just bounces back, causing snickers from any nearby Filipino seeing the kano(american or white person) that doesn't know how to chop!

[1961MJS]

So do you really want to wear it on a belt every day till you needed it again?  I still think most folks in the latter part of the 19th century would have thought the same.   

Hi Del

Well, if I was cutting firewood every night then heck yeah.  Otherwise, probably not.  The Khukri would replace an axe and also be lighter than an axe though.  If I was actually walking, a folding saw would be a better bet.

Just my $0.02