I've not studied knife fighting, but it seems that a smaller knife will be lighter. The lack of weight will let you strike more quickly. I handled Bowie knives with 10in, 8in and 6in blades. Dor me, the 8in seems best as the 10in is substantially heavier. Any thoughts?
Those heavy blades are because the knife was made for more than just fighting... they are really survival knives where a strong heavy blade had advantages for things like chopping, batoning and prying. A knife optimized for nothing but fighting, like a dirk or a dagger will be much longer pound for pound than a survival knife.
Weight in a knife fight means nothing unless you are very physically weak... like child weak... BALANCE of that weight means everything.
In a knife fight reach is a critical advantage. the difference between 3, 4, or 5 inches is insignificant, but the difference between 8 inches and 12 or 18 inches is massive.
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