Smallest Useful Knife You Own?

[DancesWithKnives]

I've got a skinner with about a two-inch blade and three-finger handle. It seems to perform all required tasks adequately. However, on some of the wilderness forums I see guys (some of whom I've backpacked with) carrying tiny knives with two-finger handles and blades of about an inch. I'm still not completely sold on the practical utility of something that small.

What's the smallest knife you've found useful?

DWK

[Altjaeger]

My favorites are small stockman knives with the clip blade about 2 1/4". I have both Buck and Old Timer and don't have a strong preference between them.

[DancesWithKnives]

Those stockman models are pretty handy little guys. I also like some of the small Swiss Army models for everyday utility carry.

DWK

[Altjaeger]

My daily carry knives are a small stockman and a simple Victorinox Swiss Army such as the camper. Seldom will you catch me without both in my right pocket.

[Twanger]

I used to carry a nice little Tekna knife with a 1-1/8" stainless blade. Key-chain knife, really.
The airlines got it after 9-11.

On a lark, one time I gutted and deboned a deer with that little knife, just to see if it could be done.
The blade was plenty long for the task... the handle wasn't!

[kjjm4]

I carry a Gerber mini paraframe with a 2.2" blade most of the time. It's tiny, but it's fine for 95% of my everyday cutting tasks. I also have a gerber vise multitool that has a 1.5" blade that I use a good bit.

[Bushman]

Twenty years ago when I just took a new job, they gave me one of those little Barlow stainless money clip knives with a 1 3/8" stainless blade on one side and a 1 3/8" nail file on the other side. That clip goes over one side if the coin compartment of my wallet and that little knife and file are always with me when ever I have my wallet. Reading Twanger's post about using a small knife to dress a deer made me think about the time that I had a big bull elk down and I couldn't find my larger knife right away. The thought crossed my mind to start in on it with the Barlow, but logic prevailed and the bigger knife was located.

[Twanger]

An elk! Yup... might need a 2" blade for that. :D

I was thinking that if I had duct-taped the knife securely to a sturdy stick then the job would have been much easier.

[DancesWithKnives]

Good points. I agree that having adequate handle size is often more important than longer blade length.

I have a custom job by a Hawaiian knifemaker that has only a bit over 2" of blade but a full four-finger handle. Some people have remarked that it looks out of balance, but the regular size grip is very comfortable.

DWK

[DaveHawk]

Use to have a small knife know the smallest I carry is a SOG Twitch XL 3.5" it will do anything I need it too.