Looking for a small, pocket-sized knife for your next adventure? Settling for a perfect size for an EDC knife? Let’s take a closer look at the smallest known knives and find out the best size for your task.
How small is «Too Small» for a knife?
Here’s a vintage Salm knife with the length of 3.8 cm made in between 1920 — 1929. It’s small, about the size of a quarter dollar, but fully functional and can even cut things — given you take care of the rust.
Photo from etsy.com
7 mm is «the smallest» for an actually usable pocket penknife. Story surfaced in July of 2023 — according to Hansons Auctioneers, «World’s Smallest Penknife» is being auctioned. According to the original owner — Brian Jackson, from Staffordshire — it was made by his family member to win bets over who had the smallest penknife in the tavern. Being smaller than a penny, this penknife is only part of the bigger, £40,000 collection of 160 antique swords and pistols.
Photo from bbc.com
Few atoms wide is the standard for nano-knives. Here it is — the standard sized nano knife, smallest «knife» ever made which looks like a saw. In November 2006, National Institute of Standards and Technology — or NIST — with help from the University of Colorado made the world’s smallest knife known to man. Being only a few nanometers in size, it was made to cut cellular walls without damaging the cell itself. Previously, glass and obsidian blades were used due to them being able to hold an edge as thin as 3 nm. But because of brittleness and rough cuts, scientists turned to nanotubes and made this nano-saw.
Photo from wikipedia.org
When «Too Small» becomes practical for a knife?
Higonokami Mini Blades are known to be small and sharp at once. When it became illegal to carry swords in Japan, local craftsmen had to adapt to this new reality and some started to make foldable knives. Idea of the blade originates from 1890 to 1896, or the Meiji period from Japan’s vast history.
This is rather a «pattern», than an item, since every knife is made by hand at Nagao Kanekoma Factory, Miki-shi, Hyogo, Japan. Every other blade is considered a counterfeit and called «Higonaifu», and only members of Miki guild, formed in 1899, are allowed to craft and use the «Higonokami» naming for the knife. Name «Higonokami» is also akin to the title «Higo no Kami», given to the powerful samurai. It earned a fair share of the love from people, becoming the knife of choice for kids, farmers and tradesmen alike in Japan.
On the note of Japan bladestyles — BPS Knives are crafting Kiridashi-pattern blades with 1066 steel at an affordable price range. It has a skeletal design with a full tang. The blade has a Scandi grind. Mini Kiridashi CSH by BPS Knives will become your reliable assistant in everyday tasks.
Attempts to create «the smallest» knife continue to this day. In June of 2023 a Kickstarter campaign was launched to create the smallest usable blade. Design choice for this one is rather interesting — a Tungsten blade with Scandi Grind, affixed to a metal handle with a hole for keyring. While measuring 32 mm of length in total, the blade itself is only 8 mm long and the whole thing looks like a pill with keyring when hidden.
Does the size really matter for a knife? There are two directions of competition here — bigger and smaller. Size mostly defines the range of usability of the blade. For example, short knives are good for precision cutting, carving and slicing — since they allow higher degree of control. Big blades have more added weight and excel in chop-slice-hack activities.
Photo from tumgik.com
Can I carry a small enough knife through airport security?
Only in checked baggage, anything weapon’y is banned to take with you aboard the airplane.
There are no «TSA Approved» knives. There is a known myth about the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) being loyal enough to allow knives in hand luggage — or carry-on baggage. However, there is a legit background behind this — in 2013 TSA wanted to allow limited carry of the blades smaller than 6 cm in length. Idea was scrapped under the public pressure from government officials, labor unions and airport passengers themselves. To this day, you are not allowed to carry any type of knife through US airport security in carry-on baggage.
Stay Sharp.