From this maker's perspective, daggers just look cool. But they're a single purpose design and aren't inherently strong. A full tang version such as Mark and Curtis have made is a step in the right direction, and that's how I approach mine as well when I build them, but at the end of the day, it's still a dagger. In my opinion, there are better blade patterns out there that will perform the same duties as a dagger, in addition to being better suited for a wider array of tasks.
Humans are made of meat. We aren't particularly puncture/cut resistant. This isn't news to any of you guys.
If you're talking about targeting structures, how is indexing the tip of a 6" dagger on a target any different than the tip of 6" tanto or 6" bowie? If the ergonomics of the knives and the tip location in relation to the handle is the same on all three knives, there's no difference.
Obviously, narrower blades are going to be more efficient at punching holes in things. But we've all at least seen pics of people with big fat 6-9 inch chef's knives sticking out of their skulls/chests/backs. In the heat of the moment, you're probably not going to notice any appreciable difference in ease of penetration between a 1" wide blade and a 2" wide blade.
That's my opinion based on seven years of knife making and a lifetime of being obsessed with blades and cutting/stabbing things (sorry, no humans, but plenty of meat).
But yeah, I love daggers.
