Pugio grips - why so thin?

[Tarbicus]

When holding the pugio in a full grip, one should still be able to give a good solid stab

Sure, but why getting it uncomfortable? It's strange indeed. The ancient Romans soldiers were of many races and so of many sizes, anyway the grips were all so small in general: gladii, spathae, shields handgrips, umbo rear rooms for the upper side of the hand too, as anyone of us experimented with pain... Do they have just smaller hands?

P.S. Think about the strigilis grip and imagine to use it with its very small grip and your oiled hand: so uncomfortable... Why?

Vale,

But you're making an assumption that the Romans had a problem with manipulating these items. If you had been born and raised in a culture that just took them as de facto then you would probably be posting, "Why do these modern daggers and knives have such thick handles? I can't hold them properly!"