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Accurate machining is all about rigidity. Rigidity in tooling is greatly increased with mass. So, I'm with Ed and others, go with a full-sized mill if you can swing it. Tooling will be more available and cost less (and ask anybody with a mill, you'll spend more on tooling than the machine itself) and your machining will go more smoothly due to the increased mass and higher quality spindle bearings, etc.
There IS such a thing as "too big" though. I had a chance to bring home a Van Norman 26 for next to nothing and passed. Sure, I could mill an anvil flat with it in 3 passes, but the spindle simply couldn't spin fast enough to run a 1/8" endmill properly, and even if it could have in order to run the controls I'd have been too far from the workpiece to see what I was doing effectively. For most of what knifemakers do though a standard knee mill will be just dandy and you'll also be able to use it to make shop tooling and other bigger things.
-d
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