A Monumental Experiment? To Carry the Same Knife Every Day for a Year

B

B.F.U

Joined
Jan 1, 2013
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I'm planning to attempt a feat of will power this year. I will try to carry and use the same knife every day this year.

I got a single blade GEC #78 American Jack Spearpoint in Smooth White Bone in the last week of 2017. It came with some scratches on the blade and an almost proud tip, but after deciding not to return it and dropping the kick I have come to think it will be a great true every day carry. The spear blade is extremely utilitarian. It is a good size both for the hand and for typical use blade length. It is thin and easy to carry. The pull is smooth, snappy, and just right. The bone is very good looking and will age well.

I plan to start with January and see how it goes. If it's not enjoyable, I'll stop... but I think it'll be fun.

I will take a picture in hand in roughly the same position every day with the hopes of making an animation at the end of the experiment showing the patina and handle aging progression.

Here's a starter picture:

WsnzzZLl.jpg


Let me know your thoughts!
 
Good luck! I don't think I would be able to do it. Although I look back at a time I wasn't into knives as a hobby and I carried the same knife for a couple years without thinking twice. The picture idea is a good one. I think it helps you picked a pretty handsome looking blade to try this with. I hope you succeed
-Caleb.
 
Good luck, I could've and have done it before I joined here but seeing people's pics of knives I may also own makes me want to carry them.

Since joining here the longest I've gone with one knife was I think 2.5 months a year ago
It was a Vic recruit from late November when I got it through January, and I definitely got tempted a few times.

I wish you luck, and just wanna say goodbye till next year because you may need to stay away to make it :thumbsup:
 
I did twelve years, a five a six and a four year stretch, or something close to that, with four different knives. SAK aluminum Pioneer?, swell centre ICEL two blade Jack 12 years or more, Douk Douk, then a great little knife, the Cognet squirell. The ICEL :) :thumbsup:and the squirrel :thumbsup:were my favourites.
I carry one knife for years on end. I start looking for a replacement if I lose it, give it away or wear the blade/blades down.
I found this forum in august searching for a new knife, after giving the squirrel, my latest four year (more or less) knife away.
I got the knife buying bug from hanging around here, but I can't shake my one knife habit. I carried my last knife a Queen Barlow with weak springs and a pen on the pile side, which I do not like, for four months before finding a way better knife, a pen & lamb foot A Wright which I now carry, and probably will until years from now when it breaks or it wears out.

My thoughts are that the two blade 78 would be my choice, but I can see that single blade being all you would need. Good luck, it can be done. Who knows, maybe you'll carry it for longer :eek:

Michael
 
Good luck! Looking forward to following along on your journey.
 
good luck. If it's meant to be it will be effortless for you. Well, maybe you'll get tempted a little from time to time, but it sure is one way to get to really know a knife. My personal experience was that I tended to go from one to the other to another for a long time, until I got ahold of my ebony #12 Powderhorn. I wasn't looking for "the one", but something about that knife just clicked with me, and over time I found it just to be "being there", day after day, without any forethought. This lasted for maybe two years with the occasional swapping out for a day or part of a day, for a different knife. About a year ago, we sold our place and at this time last year, we were in a temporary townhouse, awaiting closing because the buyer was having issues with their HOA, so all our stuff was in boxes, and I began carrying a different knife for no real reason. Well, last year was split pretty even between that Powderhorn and the Bull nose, but the Powderhorn did wind up back in the pocket.

After carrying that knife for as many days as I did, I can comfortably say that if I walked out the door tomorrow and the house disappeared with all my stuff, I would be happy to have that Powderhorn for the rest of my days, because I know it will do whatever I need of it.

Either way it turns out, these personal experiments can be fun, and or challenging. Will be curious to see which is the case for you.
 
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I have a hard time understanding what the big deal is. I have had a Swiss Champ in my pocket almost every day since sometime around 1990. I don't limit myself to only one knife at a time. But if for some reason I only could have one, it would be the Swiss Champ.

O.B.
 
Not an entry thanks :D

My life is too limited and my knife collection limitless so I would not be able to manage such a thing. Knife variety is the essential spice of my life, I had enough of limitations when I was young and couldn't get knives.

Good luck on your quest, but I reckon by early February you're going into withdrawal...:D What happens if you lose the knife?:eek::eek: Not carrying anything for the rest of the year eh....?;)
 
Part of this hobby, for me, is the beauty of some of those old knives that were used daily, with almost blackened blades and bone worn smooth from frequent handling.

I would love to carry only one or two knives for the rest of my life, and earn that look one or two of them.
The contradictory nature of this hobby though is that being a knife-nut I have a rotation of knives I carry. With the infrequency by which I carry a single knife, it would take me another hundred years to get that kind of aging and wear that I lust after :rolleyes:


Good luck! I'm glad to see you go for it, and you chose the perfect knife! I can't wait to see how that bone ages.
 
My office knife has been a Case canoe for the last year or so and I don't see that changing. Off work I find myself using just a few different knives and I could easily turn that into one or two that I always rely on.
 
You can do it. You picked a good example to do the experiment with. Looking forward to your progress.

I bought an Uncle Henry stockman at a truck stop in 1970. It was the first knife I paid more than $20 for & it was the only knife I carried for about 25 years, until I added a Buck 703 & gave the UH a much deserved break. (The UH is in the middle & the Buck is on the right.)
IMG_0373-X3.jpg
 
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Well, I can say that for everyday at work for the last couple years I've carried the same knife, a Victorinox Spartan with the lanyard tab ground off. Once I'm home I'll switch to my Tinker, 340T or most recently a German made Russell Barlow. On the weekends it's one of those three.
 
Good luck on your challenge. I hope you find the experience to be rewarding and enjoyable. I'm looking forward to seeing the animation at the end.
 
I'll be doing much the same this year, with a bermuda green peanut I picked up late in 2017. That should occupy my RFP most of the time this year, and will probably do all my (fairly limited) cutting. I will probably keep my mini trapper with my wallet as well at least part of the time, just because I want to get more age on the bone. Both make fine worry stones as well!
 
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