A Year with the same knife

Z

Zip7

Joined
Dec 25, 2006
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426
I have been away for a while because looking at this forum costs me a lot of $$ in the end, but a year or so ago people were talking about doing an experiment where we carry the same traditional knife for a year, and I did. I started with a mint condition 1970 model Case 6347 stockman, and I carried it for over a year exclusively.

I did have one incident in which I went off into the woods after my coon dogs without a compass back in September and ended up spending the night in the second largest swamp in Louisiana, got soaking wet and killed 4 cottonmouths, etc... I had to soak this knife in a bowl of mineral oil for a week or so to get it back right, and during that time I carried a different 6347.

I wore a hole in 3 pair of jeans where this knife rides in my right front pocket during the year.

The stockman was up to 95% of what I need a knife for, and was only lacking in a couple of instances... One time I really needed a big heavy blade cut a walking stick out of a sapling, (when I was lost in the woods) and it took forever to cut with my pocketknife. The other thing is, I rediscovered how nice it is to have a slightly larger knife for dirty chores, such as field dressing deer, etc... Where the stockman would do the job, but get so nasty it required a lot of cleaning. When I was younger, this was the function of a buck 110 because it was easy to wash out, etc. To fill this role, I went out and bought myself a benchmade mini-dejavoo, which is a rugged and sweet drop point lockblade that will clean up easily, even if it's not traditional - it is nice. I love drop points.

This knife was mint when I put it in my pocket a year ago, has been used every day, and looks to have a lot of years left in it...

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Thats cool... I have done it in the past, but it wasn't part of a plan to carry one knife exclusively. Sometimes I just get in a routine and don't think of carrying something different.

You are correct, that knife has many years left in it. Its all personal preference, but I like the 6347 pattern much better than the 18 series.
 
I haven't gone a year yet, but I HAVE gone about three months with the same knife, the Buck Solo my daughter picked out for me. Going strong too, as have not wanted to carry anything else. Anytime I DO try to put anything else in my pocket, it feels wierd. I came in after the experiment, but have looked back and seen the post, and at the time thought a year would have been nuts. However, now I'm beginning to think it's doable. Well, I won't commit to anything, but like I said, I am still a one knife man and going strong. We'll see how long it lasts.
 
I tried it, but wussed out. couldn't help it, I love knives too much.

'The afliction' is too strong. To make matters worse, I suffer from having tried to live up to my old man's legacy. He lived his life from a few years before WW2 to 1981 with just a Case peanut. Obviously he did not have our disease. When I tried it, I could hear my other knives calling me from the sock drawer.

Of late I have actually been doing better. Due to some hand problems and two surgeries on my left hand, I'm now sort of limited to single blade lockbacks. For the past couple of months my only two knives I've carried has been a lockblade Henckels sodbuster that was a gift from Kamagong, and a smaller Buck squire that a friend 'loaned' me to try out. These two knives may well be my edc from now on. While I can open a slip joint if I really have to, it's a chore now, especially if my hands are cold. And its been snowy and freezing here in Maryland of late.

I'll be making it from now on with just those two knives.
 
jackknife said:
I tried it, but wussed out. couldn't help it, I love knives too much.
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Me two. While I've carried my 'Buster around for most of the past seven months, it still gets switched out occassionally. On Sundays and special occassions I trade it out for an ivory swayback. When puttering around the house I'll slip one of my other knives into my pocet. But when I go out it's a fair bet that the knife you'll find in my pocket is my KHnutbuster.
 
Zip7 said:
The stockman was up to 95% of what I need a knife for, and was only lacking in a couple of instances... One time I really needed a big heavy blade cut a walking stick out of a sapling, (when I was lost in the woods) and it took forever to cut with my pocketknife.
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But the stockman did do it, didn't it?

But this is what we carry a mora on our belt in the woods for. Right tool for the right place. Plus a sheath knife is sooo much easier to clean.

Think of the members of the esteemed liers circle. They all carried a pocketknife for those odd jobs. But if they went off in the woods, or marsh, they all had a leather handle little finn on a belt.

Right tool for the job. :thumbup:
 
Perhaps I am getting old (although knife knuts come in all ages, shapes, and sizes), or perhaps, I have found "my" pattern, but ever since I have gotten the Solo, all my other knives have become drawer queens. I really do try, just out of habit, to put them in my pocket. My Buck Trio stockman, for example. I LOVE Buck stockman knives, and mine has the red wood handle. I keep wanting so badly to carry it, but when I put it in my pocket, I am immediately reminded of how wide it is by feeling it poking me in the leg. I try to use it around the house and am immediately reminded of the fact that I don't need all those blades. One will do. So out it goes and back comes the Solo. I switch it out for the yellow handled CV Soddie Jr., and am immediately struck by how large the blade is and how it is overkill for me. So, back in the pocket the Solo goes. I grab my Buck Canoe, and again something makes me think "This is too much". The Solo over rules all my other knives. I guess, like I said, I found "my" pattern. I guess I am a fan of a one bladed, small, slipjoint pocket knife. Maximum minimalism is something talked about a lot in this forum, and I think I have found my version of it. Of course, we all know never to say never when it comes to the topic of what knife to carry, so I will simply say for the time being, the Buck Solo is ruling the roost. It handles anything and everything I need cut, and carries extremely well in my pocket. Why mess with a good thing, you know?
 
it just is obvious that carbon steel doe'nt just dissapeer from the atosmospere like many people beleive. a person whom takes a little care as he should can do real well with the ole timey carbon steel. kudos to Zip7
 
cgmblade said:
good story and very nice knife.

So what knife are you carrying this year? :)
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Right now, I have the same knife in my pocket, plus a Benchmade dejavoo folder, but I have a nice looking Henckels stag congress that I am going to touch up and carry for a while if it proves to hold an edge like CV, but I may end up back with the 6347 because it just fits me. I have several backups in that model.
 
I really like "experiments" like this. Reminds me of how my grandfathers would have done it. They surely didn't own a box or drawer full of knives. My grandfathers both owned a few knives, but only one pocket knife. When you asked them for it, they pulled out their only pocket knife. I've done one of my own and learned to really love my knife and what it can (and can't) do.
 
DennisStrickland said:
it just is obvious that carbon steel doe'nt just dissapeer from the atosmospere like many people beleive. a person whom takes a little care as he should can do real well with the ole timey carbon steel. kudos to Zip7
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I live close to the gulf coast, so it is very humid here. I don't have too much trouble with carbon, but occasionally I do have to buff off some spots with one of those fingernail buffers. Usually this will be when the knife has gotten wet in my pocket from either sweat or me wandering around in the swamp.

If you want to keep carbon steel in good shape, just make sure you don't put it up wet. Dry it off good. Almost all my friends carry carbon steel trappers of some type, and they all have honest patina, but get used enough to keep bad rust away.
 
Zip7 said:
I live close to the gulf coast, so it is very humid here. I don't have too much trouble with carbon, but occasionally I do have to buff off some spots with one of those fingernail buffers. Usually this will be when the knife has gotten wet in my pocket from either sweat or me wandering around in the swamp.

If you want to keep carbon steel in good shape, just make sure you don't put it up wet. Dry it off good. Almost all my friends carry carbon steel trappers of some type, and they all have honest patina, but get used enough to keep bad rust away.
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Sounds like my experiance as a young'un down on the Chesapeake. Most all the oldtimers, esteemed members of the Jenkins Store Liers Circle, all had carbon steel pocket knives and sheath knives. On the very rare event that one of them got a new knife, it was a hidebound tradition to stick it in a potato overnight to put a finish on the blade. The next day they all would gather round and examine the knife and come to an agreement if it needed another day in the potato. This was an important step before the new knife was considered fit to begin duty. It got awfully humid in those eastern shore marshes.
 
Awesome Zip7. I too tried and failed like jackknife and for the same reason. I almost always carry two knives. Everyday of the year my SAK mini-champ is on me. Super functional and sheeple friendly. In addition I rotate another slip joint with a bigger blade such as a stockman or barlow. One knife for a year is simply more than this knife-knut can feasibly consider trying.
 
Good job, Zip, and good knife. I have been carrying this old Schrade 881 since maybe last June. I guess I do a compromise, because I generally find room for something else, also. :)

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Great story, I really like the character a knife gains with use.
 
zip 7 i know your area is really humid. spent alot of time in texarkana growing up. also i fish gulf coast & spent a summer working red river swamp area.my experience is the water is'nt the real problem, but your own sweat working or playing in these areas. i'm sure you are familiar with a full body sweat. i've sweated so hard that my pockets were wet. sweat & salt h2o are almost like acid. patinas are o.k. you really need to clean knives well [as you mentioned]. if you are " going in " i take a silicone rag inside double plastic or a waterproof vial. in 80s an old friend from alaska came down & i showed him his 1st alligators.
 
I've been carrying this little guy every day for close to seven years now (the blade is dated '03):

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And I know it's not traditional, but I carried a Benchmade 710 for three and a half years, and I'm working on four months (and I don't see it leaving my pocket anytime soon) with my new Spyderco Paramilitary.

However, a certain Queen two bladed congress has recently caught my eye that if and when I buy it may just push everything else out of my pockets forever.
 
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