All I think about shopping for are modern one handers...

[Primble]

Quite strangely, I purchased my first modern folder in a few years online just the other day.

I was outside all afternoon sanding on a coffee table that I am making out of a really old door my daughter in-law bought and wanted converted to a coffee table. I was fussing about the wind blowing saw dust in my eyes and all at once the wind diminished. I looked at my watch and it was 3:30 p.m. This post must have caused the wind to vanish.

 

[sitflyer]

There's room for both in my mind. When I was working in a distribution warehouse, I had a modern one hander, it was a true EDC. Yet back then I would buy an occasional traditional knife because I liked them. Now I carry only traditional knives, but will occasionally buy a modern. There is NO making any sense out of this knife business amongst us knife nuts, just roll with it!

 

[Jack Black]

I was outside all afternoon sanding on a coffee table that I am making out of a really old door my daughter in-law bought and wanted converted to a coffee table. I was fussing about the wind blowing saw dust in my eyes and all at once the wind diminished. I looked at my watch and it was 3:30 p.m. This post must have caused the wind to vanish.

:thumbup:

I really don't know what I was thinking of! :thumbup:

I do have a small number of folders I would class as modern, but most of them are over 25 years old, and I think would be regarded as 'classics' over in The Rowdy House (General) It must be 6 or 7 years since I last carried one of them.

 

[pinnah]

I am conflicted.

Dear land.... this resonates with me on so many levels that my head is spinning...

JC57 (John) gave one of the best posts of the year so far. Really great stuff.

But that mix of appreciating knives comes down to my personal preference. It's not an attainable thing....perfection that is...but you run through 70-80 knives of all sorts and I get a very real sense of what I really like, what I actually carry (I'm purely speaking about myself here) and whether or not there can be a happy compromise between the two. So there's a difference between a knife that I think is perfect vs a knife that I can actually schlep around NYC and go through metal detectors and not be too nervous to have on me, yet still works like how a great pocket knife should.

(snip...)
So I figured for regular edc about a 3.5 closed slim knife really serves me well. For around the house, yardwork, camping, hiking anything goes.

You're on it Chris. Particularly with the bolded bit. I think this is the divide between the collector and the user.

I have several knives I love dearly that I don't carry and just don't see myself as carrying in the future. The Schrade 51OT is one. The Buck 110 is another. I do carry the 110 every once in a while and then get tired of walking with a list due to the weight. I often say, it's among my most loved and least carried knives. I really, really, really dig the Opinel 10 and it's my preference for backpacking but it's just too much in town.

Like you, I have a particular size range that I keep coming back to. The Buck 500, Opinel 9 and Case (large) Sodbuster are in that personal magic zone for me.

Big folders by Pinnah, on Flickr


Have you considered the Schrade 5OT or Buck 501? Buck 501 custom with S30V and your choice of scales, perhaps?

 

[cchu518]

Yes Pinnah I have! I've been on a search for a 50t in green, in perfect condition that isn't going for an arm and a leg!

That hunt is part of the fun too. I've lost a whole lot of bids for green ones that look nos. I'm going to snipe one at a great price one of these days.

I know it's lunacy because I wouldn't think twice about paying $100 for a knife let alone $50 for what a solid green 50t would go for but when you're on the knife hunt sometimes it's the fun of finding a steal of a deal! I like the 501 but I have a 110 that I don't ever carry that is unless I think I'm gonna get mugged and want to club someone on the head with the thing haha! I have looked at the prince before. I have a soft spot for Buck and Schrade they just make good honest no nonsense knives. Love Opinel's but there are too many great knives out there for me to just stick with an opinel although it makes for an awesome garden knife.

 

[pinnah]

Chris,

You should hold a Schrade 5OT and Buck 501 in hand side by each. I find them to be nearly identical in size and feel. Aesthetically, they're different. The green Bruin in 1095 has a very particular feel and I really prefer the full flat grind compared to Buck's hollow grind. I like the old micarta 500 series knives better than the birch or current dymondwood ones but then again, custom scales and S30V are available in the custom shop.

There's a massive difference between the 500 and the 5OT or 501 sized knives, IMO, a lot more than pictures or published lengths indicate.

Good luck on the hunt. Wow. The 5OTs are fetching bigger numbers than just a few years ago! Yikes.

 

[JD Bear]

I tend to carry traditionals more than anything else. In fact, I carry two at a time almost everyday. I also have a modern one hand opener on me as well. I know the styles of traditional I prefer, a 112 or Case trapper on my belt and a small Case or Buck in my front pocket. But, I am in the same boat as the OP...I'm always on the lookout for a modern for my back pocket. Right now I'm looking for a solid modern that I will be happy with so I can concentrate on more traditional knives. I have a few, but I want a nice Benchmade or Spyderco (US made). I think I'd put the modern train in the station for a while after that...

 

[cchu518]

I have a couple of email alerts out on ebay. Right now moderns outnumber traditionals but I had also gone on a run of 5 or 6 traditionals over the summer so it's always flip flopping.

I have figured out that a hybrid /compromise of the 2 styles doesn't always work well for me.

 

[chickenfried]

I know the feeling. I wasn't exactly wowed by my first traditional purchase. I mean I like the knife it's well made. There are certain things that bug me. I knew they might be issues going in, decided to give something different a try anyway. But I still find myself shopping for the next traditional. A more modern knife may make a more sensible choice for me but I ain't a computer...

 

[Will Power]

No conflict for me (everything else in life maybe )

I've got probably 3 Moderns with different locking systems, they're all well made, they're sharp, they lock-up briskly. They are very useful when working on a ladder or similar tricky situations or where I don't mind a handle getting filthy or even in extreme, losing the knife. But I have no interest in buying any more of them, they don't spark my curiosity, they interest me as much as a screwdriver does.

On the other hand, those Traditionals keep conflicting me with their amazing individuality, which one is enough? They inspire a kind of comradeship and pride, that's all....:thumbup:

 

[Fanglekai]

Traditionals take on character when they are used. My modern one hand opening knives don't look better the more I use them. They look scratched up. I think the use of natural materials and carbon steel has a big impact on my perception of the individuality of a traditional slipjoint precisely because they all look different as they get used.

The last modern I bought was in 2013. I carry and use them but traditionals are what I prefer.

 

[pertinux]

John,

Cognitive dissonance. That's what's bothering you. Reality and your self-image are not in sync, and you are becoming aware of it.

Here, let me help you: You are a knife hobbyist. You have an interest in knives beyond just selecting a tool for a particular purpose. You like them. You enjoy them. They appeal to something in you. You joined a forum about knives, and even paid for a subscription. You, my friend, are into knives.

Your internal conflict comes from you having the idea that "I must have a legitimate need to justify these purchases. There must be a logic to it all." Well, good news and bad news. The legitimate need you have is to engage in an activity you enjoy. A hobby. This hobby, in fact.

The bad news is, you are spending money on something that is purely for pleasure but seems like there should be an actual useful purpose beyond that. There may be a useful purpose for your first 3 or 6 knives. Beyond that, you're a hobbyist / collector / compulsive spender / hoarder / rich guy with money to burn.

Just accept it and life will become simpler. You will buy what you want and carry what you want, and not worry whether there is any actual need or purpose other than the fun of it.

I'm at a place of ever-evolving (but greater than ever) peace regarding my own ongoing predilection for traditional pocket and sheath knives; your words above bring clarity to some of conflict and lived-out resolution(s) I grapple with along the way.

Thank you.

~ P.
- having fun, and taking measures to identify and enact changes when I'm not

 

[cchu518]

Ooh I love a good traditional with modern materials though!