And Then There Were Two

jackknife said:
Having reached official old fart stage, and my next birthday being 80 years of age, I've already dealt with this problem. From my own experience and the experience of my friends and neighbors in our senior citizen community who are my age, I can give you this preview;

You won't be doing any wilderness bashing, nor commando operations. What you will need is a small sharp edge to open all those packages with the pull tab that either breaks off or is too much for 79 year old arthritic fingers to deal with. And being retired, I find I do much more fishing with my other retired old fart friends than ever before. A small SAK is a great old fart knife, and most the old farts in our social circle have a classic on them someplace. The scissors are handy as it the little screw driver tip that deals with small flat or Phillips screws.

A small SAK like a 58mm or 74mm fits in with the mostly urban/suburban life you will be living as an old fart. Your backpacking and wilderness tramping days will be far behind you, and you'll spend more time in museums and art galleries than in your younger days. You'll appreciate what your seeing more. A small SAK will be handy for those prepackaged foods like granola bars and such that have plastic wrapping that is designed to defeat senior citizen fingers. And the little scissors are handy for clipping coupons. Living on social security you stretch your pennies as far as you can.

The other thing you will carry is a multitool. Those old fart fingers I told you about? Well, a small pliers will be a VERY handy thing to have on you. Loss of manual dexterity means trouble grasping and dealing with small objects. My Leatherman squirt that I've become addicted to carrying is used, literally, every single day for something. The screw driver is a stronger one than on the small SAK, so its a nice little pry tool. The small flat Phillips makes a great staple puller, (you'll be dealing with tons more paperwork from social security, health insurance companies, and others that like to send out reams of paper often stapled together) and its good for the screws in those glasses you'll be wearing to see anything closer than the end of your arm.

So, at almost 80 years old, my EDC now is a small SAK and a Leatherman squirt. If I need more knife than that, I will use a small fixed blade. Much easier to deal with, no opening, no closing, no worry about hidden areas for dirt and bacteria. My wife carried one of those Victorinox serrated edge paring knives with the matching red plastic blade cover, in her purse. It's our food and dirty deeds knife when traveling on one of the cross country car trips we take to see family in California and back in Maryland. Or Big Bend, or Grand Canyon, or Mesa Verde or whatever. That Victorinox cuts through most anything. Being a cheap, excuse me, low cost knife, it gets the abuse but it still keeps on going.

Forget the larger single blade locking stuff, its just too big for the pocket. Your pockets will be filled with other stuff like spare glasses, meds for arthritis and any other medical condition that you will develop. Then theres the small magnifying glass because sometimes they print stuff designed to be unreadable by senior citizens. You'll need it. Then theres the spare bandana you'll need. and the small flashlight because your night vision has gone to hell, and the little flashlight helps you find that pill you dropped on the tile bathroom floor and it rolled away. By getting down and shinning the light out across the floor from floor lever, the small pill or whatever you dropped will stand out like a boulder on a flat plain.

Then theres the small bottle of hand sanitizer. Being mostly fast evaporating alcohol, its handy for cleaning small spills and stains on clothing. Old people tend to drop stuff and fumble food, and spills WILL happen. Hand sanitizer is a great instant cleanup that dries in a few minute and that stain you your shirt is gone.

And being a feeble old fart, no longer able to fight much, your daily CCW carry will be in a pocket. Never try to fight an old man, he'll just shoot ya. Spare ammo will take up some more room. And then the RONCO pocket defibrillator in case of a serious vapor lock.

Soooo, forget about that large lock blade. You simply won't have room in your pocket for much over the size of a SAK classic. If this sounds a bit depressing, that is old age folks. Life gets harder the other size of 70, but the alternative is way worse. I'm guessing the grass looks like hell from the underside, so we keep on going the best we can. And trust me, knives will shrink in importance the older you get. As your time gets way shorter, inanimate cult worship objects vastly shrink in how important they are, compared to the people in your life, and to keep going to enjoy every minute you have left. I look back on the knife obsession and wonder what the hell was I thinking???? A good car under you and a AAA membership is way more important than some knife in a pocket. Any little easy to open sharp bit of steel will do and if it has a few tools on it for poking and light prying and screw driving, so much the better.

Old age ain't for the faint of heart! You're gonna have so much more to deal with, you won't care about what knife is in your pocket.
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FYI, I just read your post to my wife. She was laughing or smiling the whole time. Anyone that can make my wife smile is OK in my book.

Thank you.
 
Benchmade 940-1. Lightweight, easy to carry and ambidextrous. This would be my EDC folder.
Spyderco Gayle Bradley 2 for any serious cutting.

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SAK Cadet - my most used folder, so much utility in a small package, light/easy pocket carry

GM Ace Grand - full sized folder, without being too large/too heavy/pocket hog, that's the most comfortable folding knife with a clip that I own. Excellent steel and build quality and can handle any cutting job that the Cadet can't.
 
sabre cat sabre cat I know you’ve come to terms with it, but still, my sincerest condolences.

Two folders? Since I only really have a handful anyway, it’s not really that hard. The harder part would be what stage of life am I in?

Right now, in my late 40’s? First would be the Manix 2 for sure. It already rides in my pocket most days as it is, and will do just about anything I need out of a knife. Second is tougher, but I’d prefer to opt for my LM Wave instead. I constantly find myself reaching for a multi for one thing or another around the house here. Small prying I won’t do with a knife blade, turning a quick screw, or any other of 100 different tasks that don’t really require a trip to the garage for a 2 second fix.


But, 25 years from now... that’s tough. ~75 is my dad’s age, and he’s just as active as ever, still carries a full size folder everyday, and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. But, in a situation like jackknife’s, I might have to go with the little Dragonfly. With COVID lockdowns, and not leaving the house, I’ve been living in sweats or track pants almost every day. The little Dragonfly has been in my pocket all day around the house and has never left me wanting for more. As for the other, again, some sort of multi tool. I’d normally say the LM Squirt PS4, as it’s got a nice feature set, but since mine is lost, I’ll have to go with my Gerber Crucial (only picking things I actually own). It’s nothing special, but it’s got the basics, it’s not too big, not too small, and would still allow me to take care of small tasks I want to do myself.
 
I honestly can't say which two knives I would pick! But I can say that for some reason, this thread made me really think about the question! And consider the knives I own and use and carry the most...

The knives I use and carry the most are not necessarily my "favorite" knives. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I would still have the same "favorites" if I actually did use and carry them daily?

The knife that I use and carry the most is an inexpensive imported knife that costs less than $75. Wow...!?!

Sabre Cat, I hope you continue to do well, and that things keep getting better for you. Merry Christmas to you and yours! (early)
 
jaseman said:
sabre cat sabre cat I know you’ve come to terms with it, but still, my sincerest condolences.

Two folders? Since I only really have a handful anyway, it’s not really that hard. The harder part would be what stage of life am I in?

Right now, in my late 40’s? First would be the Manix 2 for sure. It already rides in my pocket most days as it is, and will do just about anything I need out of a knife. Second is tougher, but I’d prefer to opt for my LM Wave instead. I constantly find myself reaching for a multi for one thing or another around the house here. Small prying I won’t do with a knife blade, turning a quick screw, or any other of 100 different tasks that don’t really require a trip to the garage for a 2 second fix.


But, 25 years from now... that’s tough. ~75 is my dad’s age, and he’s just as active as ever, still carries a full size folder everyday, and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. But, in a situation like jackknife’s, I might have to go with the little Dragonfly. With COVID lockdowns, and not leaving the house, I’ve been living in sweats or track pants almost every day. The little Dragonfly has been in my pocket all day around the house and has never left me wanting for more. As for the other, again, some sort of multi tool. I’d normally say the LM Squirt PS4, as it’s got a nice feature set, but since mine is lost, I’ll have to go with my Gerber Crucial (only picking things I actually own). It’s nothing special, but it’s got the basics, it’s not too big, not too small, and would still allow me to take care of small tasks I want to do myself.
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Thanks.

I picked only two folders for this discussion because I find that I have been reaching for only two folders lately. A SAK and a full-size Griptilian.

I could see a fixed blade in my future and after all the comments, some sort of Gerber MP600 or 400. Maybe the LM Wave. I have one around here somewhere.

I really like the compact size of the MP400. I’ve modified mine (like all my Gerber MTs).

I normally reach for a MP600 if I need a MT but, I don’t carry one on my person.

If I had to carry, I’d go for the MP400 instead. The jaws are smaller but the other tools are interchangeable with the 600 series.
 
Benchmade Contego in M390 and a Manix LW in S90v


Sorry for your losses, Sabre Cat.




Ps, could I also keep a multitool?
 
rje58 said:
I honestly can't say which two knives I would pick! But I can say that for some reason, this thread made me really think about the question! And consider the knives I own and use and carry the most...

The knives I use and carry the most are not necessarily my "favorite" knives. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I would still have the same "favorites" if I actually did use and carry them daily?

The knife that I use and carry the most is an inexpensive imported knife that costs less than $75. Wow...!?!

Sabre Cat, I hope you continue to do well, and that things keep getting better for you. Merry Christmas to you and yours! (early)
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Thank you. I don’t carry my favorites very much anymore, either.

The knives I find myself using have come from all of you, BF.com members. Mostly from the PIF threads.

A Merry X-Mas back at you!
 
DMG said:
...Ps, could I also keep a multitool?
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Don’t see any reason why not.
The only thing I put a limit on was folders. Just to keep the discussion simple.

The People’s Republic of California limits how and where a fixed blade can be carried. Another reason to limit to folders.

What MT would you choose?
 
Hinderer XM-18 for the heavy duty stuff and a CRK Small Sebenza for the lighter tasks!

My Hinderer Emmett for later in life :cool: granted it's getting used now.
 
Probably my Native or Delica and some kind of multitool. No obnoxious assists or gimmicky locks, just an easy, simple, high quality, bombproof lockback and a Leatherman with the features I need.

I'm just in my 30s and I've already found a preference for smaller knives. I do own some 3.75" folders if i need one, but day to day 3" is nice to carry.
 
sabre cat said:
Don’t see any reason why not.
The only thing I put a limit on was folders. Just to keep the discussion simple.

The People’s Republic of California limits how and where a fixed blade can be carried. Another reason to limit to folders.

What MT would you choose?
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My Leatherman wave with the S30v blade from a charge tti swapped in.
 
sabre cat said:
I guess I should answer my own question.

The first two that came to mind are a full-size Griptilian and a SAK because that is what I am finding works well at the moment.

But, one of my sisters and mother
both had some loss of hand motor skills as they got older. Especially my sister. Hers was really bad.
if I follow suit, no Swiss Army knife for me.

I have two little Lockbacks that are easy to open and easy to close. One is a Gerber LST. The others is a Cutco 1891 folder. Not really worth anything so if I loose it while having a senior moment, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s easier to use than the LST so the LST is out of the game.

OK, knife number one:
Cutco 1891.

Knife number two? At this point I have to say my Benchmade Griptilian 550. Or maybe a 551. I own both and have more experience with the 551.
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Just out of curiousity is your Gerber LST an original Micarta handled model or a Zytel model? I like them both and own several examples of each. It is a classic and very handy knife. I am not sure it would make my top two. I would have a real problem narrowing down to two folders. I can't even comprehend it and I am getting close to retiring.

19%20lst%20classic%20fs%20cream%20383-L.jpg


05%20lst%20micro%20Yellow%2027-L.jpg


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18%20lst%20orange-L.jpg
 
vjb.knife said:
Just out of curiousity is your Gerber LST an original Micarta handled model or a Zytel model? I like them both and own several examples of each. It is a classic and very handy knife. I am not sure it would make my top two. I would have a real problem narrowing down to two folders. I can't even comprehend it and I am getting close to retiring.

19%20lst%20classic%20fs%20cream%20383-L.jpg


05%20lst%20micro%20Yellow%2027-L.jpg


12%20lst%20black%20PG%2047-L.jpg


17%20lst%20camo%20polished%2017-L.jpg


18%20lst%20orange-L.jpg
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Mine is just a plain black Zytel model.

I used to have an early production orange model. I miss that one. I think the early ones are better than what you can get now.
 
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