Anybody else move away from and keep coming back to traditionals?

AntDog

AntDog

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Apr 3, 2001
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When I first got into knives traditionals were pretty much all there was, so I grew up on them. Mumbledy peg, stretch, cleaning fish and game, whittling on the riverbank, etc.

I enjoy collecting and carrying modern knives, but I always come back to traditionals. I always have at least a few in addition to my modern knives.

I don’t know exactly why, but I get an irresistible urge for a traditional knife or two (or five or ten). I guess maybe I get burned out on the quest for the latest greatest steel, best lock, and highest grade Ti handle scales.🤷‍♂️

Anybody else do that? Why do you keep coming back to traditionals?
 
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Likewise, love traditional slipjoints. I've been the whole circle - thumbstud linerlocks, assisted, flippers,etc. - keep coming back to slipjoints; mainly SAKs, Schrade, Rough Ryder, Marbles, old Queens,etc. Just wish RR would take more care about hidden nailnicks.
Rich

Edit: By Schrade I mean the Taylor Schrades with stockman with BONE handles and 9Cr (or 440C depending on the website) blades. IMHO they are good knives. I have one of each stockman, dogleg, etc. Don't care for the Delrin handled ones.
 
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I've tried a couple "modern" knives ... didn't care fo them, so I gifted them to co-workers.
"Modern" knives are thin/skinny with a single blade.
I prefer my knives have two or more different blades. No single blade type is "ideal" for all tasks.
 
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I must say, I feel that most modern designed knives sort'a remind me of how cars all started aiming towards the aero dynamic rounded out look. Cars simply began to lose what made all the brands and models unique. I know that many of the latest cars have found their way back to some unique styling, with even a touch of "retro" added back into many of them. But, with modern pattern folding knives, while they can make for some great tools, they just aesthetically lack what makes me smile. My being a 55 year old man, probably has a lot to do with my preference in such things.
 
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I actually have had a few of the "modern" knives. Two Spyderco's, and a Boker, that were given to me as gifts. Kind of like a "Hey, Uncle Carl likes knives, lets get him a cool one for his birthday."

None of them made the cut. They were okay, if I overlooked how they were v very often too large, to awkward, to limited. But most of all, they had no soul. There was just something missing in them. I put them far back in my sock drawer and went back to what I was comfortable with and knew well.
 
Rich S said:
Likewise, love traditional slipjoints. I've been the whole circle - thumbstud linerlocks, assisted, flippers,etc. - keep coming back to slipjoints; mainly SAKs, Schrade, Rough Ryder, Marbles, old Queens,etc. Just wish RR would take more care about hidden nailnicks.
Rich
Click to expand...
Hidden nail nicks, and not making some blades impossible to open without a tool (re my Tobacco Road Congress).
 
All I carried growing up where very traditional knives. It’s what grandpa and dad had. Amd scout knives where all that way. The most advanced sold then was the buck scout lite. I kinda watched the modern knife develop. I bought a spyderco as a late teenager. “If your hand gets caught under the rope when ya on a bull, you can use one hand to get it out and open”. Made sense to me. Didn’t dawn on me that no way would I been on the back of a bull. But i did, in my young age, have a delusion that I could use it for self defense. Over time, I carried those spydercos in one for me or another. Then I discovered Chris reeves. The elegant simplicity and how well they are made hooked me. But also, in a way brought me backwards. Started looking more and more at the more traditional knives. Discovered custom traditionals and that’s all she wrote. I still have a couple sebenzas. And I admit I do like the shirogorov. The elegant lines get me. I also have a soft spot for OTF, and often carry one in the shop. The true single handed operation is quite convenient. But none of those have the soul, as someone said, of traditional knives. The warmth. Oh, and about that self defense thing. A concealed pistol and good decision making is a much better replacement for the modern knife.
 
Same here AntDog AntDog There is something about traditionals that draws me back in. I generally have at least one traditional on me at all times.

I wouldn’t say that all moderns have no soul, but it is rare.

I’m happy to jump back and forth between trads and moderns...just solidifies that I have a problem. 😂🤣 Beautifully crafted is beautifully crafted, no matter if it’s an exquisite wood handled traditional in carbon steel, or a phenominal MOP inlayed modern in a “super” steel. 😁

The more the merrier.
 
I have difficulties appreciating modern folders, and I don’t care much for titanium and carbon fibre and what have you. I simply cannot understand the fascination for the russian bear brand for example, but taste is different and of course I don’t disrespect anyone who thinks differently. I’m just thinking about how many beautiful traditional folders I could get for the price of a single bear flipper 😱😀
 
I tend to go in and out of phases, and go in kind of heavy on whatever that may be at the time. That said 2016 was when I first got into traditionals and picked up several GEC’s over the course of a couple years. I didn’t add anything new for 3 years because I was more consumed with modern folders coupled with being deployed to a country where knives are illegal. The recent run of GEC 85’s sucked me back in and I’ve been keeping up with recent releases while lucking into a few I missed out on during my hiatus.
 
I recently decided to give my attention again to the good old lock back.
Those are the knives I grew up with in the 70's and 80's. Buck, Puma and Böker.
Sold a few modern knives to finance this. They don't appeal to me anymore.
Bought myself a new and few old Buck 110's and an old Camillus.
I'm loving them more than ever before. They have more character in my opinion.
 
My traditional knives outnumber my modern knives by a LOT... way more fun to collect.
I don't hang out on the modern forums because most of those people don't know how to behave properly.
Also, I don't get into the "best steel" or "best lock" arguments, I'm happy enough with base steels and a good ol' lockback.
Moderns are a very convenient way to carry a second knife with a solid lock... similar to why out grandpa's carried a fixed blade on their belt.
 
My love for traditionals is mostly about the nostalgia and the organic materials used for the covers. I go through phases throughout the year where I’m obsessed with them and carry them exclusively, then I also get into other hobbies of mine and lose the obsession until the next time. When that happens I carry my favorite SAKs and a modern folder out of pure practicality.

When I simply need a sharp knife for the day it usually won’t be a traditional, mostly because I’ve never found one that came with an edge that didn’t need to be reground, and I’m not very skilled at finishing the work that should’ve been done at the factory. I’m looking at you GEC ;)
Fortunately Case has really stepped up their game in that department so I’ve been happy rediscovering them lately.
 
I've never really moved away from Traditionals. But I do sometimes carry a modern along with my Traditional pocketknife. Even then, it's likely that when I'm carrying both, I'll seldom really find the need to use or deploy the modern, and I'll instead reach for the Traditional.

I sort of associate the modern, locking folder with an extreme emergency scenario that seldom comes up in my daily uses. It's basically there as a 'just in case' tool, if I need it. But I seldom really need it. I don't have anything against modern knives in general terms. Where EDC knives are concerned, good design, engineering & workmanship are to be appreciated when seen. And there are equal measures of that on both sides of the fence.
 
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