Are we carrying tougher knives than are needed?

[Smaug]

I was just perusing the EDC thread and came across this daily carry pic. Back in the day, my dad and granddad would carry either a traditional slipjoint or a SAK and that would address all of their needs. I was thinking that old Buck slipjoint would do most of what I need, and whatever's missing would be done by the SAK.

We now carry a heavy-duty locking folder + fixed or + SAK or multi-tool. The companies selling these to us advertise them as being capable of heavy-duty cutting all day long. Who among us are really doing that? (and it doesn't include LOOKING for things to cut, just to use our knives!)

I find myself going through these phases where I carry a tactical folder for awhile. I use it rarely, and realize a simple SAK would do me fine and be less conspicuous and take up less room on my clothes. Then, I carry a SAK for months or years. Then get the itch for a tactical folder again. Makes me realize that (for me at least) it is a hobby first and foremost, one that occasionally has another use.

Am I surrounded here with warehouse workers, farm workers and guys who spend all day in the woods?

 

[A.L.]

Most utilitarian / folders are. They are for cutting things after all so I don’t see why they would have to be so thick.

 

[raidzx]

I worked in a warehouse for 9 years and although in my current non-warehouse day to day I could get away with a thin blade profile in 3 inches (or less), it is nice when I do have that task (maybe 15-25% of the time) to have that extra knife. I am also a knife abuser and in a "critical" moment will use my knife for something it wasn't meant to be used for... I imagine I picked that bad habit up from the warehouse days.

 

[Skar]

That goes well with crazy supersteels and torture tests.
I do enjoy one handed opening and changing to whichever knife I want for the day.

I don’t like sak yet I do like slipjoints. Personally prefer a clip and quick retrieval.
Do I need it no, but I like and use it well.
BTW I like tacticool knives too.

 

[King of the Cheese]

We fortunately get to live in excess given modern technological advancements and reduced cost. Back in grandpappy’s day, most people couldn’t afford a CRK Unumzaan or Hinderer XM-18 even if they existed. Now, many below the poverty-line have the latest smartphone, a PS5, and buy Doritos and beer. You’ll see everything here from bean counters at big corporations carrying Medford Praetorians to outdoor survivalists carrying a Swiss army cadet and everything in between. Practicality isn’t necessary when something is a hobby.

 

[Whitedog]

Back in the day when most of use used a slip joint we didn't know about having a knife that was TACTICLE. In my opinion that word is a selling point to newer knife nuts. Now its got to be a flipper or some such. Most of the newer stuff has blades that are too thick behind the edge and so on. That's is the end of my rant.

 

[VorpelSword]

Too "tough"? Well no.

My EDC is a Leatherman Wave. About the only function I have not used more than two or three times (ever) is that short but aggressive saw.

Our son, a former Marine, also EDCs a Wave. He also has a tool box full of no $h!+ gut ripping throat cutters . . .He used to EDC one or another of them . . .when he was in Iraq . . .but not now.

 

[Knives&Lint]

I think most of us realize that and we are and are fine with it. Then there is the fact that many want their gear to be tougher than needed (from tools to trucks) for most tasks, less it fail in those rare instances that extreme toughness may be required. I think most here, however, have long since come to the conclusion that for many tasks a fixed blade is just the proper tool over a folder. Likewise, the old timers often had fixed blades (outdoor knife/manchette/filet/skinner) for these tasks, they were just content to go to the truck and get it when the need arose, and didn't feel the need to carry it on their person at all times.

 

[Blues]

My grandfather was a machinist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and never carried anything but a small pocket knife. In all my years backpacking, climbing, x-c skiing, canoeing etc I never had to rely on the toughness of a knife to get me out of a situation.

Same during my career as an LEO.

Now that I lead a less adventurous live, by and large, I tend to carry overbuilt knives. I don't apologize for it because I like them, but do I actually "require" them? Probably not.

C'est la vie.

 

[not2sharp]

Back in the day when most of use used a slip joint we didn't know about having a knife that was TACTICLE. In my opinion that word is a selling point to newer knife nuts. Now its got to be a flipper or some such. Most of the newer stuff has blades that are too thick behind the edge and so on. That's is the end of my rant.

There were tactical knives during the old days as well. We didn’t call them that, but some carried lifeboat/survival folders, US military bolos, folding machete’s, etc. That were every bit as heavy. To each his own.

n2s

 

[jdswitters]

Back in the day a lot people would have really like to have a one handed opener with a pocket clip that they could get out and open with gloves on.
I got by just fine for a long time with a SAK spartan. Then one day I was over 50YO and cutting bailing twine off of bales for the horse in -5F taking both gloves off to do so and thought there must be a better way.
Just because they used it doesn't mean it was the best, it was what was available.

 

[Ratatoskr]

I think it's largely a question of marketing manhood.
Working the trades, I loved a one-hand, locking folder coupled with a leatherman. There were lots of times when I needed that one-hand operation, but
I knew (and still know) excellent carpenters who carried nothing more than a Case or SAK. (They were generally the guys sending me down to the crawlspace or wherever I needed that one-hand knife, though...) There are times when you really like that ease of use.
The steels these days are out of this world. I'm still mad Benchmade discontinued their 154cm for the Griptilian, that was the perfect-est jobsite folder for me. Easy to sharpen, hard to dull. The 20v and s90v or whatever they're using now just feels weird on a stone.
Now I'm good with much less, a nice slipjoint and a leatherman, or even just a slipjoint.
Tactical folders, military-ish stuff, combat or self-defense knives, all that stuff never really appealed to me.

I know plenty of people who successfully navigate the world with no knife in their pockets, but I'm not one of them. I feel naked without something to cut with.

 

[King of the Cheese]

People that aren’t hobbyists will gravitate to what is practical.. typically. I carried a Spyderco dragonfly in the army.. later in career had a delica combo edge. There were a total of zero occasions I required anything tougher. Interestingly, it is the people that have a tactical-oriented hobby/personality that have never been in the military that will be the first to tell everyone what knife Navy SEALs need to carry, or what knife would be best in a war, etc. Fantasy vs. reality.

 

[Whitedog]

I'm all for one handed opening. Been many a time I had one hand free and one trying to hold on to something or being in a cramped position. hard to beat a one hand opener. Full flat grind is my favorite.

 

[pholder]

Less is more, more or less

 

[Quiet]

If we only carried what we needed, most people wouldn't carry a knife at all. Oh wait, that's already true, oops. As is, this is a hobby, and it's supposed to be about enjoyment with a hefty side of realworld use and utilarian purpose. If you start applying the "Need" qualifier, then roughly 99.99999% of this hobby wouldn't make any sense (not to mention all the companies and makers making neat stuff for us to enjoy). It's ok to like, and own many things, even if there exists a simplified version of that thing and one is all you need.

As someone who still has a couple of old knives owned by my Grandfather. He used a knife most days of his life as a railroad man and of note is this. I own one of his old worn out Sears traditionals....and I also own the last knife he carried, which was an old Kershaw with a thumbstud and a pocket clip. Extrapolate from that what you will.

 

[J. Doyle]

I bet for almost all of us, a small slip joint would cover all the bases every single day.

Some innovations are actually practical improvements, such as one hand opening/closing and possibly better steels that hold an edge longer or rust less.

Other things, not so much. There are a whole lot of new(er) features that are "solutions" looking for problems and nothing more than marketing gimmicks.

But I am 100% in favor of makers making and selling whatever they want to for as much as they want to. And I'm in favor of buyers spending as much as they want to on whatever appeals to them.

 

[DocJD]

Things on my SUV that aren't really "needed" most times : seat belts / airbags , brakes , turbo , all-wheel drive , tools and emergency gear , etc .

Only twice in my long life have seatbelts been important .

The vehicles were completely totaled, and I would probably have been dead or severely injured without the safety features built into cars now .

Overbuilt survival / fighting knives may never be needed , but if you do ...

 

[Skywalker31]

Answered "no."

I actually tried this out for myself this spring when I was putting the backyard garden in and replacing the gravel around the firepit with a little paver patio. I pulled out a sodbuster and figured I'd use that until either I had the yard/garden all ready or couldn't take it anymore.

Long story short I went back to a modern folder before too long. Pocket clip and one hand opening are too useful, especially with gloves, or dirty hands. Most of my Spydercos do cut better, longer. I can really drag locking knives through cuts where there's a lot of material binding around the blade without having to worry about closing or applying force only in a certain direction to keep it open. My modern folders can be safely closed one-handed with no sudden *snap* or blade rap.


IMO, modern folders with clips, locks, and one-hand open/close are real, valuable improvements in design over traditional slipjoints. Can they get overbuilt, yeah, but that's a separate question, and I don't usually carry knives I perceive as such because I don't like how they cut. (It also doesn't mean I won't carry slipjoints - they just get carried with something else. And sometimes I do carry something overbuilt, and then the slipjoint's the better cutter again.)

Now, looking through the knife drawer and realizing I have six Delicas - that's where the hobby comes in, and I won't deny it.


The garden pair this year - tried to make the Sodbuster work but an opening hole and pocket clip are just a huge upgrade. 2.5mm blade stock Delica cuts great too.

 

[Centermass]

I’ll take “Another question on an enthusiast forum which really shouldn’t need explanation” for a thousand, Alex.