Are we going back?

LeatherMan64 said:
I'm 17, so I don't really have anything to go back to as far as personal experience. I think sometimes nostalgia can gloss over the reality of past events. Surely the growing up years of the boomers were as fraught with peril (just of a different kind) aos the growing up years of my generation! When you get right down to it, I believe that the good old days are a figment of the imagination. Therefore, I don't collect and use my various 'traditional' or 'nostalgic' accouterments to try to resurrect the unattainable, Utopian past, but rather to remind myself that it was really just the opposite. I'm absolutely certain that my life to date has been far more comfortable and leisurely than my dad's, or my grandad's, or my great-granddad's were during their growing up years. For a number of reasons, I think my generation is the softest, most spoiled in history, and I try to combat that in myself by a) spending as much time as I can listening to, conversing with, and working for all the 'geezers' I know, and b) carrying and using the kinds of tools they used and carried. Hopefully some of their preparedness and DIY mentality will wear off. Thanks G.H.McB. for bringing this topic up!

Edan
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This was a pleasure to read Edan...

Paul
 
We are certainly never going back. However we can hold onto the traditions and acts that caused us to look up to our fathers and grandfathers. I agree with all you posted Glenn. Carrying a traditional pocket knife is one way I do this.
 
I see this in watches too. Autos, and Mechanicals are all the rage it seems. Quartz, just isn't cool enough my many peoples taste. Also SASS is big in these parts, although I don't participate I do like the firearms they shoot. Then back to knives, it seems as if there are people abandoning modern folders, in favor of the cutlery from the days of yesteryear. Myself included, I started out on this forum enthused about CRK, and Spyderco, and ZT, know I'm enthused abut GEC, Case, and Queen/S&M. Maybe life is too easy, maybe we need challenges, I don't know. While there are some advantages to the School of Old, it's just Nostalgia, and aesthetics in the end. I use my EDC sized fixed blade for quick action, and my cell phone keeps perfect time, and modern firearms protect my home, but I could suffice, and do with the old school, and new school where applicable.
 
If we took advantage of every modern convenience, we wouldn't ever have to be outside for more than 5 minutes a day, nor move our own bodies for more than 100 feet. But what kind of life is that? We still need the basic things, like fresh air, exercise, and to get a little dirty. Things have changed so fast, some of us seek to be grounded in simpler, older things.

A knife to me is for cutting. A lot of traditional designs do this very well, for a very reasonable price. Also, form follows function. Traditional knives have straight edges, flat grinds that are easy to maintain, not some exotic blade shape just to be different. I find very many modern knives to be butt ugly. I don't look at this as going back, just moving forward while disregarding unnecessary "improvements."
 
I'm relatively new to blades, but I've gravitated towards traditional. My 3 blades are a mora, buck, and opinel. A rough rider stockman will be coming in the mail soon.

I'm kinda an old iron guy. My bench vise is from the 40's. My car hydraulic jack is from the 40's. My drill dress is from the 70's.

Something about the modern folders and me don't mix. Guess Im not wowed by flippers, or any assisted opening blades. But I do love rich wood accents with metal.
 
I guess I'm going to come across as shallow here, but it has nothing to do with nostalgia or anything else like that for me. I just thought they looked pretty and felt nice. They struck me as nice things that I could afford to treat myself with.

And then there were a huge range of shapes, patterns, handle materials, and colors to choose from. In retrospect I should have stopped with the first three. :)
 
I trade in the modern one handed folder for the older traditional slipjoints for a few reasons. One it just cuts better, thinner blades and were designed to be used and not overbuilt. Less intimidating, always a plus as I look intimidating enough on my own I don't feel the need to add a 4in spring assisted knife to the mix just to open a box. And as an added bonus no super steel race to see who can have the most wear resistant knife, I have no issue with sharpening my knives if I find a style of traditional knife I like chances are I can find it for a decent price made with good materials and not have to pay a premium for some super steel I don't want.

As for all the old school things comming back, I can't comment. Hot rods, muscle cars, classics were always cool and I am in my mid 20's. Old school slipjoints, I never see them as everyone is carrying one hand folders that I can see. Than again the slipjoints are conviently hidden in their pockets, with no pocket clips so who knows. As for anything else old school, we do have one guy who looks like a 20yr old Wyatt Earp at my school and dresses like he's from those times, and another who looks like a young Indiana Jones.
 
Hmmm.....I've held my comments on this topic since the first couple posts, just to see how it was going to go.

I don't want to go back. Heck no. I want some of the good stuff from the past to be here in the present, but to go back....no. I read a lot of historical fiction and non fiction. The past was hard.

I am a medic and I see first hand every third day how much different medicine is compared to 25 years ago, let alone 60 or 100 years ago. I absolutely like living here, in the year 2014.

However, I think my generation must be the one to say enough is enough. Let's learn to be more self sufficient and learn to make things that last again. But it starts with us, each individual saying to ourselves that enough is enough, and I am content with what I have. Stop. I don't need more.

We must be the change we wish to see.

Honestly, although I don't have any, I kind of like one handed openers. I'd like to make one sometime, but with some traditional elements like jigged bone and thin stock. Sometimes, it's nice to not have to use two hands to open a blade. However, I still carry traditionals exclusively, so who knows where I actually come down on that issue.

Anyway, there are a lot of things I would have liked about living 100 years ago. I have a huge wanderlust, and I feel like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show when the teacher tells him all the places have been explored and discovered already. But man, it's nice to be able to call home and ask if you need to pick anything up from the store before you leave town.

However, I think Facebook is the most evil invention ever.

Whew, time for bed. My apologies to Gary and Frank. If I need to edit our retract my post, I will do so respectfully.
 
medicevans said:
Honestly, although I don't have any, I kind of like one handed openers. I'd like to make one sometime, but with some traditional elements like jigged bone and thin stock. Sometimes, it's nice to not have to use two hands to open a blade.
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Try a Svord peasant or mini peasant. They come in wood handles if you want a more traditional feel.
 
"History is the house in which all other subjects dwell."
Toynbee.
 
I am spending more time in the Bushcraft forum

Retro is a fashion

I grew up using canvas and wool paying the price in discomfort and weight
So the trend to use canvas and wool because it 'was' is unfathomable to me
Folks are only too pleased to carry 30 lbs of this gear
I am much happier to carry the same equipment for 5 lbs with a much higher performance
 
My father made a small observation on the Glocks/Sigs/Berettas etc that I was lusting after in my early 20s. He thought that they were too boxy. Not enough character, like when you take a look at an old revolver or lever action gun. I'm starting to see his logic. Nothing wrong with modern guns or knives or cars. I have a few Ruger autos, a couple of one handed openers and drive a 2003 Silverado. They just don't have the style or feel of the old stuff.

Of course, I am too tall/wide to fit in my dream truck, a 3100 Chevrolet pickup.
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