Are you the I have to carry or the a like to carry type and do it reflekt your choise

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NirreBosse

Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
1,131
For me there seems to go a line through the slipjointcarrying population.
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The "I have to carry a knife people" that need it for dayly duties. This can be all from fixed bladers to slipjointers but the one carrying the knife often talk about the knife in praktical terms. Big enough, pointy enough, belly enough, handle long enough etc.

-I am a workingperson that needs my knife to cut.
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The "I like to carry a knife people" that enjoyes it for dayly duties. They can carry all from a fixed blade as a bowie to a small slipjoint and the one carrying the knife often talk about it in terms of astetical and emotional terms. More often is tradition, beauty, craftmanship, feelings about the bladeshape spoken of.

-I am a gentleman that carry a knife out of tradition and I find great uses for it.
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For me when it comes to slipjoints a type 1 is a SAK or trapper person and Type 2 for the moment is a swayback jack, peanut kind of person.

Remember this is subjektiv and a game.

Bosse
 
When it comes to carrying slippies I'm in the latter category. My work "knife" is a Leatherman Charge (as a mechanic in the field it helps me cut down on my tool load a bit), but whenever I'm home or at play it's some various slipjoint in my pocket.
 
I have to carry because I'm a knife nut :) That's why I also have no safe queens.
 
I think I may have a foot in each camp.

Most of my life, I was in blue collar trades where a cutting tool was not an option, but a needed tool. Army engineers, we were a construction outfit, and did all sorts of jobs. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, concrete. Very hard to make a plum bob in the field, or strip a wire end, or open a large bag of cement, without a knife. Later, I was a machinist, and a pocket knife was used a couple times a day. Then I think I fell into the first group.

Now as a retired old fart, I still need a knife a couple times a day at least. But I think now I fall into the second group. I could get by with alot less knife than I carry, but I enjoy them, so I indulge myself. There's alot of people getting by with a little sak classic, and I don't really need that 1960's era Hen and Rooster half stockman. But I enjoy the asthetics of the aging stag and grey carbon steel. I take pleasure in the butter smooth way it opens, or the scary sharp edge the thin carbon steel takes. I have a sak or two around, so I didn't really need to buy that old Camillus scout knife I saw at a yard sale. But soon as I saw it, all the memories of Mr. Van, Dave, Ev, even stumble bum Bobby Ryerson, came flooding back, so I gave the lady a few bucks and took it home to spend some hours with 0000 steel wool, mineral oil, and tender loving care. Now I have a knife just like I carried as a kid. It's strictly an emotional nitch knife, not needed, but I wanted it for reasons that had little to do with real world need.

Yeah, these days I think I fall into the second camp. I've reached an age where asthetics and feelings of wanting to hold onto tradition are important to me. There's an old saying; "Life must be lived moving forward, but can only be understood looking back." To me, a slip joint is looking back. Even now, sometimes I'll run into a little problem and be a bit stumped. I find myself sliding a hand into my pocket and feeling my knife like a worry stone, and mentally asking myself "What would dad do?" And somehow I come up with a fix. Maybe not a great one, but enough to get by till a better one is done.
 
Hi,

I tend to fall into the "I need one for work" group most of the time. Like Jackknife, I'm a machinist, (well a currently unemployed machinist any way), and a knife is a tool I use regularly. And I've used knives as tools all of my life. Everyday and all day long since I've been old enough to have one.

But right now, while I don't need one, I want one in my pocket. It's an ingrained habit now.

dalee
 
Hey there Bosse-man,

Pretty cool thread.. I have been edc'n a knife of one kind or another for as far back as 7 years old. Before that I wanted a pocket knife but wasn't allowed. I always hung out with the older kids and therefore had the urge to hunt and fish early in life just like my older companions.. To this day I still do and between my outdoor sportsman activities and my work I just require a good cutting tool, plain and simple.

Anthony
 
I am part of group two. I have carried a pocket knife of one sort or another nearly every day since I was 9 or 10. I am a "White Collar" worker so I guess I do not need to carry a knife, but as was said by an earlier poster I am a knife nut so I NEED to carry a knife.
 
Definitely an interesting thread. Personally, I feel that I fall more in the second camp than I do in the first. I like to carry a pocket knife with me because I don't have any inborn ability to cut things harder than a salami sandwich. Being presently unemployed, I don't find myself in a lot of situations that require me to have a pocket knife, but there will always be one nearby.

I agree with jackknife in that my knives with natural handles have become worry stones, especially my Case large stockman in stag. I find that I enjoy simply handling my knives, running my fingers over them as a nervous habit. I also have a tendency to spin my stockman between my thumb and middle fingers for some reason heh.
 
I work in an office all day, so I probably fall more into the second category. On the other hand I fully appreciate the utility of always having a sharp knife around, so I understand the mindset of the first group.
 
I guess I'm different, I really don't know how to answer the question. I have several knives that I carry from time to time,big ones, small ones, and a lot of the time I don't carry a knife at all.. kinda strange isn't it.. I look to knives for their beauty, I love knives always have as long as I can remember, all kinds they fascinate me. I'm retired now perhaps that has a bearing on my knife habits. When I did work I usually carried a four bladed congress or a trapper, the trapper has always been one of my favorites....

Thanks for the question, Bosse.....
 
A knife is not a requirement in my profession as a salesperson, so I would be in the second camp.
This is definitely reflected in my choices of EDC knives. I am a fan of the look and feel of a knife. Far more in some cases than it's function. That is why my slip joints all have either Bone, or Stag handles. I like the look and feel of them over say G-10, Micarta, Delrin, or other synthetic materials. Nothing wrong with those at all, I plan on maybe getting a few in Micarta myself, but only for the looks, not so much the function.
 
My previous job was driving truck for a freight company, and I used a knife a lot every day. My job now is driving a gas tanker, so there really isn't much to use a knife for....
That said, I have carried a knife of some form every day for as long as I can remember. I won't leave the house without one. Granted there are days I won't use one, but if I don't have it, then I will need it.
During hunting and fishing season, lots of knives get to come out and play :D

I guess they are kind of like me, I spend 10 months of the year waiting for the 2 months that I get to do what I live for, hunting ...
 
Great thread. :thumbup: I've thought about this since I read the OP. Ive realized I'm ridin' the fence on this subject; I carry for both reasons mentioned by Bosse.

I carry a Buck Mayo Hilo, and the worst time I needed the Buck was when we had a tire that lost tread on the road. Strips were flapping around & tangled inside the fender, and I had to cut them off & out of different parts. (Under the car, by the freeway...that REALLY sucked.) Any more stripped off the tire and we would have been immobile. It's for reasons like that, that I'll always have a decent sized-cutter with me all the time. (I don't know that a small Peanut would have gotten that job done. :( )

I have a Stockman I inherited from a grandfather, and I've always felt comforted by knowing that it (any good slipjoint) is there in my pocket; and I like the subtle connection with that older generation that comes from having a knife grandpa would have approved of.

thx - cpr
 
Type 1

-I am a workingperson that needs my knife to cut.
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Type 2

-I am a gentleman that carry a knife out of tradition and I find great uses for it.
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Im bouth of them, most often not at the same time.

I hit type 1 in summerhollidaytime when I build on my cottage in the mountains and fish a lot, and during huntingseason and winterhollidays that mean a lot of fishing, cooking outside and making campfires.

within 3 weeks I start the building of a new house for the family and this will last for a few years and will make me a massive type 1 most daily. As a type 1 I use Mora 511 for construktion and some handmade scandis for hollidays and butcherknifes in hunting seasons. Im totaly satisfied with what I own and seldom think over these knifes, just plain use them hard.

In my ordinary life work and living in town Im a type 2. Im brought up in a far rural village in oldfassioned and traditional ways and the pocketknife kind of relates to my roots. The root would be a fixed blade scandi but that is not the best for my current life, so a slipjoint is a wonderful substitute to enjoy. I find uses for it everywhere from kitchen to psykoterapy. In psykotherapy not by cutting though, just as a reminder in the pocket who I am, not to be carried away from reality and solutionthinking when sharing other peoples trubbles.

Bosse
 
I am in the I like to category. I enjoy choosing each morning which ones I will carry for the day. It is almost as if it was part of my wardrobe.
 
Then, there are those of us halfway in between, we carry because its just plain normal, as normal as wearing pants. The type of knife is mostly a tradition, and its a worker when we need it, and because it's worked with us, we keep that tradition with sentiment.

To slightly edit your two statements together;

-I am a hard working laborer, a gentleman, that carries a pocket knife out of tradition and I have great uses for it because I need my knife to cut.

:)

G.
 
I'm a cutlery junky and I need a daily fix.....

I like the knife in my pocket,the knives I have on my desk to look at and the knife I'm dreaming of buying
 
I carry a knife because it makes my life a lot easier, but I carry a slipjoint because I enjoy it. Of course, I enjoy all of my knives! If I didn't, then I wouldn't be here. ;)
 
I carry because I find a knife to be a useful tool and I like to have useful tools at the ready.

I guess that puts me in Group 2, though I'm not too sure about the "gentleman" part.
 
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