At what point do you retire your traditional to, "Just fer lookin', not usin" status?

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
32,359
I know you folks here, because of your love of the traditional patterns, still carry knives that may not be perfect examples of the representative pattern, face it, because the average age of the knives we love so much is typically 40+ years old there are gonna be knives with weak springs, scales that have cracks, chips or chunks missing and blades that are way less than 100%, perhaps even blades with a little wobble or that might be a tad too proud.

I regularly carry a 100+ year old Union Knifeworks Moose pattern with a broken blade, it's less than perfect, still I carry it anyway.

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I have an old Imperial Stockman that just don't have the snap,the walk and talk of a new knife, still I carry it even though I have many like new or brand new knives that are similar.

When it comes to scales, especially pearl scales, I try to get only perfect intact examples but that gets expensive quick and seriously limits my options unless I'm open to carrying knives that have cracks in the pearl or in some cases even chips missing.

In the case of missing chips if I have at least one presentable side I kinda look at it like a flat tire, it's only flat on one side or in this case it's only chipped on one side so I can justify carrying it, if I didn't I'd miss out on carrying some fine example of the Cutlers Art.

My question to you fine folks is how bad does it have to be before you won't carry that knife any more, what's your point no return? We've seen the beautiful examples of many fine old knives now how about some pics of your less than perfect knives the ones you secretly carry but rarely show. I have physical therapy shortly but when I get back I'll throw up some pics of my favorites.
 
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You've showed that moose before. I drool over it every time. Man that is cool! Love it.

For me, a knife has to have snap, otherwise it's dangerous. Other than that, I'll carry about anything. Maybe not half a scale missing, but chips and dings are fine. Broken blades are ok, but not every single blade broken. I like used knives, every one has a story.
 
Never, really. I have a Case barlow with toothpick blades, and I still carry & use it from time to time. I'll have to snap a picture tonight after work... it has some of the nicest bone I've handled, a strange super-bright red-orange color.
 
Josey Wales: You have any food here?
Lone Watie: All I have is a piece of hard rock candy. But it's not for eatin'. It's just for lookin' through
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Your title reminded me of one of the great quotes from this movie. I have an old Remington jack (real Remington too), the main blade is about halfway to being called a toothpick. I still carry it, it was my go to knife while I was laid up last year ;). Great walk and talk, stropped, great little knife. They really knew how to make them.

It would be wrong to not use it.
 
I have taken chances on knife auctions before and gotten burned (for a pittance) because many knives are sadly left with no snap, either from neglect or wear--one of the many reasons I prefer knives with half-stops. I recently came into an excellent OLD Kabar hawkbill that is perfect in every way (ebony, full blade, great character) save for that it flops open and closed if I look at it wrong. That (a lack of enough snap to stay open or closed) is about the only deal-breaker I could think of. Other than that, a broken or heavily sharpened blade, chipped or cracked scale, etc. are welcome because they assuage the guilt I might otherwise feel with carrying a knife that's several orders older than I am!
 
Sonnemann said:
I recently came into an excellent OLD Kabar hawkbill that is perfect in every way (ebony, full blade, great character) save for that it flops open and closed if I look at it wrong.
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Look at it right.






:p


Until this thread, I hadn't considered the possible effect of half-stops upon the useful, used life of a knife spring. Interesting.

~ P.
 
Until it's more trouble than it's worth.

If I'm getting bits of broken handle material in my pants pocket, or it's snagging or ripping up my pockets, or the blade no longer cuts well, or the spring is way to weak to be safe, or too much blade wobble.


My problem is actually the opposite. I picked up a small Case coke bottle jack last weekend from the 70's that is flawless, obviously never sharpened, carried...it's basically mint without the box. If it were a new knife costing more I would carry it, but I'm torn on the idea of using a old knife that is so nice. Haven't carried it yet, still haven't decided. I generally only get brand new or well used knives, so never had this issue before.
 
Reason One - Until I know I could not bear to lose it. Mainly family/friends gifted or passed down knife. So far only one.......small family....

Reason Two - I like it to own and look at, handle, but I just don't want to carry that sort of knife. Example: Have a dozen TL-29s but only carry one. Not one at a time just one old war time Schrade without a bail. Carry it for the screwdriver/wire stripper blade, the very sharp carbon and its a connection to the past. Who knows who originally owned it and what they did with it. If I lose it so be it, it hopefully will go down the person road and not out of pocket into the ditch. The others are just to look at until they get sold after the fact.

300Bucks
 
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The only one I have that I don't carry is my dad's barlow. After I found it and cleaned it up I thought about carrying it. A bolster was loose, the main blade had a weak spring and the pen blade was very hard to move. I know there are folks who could have done a nice job rehabbing the knife so it could be a solid user but, as 300Bucks mentioned above, I'd be pretty upset if I ever lost it out in the world. So I decided to leave it as is and just preserve it as a reminder of him. I did have it in my pocket the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl since he was a big Pats fan and took me to several games when I was a kid. It didn't give the desired result though. ;)
 
I won't carry one if there's a blade point sticking up where it can poke a pocket. I try not to buy any really used up blades even though they were wonderful knives once, but I do have some so thin that filing away the kick wouldn't help.
On the other hand, I got a nice little jack for 25 cents at an estate sale last weekend, and it had plenty of extra kick on the pen blade, so I could get the tip inside the handle and still keep the edge off the spring. That's in my pocket now.

Nice coping blade on that moose of OP's, by the way.
 
Kadmos said:
Until it's more trouble than it's worth.

If I'm getting bits of broken handle material in my pants pocket, or it's snagging or ripping up my pockets, or the blade no longer cuts well, or the spring is way to weak to be safe, or too much blade wobble.


My problem is actually the opposite. I picked up a small Case coke bottle jack last weekend from the 70's that is flawless, obviously never sharpened, carried...it's basically mint without the box. If it were a new knife costing more I would carry it, but I'm torn on the idea of using a old knife that is so nice. Haven't carried it yet, still haven't decided. I generally only get brand new or well used knives, so never had this issue before.
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If someone ever bought one of my knives and didn't use it I'd be disappointed. Unless its a rare knife, use! 70s isn't that old. 1870s is old. :)
 
It's got to be really bad for me not to want to carry it. I think I may be in the minority in that the more whipped a knife is, the more I like it. Some of my favorite blades have belonged to good old boys who though a few passes with a mill file counted for a sharpening. On knives like this, pretty much the whole blade is microbevel/secondary bevel or whatever you'd call it, and the new ones with all that extra steel just don't compare. :rolleyes:
 
Only one, my very first slipjoint recently found and cleaned up. While it's just an Imperial Barlow, with millions just like it, I couldn't bear to lose it now after finding it buried in a tool box.

The rest, they get pocket time, including the 'expensive' ones like my 3 Case/Bose. I don't have any customs (yet), but if I did I would carry them too.
 
I have a favorite knife from my grandfather, and two from my father that I have sharpened, but rarely carried. Both would think I am being silly by keeping their knives out of harm's way, especially my grandfather. Grandad only thought of knives as tools, some nicer than others to be sure, but still just tools. I couldn't bear to lose them.

Any others... the only time they fall out of rotation is if I decide I don't like the knife for some reason or another. No one in my family or any of my relations like knives like I do, so after I am gone all my knives will come to is a garage or estate sale. So all of them get used as they should, while I am alive to enjoy them myself. After all, I didn't buy them for anyone else to begin with.

Robert
 
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