camping with traditionals

A

allenC

Joined
Jun 18, 2000
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Does anyone still carry a traditional folder (not including SAKs) when camping?
I love my alox SAKs but I often find myself wanting to carry one of my stockmans.

Anyone else have this problem?
 
One of the items that I always have on me when I'm out camping/hiking is a 4" folder. Typically it's a ColdSteel Voyageur due to it's light weight, tolerably stout build, and cheap price so I won't feel bad if I happen to lose it.

Mostly I use it for food prep and shaving/splitting small firemaking wood. I have clubbed the spine of the blade through cedar & fir up to about 2" diameter and haven't broken it yet. The bad thing about it is that hollow ground blades aren't optimal for firewood splitting. A flat ground blade would work better.
 
The last camp for me, without a SAK, was with an old sodbuster pattern knife that my Uncle had carried for years before he passed on. The knife was as capable as it had been for years, and left no assigned chore undone or unsatisfactorily done.

Sometimes I think we get too wrapped up in the quality of blade steels and modern convenience.

Your stockman, if it's of decent quality, should prove worth it's weight for appropriate tasks.

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It's not the pace of life that concerns me, It's the sudden stop at the end.
 
So, what's the problem???? Nobody that I know of put a limit on the number or type of knife you could take along, switch-blades,etc. not included here. (YMMV)
Take 'em both.
D
 
When I go camping, I usually take 3 knives. My 4" clip-on for quick access, a 7" fixed blade for survival and a cheap pocket folder. The cheap pocket folder is for prying, digging, fixing camp stoves, etc. I would not want to do these things with one of my good knives. If I break it in the process - who cares? It's a $15 disposable that's intended for abuse.

I also keep a cheap one in my desk at work. If someone wants to borrow a knife, I don't give them my $100+ Benchmade.
 
I always carry my schrade: at work, camping, at church... It's pretty small (2" blade) with a black plastic handle. It seems to be pretty sturdy and holds a decent edge. Sure, it's not a top-o-the-line knife, but so far I haven't needed a top-o-the-line knife. This little workhorse has cut through anything I ever asked it to (including a wild cherry tree about 4" thick) and is just about as good now as when I bought it three years ago.

The greatest problem I've found with folders is that they cause blisters/hot spots to form where your fingers bridge the slot that the blade folds into.

Incidentally, I own Camillus with a blade about 8" long. I've never taken it out on a singe trip, and I've used it only once (as a hatchet, I think.) Who says that bigger is better?
 
Unless the sheeple and PC crazed social setting require my kife to fold, I prefer fixed blades. I especially prefer fixed blades when afield.

With that said, I am prone to take my old 440C Buck 110 out for some fresh air now and again. Yes I have lighter folders that can be beater/users (Endura), but unless I'm backpacking or hunting, where ounces count, I will use the old 110 for food prep and other cutting chores where it actually surpasses mt ubiquitous 5-7" fixed blade and SAK.
 
Theres always room for my Case trapper.
smile.gif
I love the clips,one hand opening ect.But when I heft my bone handle trapper,well it just feels right in an outdoor setting.Now if they would just put a stud on a Copperlock and make an open top clip on sheith.

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AKTI #000946
 
I guess it's all relative, but I've been spending quite a bit more time outdoors in the last few months. Just about every weekend I've taken the family day-hiking or snowshoing (sp?) or camping.

I'm in favor of fixed blades more and more. I think my main choice will be the 154cm Talon for long time to come.

There will always be room for the sak tinker though, I consider it a traditional folder. All (both) of my non sak pocket folders are fairly small and have their functions duplicated in the tinker so I usually don't carry them.
 
In the past I would carry a stockman. One reason is to have a good whittling knife. I enjoy sitting around camp whittling and the selection of blades on a stockman is really good for that.
 
In the past I have carried a Schrade LB 7. Very substantial folder with a great feel to it! Great knife, but definitely NOT a prybar. I snapped the blade in an old dead tree stump trying to dig out my arrow...

It's at the factory for repair, and I will still carry it, but also a CS SRK or a Recon Scout for the prybar duties!

 
No matter where I am, or what else I am carrying, there will always be an old stockman with me.

N2S
 
As often as not, I carry a lockback folder, either an Al Marr Sere attack 31/2?, or Gunstock, or a Blackjack folding Mamba. When carried these do the most work over my SAK Hunter.
I would prefer to carry a fixed blade anytime over a folder, but in the UK that is not always "proper". I'm in the process of evaluating a CR Shaddow IV, which I purchased in order that I could have a small enough fixed to slip into a coat pocket. When I post my findings, I think there will be some suprises, as those who follow my posts will already know that I am completely sold on CR Projects.

I've been carrying recently a Leatherman Wave about the house and in the gargen; its been well useful. However, the knife that I cannot leave home, without feeling undressed, is the traditional two blade penknife.
 
I've been having yearnings of the same variety for awhile now. Got on Bulldog's catalog list. Haven't succumbed yet, but awfully tempted more than once.

Bought last year's Case Father's Day pair of knives, to share with my son. Didn't care whether he took the large or small. Alas, he's been too sick since days before to get together and make his choice. I reckon one size or another copperlock is going to start riding with me fulltime soon.

I'm old enough, and got a slip joint when I was 5, so that is my first thought when the word knife is used. Not sure that'll ever change, however many tacticals I buy.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
Thanks for the replies one and all.
I guess Bugs3X is on to something, my first real knife was a stockman. Maybe that's what draws me back to the traditionals.
I bought a Buck stockman about 2 months ago and then I replaced it with a Camillus yello-jaket 4-blade congress about 3 weeks ago.
There's just something so pleasing about the Camillus. And it's good to have 4 blades so I can go quite a long while between
sharpenings (especially since my Spyderco Rescue gets all the tough cutting).
BUT...I still find myself using one of my SAKs quite often. The Swiss knives are just so damned handy they are nearly impossible not to carry.
As mentioned earlier, I guess I could carry the Spyderco, the Camillus, AND the SAK!
Talk about filling you pockets!

Bugs, I hope your child is well very soon.
Good luck and best wishes,
Allen.

[This message has been edited by allenC (edited 06-20-2001).]
 
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