Can you commit to one knife ?

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mdsmith

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Jan 7, 2009
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Hey guys, I haven't been in the slip joint scene very long, but one of the main things that drew me to it, and away from tacticals, are the images of these old, well used knives. Their handles smoothed from years of carry and handling. Their blades sporting a nice, well earned patina. All of the scratches, nicks and dings that a daily companion accumulates over the years. But, as has been said in previous post, most of these knives belong to someone who lived in a much simplier time, with fewer choices, and less income, so this knife was in many cases the only knife they owned. I would love to have one such knife to pass on to my son. Sure, he'll inherit a decent collection of knives, all of them having been used to some extent, but I'm talking about passing on a knife that he can look back on and say, "This knife was literally a part of my father". Enough rambling.... on to the point. My problem is that I just can't seem to commit to carrying the same knife everyday. So, my question is, can you? Sure, you can carry more than one knife at a time, which is fine, but is there any one knife that absolutely NEVER leaves your pocket?
 
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mdsmith said:
I just can't seem to commit to carrying the same knife everyday. So, my question is, can you?
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Committing to carrying the same knife everyday is easy - I've done it countless times! ;) :D

-- Mark
 
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mdsmith said:
So, my question is, can you? Sure, you can carry more than one knife at a time, which is fine, but is there any one knife that absolutely NEVER leaves your pocket?
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Nope. I have my favorites, but not one that I carry absolutely every day.
 
mnblade said:
Committing to carrying the same knife everyday is easy - I've done it countless times! ;) :D
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Lol, yeah, I guess it's the following through part that is tough. I know in my case it's defintiely not a matter of not having found the rigyht knife. I have about 5-6 that I absolutely LOVE, and any of which would make a great daily carry knife.

On a side note, I know this might sound funny, but I'd like it to be a knife that will age gracefully. Right now the knife that is hard to leave home without is my Vic soldier, but in all honesty, my CV peanut or Northwoods IRJ would age much better in my eyes. It must be the carbon steel and natural handles. To me an old Vic just looks beat up, but an old cv Case looks like it has gotten better with age.
 
I usually carry one knife, a traditional,most every day. Once in a while if I go out somewhere I'll pick out something different to carry, but for the most part it's the knife I'm most comfortable with.The Last three daily carries were a Case 63032, for about 10 years or so. After that, a mini copperlock, and now a Mooremaker 5300. I was on the "what traditional knife ar you totin today "thread for a while carrying different knives and enjoyed it for a while, but my conservative nature brings me back to my old friend.If I get a new knife I will carry it for a while and if it wins me over, thats my new EDC, if not I go back to old reliable.I'm looking forward to putting the new BF Moose in my pocket for a few weeks in hopes that it will be a bonding experience. if not,It won't go back into the box, I'll keep in on my dresser to admire and handle.
 
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I have carried one knife for years in my past and the knives from that time in my twenties and thirties, look worn like Grandpa knives.

Less money, has one carrying, one knife.

Today, I am blessed to have the collection that I have and carry more than one to get the most enjoyment from this collection.

Carrying one knife or the brand of that knife, isn't always by choice.

Still have the knives of yesterday and the memories of the paths and trails in life we traveled together. :)
 
There is absolutely no way I could ever do that. I have committed to carrying my ebony Tribal Spear every day for one whole year. So far, I've made it a month. However, I have three other knives on me at the moment. I'm working on the patina on two of them, and the third I have riding in the pocket with my keys, so as to mellow the stag a bit.

I like knives too much to carry only one for very long. Realistically, I could probably pick a knife at random out of my collection, and carry it every day for the rest of my life, and it would work beautifully. But where's the fun in that? Knives are toys to me, they're one of the few things I ever buy for myself. I get a lot of enjoyment out of collecting, carrying, and using different knives.

I'm sure guys who carry only one knife for years and years think about knives very differently. I've been carrying the same wallet for several years, and since it's a nice one, I won't have to replace it anytime soon. I don't think about it all that much. It's just a wallet, it has no special significance to me. I think that's how most "one knife guys" think about their knives.

By the way, Louis Vuitton makes one heck of a nice wallet. :D I've been carrying this one for over four years now, and it has basically no wear on it. Except for being squished a little, it still looks brand new. Maybe I'll carry it for a couple decades, and it'll start to look really cool. :thumbup:
 
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mdsmith said:
On a side note, I know this might sound funny, but I'd like it to be a knife that will age gracefully. Right now the knife that is hard to leave home without is my Vic soldier, but in all honesty, my CV peanut or Northwoods IRJ would age much better in my eyes. It must be the carbon steel and natural handles. To me an old Vic just looks beat up, but an old cv Case looks like it has gotten better with age.
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I know exactly what you mean, and I agree 100%. I carry a Vic Farmer almost every day - whenever I'm wearing jeans, which is 98% of the time. But I've been carrying my Chestnut bone CV Peanut absolutely every day - watch pocket of jeans, RF pocket of khakis or dress pants. The Farmer is a great tool, but there's just something about carbon steel and bone or stag handles that give a knife character or "soul".

On a side note, I will say that I've seen some old red alox Pioneers, that have a lot of the red worn off with age and use, that look pretty darn good - don't know if you'd get the same character enhancing effect with the silver alox or not.
 
mdsmith said:
So, my question is, can you? Sure, you can carry more than one knife at a time, which is fine, but is there any one knife that absolutely NEVER leaves your pocket?
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If I was to commit to one slippie forever, it would probably be my Chestnut Trapper in CV. The large trapper is my favorite pattern, and the chestnut bone/carbon steel blade is my favorite of the 15 or 20 Trappers I own.

The truth is, however, that I would never be able to limit myself to just one knife. While the vast majority of my slippie collection is large trappers, I have quite a few other patterns represented too, and they all cry out for some pocket time at one time or another. :D
 
I have gotten close. For a good part of this year I have alternated between two slipjoints every day. I may add a couple more hopefully next year but that would be it. I downsized a couple of years ago and don't want to go back to having to choose from a couple of dozen and making a lot of knives unhappy as they sit a long time waiting their turn.
 
Not a traditional, but I've EDCd fällkniven U1 for almost year. I just left it out week ago, and I'll have to see when I'll get it back. I think it's healthy to rotate every now and then, but one should also commit carrying atleast one knife faithfully for little longer time.

But maybe that's just me.
 
coyote711 said:
On a side note, I will say that I've seen some old red alox Pioneers, that have a lot of the red worn off with age and use, that look pretty darn good - don't know if you'd get the same character enhancing effect with the silver alox or not.
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I totally gree, the old worn red pioneers do have a lot of character. I am hopefully getting one for xmas this year. I think all you get out of silver alox is scratches.
 
for the past 5 years i have carried a (non-traditional) Benchmade mini-griptilian knife, along with a small Uncle Henry stockman, or a few other slippies i have to pick from..
i have slowly been weening myself off of the Benchmade as an EDC and have been sticking to carrying just traditional slippies..:o

so to answer your question, i don't think i would be able to commit to just one.. i enjoy having a selection/rotation of knives to choose from..
 
I have been into high quality knives for over 15 years now in one form or the other. Tactical folders and fixed blades, Traditional fixed and now slippies.

In that time i carried the same SAK huntsman in my left front pocket on a lanyard backed up by whatever primary cutter i was carrying. What occured to me though was when i needed to cut something i took the time to get the SAK out because it just worked better as a tool with it's thin flat ground blade.

So last year i quit carrying the SAK and got my first slippie. I had withdrawal symptoms losing the tools associated with the SAK but i did adapt to the tick picker tweezers, 4 way screwdriver and p-38 can opener. (u.s. speaker, thanks Jackknife!)

Over that time i quit carrying a primary and just carried the GEC 3 spring whittler. I have never needed anything else in a day to day environment. It aged really nice with gray patina on the blades and backspring. The stag got really deep yellow from the oils in my hand too. I just got the GEC cattleman and i hope to exclusively carry it for a year with no substitutes and if i like it as much as i think i am forever:rolleyes:. I'm doing the same with a fixed blade for wilderness use so between these two tools i can achieve zen as a knife knut if that is possible:D
 
No, I know for a fact I couldn't. I have been thinking about comitting to one slipjoint. An old Boker I picked up, one of the best stockman models I have ever seen.
 
Life's too short to commit to only one. Why deny ourselves the opportunity to enjoy any number of great knives?

Personally, I don't think we need (self imposed) rules on this. Just go with what works for you. When you feel like just carrying one, that's the right thing to do. When you feel like rotating through a variety, that would be right as well.

To me it's like the folks who restrict their collections to a particular pattern or maker. I can appreciate what they've accomplished but it doesn't make it the right way for everyone. I think we tend to over-think or over-complicate this.

One knife? Nope. Not for me. ;)
(But I certainly respect anyone's right to do so. :thumbup:)
 
One woman, yeah, I can do it. Done it for almost seventeen years now.

One knife? There are several that "never" leave my pocket. Right now it's my Case yellow CV full sized trapper, and my early '70's Buck 303 Cadet stockman. And my Camco 229 electricians knife.

And my old Imperial fishing knife.

And my old Kamp King.

And my old Imperial scout.

And...

And...

And, I need help.
 
Back before Jan 2010, I probably would have said, "yes". Then Jan 2010 came along and I don't know if I could make that commitment now. Maybe at a future date I can, but I don't believe I can at this point in time. I do have some favorites, however, I have a lot of knife carrying to do befoe I can make a commitment to carrying only one. I'm currently leaning toward a two blade knife for that role even though I reall like single blade knives. Having an extra blade available is just good insurance - so trappers, muskrats, meese, copperheads, canoes, barlows and jack knives are all in the running. Like I said, I have a lot of knife carrying to do before I can make that commitment.

Actually, thinking about it, it is not a commitment I would want to have to make.

Ed

This has been an entertaining thread; I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I think it captures the heart of our knifaholism. It has caused me to be reflective of my "habit". I don't know if that has helped me or not to tell the truth, but I have enjoyed doing it.
 
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