Choose Wisely (One Knife)

I previously answered that I'd pick the 110, but I've been thinking some more about it, and I don't think that would work for my only knife. The Buck 119 would be a better choice, or whatever knife Tarzan carried. But now I think I would pick a verijero, a small Gaucho knife from Argentina. BF member CelloDan CelloDan has a thread about it in the traditional forum, and I think it would meet all of my knife needs. A couple of pics from Dan's thread (as I don't have one yet):
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(The second pic is for perspective.)
If I could only have one, this is what I would choose.
 
Easy. A red bone handled Henckles 4 blade congress. Carbon steel. I know it’d handle all my knife chores with ease. I know this because I watched it handle all knife chores by itself for nearly 10 years before it got mothballed for a new Kissing Crane copperhead on Father’s Day 2001. Maybe a year or two before he passed away he gave me his congress. I reckon if it went to work with a career ironworker every day and cut stuff on the job and then it had to keep up with the knife chores that came with raising an energetic but meaner lookalike of Dennis the Menace (me), as well as do all the homeowner type stuff for all those years it’s good enough for me. Best part is he only sharpened it on a fine stone so the blades have only very very minimal steel missing If any.

If I didn’t have that one I’d pick a three spring Buck 301. Also an easy choice because I’ve yet to own one I couldn’t open easily and the darn things are just a good tough knife.
 
This titanium niobium sword made by Lorien Lorien via Mecha Mecha
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Hackenslash said:
Dude, the real question isn’t about a knife, it’s how are you doing with your cancer?

The choice of “The One Knife” seems silly and shallow when the Real World comes knocking on the door. It’s good to see you posting. I hope you’re on the heal.

If you like larger Spydercos, check out the Shaman or Native Chief.
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Sorry, my cancer was the "good" kind and they were able to cut it out of me, along with most of my right lung. I'm now at ~60% of normal breathing capacity, but at age 70 I'm not going to go on any "treks" anyway. If I weren't so pig-headed stubborn back the I could have caught it sooner, but I only acted when I was at a medieval foot combat practice and discovered that I'd painted the inside of my helmet with the blood I was coughing up. At the time I took the cough as the airborne allergies I've been plagued with since I was a child.

Now, let's talk about knives. I saw someone posted about some Henkel and Kissing Crane knives. When I was a miner it was considered rude to reject an offer to trade pocket knives, even if money "to boot" was offered. After several trades I regretted I always carried at least 2 pocket knives, usually three in different pockets - one for good trades, one for shitty trades, and one that I used when as a surveyor I was away from the mines. It's a strange, sometimes insular culture, but if you play by the unwritten rules those guys have your back - always.
 
JC972 said:
Easy. A red bone handled Henckles 4 blade congress. Carbon steel. I know it’d handle all my knife chores with ease. I know this because I watched it handle all knife chores by itself for nearly 10 years before it got mothballed for a new Kissing Crane copperhead on Father’s Day 2001. Maybe a year or two before he passed away he gave me his congress. I reckon if it went to work with a career ironworker every day and cut stuff on the job and then it had to keep up with the knife chores that came with raising an energetic but meaner lookalike of Dennis the Menace (me), as well as do all the homeowner type stuff for all those years it’s good enough for me. Best part is he only sharpened it on a fine stone so the blades have only very very minimal steel missing If any.

If I didn’t have that one I’d pick a three spring Buck 301. Also an easy choice because I’ve yet to own one I couldn’t open easily and the darn things are just a good tough knife.
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In my younger days I really liked Kissing Crane knives. They were a bit soft compared to modern steels, but they were easy to get dangerously sharp. "German Eye" knives were probably better steel, as were Henckels, but neither had the aesthetics that I liked. As a work knife, my love of a large stockman comes in barely above a sway-back 4-blade folder. When I was a surveyor we spent a lot of time going through the woods because that was the closer route, and having 4 blades with different purposes was a great idea. Since we were often working at the "face" of a mine (where the actual mining happens), there are often breakdowns that involve splicing a cable that's as big as your wrist, and invariably the mechanic/electrician would poll the group for a sharp knife, since his were usually hawkbills blunted by his work. I kept the sheepsfoot blade sharpened to a larger angle so it wouldn't blunt as easily but was still sharp, and always opened that blade before handing it to him. The knife culture there was to return a knife in the exact configuration as it was handed to you, so I always got my knife back, handle first, with the sheepsfoot blade still open. There's a whole knife culture in the VA/WV/KY mining areas - one of them is that you can't give someone a knife unless they pay something for it, even if it's just a penny. The saying was that a free knife "cuts' the friendship, so you could have offered a $400 knife to someone, but if they didn't have any cash on their person, they wouldn't take it.

Coal miners tend to be either super-religious (the minority), or superstitious. If you worked very long in those often changing environments, I think that you'd call on some higher power, too. Once, while setting a pump, I'd just left the area when a portion of the "top" (roof), which was ~20 feet wide, ~100 feet long, and 6' thick fell without warning. The air blast knocked me off my feet, and I was still carrying an electrically connected pump. As the air rush knocked me down I went in the water hole over my waders, only to discover that the pump wasn't well grounded. That was one helluva day and an experience with Murphy's Law that I'm unlikely to forget.!
 
Thorgrim said:
In my younger days I really liked Kissing Crane knives. They were a bit soft compared to modern steels, but they were easy to get dangerously sharp. "German Eye" knives were probably better steel, as were Henckels, but neither had the aesthetics that I liked. As a work knife, my love of a large stockman comes in barely above a sway-back 4-blade folder. When I was a surveyor we spent a lot of time going through the woods because that was the closer route, and having 4 blades with different purposes was a great idea. Since we were often working at the "face" of a mine (where the actual mining happens), there are often breakdowns that involve splicing a cable that's as big as your wrist, and invariably the mechanic/electrician would poll the group for a sharp knife, since his were usually hawkbills blunted by his work. I kept the sheepsfoot blade sharpened to a larger angle so it wouldn't blunt as easily but was still sharp, and always opened that blade before handing it to him. The knife culture there was to return a knife in the exact configuration as it was handed to you, so I always got my knife back, handle first, with the sheepsfoot blade still open. There's a whole knife culture in the VA/WV/KY mining areas - one of them is that you can't give someone a knife unless they pay something for it, even if it's just a penny. The saying was that a free knife "cuts' the friendship, so you could have offered a $400 knife to someone, but if they didn't have any cash on their person, they wouldn't take it.

Coal miners tend to be either super-religious (the minority), or superstitious. If you worked very long in those often changing environments, I think that you'd call on some higher power, too. Once, while setting a pump, I'd just left the area when a portion of the "top" (roof), which was ~20 feet wide, ~100 feet long, and 6' thick fell without warning. The air blast knocked me off my feet, and I was still carrying an electrically connected pump. As the air rush knocked me down I went in the water hole over my waders, only to discover that the pump wasn't well grounded. That was one helluva day and an experience with Murphy's Law that I'm unlikely to forget.!
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A lot of those superstitions/traditions are still alive and well here in lower East Tn. It’s a good thing that pump wasn’t hooked up quite right! I haven’t ever been around any mining myself.
 
Gee........ I would be disappointed I got that genie.
I want the genie with three wishes of any knives I want!
 
I’d have to go with the Cold Steel SR1 Lite, either in a tanto or clip point. It’s a folder, it’s extremely rugged and sharp. It’s unbreakable (even that kook Joe X couldn’t destroy it). I could baton with it if I had to and it will slice phone book paper all day long. Grippy handle. Easily sharpened and won’t rust. I can pry with it, fight off gangbangers and grizzlies. It’s cheap (I have aftermarket pocket clips that cost more than this knife) so I wouldn’t feel bad about torturing it. Been carrying one for the last several months and it’s displaced a lot of other higher end, more expensive knives. If I was going fixed blade, the Mora Pro Robust or the Tereva 140 get the nod.

https://imgur.com/a/37J78TO
 
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Ive been edc'ing a UF2 from CAROTHERS PROFORMANCE KNIVES since it's been shipped to me and it hasn't let me down since !


NMFrank87
 
campandtravel said:
Okay, so a genie tells you you can only touch one knife for the rest of your life. You take one hiking? This knife. You spread some butter on toast? Same knife. Fight a Grizz? Same knife.

Etc.

Which one do you choose and why?

Me I'm leaning toward a Buck 110. Because for all Ys, you can say "it's too X to do Y with ideally, but it's still pretty damned usable for Y."
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There are more than a few One Knife historical examples I can think of. It's a legitimate question, even today. Their blade geometries were dictated by the environments they were used in. Puukko (woods knife), Makiri (fishing knife), North American Trade Knives (all purpose woods and river knives), Shepherd's Knives, Sailors' Knives (sheepsfoot), to name a few. These were normally the only knife a man owned and relied on for daily tasks. Most were fixed blades. Fewer examples of folding knives exist and weren't popular until industries materialized in the 1600s.

This inlander would choose a 4 1/2" to 5 1/2" fixed blade stout enough for light field craft yet thin enough for food prep. I have several to choose from. They mostly fall into the field knife or bushcraft type. Carothers, Winkler, TRC, Cohutta, Wirkkala Puukko, a custom Kephart, and a few more.
 
Bear & Son Gold Rush. A well balanced western 49 style bowie and not blade heavy like the cold steel wild west and 1911. I haven't tried the Von Tempsky Bowie but I'd get it once I can afford one and test it out on the field.
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