Considering a traditional knife for EDC

[NjHart]

Howdy folks,

I believe this is my first visit the this particular subforum, and in favor of full transparency I haven't fully sold myself on EDCing a traditional knife. I've been browsing around a bit- some here, some custom knife sellers, instagram, and pretty much anywhere else you can think of, and I keep running across some gorgeous traditional knives. I have a traditional large trapper (I think) that I've carried in my pocket more lately for sentimental reasons and I've had fun with it, but on the days that I carry it I've also carried a large more modern folder that has done the brunt of the work. I've been going back and forth on giving the traditional knife style a fair shot for legitimate EDC, but I have a few issues maybe some of you can help me with. First, where do you carry your knife? I really do not like digging in my front pocket for my knife, and generally even carry my modern folders with a clip clipped to my dominate back pocket for easy access. I don't believe in knives for any self defense reason or anything like that, but I do like relatively easy access, so what are some of the better ways to carry that a newcomer may not know? Second, I frequently wear gloves. I live on a ranch in Texas and as such a fair amount of the work my knife gets put through is ranching or outdoors related. I could carry a fixed blade (and occasionally do) but generally whatever folder I carry takes care of the vast majority of the work. Simply put, the traditionals I've encountered (including the one in my pocket most recently) are not glove friendly at all. Is there anything I can do to make classic designs easier and more convenient to open with gloves or do most of yall in similar situations simply carry a fixed blade too? I'm sure many of these questions have been asked in the past in some form and I thank all of yall for the help and input. I'm intrigued by the possibility of at least adding one of these to my rotation and I would like to find a way to make it work for me. Also, here is a picture of what I've been carrying lately- both traditional and modern.

 

[lambertiana]

There are a lot of carry options. You can find leather pocket slips that hold the knife, with a looped strap to put on your belt. When you want the knife, just grab the strap or lanyard and pull it out of your pocket.

For one of my GEC 73 models with a lanyard hole, I just put a long lanyard on it and loop the lanyard over my belt. When I need it I just grab the lanyard. This also serves to keep it from bouncing around sideways in the bottom of my pocket.

 

[cpurcell]

And for a glove friendly traditional, you may want to look into sunfish (and larger) patterns that have more exposed blade to grip. I understand it's damn tough to use the nail nick when you're wearing gloves and sometimes, even without gloves

I know AG Russell, GEC, and Case all have sunfish patterns with plenty of exposed blade to grip if you needed to open it wearing gloves. Personally though, I'd probably go with an angled belt sheath for a necker sized fixed blade.
C

 

[midnight flyer]

Wow... another fellow Texan!

After looking at your setup, I don't know why you would change what you are doing. I use my knives for work as well in construction, and I carry two all the time. One is a larger knife like you show with your ZT, and like yours, it gets all the bad stuff. It is clipped to my pocket and may or may not be carried when I am not at work. But I always carry a traditional, regardless of any circumstances.

I have always favored a stockman or jack of some sort for my pocket carry. I carry two different sized knives as I can match the job to the task, but also I can make sure that I have a smaller, sharper blade with me at all times for certain tasks.

In my line of work, I don't use my traditionals with gloves on unless it is an emergency. When I am working hard enough to wear the White Mules or pigskins, my big knife with assisted opening is the one in my hand. I don't need gloves for routine job site chores that are small enough for my traditional knife. Besides, I can't get a gloved hand in my pants pocket to get out my knife, anyway.

If I was looking for a traditional knife that I required opening with gloves on, I would probably look at some of the "easy open" models out there. They may fill the bill. Or take some time and keep looking around. Some of the old patterns (maybe reissued by GEC... not sure) are decent sized knives with large, humped clip blades that look like they would be easy to open with gloves.

Robert

 

[dogstar]

Case Russlock or Trapperlock?

How about a big sodbuster? You can pinch those open without the nail nick.

 

[pinnah]

So, you picture would look right at home in the Traditional and Modern Pairing thread!
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/980449-Traditional-and-Modern-pairings

Many of us find that a large working knife and a smaller utility pocket knife make a great combo. Here's mine.

edc-pair by Pinnah, on Flickr

So, maybe the right question isn't how to replace the ZT, but whether or not the Trapper is the best small knife for you? I'll also mention some tradition big knife options that I've used.

My Traditional/Modern pairing runs the reverse of most people. I've not found a small traditional that packs as much functionality as a Micra. While made for keychains, I carry mine in the LFP and it gets used all the time when carried there. If forced at gun point to replace it with a tradtional, I would look at an SAK classic and would probably go for the Wegner version for the better (imo) scissors.

Staying the vein of useful tools for small knives, Case makes a version of the Peanut with scissors as a second blade. Very handy. Going up in size just a bit a small SAK or Boy Scout/Camper style knife is very handy. The current Case BSA knife looks odd to me and GEC hasn't stepped up to the plate so if I were buying new, I would (gulp) look at an Alox scaled SAK. I just dislike SAKs though. Personal thing. So actually, I would just buy a used Camillus or Ulster BSA knife off the auction sites.

Last thing on the issue of small pocket knives, THE traditional pattern for ranch work is the stockman pattern, or the cattle variant.

Moving to the question of pocket carry, I don't mind carrying Opinels in my RFP although I've come to prefer them with a lanyard (picture above is not current). Very easy to fish out. For rear pocket carry, there are two ways (at least) to do it. One is get a rear pocket knife sheath. Another way, suggested by camping guru Cliff Jacobsen is to stitch your rear pocket together, running a seam up the middle of the pocket from the bottom and up a couple of inches. I've done thsi with all my jeans RLP and carry my cell phone there. Better than a phone holster by far. The trick is to make the seam shorter than the knife/cell phone so you can easily grab the top.

In terms of big traditionals that are glove friendly, I use my Opinel #9 (or the larger #10) with gloves when winter camping and XC skiing. No problem. The lock ring works fine with gloves. Getting the blade out just requires a quick tap of the butt end of the knife on my gloved left hand which pops the blade out a bit. Closing is super safe since there is no spring.

My Buck 110 is sort of glove openable. My Schrade 51OT is infinitely more glove friendly as it is a large sunfish style but it's a hard knife to recommend as the US made ones are getting harder to find. Other big lockbacks worth looking at include those from Queen, GEC and AG Russel. Other than the 51OT though.. expect all of them to be fatter and less comfortable for back pocket carry.

 

[Locutus D'Borg]

Full marks to pinnah for the use of paragraph breaks, which makes reading so much easier.