Cult of the one knife man

PythonDR said:
This brings up an interesting question: most of the people here, myself included, could not easily adapt to carrying one single knife. I accept that.

However, could you adapt to carrying more than one knife - two, three, whatever - but the same selection every single day? For instance, I always carry my Vic Explorer and am searching for "THE" knife to carry with it. Once I find that one, I'll happily carry just those two for perhaps a decade or more to come, never needing or wanting to replace either with something different (except for a specific task outside of daily life, of course.)

Could you do that - commit to carrying your normal number of knives, but always the same ones?
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Or how about, if you EDC multiple knives, if at least ONE of them remains constant? The one pocketknife I've carried consistently every day since around 1999 or so is my black SAK Executive. No matter what else switches out of my pockets. And it gets used, too. I've also been carrying my Vic Swisstool Spirit on my belt consistently for five years so far. Other knives...one-handers or other traditionals...get carried for a while, sometimes up to a few years straight...but eventually get rotated out. But these two Vic products have remained a constant for me for many years.

BTW, I do consider the Executive a traditional pen knife, SAK or not.

Jim
 
PythonDR said:
This brings up an interesting question: most of the people here, myself included, could not easily adapt to carrying one single knife. I accept that.

However, could you adapt to carrying more than one knife - two, three, whatever - but the same selection every single day? For instance, I always carry my Vic Explorer and am searching for "THE" knife to carry with it. Once I find that one, I'll happily carry just those two for perhaps a decade or more to come, never needing or wanting to replace either with something different (except for a specific task outside of daily life, of course.)

Could you do that - commit to carrying your normal number of knives, but always the same ones?
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I'm curious, your the second one on this thread that finds the SAK to be less capable as a solo EDC. I have the Explorer Plus, the plus is that it comes with an ink pen and a pin.
I use it as my sole EDc, and I also have a Buck 110 that stays in the kitchen until I go fishing or hiking, definitely not an EDC.
I find the blades on my SAK more than adequate for everyday stuff includding chopping onions, opening mail and whatever else in or outside of home.
I'm asking strictly out of curiosity and possible knowledge, why would you want to carry a second knife.
 
bt93, I really don't mean to be rude and I fully realize that PythonDR is fully capable of defending himself, not that he needs defending as you aren't attacking him. But you May be inferring something he did not say. PythonDR did not say that he found the SAK less capable. I think he just wants to carry more than one knife. Years ago I EDC'd a SAK Champion that I bought in the late 70's. I still have it and carried it solo for at least 10 years. It is perfectly capable and for more than just the knife. I now have a SAK Farmer that I wouldn't find incapable at all. I could easily use it until the day I die. They are, as I'm sure you know, excellent knives.
 
If I had to pick just one knife, it would be a SAK of some kind. I know I could do it because my Vic Huntsman was my only knife for almost 20 years.

But I don't know which one I would choose right now. Ask me in a year once I'm done with this current buying phase I'm in.
 
bt93 said:
I'm curious, your the second one on this thread that finds the SAK to be less capable as a solo EDC. I have the Explorer Plus, the plus is that it comes with an ink pen and a pin.
I use it as my sole EDc, and I also have a Buck 110 that stays in the kitchen until I go fishing or hiking, definitely not an EDC.
I find the blades on my SAK more than adequate for everyday stuff includding chopping onions, opening mail and whatever else in or outside of home.
I'm asking strictly out of curiosity and possible knowledge, why would you want to carry a second knife.
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Fair question.

Having carried an Explorer (my current one has the pen but not the pin) for the better part of 25 years I've formed some opinions about that knife (and SAKs in general.) As a multipurpose tool, to include a knife for those circumstances you absolutely need one, it's great. As a *knife* it leaves some things to be desired.

First, I have little use for a spear. I find the sheepsfoot, spey, and drop point - in that order - more useful. The spear (and its small cousin, the pen) just doesn't do my jobs as well as the other blade styles.

Second, the Victorinox steel isn't as good as what I can get in better knives. It's not bad, mind you, but compared to the harder stainless and carbon steels it dulls quickly, is easily nicked, and can fold over easier. It's easy to sharpen, that's a plus, but after a day of doing a lot of cutting it definitely gets dull.

Finally, the blade arrangement is sub-optimal. Having both blades on one side of a 4-spring knife makes it terribly unbalanced; choking up on the main blade, for instance, is awkward because my thumb has to reach around the other 4 layers. The short blade is only slightly better. The net result is that the blades are harder to control, especially for fine work.

You have to understand that I live a rural life (as contrasted with a "country" life; I don't live anywhere near a city, sub-development, or grocery store.) I use my knife many times a day, often for hard cutting chores. Today, for instance, I was making rafters for a new shed I'm building. I made 30 bird-mouth cuts in the rafters and used my GEC #15 sheepsfoot to clean out the remaindered wood in each one. (I'd normally use a chisel for that job, but it was clear up at the house and I didn't want to hike that far - uphill, yet!) That was in addition to opening some feed sacks, a couple of boxes that UPS delivered, cutting some shade cloth, a piece of heater hose, a piece of leather for a vise jaw pad, and I'm sure I forgot something. In my experience, my SAK wouldn't have held up; I know because I've tried.

For some people, the SAK would indeed be a completely capable solo carry. Not for me, which is why I started carrying a second knife a decade or so ago.
 
I understand now. You're right about the steel for the Victorinox blade, I sometimes find myself sharpening it everyday. It is definitly not a work knife in that sense. I have a Buck 110 for doing my outdoorsy stuff.
 
Stich2442 said:
Well I did it for about 25 years, then about 6 or 7 years ago I decided I would buy a last knife something nice to use and carry until my demise. Well that was a Gec 54 moose it was going so well until......, I was gifted a Case peanut from my newly born daughter, the peanut lead me to this place of guilt free enablers called Blade Forums now I have more knives and patterns than a sporting goods store, but have always carried and not at all waiver from carrying the peanut gifted to me by my daughter so I'm not a one knife man, that would just be crazy hanging around a place like this, but I have carried and used this Case peanut everyday for 3 years and just shy of 7 months, it's gutted fish, help with carpentry, fuzz sticks for a fire, whittle, prepare snacks for my daughter, meals for family, helped me fix and repair probably a hundred plus things, was my steak knife last night, so I'm not a one knife man, but I am a man that carries the same knife and carry other knives in rotation to complement it.
The blades have a natural patina, a reminder of its journey and the scales have a glass like candy appearance as the jigging has smoothed out over the years, blades are a little thinner from sharpening.
Pete
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Nice peanut, and sounds familiar.

I rotated between 4 for about 15 years. A Camillus Scout, a Schrade 8OT, a Vic Super Tinker and a Buck 450. The Buck is basically a rubberized-handle version of the 112- it was my dirty work, knockaround knife for years. The Vic actually gets very little work as a knife- I carry it for tools and something else for cutting as I don't like the blade sitting that far below the liners, as Vic does with ones with tools on both sides of the spring.

Nowadays the above 4 are all semi-retired. A Case peanut has taken lead, and gets complemented with others as needed.
 
Another day, another dollar (saved). ;)

IMG_20150721_164308_zpsmpf0ffvm.jpg
 
brianv said:
PythonDR and bt93, thank you for the education on the soft steel of the SAKs.
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It's not bad for general purpose pocket carry, but it wouldn't fly for all day use on the job. I've had jobs that required knife use all day, I usually used a razor knife for that purpose, generally supplied by the company.
The SAK is good for usual daily tasks around home and such as well as outdoorsy stuff. While I take my SAK wherever I go, if I'm fishing or hunting or hiking, the buck 110 is with me.
'
 
brianv said:
PythonDR and bt93, thank you for the education on the soft steel of the SAKs.
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They have good steel, but they run it soft, 55-56 RC per Victorino. x50CrMo is apparently a cousin of 440a, which is decent. It's just not meant for all-day heavy cutting.
 
bt93 said:
It's not bad for general purpose pocket carry, but it wouldn't fly for all day use on the job. I've had jobs that required knife use all day, I usually used a razor knife for that purpose, generally supplied by the company.
The SAK is good for usual daily tasks around home and such as well as outdoorsy stuff. While I take my SAK wherever I go, if I'm fishing or hunting or hiking, the buck 110 is with me.
'
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That's always been the crux of my love/hat relationship with SAK's. I love them for the sheer utility they offer, like the small Leatherman tools. But they are like the jack of all traders and master of none, like mentioned. They are a decent knife, but not a great one, and most of the time it's rare I need the tools. With a few times in my wallet like the keychain 4-way screw driver and P-38 can opener, I have no need of an entire layer of the standard SAK.

I always much prefer a real dedicated knife as a pocket knife. Better steel and better ergonomics. I really love the old 1095 carbon blades or the Case CV. Very good edge holding, not too bad to sharpen up anywhere, and has character after a while. Carrying a SAK, I always end up carrying another knife after a while just to have a better blade on hand.
 
its been one week and a day as a one knife man. It has been an adjustment not having a small blade but not too hard here it is day one. also my first gec.

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here is it this morning were spending the day packing up the house for a move closer to work. There will be alot of tape and boxes to cut. i am warmin up to this knife. It has lost most of its shine...when new out of tube the wood was soooo shiny it looked like plastic now it looks like wood and feels like it too. I wasnt sure if this would work with this knife but now i think it might anyway have a good day everyone
 
I've made it 3 weeks!
Someone posted above that some people think they are minimalist and they really aren't. I am for the most part.................., Except when it comes to knives.
I drive 40 miles each way to work(same route and job for 20 years) so 80 miles a day roundtrip) and I'm only on my 2nd truck in those 20 years. Some parts of that 1st truck had close to 500,000 miles on it because 1st motor had 250,000 miles and the second motor had around 230,000 on it.........Anyway, I guess knives are my vice so having a little too many isn't necessarily a bad thing. Much easier to sneak past your wife than bows and guns and tractors! :)
 
blademan 13 said:
One knife only??? Heck, I carry 5 or 6 with me most days and only 3 of those are everyday carries :eek: I may have some issues but keeping plenty of knives in my pocket sure isn't one of them.... ;)
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lol, there have been times when i've carried 3 slipjoints a Caly3 and a puukko. i don't know what i was thinking, where was my sak?

buzz
 
jec88 said:
I've made it 3 weeks!
Someone posted above that some people think they are minimalist and they really aren't. I am for the most part.................., Except when it comes to knives.
I drive 40 miles each way to work(same route and job for 20 years) so 80 miles a day roundtrip) and I'm only on my 2nd truck in those 20 years. Some parts of that 1st truck had close to 500,000 miles on it because 1st motor had 250,000 miles and the second motor had around 230,000 on it.........Anyway, I guess knives are my vice so having a little too many isn't necessarily a bad thing. Much easier to sneak past your wife than bows and guns and tractors! :)
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i like your story, good truck, work hard, reward is a nice knife selection. all good
so much for the one knife man. that is a hard row to hoe.

buzz
 
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