Does a " perfect knife " really fit into the life of a knife enthusiast?

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
20,266
It's been asked countless times and we all have an answer. Most of us can think up our ideal perfect pocket knife, or that one tweak that would make a certain knife perfect .
Does any of that even matter though ?
If you could have that knife at the snap of a genie's finger would your knife journey be over ?
Would you actually be able to carry that knife indefinitely, or would you still want to explore the world of knives and carry others that you love ?

I can't even come up with one perfect knife, I have many knives that I really love a lot, and others I could consider perfect with a change or two but I still wouldn't be done so for me there's no point.
I can carry a pocket knife and a belt knife, but can't have 1 pocket knife to always carry along with an additional pocket knife of choice for the week.
carrying more than one pocket knife at a time just isn't something I normally ever do.
 
Last edited:
I was perfectly fine with my craptastic Gerber until it quit functioning honestly if the auto assist spring wouldn't have kept breaking (and making the knife useless) I wouldn't have even found this site and all the madness within.

Ignorance is bliss.

Now I have a hundred perfect knives.
 
I'll give a good understanding of All this.....
I use this a lot.

I LOVE pizza.
I really do.
All pizza is good pizza!
I literally think I could eat it for one meal each day...... Every day.

But, I still like BBQ, and stir fry, and grilled fish, and Tacos....all kinds of stuff.

Just cause I think pizza is Perfect doesn't mean I'm giving up eating Tacos....


-so with knives it's the Same thing.
 
no, and ill give the same answer i gave last time. if such a knife was devised, i would no longer need to purchase another knife. id buy a few and just be happy. for example take a single clip 15 gec with end cap. I only have one such knife and its because I had the pen deleted. I had it in single spear and and single sheepsfoot back in the day. If i was content, id have just signed off and never come back. But we love these things, and here we are. Ive added other clip 15s, in fact I have another one due soon as it replaces one I let go sometime back, which I shouldnt have, but bills. Hindsight is 20/20
 
Hickory n steel said:
It's been asked countless times and we all have an answer. Most of us can think up our ideal perfect pocket knife, or that one tweak that would make a certain knife perfect .
Does any of that even matter though ?
If you could have that knife at the snap of a genie's finger would your knife journey be over ?
Would you actually be able to carry that knife indefinitely, or would you still want to explore the world of knives and carry others that you love ?

I can't even come up with one perfect knife, I have many knives that I really love a lot, and others I could consider perfect with a change or two but I still wouldn't be done so for me there's no point.
I can carry a pocket knife and a belt knife, but can't have 1 pocket knife to always carry along with an additional pocket knife of choice for the week.
carrying more than one pocket knife at a time just isn't something I normally ever do.
Click to expand...
All knives are perfect, all knives are imperfect........just like us...... ;)
 
The "perfect knife" is not possible.
What is "perfection" for one person leaves much to be desired for another.

Examples:
There actually are some who "believe" an "over-built" modern OHO single blade folder, or a 12 inch bladed fixed blade with a with a 0.28" thick spine that can be used to baton and fell a hundred year old oak tree is "perfect".

Others actually "believe" a folding knife HAS to have locking blade(s) to be "safe" to use without worry of accidentally removing a finger when the blade is open ... and disagree on what blade lock design is strongest and least likely to fail.

Some don't like a knife over 3 1/8 inch long close, or with more than one backspring, or has more than one or two blades, etc.

Some demand a knife to be as thin and light as possible, so it "vanishes" in the pocket; even if prolonged use is ... painful ....

Some want only a non-folding knife for their every day use and carry.

Then there is the brand to contend with. Some only want made in USA or Sheffield, England or Solingen, Germany.
Some only CASE/GEC/(USA) Imperial-Schrade family of brands. For non-folding, Buck and pre - Coleman era Western have quite the following. (Buck's 110 and 112 are also still quite popular, even after 50-61 years on the market.)


If there was one "perfect" knife for everyone, we would all have to use our knife for the same tasks.

Even if there was a "perfect" knife, there would be different variants of it for handle materials, blade steels (carbon steals and stainless steels, and other.

For me there is a "perfect" knife. I even have several of them - a 4 inch or larger stockman ... preferably with carbon steel blades and multi-purpose "Spey"/Grafting/Budding blade ... tho I always pair it (and any other pocket knife/knives and belt knife I may be carrying at the time) with a SAK equipped with scissors ... usually a Huntsman).

Also "perfect" changes as we get older. For over 40 consecutive years I carried a Buck 110/Old Timer 7OT/6OT on my belt, and a 4 blade scout/"Demo" knife (was before I got my first SAK Recruit and Huntsman), with a Barlow or stockman in my pocket.
When I went hunting, a Western L66 took the place of the Buck or Old Timer on my belt.
In the 20-aughts, my most used knife was a Cold Steel "Heavy Machete". I had 97 coconut palms to keep hurricane trimmed, and drop the coconuts from so they would not fall on someone. (in 2004 and 2005 one of the coconut trees gave us 350 coconuts a year. It out produced the combined total of the other 96 coconut trees by a large margin.)
I managed to sell some of them at the flea market at MM 60, ocean side. I'd open them if the customer wanted to drink the water/milk.
 
Last edited:
Yes and no. My perfect knife (a Case 63087 with carbon steel, smooth white bone and a sheepsfoot instead of a spey) does not exist. If it did I would by 2-3 just in case and would certainly carry it every day for the rest of my life.

However, I would most likely carry another knife in addition because I have a problem 😂
 
Besides the fact that I am an inveterate knife ho and constantly have to try new things, there is no perfect knife for every situation. My perfect knife for lounging at home in cutoff sweatpants is different from my perfect knife for going to work is different from my perfect knife for going out to eat is different from my perfect knife to go deer hunting is different from my perfect knife to clean ducks, etc. etc. So even if I could design a knife that would fulfill most of what I needed in those very different situations, I still wouldn't carry it all the time. Variety is the spice of life.
 
Stockaholic said:
Yes and no. My perfect knife (a Case 63087 with carbon steel, smooth white bone and a sheepsfoot instead of a spey) does not exist. If it did I would by 2-3 just in case and would certainly carry it every day for the rest of my life.

However, I would most likely carry another knife in addition because I have a problem 😂
Click to expand...
It sure would be easier if our knife wishes could be granted wouldn't it.
 
black mamba said:
So even if I could design a knife that would fulfill most of what I needed in those very different situations, I still wouldn't carry it all the time. Variety is the spice of life.
Click to expand...
That is what I eventually came to realize.
Even my most ideal perfect knife creation would ultimately become just another knife that I really like.
Being a member of this forum definitely contributes to my problem though.
That knife appetite is inside me regardless and I couldn't stick to one knife forever, but if I weren't around here I could stick to one knife for a longer period than I could otherwise.
 
For me the definition of a "perfect knife" changes with time. I then purchase two of that perfect knife, one as a backup, only to realize a few days/months/years later that a new perfect knife has popped up. Rinse and repeat. ;)
 
I already own some knives from makers known to this sub-forum which I consider to be nigh on perfect in some respects...nonetheless I still find myself buying knives which I simply like (and covet) for any number of reasons, or will find useful for a given task.

The pursuit of perfection (for me, personally) has pretty much left the building.
 
Hickory n steel said:
It's been asked countless times and we all have an answer. Most of us can think up our ideal perfect pocket knife, or that one tweak that would make a certain knife perfect .
Does any of that even matter though ?
If you could have that knife at the snap of a genie's finger would your knife journey be over ?
Would you actually be able to carry that knife indefinitely, or would you still want to explore the world of knives and carry others that you love ?

I can't even come up with one perfect knife, I have many knives that I really love a lot, and others I could consider perfect with a change or two but I still wouldn't be done so for me there's no point.
I can carry a pocket knife and a belt knife, but can't have 1 pocket knife to always carry along with an additional pocket knife of choice for the week.
carrying more than one pocket knife just isn't something I normally ever do.
Click to expand...
I dread finding a perfect knife!!!!! What would I live for????o_Oo_Oo_O


😂😂😂😂
 
Hickory n steel said:
That is what I eventually came to realize.
Even my most ideal perfect knife creation would ultimately become just another knife that I really like.
Being a member of this forum definitely contributes to my problem though.
That knife appetite is inside me regardless and I couldn't stick to one knife forever, but if I weren't around here I could stick to one knife for a longer period than I could otherwise.
Click to expand...
This right here. For the first 50 years of my life I was perfectly content with a couple of SAKs stashed about the house and a stockman in my pocket. I didn't even know what a Barlow was until I ended up here...now I have an even dozen 🤣🤣🤣
 
The biggest issue is that the perfect knife for me is probably not the perfect knife for you. Then I try to tell you why my knife is perfect, but in your opinion, I'm an idiot. Your perfect knife has this feature that mine doesn't. So I try yours and next thing I know, I have 100 perfect knives.
 
Stockaholic said:
This right here. For the first 50 years of my life I was perfectly content with a couple of SAKs stashed about the house and a stockman in my pocket. I didn't even know what a Barlow was until I ended up here...now I have an even dozen 🤣🤣🤣
Click to expand...
even as a teenager I had a bunch of knives that I carried, but they were junk that couldn't really be carried too long.
When I was able to start acquiring a few real knives I didn't need to swap them out very often, I'd get something new to carry every few years if that.
Then I joined here, discovered the extensive world of traditional knives, and before long I owned more than a handful of good quality knives that I didn't want to neglect.
I can stick to a knife for a couple months, but the habit I developed of rotating through my knives became one that I just can't shake for long.
 
1911bphil said:
The biggest issue is that the perfect knife for me is probably not the perfect knife for you. Then I try to tell you why my knife is perfect, but in your opinion, I'm an idiot. Your perfect knife has this feature that mine doesn't. So I try yours and next thing I know, I have 100 perfect knives.
Click to expand...
there are too many options, and different things we're doing can spark ideas.
Sometimes I'm constantly wishing my knife had an awl on it, other times I can go months without even remotely needing one.
it seems my perfect knife can be seasonal.
 
I've found the perfect knife dozens of times. It's the one I've run across that screams, "You have to have this. It's perfect because bla bla bla ... bla".
So the perfect knife is indeed out there ... and so is the next perfect knife. And the next. And the next.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top