Fading popularity of traditional knives

To clarify on self defense stuff, I carry pepper spray. Thats my best defense. I also carry a penlight to use as a kubotan. My knife is my last option. Im no expert knife fighter, I just know which end is pointy. Which I think is enough. If I could carry my little Beretta bobcat in 22lr, Id lighten my pockets quite a bit, but I cant. So thats that. Nobody wants to get in a knife fight. The point of this thread is not about defense, thats just one thing that modern knives work better for.
 
gaj999 said:
If useful use is incorrect use, then yes.

By incorrect use I'm speaking of making a mistake. If you have less fear of a blade closing on you it a makes you more efficient since you've removed a variable that you had to account for previously. It also keeps your finger from being cut...

Agreed. I have caught and bent clips. I have also damaged the paint on a car with a clip. Kind of a trade off.

Same here, but it is an acceptable trade off.

I can actually open most of my traditionals with one hand, but it can be fiddly. If I'm on a ladder, I've usually got a work knife like a 110 that's easy to open one-handed. Or a real knife. The kind that isn't pre-broken in the middle. ;)



Agree 100%. I'll note that properly heat treated 1095 performs well. It just rusts easily. There's no excuse for using a stainless that doesn't perform at least as well as 1095.



I suppose. But a knife is a last ditch defensive weapon for when you don't have a club handy. And a club is a poor choice compared to a pistol. And a pistol is a back up weapon for when you don't have a long gun. If it gets to the point where I actually need a knife for self defense, I'm totally screwed anyway. If I was younger, stronger, and had spent the necessary years in training to effectively use a knife as a weapon, it might be a different story.

I addressed this in a previous post. But what I didn't say was that my reason for liking a larger blade is not entirely for self defense, but for the fact that you have more blade to work with. More blade means more blade area to use.

In many ways moderns are more practical. I own a few. But they seldom get carried. Personal preference, no right or wrong.

Personal preference, agreed.
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Retorts above in red. Remember: my opinions are just my opinions.
 
I'm not sure about them fading away...I was a modern folder only. I did own a Case trapper and sodbuster but never really carried them. I found GEC and the rest is history as well as my modern folder collection. I have tried to go back to moderns, but I just don't have the connection like I do with a traditional folding knife.
 
CVamberbonehead said:
So what are your thoughts on this subject?
Are traditional knives dying out in our modern world?
Is this just neccesary progress?
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This thread took a strange turn. :confused:

I think pocket knife carry in general is dying out in the modern US except for some niches for many reasons which I just don't feel like listing.

I think traditional style knives are probably a smaller slice of the total knife sales "pie" and that the pie itself is in a generally shrinking trend. I don't have any direct evidence to back that idea, other than the fact that I don't know anyone in my life other than me (and my wife, who I infected with the disease) who actually carries a pocket knife, of any kind, other than when out hunting/fishing/camping.

I will add that I own both modern and traditional style knives, started with moderns, like both, will carry or use whichever is appropriate for my intended use, and find that traditionals are almost always the appropriate knife for my use, based on actual intentional testing where I tried both for a particular task.
 
Dean51 said:
Back on subject :)
Steel always comes up in these discussions and that is one thing that has not changed with traditionals.
They use the same old 420HC they used in the 60's.
Steel is the reason I'm not buying traditionals and instead looking at modern traditionals or smaller moderns. At least those few moderns with thin stock and good geometry.

Does anyone think traditionals would have maintained more of their popularity if they had upgraded to at least AUS-8 or 154CM? Or at least offered an option.
Neither of these are super steels and they're easy to sharpen.
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I looked at a traditional a year or so ago that used a better steel. Damn, I wish I could remember the details. However, I'm not sure the market is there for a big resurgence with expensive steel. The younger generations have moved to the modern style knives or none at all.
 
I am in the 60+ demographic so perhaps my penchant for traditional knives derives from that. However, I had no personal family tradition of pocket knife carry to pull me in that direction. My father, to my knowledge, didn't carry a pocket knife. He sure as heck couldn't sharpen a knife to save his life, which is surprising since he was born in the rural south in 1912 (he is gone nearly 20 years now, and I developed my interest in knives well after his passing).
 
Im with jackknife! It’s 100% sales. The traditional knives are real popular round here with the young and old. Never could warm up to a modern style knife. I tried and tried. I don’t want a steel that in a pinch u couldn’t sharpen on a coffee mug or strop across ur belt. Or after years of use it actually looks better. Heck when I get a new yellow case cv trapper I’m like I got ninja this thing out and get them blades black!
 
This thread has definitely taken a strange turn lol. Lets get back on topic everybody.
Some good points have been brought up here.
One thing brought up was the blending of old and new. Case is making assisted opening knives now, what the hell? Lol I think this stuff is good if youre into that. Im not.. I had a buck stockman with g10 covers for a week or so, but it just had that soul less modern feel. I couldnt get into it. Good work knife? Probably. But I hated it.
 
One thing I think needs to be added, even though everyone has been very civil.

Knife users as a whole need to get along as a group of semi like minded people. Not everyone here carries a knife for the same reasons, but ultimately we are all linked together in that we don’t need any more ememies than we already have. A lot of people out there will attack your right and reason to carry a little peanut knife as much as they will a frame lock, assisted open modern knife.

In my experience the best tactical knife with the greatest steel on Earth wouldn’t benefit me as much as my basic stainless steel stockman did and does, but a modern knife fits the bill perfectly for others. That’s the world, variety is the spice of life and to each their own.... ect.

It all comes down to preference, not performance and that I’m sure of. I’ve had a few custom knives with much better steel in them, but my 1095 and Chrome vanamdium suits me perfectly fine and I’m not left wanting.

In my previous post I mentioned show boating with a modern knife; the same can be said for a traditional knife if one has the mentality to show boat. I can’t imagine the ninja like moves it would take for me to scare/impress the non knife people with my peanut, but I’m sure it could be done.
 
jc57 said:
This thread took a strange turn. :confused:
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Ya, it did take a wide turn. It went from the traditional knife's place in the market place, to super steels vs carbon, to traditionals vs moderns, to knives as weapons. This is where I bow out of the conversation, knives as weapons is the modern folders realm.
 
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To me it seems that the simpler slipjoint is gaining acceptance. There seems to be many more new makers making very nice traditional knives. I work on a farm and use a one handed Spyderco in H1 or a slim Stanley utility knife. I have to be able to open it one handed and if I dropped it in cow crap or some other nasty environment, so what. Rinse it and keep going. I also carry a small Case single blade CV Swayback. It is way too nice to carry in the pastures and the dust and dirt makes the action gritty. For me the "tactical" knives fill a need and the nice traditionals are what I want to carry when not working too hard. I am glad great choices are out there for us all.

I still see a lot of guys out here in the country carrying stockman and trappers. It is good to see for sure.
Nathan
 
Our cattle was scared of one hand opening knives. It was the darndest thing. I’d be trying to cut the twine or netwrap off a role of hay and I flick it open and the whole herd would run across the field screaming “ run! Bubbas got a knife, he will eat us all!”
 
ScottsBad said:
No offense taken, but you don't know me. I'm retired, I mainly carry my knife (just got an XM-18 for EDC) as a tool. I fully understand that a knife is a poor self defense weapon, but I live in an area where it is impossible take a CCW. So, the knife is the only weapon I can carry.

I own a large selection of classic and modern firearms that makes people drool, I've been shooting since I was six, and practice frequently. My wife and daughters are all Third Degree Black Belts (it took them 14 years), yet they still carry knives. So, I am very aware of the advantages and mis-conceptions about the effectiveness of martial arts in the real world.

When we move to a free state in 2019 or 2020, I will be able to carry, but until then all I can do is keep practiced and carry my folder.
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Come to Texas! We're still free! Kinda sorta.....
 
I may be the only person on this forum who just plain doesn't want or need a modern steel across the board, I like a blade I can touch up in no time with the basic stones I've got.
The modern conveniences are nice when I carry one of my couple modern one handed folders, but I'm not missing those features when they're sitting at home.
I don't know about everyone else but just the ability to have a cutting tool in my pocket is convenient enough for me.
 
Most people will buy whatever’s cool, cheap, or what everybody is carrying. It’s the same thing in traditional too. How many people over in general lose their minds when the newest zero tolerance comes out? How about when gec comes out with the latest Tom Sawyer Barlow? If we could get Gibbs to use a sod buster to de fuse a bomb, they wouldn’t be a sod buster on a shelf anywhere!
 
Lots of reasons to carry either modern or traditional. As to performance, I prefer the thin grind of most traditional to most moderns and to me that alone makes them more functional. I have stopped carrying moderns almost altogether. At work I used to have a modern clipped right pocket, traditional left pocket and a multitool on my tool belt. The catalyst to drop moderns was the pocket clip. Occasionally over the years they catch and fall. Couple years ago I was about 4 stories up a series of steep stairs exiting the engine room of a cargo ship when the clip caught on a railing and plumetted down to the lowest level. I left most of my gear with my partner and climbed down the 4 stories and back up in 40°c heat. Except for the bent clip the knife was fine, but I get all the cutting I need with my traditional. Plus, the moderns have zero soul, personality or character.
 
A GEC knife made me go over to the other side.
It just cuts incredibly better than any of my modern folders.
I don't feel like forcing a wedge into cardboard.

If they start to make frame lock knives with that level of cutting ability, I would go back again.
But I don't see that coming any time soon.
 
FarmKid said:
Most people will buy whatever’s cool, cheap, or what everybody is carrying. It’s the same thing in traditional too. How many people over in general lose their minds when the newest zero tolerance comes out? How about when gec comes out with the latest Tom Sawyer Barlow? If we could get Gibbs to use a sod buster to de fuse a bomb, they wouldn’t be a sod buster on a shelf anywhere!
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Good point :thumbsup: Herd mentality can be very seductive to some people, for some reason..;)
Group Think? Think Again!:D
 
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