Favorite traditional pattern

Stockman, by a wide margin. I have them from just over 3" to right at 5" closed, with my favorites being in the 3¾ to 4¼ inch range. Third blade can be spey, pen or punch, but they gotta have a clip main and a sheepfoot. One of my nicest, the S&M jumbo at just over 4¼".

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This is a question I have real difficulty answering.

I think in theory I like a two or three blade knife. But in practice I usually just need one, and never use the secondary. So depending on the day my tastes change.

But the platonic ideal of a pocket knife for me has always been a two blade single spring penknife, and this is what I mostly carry.
 
As one, more than willing, maybe even needing to embrace "Cutlery Fickleness" the Jack is my favored pattern.
Either the Regular Jack,
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Premium Jack,
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Texas Jack,
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Harness Jack,
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Equal End Jack... and so on.
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Or the Sportsman pattern in all it's splendiferousness. ;)
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As my friend, Mike (@mbkr) has previously, eloquently and succinctly stated,"Embrace the Fickleness". 🤝

;):p:D

sparerow​
 
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Apparently I'm pretty fond of jacks and barlows 😶 It seems out of all the patterns I've tried in the last few years I've gravitated towards single and two bladed jacks. While I have some serpentine and equal end jacks, I like swell end and swaybacks the best. And my current all time favorite is the teardrop 85, although I only have the one.
 
Well, a year or so ago I would have said a medium barlow. Then I got my GEC 12; after that I would have said a medium toothpick was my favorite. Then I got my GEC 97, and now a large swell-center hunter (i.e. Coke bottle) is the main thing I want to carry.

I'll get this figured out sometime.

-Tyson
 
Tyson A Wright said:
Well, a year or so ago I would have said a medium barlow. Then I got my GEC 12; after that I would have said a medium toothpick was my favorite. Then I got my GEC 97, and now a large swell-center hunter (i.e. Coke bottle) is the main thing I want to carry.

I'll get this figured out sometime.

-Tyson
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I feel like I should expand on this a bit. I really admire how @GatorMedic spent a few years winnowing her collection down to just one knife (it's not a traditional, so I won't go into details here, but she has written some interesting things about her process over in GKD). I don't know that I want to get down to just one, but I want every one I do have to have a purpose; I want to be thoughtful about everything I own. I've never really been a collector - I've bought a lot of knives, but the vast majority of them move on down the road pretty quickly. (I've never made a profit on selling a used knife - are any of the flippers around here giving lessons? 🤪 )

Really thinking all this through is what lead me to getting rid of all but one of my modern folders, and digging into traditionals again. When I thought about what really appealed to me in a pocket knife, it brought me back to classic slipjoints.

So, my "favorite pattern" has changed several times in the last year, but that's because I'm deliberately trying to figure out the answer to this question.

So, as I said before, I'll get this figured out sometime.

-Tyson
 
I'm promiscuous , it changes according to mood and need ;)

If I nominate one, then another presents itself....but the favourites are: Opposite End two blades (except Canoes, don't fancy them) Single blades like Laguioles or GEC 73 type (locking is cool too) Wharncliffe patterns, and some Stockmans. That's enough isn't it? Well....
 
its split between trappers and 15 shaped knives. I suppose its neither a sleeveboard or a tear drop. but there is a specific term for the pattern shape. All in single blade of course. The single blade trapper is what brought me to join bladeforums. some guy called @2Dead had a bunch of trapper pics that kept coming up on google search.
 
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