Fidgeting with your knives?

bleh

bleh

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Feb 12, 2013
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What's your habit? I fidget with my knives while I'm sitting at my desk thinking, and particular knives have particular fidgets that feel right.

My #15 and Fremont Jack are both pretty well weighted, so I can sort of pinch them in the center with my thumb and index finger and spin them with my middle finger.

The Fremont is also weighted and shaped such that when closed and resting on it's back on a flat surface, there's only a point in contact with the desk, so it spins like a very slow top for a few seconds if bumped.

Mostly I just rub my thumb over the smooth edges.
 
I would probably do that if I had an office but I think constantly playing with a knife as I sit at my desk might weird out some of the people around me. No biggie when I get them in the mail or pull them out to use...but constantly fiddling with one might be going too far. Plus I wouldn't like having to pull it from my pocket and put it back every time I go somewhere as I'm up and down from my desk a lot during the day and always want to have my knife with me.

I do have a peanut that I leave sitting on my desk, I'll occasionally fidget with it but it's a little too small be fun to spin (yeah, I do that too).

But I'm a total fidgeter, I play with my pen constantly at work (it's a ti bolt action so it's a fun pen to play with).
 
One of the pleasures of traditional knives is that many of the slippies have the additional function of a pocket carried worry stone. Whether you spin the knife between thumb and forefinger, roll it back and forth in your palm, or simply hold it and rub your thumb over it in traditional worry stone fashion, it just works. A very relaxing and centering activity that does not require focused thought. In fact it helps you focus on other things you are trying to think about by helping you center and ground on the subtle levels.

And you thought traditional slippies were just good looking, great cutting tools. ;)
 
I fidget with mine usually when sitting in my chair at home. It's not uncommon to see me doing the worry stone thing on the scales. My yellow Peanut with it's smooth delrin is very pleasant to the touch and especially good for this sort of activity, an absent-minded sort of fondling. The African blackwood scales of my Barlow are also glassy smooth and excellent for this. Jigged bone too.
 
Okay, I will admit that my pocket knife of the day, whatever it is, is often my pocket worry stone. I will find myself fingering the handle, no matter if smooth wood or horn, or jigged bone. I'm sure some shrink could make a interesting case out it, but I don't care. I'm a knife knut, so I'll just live it. Happily. But I'm sure some people on the metro must wonder about the white bearded old guy muttering to himself, my precious!
 
That's why Ebony is my favorite handle material. My old 63032's back springs had a slight twist in them from the way the cutler finished them. I used to take it and spin it on the table and it would spin and rock back and forth making a chattering sound on the table. If it was on my dresser with the springs down it would wobble with any vibration in the house, keeping me awake. I had to turn it over. I have my new 63032 on me now as I sit on the couch. I had to lightly sand the covers to smooth out the sharp high points and buff them to make it more worry stone like. Putting some smooth swedges on the blade helped also. Does anyone's wife thing they are a little weird fidgeting and studying a knife for hours?
 
jackknife said:
But I'm sure some people on the metro must wonder about the white bearded old guy muttering to himself, my precious!
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I'm with Markesharp! I don't usually laugh out loud when I read something, but that one sure made me let out a chuckle! Thanks Carl haha
 
I spin my benchmade on the belt clip while fidgeting. Do it everyday sitting at my desk.
 
At my desk I don't do the spinning thing but I open and close my knives, test the sharpness, slice apples and often pull out a ceramic pocket stone and refine the edge while I'm holding on the phone other other low activity times.
 
I am guilty. I have been using my knives as a worry stone for as long as I have carried a knife. My wife noticed it and thought it a bit odd, until recently she got a knife for personal protection and now she does the same thing. Hers will never have the same kind of relationship though, she got hers out of fear after a realtor was kidnapped and killed here locally. So hers is comforting in a less comfortable way. But at least she "gets" it now.

Chris
 
My wife would probably think something was seriously wrong with me if she didn't see me often handling a knife or something gun related. She'd be doing the forehead touch to check for fever and be concerned with my mental health. Same as if she looked over my shoulder on the computer and with the exception of a few shows I watch online if I wasn't on a knife or gun forum, or watching youTube videos about related stuff. She would worry if I wasn't and not that I was. I like that woman.
 
I am definitely a fidgeting fool. It used to be manageable, then I started carrying a peanut in my watch pocket everyday. I have caught myself standing in line at the grocery store using it as a worry stone.
 
I didn't do any of the fidgeting mentioned here until I started carrying my first Alox SAK (an Electrician) about 3 weeks ago. Now I find myself often with my hand in my pocket, rubbing thumb and/or index finger over the nubby surface or along the smoooooth backsprings. And now some of you guys have introduced me to the fascination of setting it on the desk on its backsprings and watching it spin!

- GT
 
navihawk said:
Does anyone's wife thing they are a little weird fidgeting and studying a knife for hours?
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Mine laughs at me all the time for doing this.... Hey, when you have thousands of $ invested in something, you want to keep an eye on it! I don't really have time to fidget with a knife at work... I only bring my beaters anyway because they get abused badly and they aren't really interesting to fiddle with... If I'm watching TV, I usually drag a few out and fiddle with them then.
 
I didn't really fiddle with a pocket knife until I got the Stag Jack.
Others would get admired for awhile then forgotten until I needed them, but the Stag Jack is the only knife that has evoked such a feeling of satisfaction in a knife that I can't keep my hand(s) off of it.

I've also done the back spring spin with it while sitting here at my computer desk.:rolleyes:
 
My peanut is my worry stone. Feeling the differences in the stag bone has become EDC for me. I've found myself running my finger over the bolster scroll work, or haphazardly lifting the blade up a hair. All while in the pocket.
 
I'm almost always fiddling with a knife when I'm by myself. Sometimes the 'worry stone' rubbing, sometimes testing the edge with my fingertips, sometimes lightly stropping it, or cutting paper, or shaving stuff off my thumbnail. I generally avoid these habits when others are around, as it would likely get some strange 'looks' from non-knifenuts like me (which is almost everybody else, in my world).

I used to have a boss at work who constantly fiddled with his small Buck folder (think it was a 501). He'd repeatedly pull the blade partially open, then release it; it'd 'snap' back into the handle, with that characteristic metallic-sounding 'clack' known in Buck's lockbacks (amazing consistency of the sound, across their lockback line). I didn't mind it, as it was nice to know at least one other person who fiddled with a knife as I do; can't help but think some of my other co-workers probably looked at it as a bit strange... :D


David
 
I'm guilty of fidgeting with my knives. It's something I'll do in the evening while reading or vegging in front of the tv. I don't fiddle with them much when I'm out or doing stuff during the day, unless I need to cut something. I do occasionally check to make sure they are where they are supposed to be.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
I'm almost always fiddling with a knife when I'm by myself. Sometimes the 'worry stone' rubbing, sometimes testing the edge with my fingertips, sometimes lightly stropping it, or cutting paper, or shaving stuff off my thumbnail. I generally avoid these habits when others are around, as it would likely get some strange 'looks' from non-knifenuts like me (which is almost everybody else, in my world).

I used to have a boss at work who constantly fiddled with his small Buck folder (think it was a 501). He'd repeatedly pull the blade partially open, then release it; it'd 'snap' back into the handle, with that characteristic metallic-sounding 'clack' known in Buck's lockbacks (amazing consistency of the sound, across their lockback line). I didn't mind it, as it was nice to know at least one other person who fiddled with a knife as I do; can't help but think some of my other co-workers probably looked at it as a bit strange... :D


David
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My wife draws the line with snapping the blades.
 
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