First traditional knife?

[pinnah]

I've been looking at various Case knives and I have to say, with much sadness, that the clip blade does not hold any aesthetic appeal to me, especially in its lengthier iterations like the Trapper, Stockman, and Muskrat. I prefer a more modern look to the blade, like that of the Kershaw Skyline or Leek. (Blasphemy, I know. But I can't help it!)

I'm not looking for a particularly old knife. A modern Case or Queen will do (provided the price is low enough). I value quality, though I'm also looking for bang-for-the-buck since my budget is not that big. I suppose that for a traditional-style knife, I prefer American since the thought of buying a Chinese made traditional American-style knife is odd. Above all, I'm looking for an aesthetically pleasing knife that I will use over a knife bought for sentimentality. (If it gets passed down to any children I may have, all the better.)

I've been looking at the Case Canoe and Sway Back Jack. Any comments, concerns, or other suggestions?

Pretty much any blade shape is going to handle the tasks you've described. But, not all blades feel the same to all people. I share your dislike of long thin clip blades, such as those on trappers and stockmen knives. Shrug. I'm a bad person? Four thoughts on blade style options:

1) Some clips are less clip than others. I don't mind the slight clip shape of the Opinel. (Hint: sand off the varnish and oil the handle with Tung oil or similar for instant old knife looks.). And I don't mind shorter, squatter clip blades like those on the Buck 55 (pocketable) or Buck 112 (not an office pocket knife!). Both of those Bucks are lock backs though, not slip joints.

2) You mentioned the Canoe. The blade style on most Canoes is a spear blade and I really love that style blade. Along with Canoes, you'll also find them on 4 blade "camper" knives. Search on the auction sites for "Ulster camper knife", "Imperial camper knife" or "Camillus camper knife" and you'll see essentially old Boy Scout knives without the BSA logo. I've been able to find such knives delivered to my door for under $15. Many are blue handles, other are faux bone. Interesting movie hook.... I caught "No Country for Old Men" the other night and there's a scene where Josh Brolin's character (a Vietnam vet), uses a jack knife to unscrew a vent and cut some rope to hide money in a ventilation shaft. I couldn't catch a glimpse of the handle, but I'm confident that it was an historically good nod to the all-stainless steel "Demo knife", which was was a stainless "camper" style knife used by the military for a long time.

3) Regarding the Case Swayback, I think that blade style is called a Warncliff and a lot of people like those. I've never carried one so can't comment.

4) Another style you can find on traditional looking knives that might suit your more modern eyes is the drop point blade. The Buck 501 Squire would be an example. It's a lock back though, not a slip joint. You can find Schrade 5OTs made in the US used for less than $30, which is similar.

 

[ValueKnifeLover]

With all this talk about Case (which is a great company!) I would like to throw my 2 cents in by saying you should check out some of Boker's traditionals. I absolutely love my King Cutter Copperhead. They have some great bone handle knives with carbon steel and they are a great buy for the money. They also have some pretty damascus if that is your thing.

 

[jamesbeat]

Excellent suggestions so far, and I'll second the canoe.

I am also not fond of the clip point blade style, I don't know why, I just don't find the look of it appealing.
The canoe used to be my favorite pattern, but now I tend to favor less 'modern' designs (if you can call the canoe modern)
If you like the looks of the canoe, you'll certainly find that it is a good user knife too, and no clip point blade

Might I make another suggestion though?

Buy the canoe or whatever, but in addition to your 'main' knife, spring the $5-$10 on a rough rider peanut too.
I'd hate to suggest you buy a Case peanut, only to blow your whole budget on a knife you don't like, but at such a low price, hopefully you should have room in your budget for a RR peanut too?

The peanut may look a little small and it does have a clip blade, but there's an 'aura' about the pattern that cannot be described or discerned from photos.
The peanut will do everything you listed and more, looks particularly nonthreatening to non knife people, and disappears in your pocket until you need it.
A great secondary (or even primary) EDC knife.

Talking of RR, if you really can't decide which pattern to get, you could buy several RR's on your budget and decide by actually using the patterns whether you like them or not.

 

[pinnah]

But there is always that affair with your first; I still have my very first knife, a Boy Scout edition of a Montgomery Ward folder given to me just about 50 years ago by my Dad.

Here's the tradition part of that knife.

He is now on the autumn road of his life in a rest home and has been bedridden for some time. While visiting him last week, something came up and I told him I still had that knife. You cannot imagine how happy that made him, or how he beamed from his bed. He told me that it really made his day to know that knife meant so much to me. All for a knife he probably paid $2 many decades ago.

This is an excellent post!

 

[pinnah]

The real problem may be your $35 budget. Many new Us or European made knives will tend to exceed that budget. To manage under that constraint, you may need to troll for a nice used knife on auctions sites. But the hunt can be very rewarding if you have patience.

Nice looking Canoes!!

I've found that this old adage applies the problem of buying knives.

Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick two

If a budget of $35 is specified, that fixes the limits on cheap. Actually, my spending limit on older knives tends to be even lower, more in the $20 range. What this means is that I have to balance the remaining constraints of good enough and how long of wait I'm willing to endure. In general, I'm willing to wait and wait for what I'm looking for.

One aspect of good that older knives don't have is modern super-stainless steels. If that is a must have in terms of good, then doing some research on some of the Chinese made knives might be a way to stay on budget. I was surprised to see a $20 rigging knife the other day with 440C steel - not a super steel, but not bad for that price range.

But, if good can mean carbon steel blades (and imo, it can), then a whole range of older options become available on the auction sites from makers like Imperial, Camillus, Schrade, Providence Cut Co, Ulster, Western and many others. Frauds and reconstructed knives abound and I don't have the time or skill to spot counterfeits from fuzzy auction site pictures. But in my price range and when buying something to have as a user and not as a collectible, I'm less worried about this. I'm more concerned about the knife being functional.

The time price really kicks in in terms of digging around the various collector and vintage catalog sites learning about what *was* available back in the day so you can narrow down your auction site searches to be more productive. That takes some time. But as Dale E said, it's fun time. The "Show us your...." threads on this forum are also great ways to get ideas.

Using this approach, I've been able to put 2 old (70s and 80s vintage) knives in my pocket. Each cost less than $20 delivered to my door and both are wonderful daily users. So, I was able to get what I wanted (good) for the price I wanted (cheap) but it took me some time to do research and loose several auctions that went above my strike price (~fast).

 

[pvicenzi]

No clip blades? How about a nice Barlow, or an English Jack?
General use, food prep, no clip point.. SODBUSTER.

 

[wonderfvl]

I just bought this Bear & son. Seems pretty solid, but arrived rather dull. If you don't mind sharpening, it was under $38 to the door. The blade is 1095, my favorite steel. 1095 requires a little more care than stainless, but well worth it IMHO.

 

[Humppa]

Getting a big enough and being fully equiped you I would choose the Buck 301. That´s a great stockman knife. The 420HC steel is rust-resistant. The CV modells of Case need a lot of more attention.
The 420HC is easily to sharpen. And the 301 is big enough for getting every job done.

I own a Case Chestnut Brown Stockman CV, it´s in my EDC rotation. But for the first traditional I would choose the Buck

Kind regards
Andi