Folders vs Fixed Blades

D

Deadman 300

Joined
Sep 13, 2019
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What's you're preference and why? There was a time when I didn't even consider folders as I was totally into fixed blades but then that changed and now I could care less about fixed. I expect that to change again but was wondering what your thoughts were.
 
It very much depends. I have plenty of both and carry one or the other (sometimes both) when the situation calls for it. I carry a folder more often because of the size and ease, but use a fixed blade plenty when working outside.
 
That's cool. I guess I'm asking from more of a collector point of view. I mean I've carried Kbars to work on bad days but that's not really what I was getting at.
 
If collecting just for the sake of having - buy what appeals to you. I have more fixed blades that I've never used than similarly described folders; simply because I had a fondness for fixed blades that weren't practical for routine carry. (I still do...I've just become more disciplined in my buying habits)
 
I have a nice selection of both. Nothing fancy, mind, but they do what I need.
I mostly carry a couple multi blade slipjoints and a Buck 110 or 112 though.
They just seem "handier", and don't get in the way when I sit.
 
I pretty much buy what I use. Being an urban home owner who no longer hunts, I generally have more use for a folder than for a fixed blade. I have a few fixed blades and occasionally carry one when working in the backyard. But I carry a folder every day, so there you are. I have a lot more folders than fixed blades.
 
I guess I've always been a folder guy. About 90% slip joint multiblade pocket knives. I haven't hunted in decades, and in truth was never much of a hunter. Fishing on the other hand...I'm all over it.

As a urban/suburban resident, I have very little need of a fixed blade, and I actually at this point in time own only one. A Buck 102 woodsman. The Buck woodsman is my fishing knife. All my other knives are very modest size pocket knives ranging from Victorinox executive and Buck 309 companion. Even when much younger, I very rarely carried anything other than a Buck 301 stockman or Victorinox tinker.

Pretty much everything I do can be done with a 2 inch blade. Fishing, puttering around the house, read trips, sight seeing with my better half of almost 50 years now. As a retired machinist I don't regularly deal with anything that Need a bigger knife for so Just don't carry what I don't need. Even in my much younger days when I back packed up and down the Appalachian Trail a SAK in a pocket did what I needed. In my 20's I had bought a few Randall knives but they got sold off when I relieved I didn't need anything that big.

These days a small SAK or Leatherman squirt is my pocket carry.
 
I carry a fixie in the woods and I use a hori-hori knife constantly around the yard, but that's it for fixed blades. I always have a folder on me, sometimes two, and I have one laying around every place in the house that I frequent, just so I won't have to go to all that trouble of reaching into my pocket ...
 
I carry either, but the fixed blades I especially like for their one handed use.
That mostly comes into play at work, time is money and while the fixed blades are faster to ready there's trade-offs with both.
The fixed blades are faster to get out for use but can be slower to put away with the placement I'm stuck with and the things that often get in the way when sheathing them, the folders are slower to get out but it's pretty much always hassle free to put the folder back into my watch pocket.

One thing I will say is that most of my fixed blades are about the same to sheath and un-sheath, but the folders vary.
Some are easy to pinch grip for opening while some not, pulls are different, and of course it's much easier and more convenient to just close a slipjoint than to have the extra step of depressing a lockback.

I particularly like this combo here, I never carry just a fixed blade and this combo just works well.
 
Last edited:
Deadman 300 said:
What's you're preference and why? There was a time when I didn't even consider folders as I was totally into fixed blades but then that changed and now I could care less about fixed. I expect that to change again but was wondering what your thoughts were.
Click to expand...

I carry both most of the time. I find that a fixed blade comes in handy when I don't have both hands available and when I need a longer, sturdier blade. The fixed blade, in my mind, allows me to carry a smaller slip joint. Implicit in my response is the fact that I can carry a belt knife, with no problem, where I live.

The slip joint gets used when I'm somewhere I might not want to be handling a larger knife. It's handy for opening snacks for my grandsons, opening an envelope or a blister pack, whittling a stick to skewer some marshmallows and the like.

That's not saying that I won't have one or two more knives of various descriptions with me also...:eek:

Here's pair that I've been toting lately.
There's every reason to believe that will change tomorrow!
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Both? o_O Depends on the situation, though I don't have as much call for a fixed blade. If I have pants on, I'll have at least a slipjoint on me though.

I like knives. I don't like these either/or propositions we've been seeing lately.
 
Always folders for me...but only because I can't afford the fixed blades I want. Maybe one day I'll land a Horsewright or Bark River Essential, but until then it's a Buck 112 or 110 on my belt...
 
Solid fixed blade and hatchet is what you need in most cases,when camping etc,but for urban carry folding is best
 
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