Gentleman's Folder

I'm comfortable with SAKs too. The keychain attachment is a little hard on pockets in dress pants.
 
I wear a suit to work everyday to an office job. A modern (clip style) folder just isn’t practical to carry, or ever needed in terms of a practical application.

But I do carry a knife to work, and rotate a few. What they have in common are that they are small (both blade and handle), have no pocket clip, and are sleek and contoured enough to avoid damaging the pockets of suit pants. They aren’t all necessarily “pretty” and may or may not meet anyone’s definition of a “gentleman’s folder.”

Examples: Spyderco Roadie, Leatherman Micra, Texas Toothpick, Peanut, Stockman, small SAK models, etc.

So that begs the question, is the term driven by the knife’s appearance (ornateness), or practicality in more formal environments? I suppose it depends on who you ask.
 
Astronaut FX said:
I wear a suit to work everyday to an office job. A modern (clip style) folder just isn’t practical to carry, or ever needed in terms of a practical application.
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So that begs the question, is the term driven by the knife’s appearance (ornateness), or practicality in more formal environments? I suppose it depends on who you ask.
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I think it depends on your personal preference. I carried my regular Case jack knife or a Schrade lockback when I routinely wore suits and sport coats to work. Neither of those are especially dressy either. We really don't have to be practical when it comes to knives and "suits".... probably just thin and smallish.
 
A gents knife is a just a small EDC. I have two, one a small Swiss Army Ambassador model, and two, a Gayle Bradley air. They are small, light weight, and get the job done where I don't need a much larger EDC.


 
I dislike the term as well. Makes me feel like I should be carrying a certain knife while wearing a tux. A knife that may be classy looking and not tactical is still just a knife to me.
 
Well, dang... I have quite a few elegant knives -- Sebbie (OK, no inlays), Dozier K1 with bone scales, Buck Custom Shop 112 (really classy!), but being basically a redneck, I guess I'm not really qualified to say what constitutes a gentleman's knife:(.
 
A proper gentleman's knife closes itself after every use.

Whether it gets washed or without wiped afterwards depends on its company and occasion. Wink wink.

OK now, draw your blade out slowly. Eh eh, slowly I said. OK, now do it in French.
 
The terminology is probably a holdover from the late 1800s-early 1900s in the US, or perhaps even earlier than that in England, when there was a more clear distinction between white-collar managers and blue-collar workmen, and the type of work they did and what they would use knives for.
 
Astronaut FX said:
I wear a suit to work everyday to an office job. A modern (clip style) folder just isn’t practical to carry, or ever needed in terms of a practical application.

But I do carry a knife to work, and rotate a few. What they have in common are that they are small (both blade and handle), have no pocket clip, and are sleek and contoured enough to avoid damaging the pockets of suit pants. They aren’t all necessarily “pretty” and may or may not meet anyone’s definition of a “gentleman’s folder.”

Texas Toothpick

So that begs the question, is the term driven by the knife’s appearance (ornateness), or practicality in more formal environments? I suppose it depends on who you ask.
Click to expand...

Arkansas Toothpick and a Suit would be much more John Wick. :D
 
I wear "dress up clothes" a couple times a week, even though I am far from being anything close to being considered as a gentleman. I do carry a knife (typically a slipjoint of some such) and consider that as a gentleman's knife. I classify a gentleman's knife as being less than a 4 inch handle/3 inch blade and not scary looking. Actually, the kind of knife I would use at lunch and no one even giving it a glance, kind of invisible. I could even classify a mini-grip as a gentleman's knife as it's small and rather non-scary looking.
 
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