How does your Folder make you Feel??

Thank you Charlie Sir, and thank you Mike!, I try to look at positive things these days, and its made me more aware that there are other great knives I have just awaiting........:D:thumbup:
 
I'm fortunate to have a few nice knives. Most of them are nothing more than tools. Beautiful and well-made, but tools nonetheless. They are eminently useful and I often sit around marveling at their craftsmanship, but they don't really stir the imagination.

I do have one special knife, a GEC #73. Ever since I received it this knife has dominated my carry rotation. It makes me feel sentimental. Strange really, I didn't grow up with slipjoints so I don't have the lifelong allegiance to them many of those here seem to have. Truth be told I only started carrying a knife on a regular basis a few years ago. Still, this knife makes me smile whenever I use it, hold it, or even just look at it. I've only had this knife for a short year-and-a-half, but I already have treasured memories of using it to peel and quarter an apple for my daughter. Of shortening a straw for her kiddie cup. Of her running to me and then watching in rapt attention as I used the sharp blade to free her new Doc McStuffins toy from its dreadful clamshell prison.

But the real reason this knife is so special is because I received it for Father's Day last year. This is the first knife I've ever received as a gift from my little girl. It's priceless. This is the knife that'll be in my pocket to accompany me on life's adventures. It'll be the one used to cut sandwiches for sharing, to carve an impromptu walking stick, to dig out splinters, whatever. Decades from now, when my daughter is all grown up and has children of her own, I hope that some of the memories she has of dear old dad are of him performing magic, using nothing more than his wits and a stag handled pocketknife.

tuzv.jpg


- Christian
 
I walk lop-sided without a knife in my pocket ;)
 
Great topic for thought and reflection Charlie. I've carried a pocketknife since I was a Cub Scout in the early 1960's, most of them are tools, but I would just as soon leave home without my pants as leave without my pocketknife; I keep a few extras squirreled away in my car and in my pickup just in case I leave home without a pocketknife. However, I own one pocketknife that has a deep emotional element for me; a Buck 301 my Grandma gave me for my 15th birthday in 1970. I carried it exclusively for many years, and then later for dress carry but not for work carry, I retired it from active carry after she passed in 1989. It is on my desk in front of me now, I cannot look at it without thinking about my Grandma and how much she loved me - it has a great symbolic value to me. OH

DSC02371.JPG
 
Kamgong, what a touching story. And how cute your daughter looks! Today is actually the fathers day where I live. I am not sure if this is an international day, but I still wish every father on this forum a happy fathers day!

Whatever knifes I own the humble puukko is still THE knife for me. It just makes me think of the long line of people in my country, who used this knife to whatever was needed. Both good and bad things.
 
Whatever my daily choice, they are all special to me, main, second, permanent helpers or keyring dancers... Only carrying them makes me feel good, using them is a special pleasure. They make me feel good all the time. Aint'I a lucky guy ? Yes, I am.
 
My knives elicit a feeling of connection, to people, to adventure, the outdoors, nature. When I look at a fine old pocket knife, my mind wanders for a moment. I sometimes get the urge to make for the woods and commune with Nature. Its somehow my excuse, my reason, the provider of Will, of moving and doing. Other times, I sit and wax introspective. I think of some far off place it may have been, where it was made, the hands that made it, the life they must have lived. And sometimes, it makes me feel secure in the knowing...I have my knife...
And sometimes it leads me here to share in the meaning and the doing, the wanting and the making, the dreams and lives of all of you.
 
Gevonovich said:
My knives elicit a feeling of connection, to people, to adventure, the outdoors, nature. When I look at a fine old pocket knife, my mind wanders for a moment. I sometimes get the urge to make for the woods and commune with Nature. Its somehow my excuse, my reason, the provider of Will, of moving and doing. Other times, I sit and wax introspective. I think of some far off place it may have been, where it was made, the hands that made it, the life they must have lived. And sometimes, it makes me feel secure in the knowing...I have my knife...
And sometimes it leads me here to share in the meaning and the doing, the wanting and the making, the dreams and lives of all of you.
Click to expand...

Very well said, that is exactly how my knives make me feel :)
 
Memories....i carried a fixed blade,stag handled carbon bladed knife ,for my father on our hunting trips since the age of 3 1/2 years ...That was my job and i took it seriously...A piece of stag handled carbon goodness in my hand and im smiling on the inside.....simple pleasures are the best..........................FES

 
waynorth said:
How does your Folder make you Feel??
Click to expand...

I've given this topic a lot of thought and to be quite honest -- and, I guess, confessional -- the knives I own and carry make me feel smug. :o

* The knives I carry are generally small. You'll never find me carrying a Rambo-like broadsword.

* The knives I carry are old school. I try not to be influenced by what's trendy, or what the glossy knife magazines are pushing this month.

* The knives I carry have thin blades. I understand that a knife is for cutting, not stabbing through the door of a pickup truck or batoning through a log just to say you did it.

* The knives I carry are are affordable. I consider them tools, not pocket jewelry or a status symbol.

* The knives I carry are paid for in cash. Debt robs from your future (and in my case, my family's future), so I'll have none of it. Buying toys on credit is just nuts.

* Many of the knives I carry have carbon steel. I don't baby it or oil it very often, I just keep it clean and dry. Carbon worked for my grandfather, who worked out of doors in the salty, humid Miami area nearly his entire life. And it worked everyone, everywhere for centuries -- so I reckon it'll work for me.

* The knives I carry are in my pocket for one reason: To cut things (not people). I could never be a mall ninja; I don't even like malls.

-- Mark
 
I usually carry two knives on me every day, my mini grip, and some kind of traditional. I sometimes forget the traditional, and darned if my day just doesn't go right knowing something's missing.

My knives make me think of my father, and grandfather, who always carried pocketknives, and passed that love (obsession) down to me. Though I was never a scout, I like to "be prepared", and carrying a knife always makes me feel a little more ready to take on the day.

Glenn
 
glennbad said:
I sometimes forget the traditional, and darned if my day just doesn't go right knowing something's missing.

I like to "be prepared", and carrying a knife always makes me feel a little more ready to take on the day.

Glenn
Click to expand...

The other stuff is just as important, but those words above strike the heart of the matter!!
 
At this point in my life, they make me feel "at peace".

There's a still a small part of my brain that is constantly revisiting everything in my life, but generally speaking, in all things in my life I tend to find a single solution and just stick with it. I'm currently driving my 4th Subaru wagon and yes, I reconsider it when it's time to replace but, in the end, the same set of things that make that the right car for me keep bringing me back to them. I wore black shoes for a while but have gone back to brown with khakis, jeans and plaid shirts as my day in, day out "uniform". I honestly have better things to think about than wardrobe. I've returned to the same bike that I rode 30 years ago and am done looking for others. I have 1 gun and am sticking with it. I'm wearing the same brown belt that I bought in 1990. I use the same camp stove purchased in 1986. I'm sure the picture of me is starting to emerge.

Knives don't move me emotionally too much right now. I keep a few that have very personal memories for me. Ulster Camper - first knife. Buck 110 - first expensive knife purchased with my own money. Schrade 5OT - I dunno. Can't explain that one.

But day in, day out, I end reaching for the same exact pair and every time I carry something else, I get frustrated by some shortfall in the performance. This combination on the other, works in just about every situation and that leads me to a sense of peace of mind that all the other stuff doesn't. It's boring, it's repetitive and it's dirtbag cheap. Like my Wrangler carpenter pants. Like me.

Opinel in RFP. Micra in LFP.


EDC Pair by Pinnah, on Flickr
 
For me, it's just completeness. Over the years, the actual knives have changed for reasons I don't really understand. A Scout camper when I was a kid, then a Vic Classic (still carried), and a series of others: Schrade & Camillus stockmen in several sizes, various Chinese knives, lockbacks, whatever.

I think all of us "need" (= feel incomplete without) having a small toolkit on board every day. Just a single useful blade may be enough — or perhaps you need a SAK with a bunch of them. Anyway, you do this long enough, and your daily toolkit will evolve, then settle down as Pinnah and others have mentioned.

Same here. I have knives I used to carry often, but now sit in the cigar box for months on end. Some I'm happy just to look at, others will probably get discarded by sale, gift, or that big auction site. I've not yet reached a stage where I could jettison nearly all that I have, while keeping just two or three. Not yet, at least.
 
I don't EDC many knives, the one at present is going on 5 years day in and
day out. Its never not been there when I needed it. Sentiment maybe, its
hard to look at and not feel the memories.
Ken.
 
My traditional folders make me feel like I'm indulging in something timeless, and rebelling against trends, and putting my stake in venerable goods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top