How many blades?

Three; just because I'v been carrying off and on a stockman since I was 7 or about 41 years now! Just what I'm use to, I can easily make it with less.
 
I personally prefer a three bladed knife. Stockman is my favorite pattern.

Kind regards
Andi
 
I usually carry a two blade pocket knife by preference. My peanut give me a large,(sort of) blade for general stuff, and a smaller pen blade for fine things. Two blade jacks like peanuts, barlow, Texas jacks, serpentine jacks, are what I like these days. A close second wold be my old stockman. A three bladed stockman gives a lot of versitile cutting blades in one package. I carried a stockman for a couple decades and never got caught short.

Carl.
 
If I remember right, we did discuss this topic on another thread actually.
I only entered the world of multiblades recently. And, so far, I've always been fine with single bladed knives, so that would be my answer.
But, I'm open to alternatives, so lately I started carrying a two bladed slipjoint as well. As a general fact, two blades might be useful in a few situations.
As for three of four blades, I think they're fine for specific use (for example, I can understand three or four different blades in a carving/whittling knife).

Fausto
:cool:
 
Whittlers are my favorite pattern to collect, but my EDCs tend to be two-blade "gent"-sized knives with a Wharncliffe master and a smaller secondary, preferably with both blades sharing the same spring.

A few faves:

EDC2bladeWharnies.jpg
 
I just carry what appeals to me that day. Unless I have a specific task in mind, then i will grab the appropriate knife and one other for good measure.;)
 
Stockmans are my favorite pattern, so 3. But trappers are a very close second. Glad I have multiple pockets. :)
 
Based on my true habits, I'll modify my earlier reply, and say maybe '5 or 6 blades'. Only because, as mentioned by others here, I often carry more than one knife (sometimes three). This week, it's often been my Queen Cattle King stockman (3 blades), a 1970 Case stag peanut (2 blades), and occasionally my Opinel No. 08 (1 blade). All three in my pockets at one time. There you have it, six blades it is. :p
 
I want to add some salt to this thread, and throw in another level of facing the subject.
Ok, we all have our preferences on the number of blades. Some like one, some prefer two, or three, and so on.
The next question is: why?
Is it a matter of function? of aesthetics? of just some kind of "the more, the merrier" thing?
As for function, I can see the point. I grew up with the "one blade for all tasks" philosophy, but I know that having a choice of different blade shapes and sizes can help with different tasks. Also, I'm sensitive to the "clean blade"/"dirty blade" thing too...but then, some knives offer "double" blades, and I can't understand why. Pic as example:

image-FDB6_4EF9221F.gif


Aesthetics may play their part too. Some multibladed knives have a certain charme in the subtle balance of the blade shapes; Elliott's latest Christmas gift, made by Richard Rogers, is a clear example of what I want to say: it would be very very very hard to beat the blade richness and balanced variety of that knife, and I'm specifically talking about aesthetics (of course, it's a personal opinion).
The more, the merrier...it sounds good. It is, after all, the ancient appeal of having a choice. Doesn't matter if the choice can get kind of random at times. The simple idea of choosing between few options can be way more powerful than what we imagine.
So what do you think? I don't have an answer yet. And yes, know, it might be a weird point of view, but nightshifts can get long here... :D

Fausto
:cool:
 
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as a sous chef they man who taught me everything i know always told me while holding his chef knife, "see this blade?...as a professional you should be able to do any task in front of you with this" as he shook the knife in his shaky hands. and sure enough i still hold this true with any knife i am holding. if used correctly if u have a practical knife i should be able to do anything needed. my zt 0300 i will prep some lunch or split smaller logs to cook my lunch over. and as long as the knife shows practical blade geometry i will carry it. blade steel doesn't matter much to me (even though i love s30v, s35v, d2 and most super steels) any old spring steel will get the job done if using the tool correctly.

at my job i am in charge of about 30-45 employees depending on the day and it kills me to walk in on a employee using a knife so incorrectly. i don't really care about the shitty knives i provide but the ways they use the knife can lead to serious injury. just today i saw a young girl almost stab herself opening a bag of soup. after she did that she looked at me and knew she had done wrong. people really to not see knives as weapons and more as tools. if she had used the knife with confidence and common sense she could have avoided the danger. but from the time most kids are old enough to use a fork the parents don't teach them knife skills. so when they become older there is the embedded forbidden fear still trapped in they back of the mind. if it weren't for that style of thinking most everyone would be carrying knife on their persons.

anyways, 1 blade is plenty for me
 
I usually go with two blades.

The main blade is my go to blade, because it is easiest to open and deals with most tasks. The main reason I love spey and wharnies as the main blade on my traditionals is they tend to stick out a bit more.

The other blade is used for piercing tasks. On my peanut the blade is dull for scraping, and just general abuse that wont break it, and my trappers clip blade sharper than the spey for specialty tasks or if something gives my a hard time.
 
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