I completely stopped carrying a locking knife

Slice-E

Slice-E

Joined
Sep 10, 2023
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357
Curious as to how many of you do this as well. I have stopped carrying any other knife around 100% of the time outside of my swiss army cadet. I've owned many good knives, being from CRK, Hinderer, Medford, TRM, you name it. In the end I just find that a SAK style multi-tool just sees more use in cutting, and other tasks that a normal knife cannot handle. I've yet to need more knife in my day to day life, but maybe I live a fairly easy life. For harder use, I do carry a fixed blade.
 
I use a knife perhaps 10 times a day, not much but a decent amount.
I would be just fine with just a SAK, however I enjoy carrying both a slipjoint and a folding knife every day I can.
When I need to use a knife, it's most often my folding knife. It's just faster, one handed, and does the job just as well.

At home I often go down to just a slip joint.

I lived in Europe for awhile with just a Victorinox Farmer in my pocket. It was plenty and even scared some of my coworkers a bit.
 
Slice-E said:
I just have my flashlight clipped on my right pocket and my SAK loose in the same pocket.
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Hey that works just fine. I wish I had a SAK that I really liked, I just find most of them to be finicky. I tend to give up before I can get the tool deployed and just go monkey mode on whatever the task is lol

I'll have to check out this SA Cadet.
 
fullswing said:
Hey that works just fine. I wish I had a SAK that I really liked, I just find most of them to be finicky. I tend to give up before I can get the tool deployed and just go monkey mode on whatever the task is lol

I'll have to check out this SA Cadet.
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I'll agree with you there. It took awhile to get used to it. But as of now it's been years with my SAK and I could probably have Alzheimer's at this point and still be able to open and close all the tools easily. It does require two hands, but I've never had a situation in which that was a problem. It's not for everybody, but for most people I can see them getting by just fine with a two handed opening knife.

There are other options though, Leatherman comes to mind with one handed opening multitools. Also, Victorinox does have a few models with a one handed opening knife on the multitool.
 
I don't carry locking knives either. Even when I'm carrying some type of pliers based multitool, I tend to carry a Juice, which is all non-locking. I don't trust the locking mechanisms on folders anyway, so I would rather just carry a slipjoint for legal and safety reasons. I'm always super careful and I can't remember ever having a slipjoint fold up on me unintentionally, but I have cut myself plenty of times with the blade in the fully deployed position...
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
Not for me, gotta be able to stab someone (or a dog) if needs must!
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Well said, my neighborhood is rife with people's off-leash hounds. Don't get me wrong, I love the fluffy things-- but always good to be able to stab for safety.

Slice-E said:
I'll agree with you there. It took awhile to get used to it. But as of now it's been years with my SAK and I could probably have Alzheimer's at this point and still be able to open and close all the tools easily. It does require two hands, but I've never had a situation in which that was a problem. It's not for everybody, but for most people I can see them getting by just fine with a two handed opening knife.

There are other options though, Leatherman comes to mind with one handed opening multitools. Also, Victorinox does have a few models with a one handed opening knife on the multitool.
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One-handed opening sounds like something that would be worth having in the kit. Any specific model recommendations?
 
fullswing said:
Well said, my neighborhood is rife with people's off-leash hounds. Don't get me wrong, I love the fluffy things-- but always good to be able to stab for safety.


One-handed opening sounds like something that would be worth having in the kit. Any specific model recommendations?
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I’ve tried the one handed opening victorinox rescue tool but find the spring a bit stiff for one handed opening (from either the thumb side or the finger side). It’s also a bit bulky for pocket carry (and doesn’t have a clip). In an emergency situation where I would be fumbling to open a knife quickly with one hand, I only feel truly confident with a flipper (such as the Finch Buffalo tooth).
 
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Slice-E said:
Victorinox does have a few models with a one handed opening knife on the multitool.
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fullswing said:
One-handed opening sounds like something that would be worth having in the kit. Any specific model recommendations?
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Only the knife blades have one hand opening. The other tools will still require two hands to deploy.

The large 111mm size models are what you want to look at. You can easily identify which ones feature one hand opening because there will be a huge hole poking out on the spine of the knife like you see on Spyderco folders.

The newer Victorinox Spirit X pliers based multitools now also feature thumb tabs on both knives (plain edge and serrated edge) for one hand opening.
 
My (current) most carried and used SAK is a Hercules. It is equipped with a tab locking blade for reasons unknown to me. If it were a slipjoint like my other SAK's, I would still carry it just as much. I use the pliers several times a day when making loose leaf tea. I Rarely use the cutting blade.

Way back in 2020 or 2021, I did stop carrying a Buck 110 or Old Timer 7OT (or some other lockback) after 48 or 49 years of having one on my belt every day. (not the same one, of course. I have a few to choose from ... my first 110, which I got in 7th grade (1968) is long gone. No idea what happend to it. I think I lost it around 1975 or 1976 after moving to "sunny" So Cali. (actually it was smoggy..So much so I forgot there were mountains about 4 or 5 miles away, when the Santa Anna Winds were not blowing. Couldn't see them atol, atol.🤨🙄)

I prefer slipjoints, anyway. I like having a choice of 2 to 6 different blades in my pocket knives.😊
 
This doesn't suit me.
I quite often have to take out and open the knife with one hand.
I don't call Victorinox/Wenger knives, they are tools.
 
For work one hand locking knife is ideal but for free time yes, definitely slip joints (and mostly SAKs of various sizes).
 
Slice-E said:
Curious as to how many of you do this as well. I have stopped carrying any other knife around 100% of the time outside of my swiss army cadet. I've owned many good knives, being from CRK, Hinderer, Medford, TRM, you name it. In the end I just find that a SAK style multi-tool just sees more use in cutting, and other tasks that a normal knife cannot handle. I've yet to need more knife in my day to day life, but maybe I live a fairly easy life. For harder use, I do carry a fixed blade.
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I'm not quite there yet, but I probably carry just an SAK 90% of the time. It's much more handy than just carrying a regular knife.
 
maxjeg said:
I don't call Victorinox/Wenger knives, they are tools.
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Well after all, a knife is a tool. ;)

It's just one of those quirky things, like how some people will use the word "multitool" to refer only to plier based multitools while calling a Swiss army style multitool a knife. When you think about it, it makes no sense. They're both multitools and they both have knives.
 
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A locking blade or tool doesn’t bother me at all and I figure it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. There are many times the locking blade helps to keep it secured while I’m sliding it into a ziplock tie or tubing to cut it using a leverage pivotal action rather than a slashing action to be safer and prevent cutting something else I don’t want cut. I do have non locking slip joint knives I use but I have to be mindful that they can collapse easily. The same with the tools such as screwdrivers it just makes the tool more stable to work with if it locks in place. Locking blades and other tools is a feature I look for on knives and multi tools.
 
afishhunter said:
My (current) most carried and used SAK is a Hercules. ... I use the pliers several times a day when making loose leaf tea.
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How are pliers useful making loose leaf tea? A friction-fit lid on a tin like the old Nestle's Quik containers, maybe?
 
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