I miss my old trusted friend

My EDC for many years, probably around 10 was a Case lightning S 7 dot 63032. For a spell after that I have a mini copperlock that I carried for a few years. Now it's a Mooremaker 5300.
I'll carry a different knife for a few days here and there but always come back to the Mooremaker.
The Cases blades are worn thin so I retired it to the box. It truly is an old friend.I just now took it out and the memories that it brings to mind are priceless. The Mooremaker is less a part of me because it's only a few years old. These things take time I guess.
I have a list of knives I want that's a mile long, but I always consider getting another 63032
 
navihawk said:
My EDC for many years, probably around 10 was a Case lightning S 7 dot 63032.
The Cases blades are worn thin so I retired it to the box. It truly is an old friend.I just now took it out and the memories that it brings to mind are priceless.
Click to expand...

That pretty much says it all, Steve.

Thanks for sharing that.
 
I posted a similar thread not too long ago. I know exactly what you mean. For about the last 11 years a Benchmade 942 was my only EDC knife. Sure, I bought and traded others, and maybe even carried them a day or two, but I always went right back to that 942. Now that I've gotten into slip joints, I haven't been able to find that one knife that earned a permit place in my pocket. I think the thing is, you don't decide on a knife like that, eventually you get one that is such a perfect fit that it just happens, either that or it's a knife with a special meaning that you just can't not have with you. I posted this before, but my wife accidentally spilled the beans that my 15 month old son "bought" me a Case yellow handled CV pen knife for Christmas this year. I have a feeling that one is going to be had to leave home.
 
I'm sure people will call me crazy, but I miss the days when I only had one or two knives. I never felt like I was missing out on anything by not owning a couple dozen different knives. Now, it's just ridiculous how many knives I have that are just sitting in a box not getting used.

Maybe I'll go with Campbellclanman's suggestion and start carrying one knife everyday, with another to back it up. At least that way I'll get a chance to use some of my lesser carried knives, and be able to determine if they are worth keeping
 
mdsmith said:
I think the thing is, you don't decide on a knife like that, eventually you get one that is such a perfect fit that it just happens, either that or it's a knife with a special meaning that you just can't not have with you.
Click to expand...

I have thought a lot about this myself and I agree to a certain extent. I have asked my wife to get me a Case Humpback Stockman for Christmas this year. The fact that it is a gift from her makes it a good candidate.

I also think that as long as it's a knife that you like and it's well made, leave it in your pocket long enough and it will become an old friend wether you want it to or not. One day it will occur to you what a loyal companion it has been.



I want to thank everyone that has replied to this topic so far. Every single reply has given me something to think about.
 
I to have been trying to decide on one knife. It was a lot easier when I only had one or two to choose from. Here lately it has been an old Case Canoe that my dad gave me for christmas in 1997, it has carbon blades and holds an edge pretty well. I'm thinking of buying one for my little boy for christmas but I can't find one just like mine - chestnut bone and cv blades.
 
I didn't really appreciate my old trusted friend at the time. It was a SAK, but not one like I'd ever seen before, it had metal scales and a minimal amount of tools. Also, the paint was coming off and the metal scales were getting scratched up. I carried it for many years and it was my knife. Years later, after discovering this place, and trying many other pocket knives, I finally realized that old Vic Pioneer was a great pocket knife. I finally learned how to put a good edge on it, I filed the driver blade and awl, I removed burrs around the aluminum scales and brass liners, and cleaned and lubed it and the snap of every blade was as good as ever. But, I couldn't carry it anymore, it was over 30 years old and a gift from my dad who passed away a few years ago. So I found one that looked and felt like it.

2_old_Pioneer_3_crp-1.jpg
 
I must be a pack rat or I don't lose and break things that much. (crosses fingers :D)
I still have my well worn old friends from all the way back before I was a teen. Even have the one from the Canoe trip, where it fell into the River after someone that borrowed it made a bad throw to pass it to another canoe.

I carry more than one knife which leaves room and time for making new old friends like this Queen Congress that has been riding with me most of the year and showing some wear.


Downsizing will happen some day maybe, depending if I go with my Boots on or not.
IMHO and from what I've seen, Downsizing has a lot to do how you live, what you do, how independent you are, age and health.
 
I don't know if I ever could commit to 1 knife. I carry the "newest" knife in the collection until the next new ones comes along. I sometimes go back to an old one but not often. I wonder what it would be like to have just 1 knife that did everything you ask of it.
 
in the city it's usually a spydie since i can hold the machine in one hand & the knife in the other. in the country its a gec musk or gec pioneer.
 
My "old -friend" is a Wenger Alpine Backpacker that my wife gave me when we first got married 26 years ago. It has been used and abused (never broken), and I've used every tool on it over the years. This past year my wife and daughter gave me this small Winchester (china-made) bone handled white stockman. They both ride together in my pockets each day. I carry other knives from my collection, but these two are always with me. For what it's worth...............Paul
 
I think after reading this thread I will be putting the old 63032 in my pocket from time to time.
P1010028-3.jpg
 
I've taken to carrying a relatively-new, but well-used amber bone 62032 as my pocketknife, with another used 6275SP brown-bone from 1981 in a leather pouch on my belt, as my "ranch knife." They both just seem to "fit."

Ron
 
Great thread!
I really long for a great friend. I haven't really had the chance to make one yet.
 
I'm somewhat new to the slipjoint world but my Case Swayback CV tends to always be in my watch pocket. Others rotate in and out of my front right pocket but the Swayback seems to be the one that just feels "right". Hard to tell if it will be a trusted friend but from the day it showed up in the mail it has been a knife that I feel good about using.
 
This is great! I'm glad to see that there are some among us that carry knives for the long haul. Some very interesting stories here.

JohnnyR,
That's an awesome story! Those two Vic Pioneer's look almost identical. Good move! :thumbup:

Steve,
Glad you decided to put 'er back in the mix. That 63032 looks like a great companion. :thumbup:
 
I have a loyal companion, its my Vic Tinker. I modified it when I first bought it several years ago by cutting off the keyring. It has been in my pocket every day since I had to use it to pry the back window of my truck open to get the keys locked inside:D. I now keep a spare key ziptied to the chassis, but the Tinker still rides in my right front pocket.

The longest I have gone without it was for a straight four months when I went through Army basic training (had to give up all my knives for that time:eek:, sucked trying to open MRE's with my teeth:grumpy:) funny how I got to carry around an M4 but not a SAK. After basic it went right back in my pocket.

It is actually hard for me to justify carrying another slip joint, the SAK can do anything my stockman, barlows, and trappers can do. I actually have stopped buying traditional styled knives for lack of pocket space and lack of carry. I mostly like to look and play with my slippies now as I can no longer see any reason to replace the Tinker with one and lose the toothpick and screwdrivers.

Every once in a while I will longingly look at my Vic Soldier and think about how much stronger and simpler it is over my Tinker, how I should replace my Tinker and carry it instead, but then I have to add a classic for the toothpick and I end up missing my loyal companion by the end of the day.

I even stopped carrying my multitool which rode on my belt for a couple years, just don't use it anymore. I have new Tinkers which are tighter (mine has lossened a little from the prying on the window) but they don't feel the same. Sort of like that old rusty truck that feels so right you could never get rid of it.
 
Railsplitter said:
Like many of us, I rotate my EDC knives so that I can get the most enjoyment out of all my user knives.

Before I started collecting knives I would just carry the same knife all the time. I never even considered buying another knife unless I broke or lost the one I already had. Back then, I carried a knife long enough for it to earn the title of "My old trusted friend".

My ever growing collection currently consists of about 85 or 90 knives. Not a one of them is a knife that I can honestly call "My old trusted friend".
I never carry a knife long enough to give it a chance to earn that title.

I miss having that "old trusted friend" and lately I have been thinking very seriously about doing something about it.

Anybody else have similar thoughts?

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

I do know what you mean. Starting in the mid to late 70's I carried the same knife every day for about 10 years, a small Camillus-made Buck 303 stockman. It took care of all my cutting needs. I'd had other knives before, and a pot load since, but that was the knife that imprinted itself into my psyche as the definition of "knife". Now, I have so many choices of what to carry that I don't have the relationship with any one knife that I did with that one. But when I think "knife" the first image that pops into my mind is that of a stockman with black scales.
 
I'm down to one permanent knife, and then rotating a secondary... Sometimes the permanent one, at this point an old and trusted friend, never gets used for weeks on end because of how useful i find the other ones in rotation... But its always carried. Its there if its needed.

It took me gradually acquiring several patterns and knives over a few years, and going through what i thought was perfect for me, till I found what Is perfect-- quite a contrast too. Some of them are still favorites, ones i carried for a long time before moving on, or the ones that were acquired for a special reason, or were gifts etc... I also have several trusted friends, from the journey to 'the one' that were not special to begin with and just earned the title.

Whats really nice is the treasure trove of memories I get flooding back when i carry one of the earlier old trusted friends as a rotation, the secondary to my permanent trusted friend.

BTW, the now permanent one is my Case Bluegrass bone SS peanut. In current rotation, and pulling full user duty is a large folding hunter by Amherst Cutlery.

That one I am trying to give a real chance at becoming a good trusted friend....

It was never carried much when I got it because of its cost, rarity, and size.... Mostly because of its size compared to the moose i was used to then, but the other two did play in not letting me use it much. But it deserves its chance too, so its getting to travel around and work hard, and its learning the ropes along side that old friend.


G.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top