- Joined
- Dec 3, 2000
- Messages
- 3,002
Hello folks,
Hope ya' didn't click on this thread expecting to see another "Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm taking my toys and never coming back" post. That jus' aint me. matter of fact, my next paycheck I'm hoping to set aside enough money for a gold membership plus some cuz my conscience can't handle any more freeloading.
What I'm quitting on...at least for awhile...is "tactical knives"
I'm primarily considering this for two reasons. one is logic driven, and the other is emotion driven.
Maybe my memory is a bit flawed...but I remember back when knives were pretty darn simple. You could pick a slipjoint, lockback, or a fixed blade. Any kinda steel you desired as long as it was 440 or Carbon. Then one day some no name clown called "Sal Glesser" decided to put a hole in a perfectly good blade, and further more decided that a knife oughta ride vertically in the pocket, not horizontally. To really mess things up he even made serrations...on pocket knives!!
Decided to make a whole buncha different knives like that, an' name 'em after some kinda insect or somethin'....
Well, it darn skippy caught on....fast! It seemed like the week after I saw (and fell in immedate love with) the Spyderco Police in the pages of a gun magazine the knife world went berzerk. opening holes, thumbstuds, discs, lockbacks, linerlocks, roller locks, frame locks,G-10,ATS 35 VG-10 AUS this- that- the other, tool steels, titanium, Teflon coating, kydex, rolling locks, axis locks, etc, etc.
Which brings us to the modern day in knives. Even some of us relatively young 'uns can look at knife designs today and just simply MARVEL at how much they've changed. Modern knives are smoother, sharper, stronger, better designed, and tougher than EVER before. I personally think there's been a total boom in the knife market with all these new better knives floating around.
Here is where I have a more questioning tone....somehow some of us (me included) have gotten stuck on the "tougher" part of knives. Grinds have gotten thicker, and thicker on some knives. Steels keep getting harder and harder. Locks keep gettin' stronger and stronger.. and we all still keep demanding more and more toughness...Whether this is due to psychopathic knife abusers, inexperienced users, or even people with an honest to God need to have the ability to hack through brick walls and armored trucks I aint the one to judge... but SOME not all of the newer better designed knives seem to be pursuing this route. Problem being, of course that when you gain thickness you lose cutting efficiency.
So, overall I've gotten to thinking of all the differences between the knives I knew most of my childhood and the ones available now, and wondering exactly how much progress has REALLY been made, and how spoiled I've really become. I remember slipjoints and traditional fixed blades takin' care of every concievable need we had around the house and farm as long as they recieved the minimal attention of oiling, and sharpening. If they did wear out, it wasn't a big deal. You could throw it out, or make a patch knife, run out to the hardware store and buy a new one that would last another ten years or so. Not a bad bang for the buck. An' the fact of the matter is that I still aint seen NOBODY that could put an edge on a knife like my grandpappy could put on his Case Slipjoint knife, with a single sheepsfoot blade. The bottom line of a knife is to CUT THINGS, and I remember knives before tacticals performing that task quite well.
Overall tactical knives are more convenient, quicker, stronger, and hold an edge longer than ever before. The concept I'm working with is basically "so what"
The second more emotionally driven part of my "quitting" is the recent loss of my Grandpa Cole (AKA Pappy) He died at a ripe old age, right about the time life wasn't much fun for him any more, but..I still think of him alot.
He is WITHOUT A DOUBT the man who started me off on my appreciation of knives and the outdoors. I remember from my earliest years sitting and watching him sharpen knives at the table, and asking him about them. He never hesitated to pull out his tacklebox full of knives to show me, even when I'm sure I'd ask to see them a dozen times a day. He took the time to teach me to use a knife, sharpen, and maintain it. Oddly enough, I'm the only one in the family he was able to pass his sharpening skills onto, which I'm sorta proud of, and sorta bothered by. On one hand it always feels good to be special, but on the other hand, I think EVERYONE should know to carry and maintain a decent pocket knife. I'm also somewhat chagrined that when he died all his knives disappeared. Not that I'm greedy enough to have wanted them all, but I've no doubt I'm the only one that could remember the exact history of each one. Some of them had been in the family for generations. Oh well.
Pappy gave me most of the knives I've ever owned through my childhood, sharpeners, taught me how to make sheathes for them, etc.
Unfortunately most of them have been lost or stolen through the duration of my childhood, including his retirement knife. (the first knife I ever owned, at age six) I still have the knife he carried throughout WW2 as the crown jewel of my collection. It's one of the old Linders, that came with a deerfoot handle. He'd taken the deer foot off of it and replaced it with oak. Made a sheath for it out of an old bayonet scabbard, some safety wire, and some old boot leather. a real special detail about it was that he marked all the places the war took him on the sheath of the knife. Some of the writing (scratching) has faded, but you can still read about 70 percent of it. Carried that one cuz he was absolutely unimpressed with the military issued ones.
I'm kinda at a point now when I'm looking back at how I faded away from him, and definitely didn't keep in touch with him like I should have once I started growing up. I just hope he died with the knowledge of how much he really did mean to me and how much he's influenced my life.
I kinda can't help but to reminisce a bit, and feel closer to him when I use one of my old slip joints, or an older lockback, or the more traditional fixed blades. He was not really the type to get excited about the newer knife styles, but I still sometimes see a Case display at a hardware store and think "boy would Pappy love that one..." I dearly wish I coulda gotten him one of the new Russlocks before he died, but by then he was completely blind and beyond using any knives. His caretaker wouldn't let him have them. I still think he would have loved the feel of it, though.
So, between my curiousity of how much knives really have improved, and my feeling closer to my grandfather I've decided to try an experiment. For one year, I'm giving up all my tactical knives, and sticking with slipjoints, lockbacks, and traditional fixed blades. That basically means I'm giving up G-10, aircraft aluminum handles, titanium, frame and liner locks, newer steels, kydex, and one handed opening devices. Basically carrying what was commonly available in the early eighties or so. Probably also going to be making my own sheathes again with old leather and safety wire. I can't help it, I like how they look. My wife frowns at them though...*L*
So, since I'm going very much back to the knives of my childhood for at least a year, I do have a question for y'all...
Should I cheat, and allow myself to carry a tactical knife while on duty (EMS and Security) or should I be a tee-totaller? I'd be pretty comfortable with a good fixed blade, but I'd have to find a way to conceal it.
Just in case your curious, I started out today with a J.A Hellberg fixed blade and my old three bladed Chicago Cutlery. It's been pretty neat so far. The Chicago Cutlery is very slim, sharp and feels good to me, although the falling sideways in my pocket is taking getting used to. The J.A Hellberg is alot of fun too, love the edge on it, and the unique look.
So, anyways...there's my mission, in a nutshell. If any of y'all are curious I'll be glad to post my thoughts and perceptions, being a tactical knife junkie that's changing over as the year goes on. I imagine I'll be asking alot of questions, since I'm venturing back into old and unknown territory I'm not real familiar with.
Should be fun though.
Hope ya' didn't click on this thread expecting to see another "Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm taking my toys and never coming back" post. That jus' aint me. matter of fact, my next paycheck I'm hoping to set aside enough money for a gold membership plus some cuz my conscience can't handle any more freeloading.
What I'm quitting on...at least for awhile...is "tactical knives"
I'm primarily considering this for two reasons. one is logic driven, and the other is emotion driven.
Maybe my memory is a bit flawed...but I remember back when knives were pretty darn simple. You could pick a slipjoint, lockback, or a fixed blade. Any kinda steel you desired as long as it was 440 or Carbon. Then one day some no name clown called "Sal Glesser" decided to put a hole in a perfectly good blade, and further more decided that a knife oughta ride vertically in the pocket, not horizontally. To really mess things up he even made serrations...on pocket knives!!
Decided to make a whole buncha different knives like that, an' name 'em after some kinda insect or somethin'....
Well, it darn skippy caught on....fast! It seemed like the week after I saw (and fell in immedate love with) the Spyderco Police in the pages of a gun magazine the knife world went berzerk. opening holes, thumbstuds, discs, lockbacks, linerlocks, roller locks, frame locks,G-10,ATS 35 VG-10 AUS this- that- the other, tool steels, titanium, Teflon coating, kydex, rolling locks, axis locks, etc, etc.
Which brings us to the modern day in knives. Even some of us relatively young 'uns can look at knife designs today and just simply MARVEL at how much they've changed. Modern knives are smoother, sharper, stronger, better designed, and tougher than EVER before. I personally think there's been a total boom in the knife market with all these new better knives floating around.
Here is where I have a more questioning tone....somehow some of us (me included) have gotten stuck on the "tougher" part of knives. Grinds have gotten thicker, and thicker on some knives. Steels keep getting harder and harder. Locks keep gettin' stronger and stronger.. and we all still keep demanding more and more toughness...Whether this is due to psychopathic knife abusers, inexperienced users, or even people with an honest to God need to have the ability to hack through brick walls and armored trucks I aint the one to judge... but SOME not all of the newer better designed knives seem to be pursuing this route. Problem being, of course that when you gain thickness you lose cutting efficiency.
So, overall I've gotten to thinking of all the differences between the knives I knew most of my childhood and the ones available now, and wondering exactly how much progress has REALLY been made, and how spoiled I've really become. I remember slipjoints and traditional fixed blades takin' care of every concievable need we had around the house and farm as long as they recieved the minimal attention of oiling, and sharpening. If they did wear out, it wasn't a big deal. You could throw it out, or make a patch knife, run out to the hardware store and buy a new one that would last another ten years or so. Not a bad bang for the buck. An' the fact of the matter is that I still aint seen NOBODY that could put an edge on a knife like my grandpappy could put on his Case Slipjoint knife, with a single sheepsfoot blade. The bottom line of a knife is to CUT THINGS, and I remember knives before tacticals performing that task quite well.
Overall tactical knives are more convenient, quicker, stronger, and hold an edge longer than ever before. The concept I'm working with is basically "so what"
The second more emotionally driven part of my "quitting" is the recent loss of my Grandpa Cole (AKA Pappy) He died at a ripe old age, right about the time life wasn't much fun for him any more, but..I still think of him alot.
He is WITHOUT A DOUBT the man who started me off on my appreciation of knives and the outdoors. I remember from my earliest years sitting and watching him sharpen knives at the table, and asking him about them. He never hesitated to pull out his tacklebox full of knives to show me, even when I'm sure I'd ask to see them a dozen times a day. He took the time to teach me to use a knife, sharpen, and maintain it. Oddly enough, I'm the only one in the family he was able to pass his sharpening skills onto, which I'm sorta proud of, and sorta bothered by. On one hand it always feels good to be special, but on the other hand, I think EVERYONE should know to carry and maintain a decent pocket knife. I'm also somewhat chagrined that when he died all his knives disappeared. Not that I'm greedy enough to have wanted them all, but I've no doubt I'm the only one that could remember the exact history of each one. Some of them had been in the family for generations. Oh well.
Pappy gave me most of the knives I've ever owned through my childhood, sharpeners, taught me how to make sheathes for them, etc.
Unfortunately most of them have been lost or stolen through the duration of my childhood, including his retirement knife. (the first knife I ever owned, at age six) I still have the knife he carried throughout WW2 as the crown jewel of my collection. It's one of the old Linders, that came with a deerfoot handle. He'd taken the deer foot off of it and replaced it with oak. Made a sheath for it out of an old bayonet scabbard, some safety wire, and some old boot leather. a real special detail about it was that he marked all the places the war took him on the sheath of the knife. Some of the writing (scratching) has faded, but you can still read about 70 percent of it. Carried that one cuz he was absolutely unimpressed with the military issued ones.
I'm kinda at a point now when I'm looking back at how I faded away from him, and definitely didn't keep in touch with him like I should have once I started growing up. I just hope he died with the knowledge of how much he really did mean to me and how much he's influenced my life.
I kinda can't help but to reminisce a bit, and feel closer to him when I use one of my old slip joints, or an older lockback, or the more traditional fixed blades. He was not really the type to get excited about the newer knife styles, but I still sometimes see a Case display at a hardware store and think "boy would Pappy love that one..." I dearly wish I coulda gotten him one of the new Russlocks before he died, but by then he was completely blind and beyond using any knives. His caretaker wouldn't let him have them. I still think he would have loved the feel of it, though.
So, between my curiousity of how much knives really have improved, and my feeling closer to my grandfather I've decided to try an experiment. For one year, I'm giving up all my tactical knives, and sticking with slipjoints, lockbacks, and traditional fixed blades. That basically means I'm giving up G-10, aircraft aluminum handles, titanium, frame and liner locks, newer steels, kydex, and one handed opening devices. Basically carrying what was commonly available in the early eighties or so. Probably also going to be making my own sheathes again with old leather and safety wire. I can't help it, I like how they look. My wife frowns at them though...*L*
So, since I'm going very much back to the knives of my childhood for at least a year, I do have a question for y'all...
Should I cheat, and allow myself to carry a tactical knife while on duty (EMS and Security) or should I be a tee-totaller? I'd be pretty comfortable with a good fixed blade, but I'd have to find a way to conceal it.
Just in case your curious, I started out today with a J.A Hellberg fixed blade and my old three bladed Chicago Cutlery. It's been pretty neat so far. The Chicago Cutlery is very slim, sharp and feels good to me, although the falling sideways in my pocket is taking getting used to. The J.A Hellberg is alot of fun too, love the edge on it, and the unique look.
So, anyways...there's my mission, in a nutshell. If any of y'all are curious I'll be glad to post my thoughts and perceptions, being a tactical knife junkie that's changing over as the year goes on. I imagine I'll be asking alot of questions, since I'm venturing back into old and unknown territory I'm not real familiar with.
Should be fun though.
