I Quit!!!!

A nobel venture :)...Good luck..., won't be easy....


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
RWS,
Great idea. Slipjoints are my favorite to carry....smooth and smaller in the pocket...and 99% of the time extremely sufficient for any job you are likely to run upon.
I make and carry a small single spearpoint slipjoint with 416 SS bolsters and intergral liners, ATS34 or S30V blade, currently carrying a stag handled one. It is designed to do almost amything I need it for...thin blade tip to sub for a toothpick, spearpoint tip to do well in fingernail cleaning, razor sharp to open boxes, letters, cut string and cut articles from paper/magazines.
My Dad had a very small pearl handled Senator pattern with 2 pen blades. He carried it for years but it was lost sometime before he passed on(9 years ago). How I wish I had that knife he carried.

Handmade slipjoints are almost too pretty to carry..at least that what I thought until I ran into a fellow who bought and carrys daily, a slimline single blade trapper 15-20 years ago from a maker named Tony Bose. That sweet little stag handled folder still "walks and talks" as well as the new ones Tony makes today.

If you have trouble finding factory slipjoints, try one of the NKCA shows...unbelieveablethe number and selection of the folders there...many of which aren't for sale, manyof which are.The guys at these shows know all the XX and 1-dot to 10-dot designations and the meaning....and if you don't think factory knives like Case didn't have some FINE stag and fine jigged bone handles on many of them over the years, go and see these.

If you have trouble going all the way from tactical to slipjoint, a fine intermediate knife might be the lockbacks like Frank Centofante and other fine makers create...or Linerlocked smaller folders.

Enjoy your "year of slipjoints". I have alot of factory made tacticals, as well as slipjoints and linerlocks that I make. I only carry the tacticals if I really feel a need for such...like when out on my Harley and if where I probably shouldn't be venturing forth anyhow, or in the woods.
Any other time, a small Linerlock (as invented by Michael Walker) well decorated, or more often, a small single or double blade slipjoint is just the ticket... and if it happens to be a pearl or ivory handled slipjoint, it can be downright elegant.

Stay Safe,
 
The ol' Doc dropped by the house with a little patent medicine, good for anything that ailed you, no fancy MRI or chemotherapy or heart surgery or vaccine or.... Of course, age expectancy, particularly for women was around 30 years. And infant mortality was far higher.

And just look at the Model T vs. a new BMW. What a great car the T was. Of course, the BMW is infinitely safer, faster, more comfortable and more reliable.

Hey, I love to visit museums and exhibits of antique and primitive edged tools. Remember, that's what a knife is...an edged tool. You use it to CUT SOMETHING. An old slipjoint can be beautiful, but a modern pocket knife takes and hold a better edge, has far bettr corrosion resistance, is far safer to use...it's a better tool for its job - cutting something.

Oh, yeah, there are hyped knives loaded with non-functional garbage features that are esthetically and practically repulsive. I bet there always have been. And there are beautiful examples of super craftsmanship like my Carson M4.

Who wants to go back in history for their medicine, their cars, their knives?? Not me.
 
What I find interesting about this thread is the concept of “what I need”. Will I ever do anything to my knife that will require the durability of G-10 scales? Do I impact my sheath hard enough to need Kydex? Will I ever be in a nasty environment, where I won’t be able to take care of my knife well, thus requiring an extraordinarily stainless steel? Will I be cutting something so nasty that 440C can’t do the job? Will I ever be cutting at such an odd angle, and with such great force, that I need the strength of a frame lock? What are the chances of me being in a time critical knife situation, where instant deployment will save the day?

While I’m sure that some of us do require certain modern features, I suspect that most of us do not. We could blame our love of modern materials on the uncertain world of today, fearing that something terrible might happen, and we’ll need this indestructible knife with the thick blade. That’s not really true though, as life has been uncertain since the dawn of time. Circumstances may change, but the nature of the world does not. Our grandfathers lived in at least as much peril as we do today, but still managed to grow to a ripe old age with an old stockman in their pocket. Perhaps the wise old men just accepted the uncertainty of life, where we have become obsessed with trying to control it.

Just as interesting is the maintenance aspect of modern day designs. I could probably bury my Camillus Talon in the Adirondacks for a decade, and it will be almost perfect when I dig it up. On top of that, I can use the Talonite blade for a huge amount of time before even needing to sharpen it. The knife is almost functionally perfect for most cutting needs, and tops the scales when it comes to maintenance issues. Yet we buy our modern knives and still WANT to perform maintenance. We scan for blade scratches to buff out. We throw our blades under a microscope looking for edge roll over and tiny chips. We have become obsessed with finding failure in our knives, and fixing these problems. If we can’t make something happen to our knife….. We get bored and buy another one. It’s a strange loop we run, when we could be caring for our jigged bone handle and wiping of our 1095 carbon steel after use. We crave maintenance and imperfection to draw us closer to our knives, yet gravitate to the ones that don’t need us to take care of them.

Perhaps we’ve lost the insight into knives that our fathers and grandfathers understood, but may not have communicated correctly. The ultimate knife could be the one that forms a symbiotic relationship with us. We care for the knife, and the knife cares for us. The minute the knife no longer needs us, we feel empty and move on to another knife. Maybe there is something special to our yearly stag scale soaking, our wood polishing and the patina we care for like our children. Maybe it’s the relationship with the knife that we crave, not the performance and ultimate durability.

Or I could be full of crap. Who knows?
 
Hey Blade Santa Cruz,

I can understand the difference in an old slipjoint and its technology vs. a slipjoint or linerlock produced today with S30V or ATS34 steel, modern heat treat, etc. And to compare any old factory knife to a model 4 Kit Carson handmade linerlock isn't real fair either.
Kit's are some of the smoothest and well built that a master craftsman can build, it is one fine and refined (OK,I admit it is a) tactically modeled folder.
But if you are going to run a trap line, would it be better to carry, and use, a model 4 Carson, or would it be better to carry an old patterned but new steeled Saddle horn Trapper, or Muskrat, or regular Trapper made by a top custom/handmade maker (like E. Shadley or Tony Bose) highly functional for the purpose intended...maybe even more so than an M4 Carson in the same environment.. for the function desired.

I would like to be challenging, based on somewhat personal experience, comparing a new BMW to and old Model T..lets use a Model A. My Grandfather thoroughly loved the model A Ford that he owned and drove for over 35 years...pretty good car,huh?
As far as I'm concerned, and regardless of the fact that my wife really likes her BMW, I can't stand it, can't get comfortable riding in or driving the it, and wouldn't trade my 8 year old jeep for that BMW if I had to drive it or ride in it exclusively. Other than that it is a good looking automobile but it, and I, don't fit together very well.

I guess I carry on too long but the point is it isn't the old knife but the old pattern, the proven pattern for specific purposes, made with modern technology, modern steels, and techniques. I still like many of the old patterns but I don't make them with less than the best modern materials annd techniques that a maker can put into a handmade knife.
By the way, my other Grandfather did make house calls as a frontier Doctor back in the early 1900's,in the West....and No,I wouldn't want my current physician to take the time to make house calls. His time is too valuable practicing what I like to think is "preventative medicine".
Peace,
 
Just to be sure I'm not being misunderstood here...

I've got no problem with modern knives. Use 'em, love 'em, addicted to 'em...I'm not carrying Slipjoints for a year because I'm some kinda militant Luddite fantasizing about a bygone era that I was never truly involved in. I don't need the modern conveniences of medicine, computers, and vehicles pointed out to me. I'm VERY well aware of them. I tend to be rather informed as to advances in medical technology as well. Kinda gotta be to function as an EMT.

I'm changing to the traditional designs for two reasons.

1. To gain a pragmatic perspective of where we've come from to get to where we are today.

2. Because it's fun.

Thanks for all the postive and informative posts. I feel I've already learned a bit more, and definitely taken a few points to ponder.

So...as to my first two days carrying a slipjoint...

Well..I can't lie..I had some SERIOUS withdrawals yesterday, but as time pass I kinda got to enjoying tinkering with my old Remington Slip Joint. Three blades to tinker with instead of one! and lots of questions, curiousities and so forth about them popping into my mind.

I almost crapped when I took an old, but never used or sharpened Remington Stockman out of the drawer and felt that edge...YECH!!
Took it to my friend Ray to have it professionally sharpened, didn't have time to screw with it, on my way to work and all..Incidentally, he was so amused by my venture he did that one and my Chicago Cutlery for free. Folks...appreciate these hairpoppin' factory edges!!:D

I'm still doing just fine carrying my Grandfathers old Linder and a JA Hellberg when I'm not at work, although I'd like to pick up new knife soon, maybe a Marbles. May even look into making one..eventually.

to summarize, I'm still having alot of fun, even though most of my family thinks I've lost my mind.

Two days down, 363 to go....

At least my wife said she'd give my Spydies and Benchmades lots of TLC until I return to them. (which I imagine I will eventually, just not sure to what extent)
 
I can sure empathize with your loss of the "family knives." Funny how things that last for years suddenly disappear upon the death of the owner.
My own experience was with my father's 3rd wife. (After my mother died, he got glommed by a real floozie and recognized her for what she was in time to get the whole mess annulled.)
But wife #3 was much sneakier. She provided liquor (against doctor's orders) and generally cadged and wheedled as much as she could.

..............BUT.............

He had a knife. It was an object of fascination for me from my earliest memories. I don't know the make. (will take a photo and post to see if any of you can identify) But it was SHARP. And BEAUTIFUL...at least to me. It was off limits for me as a kid. But I always wanted that knife. In his later years, he began to use it for a bait knife to cut clams for catfish and it began to rust. But he would still not give it up.

One day he passed on. Wifey sold the family silver, his bronzes that he collected, the Colt pistol she knew he had saved for me, and just about anything else she could get money for.

Finally she called and said she had some stuff for me. It was a cigar box full of crap. BUT....(you're ahead of me) in that old box was the KNIFE. Forgotten, mistreated, dirty, rusted, but still THE knife. I never let on to her that it had any meaning to me. (She would have had second thoughts and figured out a "NEED" for the thing.) Just thanked her and took the box and left her house (that he paid off for her) and whooped with joy. I had what mattered to me.

Still have it. It's sharp, cleaned as best I can do, and IN the gun safe now.

An old hunter, retired but still ready. Debating on having a new sheath made for it. The old one is all cracked but it's the one I remember.

Too bad about human nature sometimes.
 
I don't have much to add to this great thread except to say that there is room in my pockets for both. Many days I have a Spyderco clipped in one pocket and a SJ in my watch pocket.

March into the future while honoring the past!

-SB
 
Whatever connects your terminals, but the kids growing up now with black M-16s in pop's gun cabinet and black tacs in pop's pocket will also have a nostalgia wave when they reach 40ish and the world is full of beryllium-nitride-bladed g50-slabbed hydraulic-locked built-in-altimeter-gps-cell phone knives.
 
I think there is room for both. I usually carry a stockman for it's classic styling and function, plus it's usually sheeple-friendly. But, I usually carry some sort of SHTF knife... usually a small fixed blade, but lately a "tactical folder" a Spyderco Mas Ayoob. I tend to use the stockman for 99% of my cutting needs though.
Thanks Mjolnir for the vision of the future... although I think I'll still have a stockman in my pocket while the light saber hangs off my belt.;)
Mongo
 
John,

I don't really have an arguement here. Basically knives are tools and the top knifemakers like Kit provide the best designs with the best aterials available to them. So have the fine knife makers of preceding generations. However, it's also true that today's top talent have better materials to work with, a greater store of knowledge and data to draw from, and so have more options available. If you get on the phone and talk to Kit, (I have a custom design that fits MY requirements better than anything I've ever seen made with CF scales and S30V steel) he'll make a better knife to do a better job than any of his predecessors.

As far as the cars go, my M5 BMW I got in 2000 is the greatest single car I've ever driven, let alone owned. The car and I are a perfect match. I do have a '72 Chevy Blazer as well that I bought new and have driven far enough to reach the moon (now on the return trip) and have never had a head off that Chevy 350. But it does a different job and can't be compared to the 185 mph M5.

But there's also just pure enjoyment in great old examples of worksmanship and in fantasizing about what used to be or might have been. There have been and hopefully will continue to be great cars, knives and craftsmen. I'll drink a holiday toast to that!
 
They were the biggest thing going when I was coming up in knives. tanto, tanto, tanto. I've really begun to apprecciate a good ole flat grind, plain edge carbon steel lately. My old timer has been seeing a lot more carry time lately, as has my opinel no. 8. I wouldn't give up my modern knives completely, but as steels get more insane, blades become more brittle. I would like to see maybe some more 1095, I think it would keep costs down
 
I have also been thinking about this same topic for the longest time. I've been trading off alot of my tacs and started buying slipjoints and lockbacks like the Buck 303, Opinels, Buck Gent, another Case peanut, and just the other day, a Schrade OT Jack. Still, I feel that there will always be a place for a tac or modern knife in my pocket, but right next to it will be a slipjoint. For your situation, I would still carry a one hand opener for the job since you never know when you will need that advantage.
Matt
 
I guess I have been going through a changing of my tastes thing as well. I'm not pursuing slipjoints, but I have been looking for smaller gentlemens knives. I was interested in the plain G-10 Tac. folders for a while, but lately I'm into colors, and carbon fiber. My blade lenght requirements have also diminished, at one time I want knives between 3.75" and 4". I'm now looking at sub 3" blades, in fact my newest EDC is a Syderco Navigator. It doesn't have the latest and greatest locking system or blade steel, but it does have a well made lock and a good blade steel. It is a tad small, I find it difficult to open one handed, but I think I have found a life in knives. Small gentlemanly folders are what I think I'll be buying these days. Like many others I discovered a large Tactical knife is just plain unnecessary for daily carry. Enjoy your journey RWS! I'm going to enjoy mine.
 
I think alot of people would be surprised at just how handy and useful a stockman really is. In my opinion it is the most useful knife made. Same goes for the Carson M4 I carry every day.
 
Moderation is the key to happiness...I first started out with out a knife of my own, I used my dads Buck 110. That’s what got me hooked...my first knife I brought was crap, my second was a small Swiss army knife, my third a buck prince...that stuck... I used that hard for two years, then I got a...aaa...kissing Crane stiletto and a case baby butterbean. I loved both of those knives and used them for a year, the butterbean for another two, but after that I got a Gerber AR3.00 and Gerber multi tool...the multitool was my dads, the AR3.00 was new... I got that because I liked the look of the tactical knife, my dad and older brother were caring S&W folders so I figured they were the best of knives.... i carried that in the begging when I started going to blade forms, I soon found that this knife wobbled when closed and that displeased me, not when open but none of my traditional knifes did that...then I got a Greco, dangler, I loved it, my next knife was a case Texas toothpick with Damascus blade and red jigged bone handle, both in my EDC both totally different...then again the Grecos just a ruff and tuff old time knife...it may be dark on the outside with that powder coat but underneath its glowing :p my point is both knifes have a place, I lost my AR3.00 and I wont get many tac folders, I like fixed blades and slipjoints. I like the look of a tactical fixed blade but the thought of a tactical slipjoint makes me wanna hurl:barf: you see one knife has class and makes people ohh and ahh, the other gets the job done, done right and done quick, and has a face only the creator could lover…or a knife nut :p so I will carry a knife of both kinds, one to do the job well and give me pleasure the other to get the job done quick and fast.
 
1800's Tactical
;)
ebniv.jpg
 
Should be fun though.[/QUOTE]


I am with you on "new" knives. I see a really beautiful small pocket knife only to find out its asthetics are totally ruined with a dumb pocket clip. As far as thumb studs and liner locks that pretty much rules me out of about 98% of knives being I am left handed. Even if they are reversible the holes they leave on some ruin again the asthetics of a perfectly beautiful knife. It makes my heart beat fast when I see a good quality slip joint with a simple lockback and no pocket clip. It is like when the mountain bike craze came in. Every body had to have a mountain bike. I would guess that at least 80% or more of those buying mountain bikes would ride just on the road. They do not have the common sense to figure out a road bike is much easier on the legs on the road.

One of my most favorite knives is the Sod buster Jr. by Case. The CV version. I put a nice patina on it by hanging it in some Dr. Pepper. Gives it a nice uniform patina. Then I just moderatly sand with 1500 grit wet dry and presto it will not rust when taken care of properly. A Simple nail nick open, a blade that opens and closes with authority. A nice firm click when you close it. I am a fan of fixed blades. I have one on the way right now from Bark River Knives of Michigan. Great knives. Mostly A2 or some other carbon steel is what they use. A few stainless offerings. This knife is one of a kind hand ground hand sanded and finished. Antique Ivory micarta scales with red spacers between the scales and tang. I can wait to see it. The one I have coming from Bark River is called a micro tusk. Small 2.3 inch cutting edge with oversized scales. Contoured to fit well in the hand. That is for small carving work or whittling and simply to show off (GRIN) I also have on the way a Ranger Afgan with tan micarta scales for my rough duty camp work. Full quarter inch thick tang and blade spine till it starts to taper. A moderat 5 inch cutting surface on the blade. I watched a you tube clip on the knife and I was sold. Good heft for bushwacking with it and also slice veggies with it no problem. A nice flat grind.

Daniel

Well nuff said.
Daniel
 
Sometimes major events in our lives make us take stock in where we are and we look back over the road we just traveled to see how we got to our current destination.

Running With Knives - I think it is a fitting tribute to your grandfather by making a commitment to carry a similar style knife to the ones he was fond of. Many of us make subtle lifestyle changes (sometimes major ones too) based on the effects that a passing friend or family member had on us and our lives.

Its great that we can still revert back to those style knives - that they are still available in the marketplace - whether old or new. It appears to me that the knife industry has just expanded - now instead of vanilla or chocolate you can get any one of 100 flavors.

All that said - I still love the tactical knives, new designs and exotic steels. I always have a SAK on me in my RR pocket, but am always on the hunt for the newest and slickest knife and usually have some over-built and over-designed folder in my RF pocket with capabilities well beyond what I will throw at it.

Will I ever need to cut my way into or out of a car trunk, or open 50 crates of ammo? Probably not. But being a middle age guy - it has been very exciting to watch the industry expand and develop the way it has.

It's funny - I took my son out a few holiday seasons ago to the Sporting Goods store with some of his Xmas money ( I think he was 7 or 8), and he ended up buying a Case knife with two blades and bone handle. The store had many uber cool tactical folders and fixed blades, but he told me he really liked the smaller style pocket knife with the unique handle material.

Different strokes......
 
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