If you could keep only one "Traditional", what would it be?

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SVRIDER1

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If you could keep only one, what would it be? I enjoyed seeing the holy grail and favorites thread, so I figured I'd throw this one out there.

Worst case scenario, you have to give away entire collection due to whatever reason and can keep only one. It doesn't have to be practical although it can be. Folder or fixed traditional.

As of today it would probably be my case amber bone stock in cv. Tomorrow who knows.
 
The Grail Knife thread is interesting, but it implies it cannot really be found -yet it's out there somewhere.

All others confiscated and only one left?:eek: What a hideous scenario, the knife would be lonely and I'd be distraught.....I'd do the Roman thing and open a vein and end the misery:D Then I'd need the sharpest:eek: A KH Teardrop
 
This is tough. I would have to say right now that I am waiting for it. The Queen BF Moose in ebony.
 
Hi,

Leave me my Schrade 34OT and I'll get by. It was my do all and be all knife when I was young.

I won't be happy, but I'll survive.

dalee
 
Well, If I was facing a firing squad because I was a general and told the people in power they were wrong....and it was that sort of movie . And they said I could have one slipjoint in my pocket to take to the hereafter it would be this one.

Buck 301 Stockman, 1988, 425M blades, elk antler scales. Elk takes on a color with age that just reminds me of someone who has to be older and wiser than me.....it yellows into that shade from hand oil and joint oiling. It must me more porus than India stag.
It will also always remind me of the picture in my minds eye of the great bull elk standing on my side of the waterhole and my arrow cutting just a few light ends of belly hair only, as it headed on to spark on the lava rocks.......I may not have him on the wall or tasted his flesh, but both he and I know how close.......he probably drank from the other side of that hole for the rest of his life.......300Bucks

Elk301a.jpg
 
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willgoy said:
The Grail Knife thread is interesting, but it implies it cannot really be found -yet it's out there somewhere.
Click to expand...

Actually the "grail knife" thread is more geared toward what would be the ultimate knife you'd hope to own someday. At least that was the intent in starting it.

However, I don't want to debate that here and sidetrack this discussion...

I'll have to give some long and serious thought to trying to answer the question posed in this thread...
 
Wow, a tough choice!

If I had to, for sone reason walk out my door today, and not come back, I'm going to be doing some severe wrestling with myself. I think in the end, it comes down to two knives.

There was actually a period in my life where I lived pretty much with one knife. From 1967 to about the early 90's, my Buck 301 stockman was my go-to knife. It traveled all over the place with me while I was on Uncle Sam's quarter, and while raising a family. That knife gave me a heck of a lot of service in some far off places, and I had totaly trust in it.

About 1990 or 91 I got into soddies. The 90's were my sodbuster years. Case, Eye-Brand, Kissing Krane, a no name. When I took off for my cross country and back motorcycle ride in 2000, I knew I was walking out the door for a month or so, and was going to be far from home with little more than was in the saddle bags or my pockets. I took my Case yella CV soddie. While on the road, it dd everything I needed, from cooking to shaving off damp bark on the juniper the morning I crawled out of my tent in Southern Idaho to find it had raiined durring the night. I wanted a little fire to make my morning tea, and the soddie helped me get to dry wood.

I'm a little inclined toward the yella cv soddie. It just does so much, and is easy to open with gloves on. At this stage of my life with arthritis, thats an important consideration. I can pinch open a soddie, but can't do that with my old stockman.

I guess I go with my Soddie.
 
If all others were to go?

It comes down to my Oldest a Schrade 123OT single blade hunter or a Buck 307 Large Stockman...

I guess it would be the Buck. Sentimentality is okay, the Buck provides more options.
 
Okay...I've given this some thought and it's a brutally hard question to answer.

Putting aside purchase or aftermarket values and issues deriving from best usage for particular tasks, if I had to eliminate all knives but one from my "traditional" knives collection I would keep this one by Ken Erickson:

orig.jpg


The reason for my choice is that this knife represents to me a near perfect balance of the cutler's art, the rich history of slipjoints, a salute to the men who used such knives in building our nation and lastly because it was thought out, designed and built in concert with a friend who stands for and represents values I hold dear.
 
I am still working on an answer here, but I sure like Blues' answer.

I have knives from my dad, from makers who I admire as people (knives aside). I am not so sure I could narrow the choice down to one (but I am trying), because to me a lot of my knives represent friendships and family in an indirect but still strong way. Setting some aside and coming up with "the one" is more than picking a tool. (Ok I am a mush-head I admit it.) :D.
 
One knife only -- Not likely to happen and I know that yesterday I said in the "Favorite slipjoint & fixed blade?" thread that if I had to cut my collection to two knives, I would keep my Case Trapper and Rigid Caribou but having said that, today is a new day so I have to say I'd keep my Sog Stingray (First Version). I wouldn't need a fixed blade as a hatchet would easily do in it's place.
 
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Bastid said:
I am still working on an answer here, but I sure like Blues' answer.

I have knives from my dad, from makers who I admire as people (knives aside). I am not so sure I could narrow the choice down to one (but I am trying), because to me a lot of my knives represent friendships and family in an indirect but still strong way. Setting some aside and coming up with "the one" is more than picking a tool. (Ok I am a mush-head I admit it.) :D.
Click to expand...

Gus, the issues you are wrestling with are spot on, imho. That makes such a choice painful at best. My choice above was made with heavy heart but I think it is a good one for the reasons stated. Others could have been justified in virtually the same manner but I thought Ken's exemplified the "final" choice best. Obviously, there can never (in my opinion) be a very clear cut answer in many cases.
 
If I could only keep one & I'm assuming for use, too, it'd be my Case/Bose collaboration Dogleg Jack. It's probably the best built slippie I have. Not just F&F wise, because I have others that are in the same neighborhood, but the combination of stoutness, F&F, & usability (2.75" Spear & 2.25" Pen blades).

Interesting thread.
 

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Well, I guess it would have to be my Winchester 80's made moose. That knife is razor sharp 1095, has great snap, and looks really good. Not too big for the pocket either.
 
This is an easy one. If I could only keep one knife it would be my KHnutbuster.

mykhnutbuster.jpg


This is the only knife that has any real sentimental value for me. I carried it for the first time on my wedding day. This was also my first custom and I treasure the experience of working with Kerry to create this very special knife.
 
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