Is a slip joint an advisable knife to carry?

[RustyRick]

Reading between the lines of the question is guess the locking is the question here? And we are talking mostly EDC is tasks. I switched to slip joints mostly and some lock backs (moki, chaparral, case) and liner locks (old timer). I think they hold up quite well for my definition of EDC. Your EDC may be different needs. I have to be a bit more careful not to do heavy push and go slow care with closing and pay attention. But I actually prefer going a bit slower these days. I agree with them having more character and that is why I primarily switched. I probably carry them 80-90% of the time. If I am going to do more serious garden pruning I grab a beefier lock knife. If I am cutting a tree I get a saw. I don't do much whittling with them I use a more dedicated whittling knife (fixed blade small). The times I've been cut was not being careful but that goes with any blade. I was whittling when younger and whittling and the blade got caught and I pulled back. Duhh... I know better now. Mostly it's pushing hard and I tend to have lockers for those tasks or I switch to a kitchen knife. As long as I go slow and choose the right tool for the job instead of trying to overdo something it works out well. My worst cut in the last 10 years was pushing hard with a locking flipper. If you are looking at them for more character I would guess you might too enjoy the process perhaps ritual of taking a knife out of the slip and closing it slowly... My 0.02

 

[eveled]

If it’s permission you seek. You have my full approval to carry a traditional slip joint. Life is short.

 

[unwisefool]

but slip joints just last way longer

Wait, what?

 

[ShaiHulud]

If the locking mechanism was made well, then there are no discernable differences between a slipjoint knife and Locking knife in terms of which lasts longer.

 

[Snacktime]

Carry what makes you happy. Lot goes into what works for one doesn't work for another. I have issues with riveted knives as I fight gunned up pivots and lockbacks. I would say you need a new knife to settle this issue.

 

[Horsewright]

They've been handy around cow outfits for a minute or two now:

Find me a cowboy that doesn't have one or two on him at any given time and the trapper is probably the most popular, even if he's carrying a fixed blade. Case, Moore Maker, different German Brands all make an appearance:

Ya'll almost never see a Stockman pattern and most of these guys won't know and won't care that they are carrying a Trapper. Its what dad carried, and grandpa and so on.

Ya get the idea. They work. Although, my lil fixies are making inroads:

 

[Skar]

They've been handy around cow outfits for a minute or two now:

Find me a cowboy that doesn't have one or two on him at any given time and the trapper is probably the most popular, even if he's carrying a fixed blade. Case, Moore Maker, different German Brands all make an appearance:

Ya'll almost never see a Stockman pattern and most of these guys won't know and won't care that they are carrying a Trapper. Its what dad carried, and grandpa and so on.

Ya get the idea. They work. Although, my lil fixies are making inroads:

Always enjoy seeing your posts and pics !

 

[Horsewright]

Always enjoy seeing your posts and pics !

Thanks!

 

[Lesknife]

I carry both a slip joint stockman and a modern flipper everyday at work and play. Sometimes the slimmer blade on a slippy is necessary for the task and they are plenty tough.

 

[A.L.]

Wait, what?

You can find 100 year old slip joints but you can't find 100 year old linerlocks. Checkmate!

 

[Murdamook.3]

They've been handy around cow outfits for a minute or two now:

Find me a cowboy that doesn't have one or two on him at any given time and the trapper is probably the most popular, even if he's carrying a fixed blade. Case, Moore Maker, different German Brands all make an appearance:

Ya'll almost never see a Stockman pattern and most of these guys won't know and won't care that they are carrying a Trapper. Its what dad carried, and grandpa and so on.

Ya get the idea. They work. Although, my lil fixies are making inroads:

My cousin worked on a huge ranch in Dillon, Montana (I may have the location wrong). My uncles have raised cattle since they were teenagers. My other two cousins are traveling the rodeo circuit now, one steer wrestling and the other team roping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of them carry anything other than a classic yellow delrin Case large Trapper. My cousin, the one on the ranch, skinned a bear with his.

 

[Murdamook.3]

You can find 100 year old slip joints but you can't find 100 year old linerlocks. Checkmate!

Man, you can’t even find ten year old Shark Locks. Demko needs to figure out how to make that thing as reliable as a slipjoint. Terrible, Andrew. Just terrible.

 

[Chronovore]

... I prefer the swiftness of a flipper, but slip joints just last way longer and have more character to them.

Back in the 80's, there weren't any "tactical folders" like the dozens and dozens that have been around since the late 90's?/early 2000's. There were barely any liner locks then (a very small few), let alone all the lock types available today.
Sure, there were plenty of lockbacks (Buck 110 and various knockoffs of course), but the majority of folders were not locking. There were still a lot of people who carried slipjoints (called jackknives back then), and those knives were more than adequate for most people.

This is pretty much it. There are older slip joints hanging around because slip joints have been around a lot longer. It's part of why they are often called "traditional" while stuff like your Civivi gets called "modern". While anything can break or wear down, I suspect that most of any difference between traditionals and moderns is likely to come down to the materials and build quality of the individual knives.

As far as use, SAKs and traditionals were mostly it for me in the 80s and 90s. I got introduced to assisted action sometime later in the 90s. I can definitely confirm that assisted actions are more prone to breakage or wearing out but that has to do with the types of mechanisms involved, such as torsion bars on SpeedSafe models. (Coincidentally, Benchmade's Omega springs seem to have similar rates of trouble but even then, it's not super common and lots of people use them on a daily basis.) I got my first decent manual-action moderns sometime in the 2010s and not counting SAKs, it was pretty much game over for traditionals and assisted. The convenience wins, hands down, and quality liner or frame locks seem pretty resilient.

 

[JBoone]

This thread is a good reminder that I need to break out my case peanut for edc again for a bit

 

[Alberta Ed]

Yup. They're still good. I remember reading about a long-time guide who used a Remington single blade folder to skin dozens of grizzlies, as well as to cut sheet metal to make a camp stove. Used to have a great Case single blade folder, eons ago. Currently I rotate several ,SAK, Buck 307 stockman, Schrade 80-T, Manly Wasp, Boker King Kutter.

 

[Maximumbob54]

NASA spent a lot of money developing pens that worked in space. The Russians used a #2 pencil. This was in an episode of The West Wing.

I lost and greatly miss my Buck 301.

Something about a Slip Joint that can't be replaced or replicated.

Simplicity is absolutely worth having and holding.

Fisher developed the Space Pen at the request of NASA.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/

 

[unwisefool]

You can find 100 year old slip joints but you can't find 100 year old linerlocks. Checkmate!

Lockbacks have been around a few hundred years I believe...

 

[not2sharp]

Currently my main EDC is a Civivi Elementum version 2 and a Victorinox Tinker Deluxe. But I’ve been thinking recently about one specific knife that I have, a Case Trapper (full-size, not the mini) BSA edition and I use it a lot for camping but not for everyday purposes. Should I daily carry it? I prefer the swiftness of a flipper, but slip joints just last way longer and have more character to them.

I have been carrying a stockman as an EDC for nearly 30 years, and will likely be buried with it. I an an urban office dweller, but the knife has done everything asked of it and has become incredibly comfortable to carry.

N2s

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Sure, but why not carry both?

 

[EngrSorenson]

Slipjoints are great and do 95% of everything you need them to do.